What's wrong with this picture?

Absolutely nothing. I had a weak moment while we were at the store today. As I LOVE chocolate, I felt strongly curious to find out just how these donuts would compare to donuts that look very similar to some made and sold by my favorite grocery store ever, Publix. If you aren't familiar with Publix, well, that's just sad. I think Publix absolutely rules in the grocery department. Now, I haven't been all over the United States to check, but I have been around to quite a few states, and there isn't even one grocery store that comes close. That's just my humble opinion though. Alright, back to my donut experiment.

After lunch I was extremely eager for my first bite. So when I chomped down on the donut, I was a bit confused. And I don't usually get confused when eating anything chocolate or sweet. It just doesn't happen. Except for today. The message that my taste buds were sending to my brain were confusing what my expectations had set forth for what I should be experiencing. In essence, I was quite sure that the bakers in the bakery do not know what they are doing. How can you screw up a perfectly good donut? How? Let's just put it this way:


I had to cut the top of the donut off, to finish eating it. I took two bites to make sure that I got the right message, that it was not good. I think it may go even a bit beyond that, because really, is there such a thing as bad chocolate? Why yes. Yes, there is. And I've found it. They have some right here in Santiago, in the bakery section of a store called Tottus. Stay away from anything that appears to look good, covered in chocolate. It's a trick. It wasn't even sweet. It was bitter. And then bland. And then yucky. In that order. I've never had to butcher a donut in order to make it taste better. The whole idea of a donut is that the taste is so good, that you cannot control your urges and you want another and then another.

There was no yearning for a second with this little gem. In fact, I think I might have preferred eating a small bowl of mushrooms. (I dislike mushrooms.) I gave Eddie a half of one. He didn't mind so much. But then again, he eats sand sometimes. What does he know?

Alright, here's another shot from today. I didn't take any pictures of my car, or tooling around town in it. I actually forgot the camera when we left. I'm just brilliant that way, I know. Trust me, there will be a few more opportunities to snap some shots from the car, before I'm up and outta this town, so stay tuned.

See what's in my purse, and new pics!

OK, I've been tagged again. But this meme sounds kind of fun. I was asked to dump my purse and take a picture. Easy. But the thing is, I don't really carry a purse anymore. I don't carry money, dh does since he pays for everything. And we don't have our car yet, so I don't go anywhere by myself. Weird? Yes. Totally. Especially since that's not the way I operate. So I'm still trying to adjust. For now, I just pick up and go. I carry a small bag with diapers in it and some wipes. But I did take a picture of the purse I carried most recently when I left the states, and it's contents. Also, when I went to the dentist,I did carry another purse. So even though I'm being a bit contradictory, just go with it.


Here are the rules:

Find a safe quiet place free of significant others, nosey meme makers, priests, nuns, all things religious and men in general.
Dump the contents of your handbag in a pile.
Take a photo of your handbag and the contents.
Be brave and explain to your fellow bloggers what lurks inside the handbag.
Tag others who might want to embarrass themselves.
Answer the questions below.

This is for my 1st purse.

Describe the contents of your handbag.

1. Little girl hair thingies, always need them. Maybe not to the excess of which I have them, but you do (I do.) Especially with my little "princess crazy hair."

2. Gum.

3. Kids sunglasses, of course.

4. Embassy pass.

5. Burts bees lip stuff, and coffee flavored lip stuff.

6. Borders keychain card. I like to read. So I have one of these, besides I didn't have to pay $25 dollars to get it either (like Barnes n Noble).

7. Movie ticket stub from the last movie I went to see. Sex and the city, with my mom. Good movie.

8. Kids immunization records.

9. Motorolla handsfree ear piece. Of course no cell phone. So it's just not being used. Sad.

10. Crazy glue. You never know when you need to fix something that your kids just broke.

11. Dental floss. Again, good habit to be in. Just watch out for loose fillings.
12. Pens.

13. Clorox sanitizing wipes, also small bottle of hand sanitizer.

14. Flash drive.

15. Cell phone charger. Not mine. I forgot to return the charger to a borrowed cell phone "loaned" to me by someone at the embassy. Ooops! Guess that just shows what a procrastinator I am since I haven't returned it yet.

16. Wallet. And this is another reason that I don't carry my purse. All of it's contents are really only good at stores in the US. Like my drivers license, my Dillard's credit card. And any other credit cards, I just don't really like to carry with me. It's just not the same.

17. Wood bottle of mustard from my kids kitchen play set. I have no idea.

18. Plastic golf ball. Eddie put that in there.

19. .39 cents in change found at the bottom of my purse.


What’s the most important thing in your handbag? I'd have to say it's my wallet. It has my IDs, and credit cards.


What’s the most embarrassing thing in your handbag? Maybe the mustard bottle. Although I don't feel too embarassed. Maybe if it fell out and rolled across the floor, when my kids were nowhere to be seen. Maybe then.

What’s the smallest thing in your handbag? loose change

Is there anything illegal in your handbag? Since I'm married to the Air Force, it is safe for you to assume that I am on the straight and narrow. Sorry Steph, I don't even have any Valium in there. I NEVER keep meds in my purse. EVER. Eddie popped off a lid once of some of my dh's prescription meds and it was pretty scary. So never again!


OK, here is the purse that I carried to the dentist's office the other day. Two diapers, just in case. A calculator to calculate pesos to dollars, 2 sharpies because they are cool, little girl hair thingies, strawberry cereal bar and animal cookies for the kids to snack on. Oh yeah, 2,400 pesos and a Clinique make up bag. No make-up. That's it!

And for my family, here are a few pictures that I recently took of the kids. Hope you like them!

Oh yeah, and since I only took roughly 3 hours to compose this post, I didn't have the news then that I do now. My mother is currently writing a leasing agreement for a new set of people that have called on our house, and we just took possession of OUR CAR! It's here at the apartment, and my dh is putting our plates on it as I type this up. HOO-AHHH!!! OK, now that's totally something to get happy about. No? Yu-esss!

Total oops moment here, but I forgot to play tag. So I'm editing this post to add it!

Tag to Patrice from Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman. Dawn of Dawn's Place. Julie at Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and finally Shannon from Welcome to the Nuthouse. If you think this meme sounds like fun, tag yourself and play along! I'd love to see what hidden things lurk inside your purse! C'mon, it's painless!

Tooth issue.

Last night as I was flossing my teeth, and the floss got stuck a little between two teeth. I tugged a bit and then the floss was set free. Along with it came part of my filling. At first I thought it was a piece of food, but after further inspection I realized what it was that I was holding in my hands. Oh joy. And then when I rubbed my tongue on my teeth I could feel the ginormous hole it left. Oh wait. I am totally lying there. It was not so huge. Actually it was pretty small. (I also know that ginormous is not a real word. But since I was lying, I figure it fits right in.)

I stared at the small fragment of a filling. I felt sad. I felt un-whole. I had an immediate need to see the dentist. And I was quite certain I would not have to see one again until I made my vacation back to the states, so that I could see one who understands me, and all of my tooth issues. And certainly, if he or she was going to lecture me on my flossing habits, or for not flossing enough, then surely I would need to hear it in English to appreciate it. Right?

So this morning my dh gets a recommendation for a dentist for me, and of course schedules the appointment too. He's really handy to have around, you know, what with him being bilingual and all. We actually got the appointment for the same day. And even though it felt like a major emergency, I am totally blowing things out of proportion.

You see, I had another dream last night. This time, it wasn't about an airplane crashing out of the sky. It was about my tooth. The one where the little filling came out. In my dream, I did not go to the dentist right away, and subsequently, I lost my whole tooth. It was a disturbing dream. Disturbing, because I have a son who lost a tooth at an early age of 14 months. Also disturbing because it was in my mouth. And after thirty twenty nine years of having a rather pleasing smile, I feel insanely attached to ALL of my teeth. Apparently, my dreams are very vivid. I could see every detail, and feel every emotion as well. So when I woke up, I had to get to the mirror to assess my teeth. Thankfully, they were all there.

Now you can see why I was a little eager to get my small hole patched back up. It was an interesting dental visit. I would have to say that the dentist I met today was the first ever, in my experience, to grab me, hug me, and kiss me on the cheek. (Mucho Gusto! Mwah!) Oh, err, yeah, "mucho gusto, too", uh is that right? Oh yeah..*air kiss*. Um. Weird? Look. I get the whole custom of hugs and kisses. I do really. And I even participate, when it's expected, right? But when you are about to get your teeth hammered? Or your gums prodded? Is that right? Look, don't ask me, I'm not Chilean. Apparently it is right. I didn't mind, he just caught me off guard. The dentist was incredibly nice. And you know what? He even spoke a little English. Not perfect. But enough to understand me when I explained that I lost a tiny spec of my tooth and felt the need to call 911. (Which here is not 911, it's 133) Whatever. He got me. And he was nice too.

So. My filling is fixed. I didn't need any shots. It didn't take very long. And then afterwards we went to Friday's for a burger. Yes. It's pretty cool that they have a Friday's here. Actually, they have quite a few. The food here is more expensive than in your typical Friday's. But still tastes pretty much the same.

On another happy note, I think we may have found a renter for our house. The new tenant will sign the lease on Saturday. Trying not to count all my chickens before they've hatched, but here's to hoping.

Feeling optimistic.

I've always been the kind of girl who views the glass as half full. So I'm going to go with that. My glass is half full. I am no longer sick. Sick in the sense that I might have to lay in bed and let things fall apart as I laid there. That is no longer the case. I am up and ready to roll.

If only I had wheels. These wheels in particular. (Not my actual car. But pretend the windows are tinted and it's a bit dirtier. Then you get the picture.)

We should have it soon. Really, really, really soon. I'm getting a little excited just thinking about it. Momma loves her some alone time in the car with some music. Of course, even if I had to take the kids with me, I'd be happy to do so.

Folks, it has been a long time coming. I also need to get shopping. My dh has a ceremony of sorts at work that I am to attend. And I don't have a thing to wear. What do I wear??

So yeah, just thinking about driving my car, and going shopping is making me all kinds of giddy. Not to mention I feel a whole lot better than I have this past weekend. Oh and since I didn't mention it when it happened, none of the kids have fallen off the bed onto the hardwood floors and bashed their heads into it today. So that's good, right?

I was even thinking about gaining some meaningful employment. It could happen. Maybe. ?? Well, we'll see about that one. The embassy has got to have something meaningful. And part-time. Hey! Don't laugh. They do. And besides, full time, would be too much like real work. Not to mention, I already have a full time job here with these little rascals.

Oh, did anyone notice my blog spruce up?? Yes, oh yes. I had Ragan over at Blogger Boutique hook me up. She swapped out my pics and made me a button. (not to mention some other behind the scenes fixes for me.) Feel free to snag it if you want. I won't be mad. ;) She is one rockin' momma. I adore her work. And if you haven't seen it before, go look. Do it now! I'll wait right here. She's FAB!

So, like I said earlier, feeling kind of optimistic. Even with the whole paper towel situation. I mean, I guess I can get used to that. I think I have even gotten used to the whole, "scrape every single scrap of food into the trash, don't forget there is no garbage disposal" thing. It took me nearly every bit of the 4 months that we have been here, to get used to the idea. (That's weird.)
Things seem to be progressing smoothly. I would like to see Eddie spend a few more hours at school. He seems a bit bored here at home, and I think this is why he is bouncing off the furniture.

Oh yeah, and no toys have been successfully flushed down the toilet today. I turned off the water to the tank. It was necessary.

Oh and I had the strangest dream last night. A plane crashed on my street. I saw the whole thing happen. The engines came off first and almost hit my house. (Which I don't live in a house) And then it came smashing up the road tearing up our grass (also don't have grass where we used to live, so I'm guessing my dream took place in Florida, my previous home.) And the engine stopped right before it got to our front door. Then the body of the plane came smashing down into the street. There were people and ambulances everywhere. It was really strange because it was so vivid. I've never actually seen a plane crash before, but in my dream I heard the sounds, and saw every action as it happened. Any ideas what this means? Any dream analysts among you out there? I'd love to hear it, if you have a take on this.

OK, have to run. It's quiet time at my house right now.

Seriously.

Can someone tell me what the obsession is, that kids have with toilets? Really. Why? Why? And when will this stop? Today Eddie flushed an action figure down the toilet. Yes. He did. And his reason was because he didn't like him. Nice. OK. No more action figures.

See this child here? Not mine, but it proves my point. Kids are fascinated with toilets. I googled it, and found proof. Neither of my children have ever flushed anything "block" worthy down the commode. As in, if you do it, there is a good chance your toilet will be blocked, or backed up. Not a good thing to have happen.


See this little boy? Yeah. Again, not my child. Although it gives me an all too familiar feeling, seeing this little boy all hunched over the toilet like this. He is way too mischevious. Much like my boy. But since it's not just my child who wants to do this. Can somebody tell me when it will stop? If you put your toys in the toilet and flush, you don't see them again. Lesson learned. Or so I would hope. But Eddie has done this 3 times in the last week.

I also know what you are going to say next. We already tried that. Toilet locks do not work. Not for my son. And if you have a son or even a daughter like mine, then you understand what I mean. We have had every child proofing thing done to our house, and Eddie had found a way around it. Totally not kidding. So yeah, we had the toilet lock. He figured it out within two weeks.

I just really want this to stop. I'm going to have to start frisking my son before he uses the potty just to make sure he isn't carrying small flushable things on his person. Geesh. I hope the small action figure found his way through the pipes. Living in a large building with many apartments, I shudder to think of the negative ramifications of his actions, not to mention the monetary ones that follow suit.

Man, I love Twilight.

After reading review after review from my fellow mommies, I had to dig in. I ordered all 4 books at once. When I received them, I dove right in. 1 week and 3 days later I was finished with them. All 4 of them. And I was sad. I honestly did not want it to be over. So what do you do? What did I do? I started reading them all over again. I even read Midnight Sun (the unfinished book by Stephenie Meyers) that tells Twilight (the first book) from Edward's point of view. I read that one, right along with the first one. I'd read a chapter of each one at a time. I enjoyed each, thoroughly. And I can honestly say that I haven't been this hyped about books in a really long time.

So I am now nearing the end of book 4, Breaking Dawn. Once again, I will miss it. I just don't want it to end. Apparently I am not the only one who feels this way. There are endless fan websites set up for these books, and of course, unless you have been living under a rock, then you know there is a movie coming out too.

I am desperately hoping that I can find a great deal on my plane tickets so that we can fly back to the states just in time for the release of the movie. That would be so much fun! Wish me luck! In the meantime, I have taken this quiz, to see which character I am most like. As it turns out, I am closest to an Alice Cullen. Sweet. I liked her a lot in the books.

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Here is the trailer for the movie. (Mom, watch it. It's only 2 minutes long.)

OK, now for an update on our time situation. Today we set our clocks ahead one hour. I set this blog post to publish at midnight, but since we are losing an hour, that time does not exist. So I had to change it to 1 o'clock a.m. We were keeping time right along with eastern time zone, but now we are 1 hour ahead of eastern and 4 hours ahead of Mountain standard time (Arizona) for my family members. I'm not liking that at all. There are only a certain number of hours in the day that we can talk, especially with the difference. That kind of bites.

Unless of course, all the other time zones changed today too. But I don't know that for sure, I only know what happened here. Anyone want to clue me in if their times have changed? Thanks!

My yesterday.

3 cups of hot tea

2 cups of hot lemon, honey flavored water. No kidding, this was the best tasting water ever.

3 doses of ther-flu like drugs

and some glorious sleep.

I got what I sooooooo deserved, and my dh gets BIG TIME brownie points for this one. When his alarm woke us all up at 6 a.m. I looked over at him and asked, pleaded really, with him to stay home with us. He deliberated for a moment, maybe longer... And then he said Yes!!!

I haven't had a sick day like this since I lived with my mom. Or, maybe since before I had children. Dh even took the kids with him to run errands to the bank (the dollar is at 630 by the way, WHOO!!) and to the post office. So I got to lay around, sleep and have peace and quiet.

So good. I deserved it. And then our maid cooked us some meatball soup. Oh. My. That was delicious. And when we ran out of my favorite tea, she made me flavored water. Who knew it could taste so good?

So to update you guys who might be wondering about our possible tenants, the person who initially had interest, decided that he did not want the house after all. So I reposted our ad on Craigslist and got a few more bites. 2 couples came to look at the house yesterday and they both want it. One of them wants it right away, and the other, not for a month. So of course we want to go with the one who can start paying right now. They haven't signed the contract yet, I just found this information out last night.

And then my mother (wonderful lady that she is) got me something from my favorite kids store. The Children's Place, which is having an additional 30% off sale. If you have kids, you should check them out, they have cute stuff.

Mini back-packs for the kids. I love them! So thank you mom, I think the kids will be so happy to get these. Wish I could have been there. I'm sure we would have left the store with more. But then again, you know how I am! ;)

Oh and I think we may be getting our car next week. The civil registry office is back to work. And they already have our paperwork requesting license plates. (the last step in the process before they release it to us.) I can't wait!

Also, I am feeling a bit better today. I'm quite sure it is because I wasn't chasing after kids all day long, and I got to lay down and rest. I even got to watch Grey's Anatomy laying in bed, from my laptop. Seriously, laptops are the coolest things ever invented.

Wasn't I not feeling well?

Apparently somebody did not get the memo. Mommy isn't feeling well, play nice. The kids woke up at 6 am. Reeaally nice. Played on the bed, on top of me for another 10 minutes. Until I just couldn't take any more.

Breakfast. Eddie spilled his milk all over the table. It wasn't one of those easy spills where it just spilled on the table top. No, it went on the table, dripped off onto the chair, where it then ran off to the floor. In the corner. So I had to get down on my hands and knees to reach all of the mess. And to top it off. They don't have GOOD paper towels here. No Brawny, no quicker-picker-upper, no cute little cut to the size you need it. I'm serious. These are the worst paper towels that I have ever seen and used in my entire life. It took me 7 paper towels to clean up half a cup of spilled milk. They are horrid. And for that reason alone, I should pack my bags and come home.

OK. I know. I'm just having one of those days. My sister called. That was a cue to the monkeys. The children went wild. Screaming, singing, running and jumping like wild animals. I am not kidding. At one point during our conversation, I hid behind the couch in the living room. I sat on the floor and had a glorious 5 minutes to myself before they found me.

Later, lunch. Eddie refused to eat his sandwich that I made him. He spilled his orange juice. All over the table top, it ran off of the table, and on to the floor. Again with the stupid paper towels.

Before preschool...Eddie was climbing the furniture. Why? Why not? That's what monkeys do. They climb things. Like I said, climbing. I looked up in enough time to see his hands slip out from underneath him and see his chin slam into the corner of our wood dresser. I knew in a second that he would be screaming. I ran over to him, when I pulled him up, his lip was bloody. I ran into the bathroom with urgency. An urgency that didn't seem to have a concern for the location of my bathroom cabinet. My knee met the knob on the lower cabinet door under the sink with such force, it sent a wave of pain through my body that made me shake. As I cringed and fought off the pain that still sang up and down my nerve, I held my boy over the sink to wash off the blood. One legged and with my eyes squeezed shut, I had to pry them open to inspect the damage. It appears he had punctured his lip with the protruding corner of my dresser. I inspected a little further to find that the wound was only on the outside (thank God.) and it was pretty small. It's amazing how much blood can come out of a small cut.

Alas, he is fine. Alexa is sleeping. All is well with the world. Wait. Just a minute. I still don't feel well. Wasn't I supposed to be taking it easy or something?

I am SO BUYING SOMETHING BIG.

I crown myself Amazing Mommy.

Because even though I feel terrible, I have read "In a People House" by Dr. Suess, 5 times. And it's only 8 o'clock. I've been a human trampoline for my children. They don't get it when I say it hurts. They just keep throwing their bodies over me, on top of me, and climbing on me as if I were a metal structure at the park. They can't contain themselves. And I don't know how to make them stop.

I've broken up one nasty fight over the baby potty. Alexa has claimed it as hers. Yet on an occasion or two, Eddie will use it. He mostly uses the big potty. But today, he felt the need for the little one. It got ugly for a little while, but I had to side with the child who wasn't yet pee trained and let her have the baby potty to herself.

Oh yeah, and breakfast. I made breakfast too. Because I'm that good. And if I don't do it, who else will?

So today I crown myself Amazing. When the mommy feels sick, she must go way above and beyond any normal duties, because it is on days like these that she truly shines. I'm just patting my back here, because I'm sure my dh is blissfully unaware.

Now I have to go get my naked daughter dressed. She disrobed during the construction of this post. Please feel free to get back to your regular web surfing.