10 On Tuesday--What I Love About My Life.

My Aunt Jan has been sending us "10 on Tuesday" prompts.  I'm finally organized enough to participate.  It's Tuesday night here in Korea.  Here's my list of what I love about my life (and I'll add, RIGHT NOW.)

1.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It makes me who I am.

2.  These guys.

They also make me who I am.  I love the ages of the kids right now.  They are all still kids, but they are definitely growing up.  I love the added mental challenge that that "growing up" part brings to my job.  And the grown up guy there, I love our marriage.  We've almost been married 12 years, and I continue to be impressed that each year was more enjoyable than the previous year.  I hope we can keep making it that way.



3.  The Running Machine came back to life today!  Although my previous post was all about how it died, today it was alive.  And I have to say that I think I am much better suited to a slow death.  If yesterday's death was an indication that I must begin to prepare for the inevitable fate of my 10 year-old treadmill, then I appreciate the heads up, and I will begin now to prepare for the day when we are no longer partners.  But today I LOVED getting to run, even though I was at home, and even though my girls were home with me. 

4.  The Happy Quilt (the Korean warehouse that is 5.5 miles from my house where I get amazing designer fabrics for a ridiculously low price).  I love it more than I have words to express.  I say without joking to the Major that my life in Korea would not have been the same without Happy Quilt.  He knows it's true too.  That place represents happiness and excitement to me.  And the language barrier between me and the staff that I visit there weekly (or bi-weekly, don't judge!) is an unending source of entertainment as well.  Happy Quilt, I LOVE you. 

5.  That I get to sew almost daily.  I have found sewing to be my creative outlet.  And as it turns out, having a creative outlet is really, really important to me.  Love sewing.  Love it!!

6.  That I am in a state of perpetual motion all day long.  Apparently, I do not enjoy sitting down for very long.  So what a perfect fit my current job is for my need to always be moving and doing. 

7.  That I live on a little tiny Air Force Base.  For right now, I love it.  Nothing I NEED is further than a mile away (with the exception of designer fabric).  I rarely spend more than 10 minutes in my car per day.  I think I will miss that when I no longer live on a little tiny Air Force Base.

8.  That my "going out to eat" options are so very limited (Mostly because of food preferences.  If you loved Asian food, perhaps you think my location is paradise).  It has made us eat at home with so much regularity.  I think it's been good for all of us.

9.  That I get hand delivered, hand drawn love notes all day long.  With the exception of the fact that we are single-handedly killing the equivalent of a small forest weekly at our house, I wouldn't change a thing about it.  Their creativity.  Their happiness.  Their expression of the two together.  It's priceless.  I love it.  ( I will do my best to replant 1000s of trees in the future to make up for our waste from this time in our lives.)

10.  That my boys are learning how to play the piano.  It is not easy to have your kids learn to play the piano.  As many times as the say, "I want to quit".  I secretly think, I want the same thing, just to be spared the practicing and the whining.  But we persist.  And they are learning.  And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is a life lesson that if I stick with it, they will thank me for it through the ages.  So, I'm sticking with it.  I will not give up.  They are learning the piano.  And I know they LOVE it too. 

There you go, a few things I Love About My Life Right Now.

The Running Machine.

I've heard people name their treadmills.  I never did that.  If I thought hard about what I called my treadmill, the only name that comes to mind is, "The Running Machine".  I started using it when the boys were little.  The word "treadmill" meant nothing to them, but the term "running machine" was clear and to the point.  And so, the name stuck, two little sisters have been added, and many years later, and still all the kids refer to the treadmill as, "The Running Machine".  The room where the treadmill is located, is called, "The Running Machine" room.



Sometimes, throughout the years I've wanted to nix the nick name and transition everyone over to calling it the treadmill.  It's so many fewer syllables!  But change is hard on kids, so I get soft with them sometimes.  Besides, I like thinking that I am a "running machine", and that I share that in common with my treadmill.  So it is a bit endearing, as far as names go. 

In 2002 we moved from Germany to Syracuse Utah, so that Darin could be stationed at Hill AFB.  Shortly after arriving, I decided I was going to train for my first marathon.  But shortly after we arrived, Darin got deployed to a war, and I got left home with two little toddlers, and a big dream about a marathon.  Thinking I would shelf the dream for another few years, I was talking to my mother-in-law about how I'd wait to run my marathon when life was "easier".  When she suddenly said, "We have a treadmill, it's sitting in our storage unit.  It's brand new, no one uses it.  Let me bring it to you."

The memory of it all can still get me choked up.  And I will never forget the image of Darin's mom and her sister, lugging this ginormous treadmill down the steep stairs of our first home in Utah after Darin had been deployed, just so that I wouldn't have to give up on my dream.

Tell me you're getting a little chocked up too.  I have a sweet, sweet mother in law, who has always believed in my potential.

I wish I knew how many miles I've logged on The Running Machine.  It has to be many.  George is 8, and I've had it since he was 1.  That running machine has turned me back into a runner more times than I can count.  As I have staged my come back training from pregnancy, twin deliveries, nursing babies, deployments, moves, marathons etc.  That running machine helped me invent my motto, "it's never too late to run."  And saw me log miles starting at 11pm on some crazy days of my life with little kids. 




I got on the treadmill today after the girls went to school.  It was raining, and I'm spared having to go to the public gym (I have germ issues, so being spared that outing is priceless!!), because I can just run in the comfort of my own home (I'm comfortable with the germs that live here with me).

I had a new TV show downloaded to my ipod, hooked up to my flat screen TV hanging on the wall.  I had the window open.  It was Monday, so I was feeling sluggish and tired, but knew the run was going to be my cure-all.  I had just passed the three mile mark, when I decided I was going to walk a minute before increasing my pace.  I was walking, and then suddenly I was jerked to a stop.  The belt stopped moving.  At first I thought the fues had been popped, that's happened lots of times here in Korea.  But, the TV was on.  I got down on my knees to flip the power switch and see what was going on, when I felt the heat radiating up from the motor and smelled a bit of a burning smell.

The power never came back on.

The Running Machine stopped.

It might be dead.

It's most likely dead.

I might not be ready to talk about it yet.

R.I.P. Running Machine 

You have no idea how much you will be missed. 

And should the power on The Running Machine choose to never come back on, it's memory will live on with me indefinitely.



That was a really sad way to start off my Monday.  And now I'm a bit at a loss as to my Tuesday.  My Tuesday consists of waking up, getting the boys off to school. Having breakfast with my ladies.  Getting them situated with some sort of activity or distraction, while I get on "The Running Machine".  It's our routine, we have it down, and we all love it.  Tuesday might be harder than Monday.

They say that time heals all wounds.  And I'll find a new way to live out my motto "it's never too late for a run", but it's not exactly the challenge I was looking forward to in my remaining 84 days left in Korea!

Besides, did you know that they took away Jamoca Almond Fudge from our Baskin Robbins??  If the universe is trying to send me a signal that it's time to bit Adieu to Korea, let me just say, "I hear you loud and clear!" 

No treadmill and no Jamoca Almond Fudge?  Seriously?!  I think my fabric budget just got increased exponentially for the duration of our stay here.  I have some wounds I'm trying to heal! 


I'll leave you with some happier images for your Monday morning.  Spring soccer, and George: 

Could he look any more studly?

An action shot.  He's been a very aggressive goalie so far this season. 

And finally, I like to call this one, "George and the ladies".  Because let's be honest, I think I'm going to have lots of pictures in his lifetime called, "George and the ladies".

Ballerinas.

They had their first dance class today, and these pictures are cracking me up.  They each selected their outfit (actually Jane picked Ruby's for her.  She told me it was too itchy for her, so Ruby could wear it.  She's really sweet like that.)

They each told me how they wanted their hair to be fashioned. 

They each told me about all the ballet moves they already knew.

I told them not to tell their teacher about what they already know, and just to listen.  "Please girls, just listen".  I think I said, maybe 100 times. 

But their excitement was contagious.  It made Tuesday lots of fun. 

Knowing.

WE’RE GOING TO NORTH CAROLINA!!!!

Acceptance letter in hand.

I have never felt such happiness.

Darin tells me I have, but I have forgotten all previous moments of happiness, and have replaced them with this one.

North Carolina is going to be awesome.

Moving on.

Just when I thought there might not be anymore improving on THE chocolate chip cookie recipe, I got a call from my cousin.  Not only did she explain to me that there need not be any reason for a dessert, you can just have it, but she also informed me that there was another chocolate chip cookie recipe worth trying.  And this one was designed to carry inside of it two scoops of your favorite ice cream! 

And, she promised I could just make it on any random day of the week, for no reason!  It was liberating.  But, she did fail to mention that when children eat such a ginormous cookie ice cream sandwhich, that it's best to have that ice cream be vanilla, not chocolate, unless you want to do lots of stain removing.  So, let me add that advice on to her advice about this dessert.  Go ahead, Lisa says it's okay, just make them, and eat them, you know you want to.  Here's her recipe:

Ginormous Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Alternately named, "Lisa's Cookies":

2 c. + 2 TBS flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt


1 1/2 sticks of butter melted, and then cooled for a few minutes
1 c. dark or light brown sugare
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yoke
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips, or chocolate chunks

The method is basically the same as mixing your standard batch of cookies.  But these cook bake in an oven set at 325 degrees.  This recipe makes 18- 1/4 cup size cookies.  Measure out 1/4 scoops of dough onto two cookies sheets.  Put both cookie sheets into your preheated oven, at the same time, on two different racks.  Cook for 15-18 minutes.  But halfway through, rotate your cookie sheets, and switch them from one oven rack to the other.  Make sense?!

Let them cool for a bit.  Then fill with scoops of ice cream and serve.   Your family will love you forever for them.  Just like I'll love my cousin forever.

George asked me if this was a top secret, family recipe?

I don't believe too many things should be top secret, but I would guess the Major disagrees with me on that topic.

Ruby told me that when she grows up and has her own little kids, she's going to bake them these cookies for dessert too, that's how good they are.

 

But really, I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?  Our blog is stuck back on February 20th which was Ruby and Jane's 5th birthday.  Their actual birthday, not their birthday party.  

Our morning was filled with our typical early morning birthday party, full of surprises and presents from each of us.  Pink two wheeled scooters were obviously at the top of the list of exciting surprises!  These cute matching aprons came from Grandma Lark in Oregon.  The girls were thrilled to get them!  Darin does such a good job of photographing the birthday morning party.  The kids are going to treasure his photography and the moments that he captures.  Too many to post here.

Their party was followed up by our Ward's Primary talent show.  Of course the girls had to wear their birthday outfits again, and what talent might they be demonstrating?  Well, that would be ribbon dancing, of course.  They had learned it the day before, so it had indeed become a talent in those shorts 24 hours.  Lovely!

The boys worked long and hard on their Lego Star Wars stop motion movie.  They were a huge hit with the male 10-and under crowd.  All the other boys wanted to know how they did it.  I wish I knew how to post it here!

The talent show was followed up by dinner at Chili's, where Ruby mostly sat like this, convinced that the Chili's waitressing staff had forgotten that it was her birthday.  What a diva.

In the end, it wasn't really about the singing, it was mostly about the chocolate shake.  That makes a bit more sense, right?

The next day it was Dear Old Dad's birthday.  He turned 35.  What a guy.  Too bad I'm the photographer on this day, we have like three photos to show for it all.  He wanted a Kindle, so we got him a Kindle.  He wanted a traditional eggs, bacon, toast, hash browns and orange juice breakfast, so I made it for him.  He selected Chilaquiles Verdes for dinner.  So I made it for him!  And he honored his yearly tradition of the decadent Red Velvet cake, split down the middle with one half pecans, one half no pecans.  

George wanted to get him a scooter so that the whole family could scooter in the halls together.  And as if there wasn't anything the Major would rather do on his birthday, he scootered in the hallway with the children, until the neighbors asked them to please not scooter in the hallway anymore.

I love him so!  And the Chilaquiles Verdes recipe that he found, was seriously one of the most delicious meals ever to come out of our Korean kitchen.  Right down to the homemade corn tortilla chips that we fried ourselves.  Wileys, they tasted just like we were sitting together on your picnic blanket at the So. Pasadena Farmers market...if only we were.  Sigh.

Oh boy, now I think I can finally accept the fact that it is March 5th. 

P.S.  To my sisters, and my cousin, who is also my hair dresser, what the *&!@#$ has happened to my hair?!




It's like I can barely recognize myself.  I feel the need to introduce myself, "Hi, my name is Annee, I used to be blond, until I moved to Korea."

Oh, whatever, I'm over it.  Just had to vent for a moment.  Brunette is kind of cool too.

The night before.

I hope I get an "A" on my book report that is due in the morning.  I always get nervous the night before a big assignment is due. 

P.S.  And I feel sad, because I'm not sure that this picture even does justice to the work that went into this "book box".  

P.P.S Who comes up with this stuff for elementary school children??  Don't they know they can't make miniature furniture and books on their own?! 

P.P.P.S.  Please tell me you think the printed out head was a brilliant solution to the complaint, "But I don't know how to draw the main character, MOM!"  (and I hope you read that quote in your whiniest voice ever!)

Good night. 

The Party

The Outfits:

The lanterns!







The castle:



The cake:




The favors:



The stations:



Crown making.

Cookie decorating.  (Not pictured, princess coloring.)

Ending with ribbon dancing and music.

Blowing out the candles.

Now they are 5.

Sigh.

Too late to help.

We are in various stages of party prep all over the house, it seems. Somewhere along the line when we were discussing options regarding a "princess party", a vision of a box castle was mentioned. Sometimes I wonder why I mention my visions. My girls now think that a princess party won't even be fun without a giant box castle, even if it is just for decoration, as I've explained.

And because I can't seem to fall asleep amidst so much to do, I decided last night that one solid night of sleep would be important, so I took a sleeping pill. I think it took affect around 7am this morning. Which reminded me of the awesome time I tried to get an epidural, only it was too late, and didn't take affect until AFTER George was born.

Back to castle building, and giant cupcake cake making, and rose barrette finishing, etc., all with the courteous assistance of a sleeping pill.

This, that and the other.

Look who came to Osan this week?! That's Elder Dallin Oaks, of the Quorum of the Twelve and his sweet wife. They were also accompanied by Elder Hallstrom and Elder Choi of the Quorum of the Seventy, and their wives. After speaking at a conference in Seoul on Sunday, the group traveled to Osan on Monday for a tour of the base. Darin gave them a briefing about North Korea, and we were invited to attend lunch afterward. It was wonderful to be in the company of such great people.




And I was proud that when I mentioned my dad to Elder Oaks, he instantly knew him, and connected him to the work being done on the Rome temple. Pretty impressive.

Lately, Jane has been practicing doing her own hair. Here was her effort from the other day....


George's basketball season came to an end. He did a super job fully participating. It was at times hard to decide if that was because of his love of the game, or if it had to do with the $1-per-rebound offer made by his father. I'll let you be the judge. But I think George is pretty rich right now.

And finally, a little before and after of my latest organization project. I wish I were better at this sort of thing. Sadly, things usually have to get as bad as the "before" picture in order for me to realize that it needs to be turned into an "after" picture. I've got more to say about that, and I'm talking about my latest throw pillow over at Made on Maple. So if that's your sort of thing, you'll want to check it out.


Before:

After!

Winter lasts forever...

...but if you try hard enough, there are still a few moments of domestic bliss.


When I saw this scene through the lens of my camera today, that's when I thought I was having a pure moment of domestic bliss. My girls needed lunch. There was some arguing and crying involved. So many options were not acceptable. I was loosing patience, and simultaneously praying for just the right answer that was going to make everything okay, when "Crepes" popped into my mind. When I announced it out loud, all the tears stopped and hot chocolate was added to the menu. Perfect, I thought. I handled that perfectly. I sat them down to a plate full of hot crepes, a bottle of chantilly to do with as they pleased, and admired my piles of beautifully folded laundry. 12:23pm was looking good, chez Les Earnests!

Winter is entirely too long. It just is. I am a girl who loves all four season indiscriminately. I need them all to have complete happiness. But as it turns out, I need only a small dose of winter. Not a very large dose. In February, I need a few days that feel like spring. Even if it disappears and winter comes back, I just need a little something.

Korea can't deliver. The 10-day forecast has nothing above 32 degrees. But there was sunshine today. And the snow has melted, and it hasn't rained for a few days, so the puddles were even dry. That meant at about 3:45pm I could declare it time to go to the play ground.



Henry took his coat off, because it was getting in the way of his game. He's crazy and cool like that, and apparently takes his game really seriously. He asked me to donate my hat because his ears were cold. I told him no, mostly as a joke, but then I wasn't joking, because then my ears would get cold. And then I sat in silence for a bit thinking about how if I were a real mom, I would totally give my cold son the hat right off of my head. Why didn't I give it to him?!




It's weird, we were the only ones there. 23 degrees isn't too cold to be outside. Seriously, just try it. The kids lasted an entire hour. As long as I stood in the direct rays of the sun, I could keep smiling (my face was kind of frozen that way anyway).



Then, when all else fails, go to the flower market. I took the girls on Thursday. There was no other option. Before leaving, again I found myself praying, "let there be tulips, please, please, please".








So now I'm trying that trick again..."let it be spring, please,please, please, please".

TO BE CONTINUED...

I did it!

I cut their hair! It was LONG over due. They didn't even complain. They themselves had grown tired of the tangles and the tears. And I don't think they could look any cuter.

I also created a new dress. More details on that over at MOM.

Other than that, inspired by our cousin Sam, the boys and their dad have been trying to figure out how to make stop-motion-movies. They tell me they'll have one ready to share as soon as I get the tripod exchanged for one that's not broken (tomorrow, I promise!!). It was surprising how quickly they figured it out, and pretty fun to watch.

And, the Major and I busy trying to forget that he applied to University of Virginia (UVA) over a month ago, and it's possible that we'll be hearing back from them in the coming weeks.

We're trying to forget that, and act as if we're just busy with life as usual. But who can pretend to not care about where they are possibly moving to in about four months?! (Or in 131 days in case you are counting down?).

Dear Charlotteville, VA-

Am I going to be calling you home? I'd love to. Let me know.

Thanks.

Annee