Something to make you chuckle.

Cake creations.

Have I ever mentioned how much I like my Better Crocker Bake and Fill dome pan?

Becca's birthday cake, brought in to share with her classmates today. And the brain cake for the 1st Grade Halloween party.

Tainted

Yesterday Ian called in a sick day (he really was sick), and we went to the school in the afternoon for the MS/HS band concert.





It was nearly 2 hours of various band and string and vocal ensembles, but all in all quite fun. One HS kid did a Beethoven piece on the piano that was very impressive. I'll be quite happy at home now if the 6th grade moves on to other songs besides This Old Man, Sawmill Creek, and Jingle Bells. During the performance, this Old Man was cute, "with a knick knack paddy whack" was done by each different instrument, so all the flutes, then all the clarinets, etc., down to the single baritone and of course, the drums.
But of course anything that involves Katherine has to involve drama as well. Before the concert she went to the bathroom. With her flute in hand. And put it down on the bench. RIGHT NEXT TO ANOTHER FLUTE. Guess what, she now has someone else's old beat up flute and her brand new shiny one is no where to be found. Not even the ID number on the flute helped as apparently no one at the school has this one registered to them. Kinda makes you wonder why they have serial numbers in the first place.
So now she has someone else's old dilapidated flute, she says she can't make it sound proper, and I honestly don't think that anyone who picked up hers accidentally on-purpose is going to hand it back. This school is awful for theft. I mean, even when one of the kids leaves a lunchbox, a clealy labeled in black permanent marker HOPPER lunchbox, it ends up in the Lost&Found if we're lucky. Returning labeled items is not done (I mean, we have -4- Hopper classrooms it could go to, right?), unlabeled items you'll never see again, and costly items will get stolen.
So do I get her her own flute? It's tempting, so she has a decent instrument to own and use for keeps, one that wouldn't go to school, so she'd use the school one at school. It is tempting.
But why is it that negative stuff like this taints so much of what she does?

Happy Turkey Day!

The kids did the Turkey Trot again this year and everyone thought it was easier than last year. Well, not everyone, I think Jonathon got a stitch somewhere in the first 1K and was moaning the rest of the run. He's informed us he will not be doing the Trot next year.

We did a bona fide Turkey Day this year, with company (ok, our neighbors, practically family) and everything. Two turkeys were cooked along with a sweet potato dish, mashed potatoes, cheesy potatoes, stuffing, broccoli almondine, corn, homemade yeast biscuits, gravy, 2 kinds of cranberry sauce, green salad, pickles, olives, cherry crumble, apple pie, and 2 pumpkin pies with Cool Whip. Needless to say, even with 10 people we hardly made a dent.





The house looked and smelled and sounded good. There was no frantic pace to the day, in fact I disappeared for a couple hours with a friend to the framing shop and then for some iced coffee while pies were baking.

The framing shop was for several items, not even all that I'd brought along but we'll see how they turn out. Last Saturday we went to a photograph show by someone at the Consulate and there was a rush on his photos, taken from all over India. We bought three and they'll be gorgeous once they're framed.

Off to watch the rest of this week's Broncos/Titans game. Someone at the Consulate was kind enough to record a game off his AFN box. I don't care about either of the teams, but it's Thanksgiving and it's football and it makes us happy.

Shoulda Woulda Coulda

Yup, I should have taken both teeth out last Thursday. Was I nuts to do this before Thanksgiving? Absolutely. And it's even more annoying that I can no longer find my antibiotics. They were on the table this morning, now they are gone. But as the dentist said when I asked for a new prescription on Monday: "A new prescription? Go into the pharmacy and ask for it! This is India!" We just used the old prescription... and got it back to use again and again. The pain killer is something called Amol Plus which appears to be codeine laced paracetamol (tylenol for the rest of you). Good stuff. I do have to watch it at work though, I've been caught staring over the heads of people at nothing on far wall.

In other news, feeding the family just got more difficult. On the ride home, between the belting out of Avril Lavigne and the discussion on something inane:

Jonathon: Mom?
M: Yes?
Jonathon: I'm sorry, I won't eat meat anymore.
M: You're going to be a vegetarian?
Jonathon: Yes. Animals are my favorite.

Short, sweet and to the point. Unfortunately, the rest of the family has not been too forgiving. We've had rounds of "I like animals too... they are SOOOO tasty!" while taking a big bite of our hamburger dinner. He's serious though. He stated he could not eat a burger and had macaroni and cheese instead, what was supposed to be my dinner. He clarified that animals products like eggs and milk are still OK as they come -from- an animal but aren't actually of the animal. Rebecca made her snarky retort how baby animals come -from- bigger animals.

Life was getting a little dull.

Tennis Racquets

We're in the market for a new racquet for Rebecca. She's due for a 26" graphite racquet, keeping in mind that she's 10 years old, which one (for those who know these things) would suit her best?




The Prince Air Scream (yeah, dumb name)
Head Size:
107 sq. in. / 690 sq. cm.
Length: 26 inches / 66 cm
Strung Weight: 9.5oz / 269g
Balance: 3pts Head Light
Swingweight: 238
Stiffness: 48
Beam Width: 21 mm Straight Beam
Composition: Graphite Fusionlite Alloy
Power Level: Low-Medium
Swing Speed: Moderate-Fast
Grip Type: Cushion Grip
String Pattern: 16 Mains / 19 Crosses
Mains skip: 8T,8H
Two Piece
No shared holes
String Tension: 45-55 pounds

Prince Shark
Head Size:
100 sq. in. / 645 sq. cm.
Length: 26 inches / 66 cm
Strung Weight: 8.3oz / 235g
Balance: 6 pts Head Heavy
Swingweight: 247
Stiffness: 66
Beam Width: 24 mm Straight Beam
Composition: GraphitExtreme / Titanium / Tungsten / Carbon
Power Level: Medium
Swing Speed: Moderate-Fast
Grip Type: Dura Tac
String Pattern: 16 Mains / 20 Crosses
Mains skip: 7T,9T
One Piece
Shared Holes: 7H,8H
String Tension: 45-55 pounds
Or if you really know your stuff... recommendations?? She's a beginner/intermediate player, getting comfortable with moving around the court, has a great forehand, decent backhand and no clue about "spin."

Doing fine, thanks.

After a night of swallowing blood, I admit yesterday was an achey missing tooth day. In the evening I broke down and took another pain pill just to push the acheys away so I could enjoy Amazing Race. Today though has been just fine. Very minor acheys. Which is good because it's been quite the busy day with tennis lessons, piano lessons, a Commissary "meeting" (it was almost as much fun as making our own consumables list and if you've never done it, you have no idea what I'm talking about), USA Day on the Pilgrims, a bit of free time now before we Skype with my parents then head out to a Photography exhibit of sorts by a Consulate associate. At least we're not going to a wedding tonight too as some others are. I do wish I'd had both teeth done at the same time though. As much of a pain as it was, it would be almost all over with now instead of facing another stretch with more of the same. At least once this one is done, I'm done forever.