Battfam Blog

Of Christmas Past

2012-01-10T15:46:00.000-03:30

A late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.

I can't say this first Christmas back was what we thought it would be. First of all, we were hoping for a white Christmas after three years of missing it. Secondly, both of us were sick in bed on Christmas day. We finally felt good enough to get up about 4 p.m. and got together with the family to open gifts. We had to postpone Christmas dinner to the next day which didn't really work because the entire family caught the bug, one or two of us at a time. We didn't even get together and play games once during the holidays. Enough whining though. It was still great to be with family for Christmas.

Because we don't have stockings to hang on the fireplace mantel so much anymore, I decided to change it up a bit. I promise it looked prettier than this picture shows, especially at night with the votives and candles lit.

I loved my new little wool felted Christmas tree and the snowmen.

I loved my old collection of carved Santas too.

The only gift I made this year was this big Idaho-shaped rice crispy treat I made for Russell. That's kind of sad, isn't it; maybe even pathetic.

Anyway, in spite of not quite being the Christmas we anticipated, I'm pretty sure we'll remember it for a few years to come.

Ghoul's Night Out

2011-11-16T04:24:00.000-03:30

Before Halloween gets too far behind us, I need to post some pics of a fun party we had. Rebecca, Kim, and I wanted to have get-together before Kim had the new baby. (By the way, he was born last Friday, 11/11/11. His name is Reed and he is such a cutie.)

It was just going to be a small gathering, but we kept thinking of fun people to invite and before we knew it, it turned into a pretty big bash,or should I say monster mash, and we still weren't able to invite all the fun people that we know.

We warned them all that some of the goings on might be shared, so here goes...

Our first two guests arrived in time to help us get things ready. Whew!

Kim dressed as a pregnant cat.

Rebecca was a triumphant sumo wrestler.

"Pat" showed up

as did the ever helpful Red Riding Hood.

Along came 2 witches and a nun,

another cute witch, and a sister wife, the pregnant cat again,

and a blast from the past "70's Chick."

A Southeast Asian farm worker with a very thick accent, who seemed to be a little suspicious at the time this picture was taken, was a great addition to the party,

as was this impressive Hula team.

Cruella D'evil's twin sister, a posed and poised party-goer, and a witch with hat problems showed up too.

The Cat in the Hat, an Angry Bird and a Cowgirl got in line for eats and treats.

We then went to the Batt cave for games.

Everyone tried Lucy's lip trick.

Little Red Riding Hood and the Hippie had a head stand contest.

The hippie won. Red Riding Hood's thought it was her age that impeded her but maybe it was just the cape.

We danced to Thriller. M J would have been proud of this side of the room.

But this side? Not so much.

The Great Pumpkin danced in to start the gift sharing. There were some amazing gifts.

Lady Luck was with Liz. She not only got the two-day-old pizza....

but the live mice as well.

Ramona took home the pig foot/back scratcher/possible Sunday dinner,

but not before Cassie had a turn.

Mandy left early so she was the recipient of this:

(a bag of giant marshmallows aka Ghost Poop)

That 70's chick took the mice home for her pet snake, but she had to fight the cat for them.

Sister Jeffs got the giant tub of cheese puffs. The children will be so happy.

And Mom finally got the tatoo she has always wanted.

We had a great time. Thanks everybody!

Cutest Trick-or-Treater

2011-11-01T03:13:00.000-02:30

Wanna see the cutest trick-or-treater that came by this year?

About 30 seconds after arriving he decided to be a Cowboy Stripper.

He wanted to play in his box we keep in the family room. I guess he found the cowboy costume a little inhibiting as he crawls in and out.

We did get him to pose for a second with the hat and chaps still on.

Grandpa had to try the hat.

Hope you all had a fun Halloween!

WAAAAAHHHHH!

2011-10-08T04:12:00.000-02:30

Did you want to see how my flowers looked Monday afternoon?

Okay, I'll show you.

Do you want to see how they look now?

I guess I can't complain. It was a really great fall. I just wasn't quite prepared for the devastation.

Hey, I've been busy procrastinating

2011-10-04T02:39:00.000-02:30

Someone keeps bugging me about why I haven't blogged for so long.

I don't really have a good excuse. We've been back home for 3 months. You would think I could get back in the swing of things. (As if I ever was in the swing of things.)

Anyway, I guess this little illustration pretty much explains it:

The only difference between me and the person in the illustration is that I get up earlier.

Maybe that makes it worse. I'm up longer and still don't get anything done. BUT....

I promise I'm going to do better.

Starting tomorrow.

Or maybe next week.

At Last

2011-06-11T23:06:00.000-02:30

I thought I would post some pictures of some of the things we've been doing for the last time.

Here is Alan settling up with Gean, our taxi driver in Juazeiro. We met him on the first trip there and liked him, so we just kept calling him to drive for us. He took us to his house a time or two to visit with his wife and two little girls. We took them American candy sometimes and they loved it.

Thanks for the safe trips, Gean. There were times I wished you would look at the road a little more while you were driving and visiting with Alan, but we always made it.

It was the last time I'll walk past Snow White and the Dwarfs on the way to our hotel room. (They always made me think of the yard with all the yard "art" on East River Road.) I never did understand how they worked in to the landscaping or general decorating theme of the hotel. Now that I think about it, I don't know if the hotel had a general decorating theme.

Good-bye, Juazeiro.

It was the last time I was signed up to fix lunch for the office elders.

Raimunda helped a lot.

The last time I'll be on an outing with a bunch of crazy, but great, sister missionaries.

The last time a large group of missionaries will sing to us and make us tear up.

The last time Brazilian men will come and pack up our stuff to ship home. I guess that was the first time too.

And I hope it's the last time I boil something dry while I am making a blog post. This apartment reeks! Not to mention that there won't be any potato salad tomorrow for lunch.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

2011-05-23T00:02:00.000-02:30

I've missed flowers. I've missed tulips and peonies and geraniums and petunias and sweet peas and more. I've even missed my flower boxes that I used to wonder why I planted because I had to water them every single day.

BUT

There are some pretty and interesting plants here too. Here are a few that I've taken pictures of:

There are a lot of spiky plants here. The only one I know the name of is the one on the left in the foreground. It is called Brazil plant. You can't tell from my great photograph, but each spike is round and firm. They look good in a pot,and I wish I could bring one home for a houseplant, but I doubt I could get it through customs.

The big round shaped one in the middle is one of my favorites, BUT, every leave has a tough, sharp thorn on the end of it. They could be vicious.

This isn't the finest specimen of this bush, but you get the idea. The blooms seem to last forever. This bush is at the airport. We go there all the time and I have never seen it without blossoms. That's what I call awesome blossoms.

I've tried a number of times to get a picture of this type of tree in bloom that really shows the intensity of the orange color. This doesn't come close, but it is as good as I can do. I hear that in other parts of Brazil they have varieties with yellow and red blooms, but I've only seen orange here. They are gorgeous.

Another very mediocre photo, but if you look closely you can see some yellow blossoms that hang in clusters from this tree. Also, you can see a plant with a very large leaf that uses this tree to climb on. I like the combination of leaf shapes and the variations of green colors.

This is a ficus tree. It's been trimmed to give it this full shape. I took a picture of it because it was an amazement to me. I've tried more than one of these in Idaho as a houseplant at one time or another. They always looked so great at the store and then when I brought them home the leaves would drop like crazy. I'm talking plug-up-the-vacuum-hose crazy.

Usually a few leaves would stay on the plant; just enough to make me think it might live. I would nurse it along until there would be only 7 or 8 leaves left. Then I would pray it would die so I could throw it out without a guilty conscience. There is nothing like a mostly dead houseplant looking back at you to make you feel bad about yourself.

Here are some more ficus trees that have grown big enough to shade cars. They are such show offs.

See what I mean about dead looking plants? They just aren't good for your self-esteem.....or their's either probably.

I took this picture when we were at the Missionarey Training Center in Sao Paulo. By using plants with varying colors of green and varying textures, they created some beautiful grounds without using flowers. (Those air conditioning things or what ever they are a not quite camouflaged, but, they probably look worse because I took the picture from above.)

I can't believe I don't have a better picture of the bouganville that grows so well here. It often cascades over the walls that are around all the houses. This one shows some of the variety in the colors, but if you want to see how vivid the colors are when it's at it peak, you'll have to look at some images on the Internet.

I can't leave this one out. It must be super hardy because it is in hedges everywhere, almost to the point that you take it for granted. It is always in bloom even in the dry time of the year.

And I couldn't leave out the plants in the pot holes here. They really aren't growing in the pot hole, though sometimes it takes so long for a pot hole to be fixed, I think a plant that size could. I haven't been able to figure out who puts the branches there to warn unsuspecting drivers, but I see it all the time. You can tell by the size of that pot hole, that their efforts are appreciated.

I guess when you paint houses such fun, vibrant colors, it sort of makes up for the lack of flowers, but, I'm still looking forward to them. I'm itching to get my hands back in the dirt, unless it's windy. Oh yeah.... the wind. I almost forgot about the wind.

Still Hanging In Here

2011-04-14T23:42:00.000-02:30

Just a quick update and a few pictures:

We've had a LOT of rain lately. Too bad I didn't take a picture of some of the downpours we've had or the streets when they look like rivers with so much water running through them, but I did get this picture of a group of missionaries after a District Meeting. This is not just a Mary Poppins pose. The sun was out by the time the meeting was over, but a couple of hours before, those umbrellas saved them from being soaked.

We said good-bye to the Cabral girls. They headed out to their missions this morning. We went to their setting apart last night and it was a neat experience. You don't see 3 sisters go on missions on the very same day too often. In fact, it was my first time, and probably my last.

We finally got some more North American missionaries. Visas are finally coming through. Yay! They had all been serving in missions in the United States while they were waiting. Three were lucky and got to serve in the Pocatello Idaho Mission for a while during the dead of winter. One of the others had been serving in Nebraska for 10 months. Half his mission is already over and he just got here!

AND

We got a nice big group at the regular transfer time too. One of them will have his brother for his trainer. We've had cousins working together here before, but this is our first set of brothers.

Earlier this week, we also said good bye to four good missionaries. It was time for them to leave us, head home, and get on with their lives. It is always a little hard to see them go. The elder wearing glasses missed his plane. That was the first time we ever had a missionary miss his plane home. I still haven't quite figured out how he did that. Oh well, after two years, what's an extra day? Right? Unless it was me or one of my kids.

Now that I think about it, we did have something like that happen. When Russell was coming home from Lithuania, his plane got to Salt Lake too late for him to make his connection to Idaho Falls and he had to stay over in Salt Lake and come the next morning. We were bugged, but we all lived through it.

Speaking of bugs, how do you like this guy?

I think it's an albino cockroach, but Alan thinks I'm crazy. All I know is that it is whitish, can move fast like a cockroach, and was big enough that I could see it on the parking lot from the car. That's enough to make me get the camera out, snap a shot, and run.

Catch you later.

Got Spuds?

2011-04-04T00:05:00.000-02:30

Becca says all I ever write about is food and maybe she's right, but I thought I would share this photo of Alan really appreciating his potatoes and gravy. Does that look like a contented face or what? I took this picture a few months ago, but today when we had potatoes and gravy he had the same look on his face. The guy loves the stuff.

I mean really, who smiles at their food? Do you?

Why I Feel Like Doing This

2011-03-11T16:10:00.001-03:30

Rodrigo called.....They gave me back my points....I get to use my R$100......Yeah! I have until April 10th, but Alan says we're going to the store tonight before Francisca da Souza hears about it.

Truth be told...I feel like doing a cartwheel, but probably the best I could come up with is a somersault, and that might be a little off to one side.

72 Hours and Counting

2011-03-05T22:14:00.000-03:30

In case you are wondering what took me so long at the grocery store the other day, I'll tell you. This may need a little background.

It all started shortly after we got here. Every time I went to the grocery store the checkout clerk asked me if I had a Cartao Mais. I always answered, "Nao." At first I didn't know what the clerks were talking about, which was not surprising because the reality of it was that I didn't know what anyone was talking about. But soon I sensed that a Cartao Mais was something desirable. Maybe it was the pitiful way the clerk and the people in line looked at me when I said I didn't have one. It made me feel like a kid in Junior High in the 80's that didn't have a Trapper Keeper.

I started to desire a Cartao Mais.

Since I couldn't find a picture of a Cartao Mais, I thought this would do. It is from Brasil and written in Portuguese at least.

So I asked the elders in the office about it and they filled me in. Cartao Mais was a card for shoppers so they could collect bonus points that would be worth X amount of $ in groceries when you collected a certain amount. Being the ~~sucker~~ savvy shopper that I am, I knew I had to have one. What would my sister Lucy, the undisputed queen of Bon Bucks, think of me if I did not sign up for a card and try to get free stuff.

So I did.

At first it was great. I quickly earned points because you have to buy a lot of food when you are feeding missionaries. Before I knew it I had earned 5,000 points; enough to get R$50 worth of food for free. I was thrilled when I cashed in my points. I almost called Lucy.

Then they changed the program. Instead of getting R$50 at 5,000 points, it took 6,000 points to get R$50. BUT if I waited to cash in my points until I earned 9,000 points, I could get R$100. When they changed the program, I no longer needed the actual card. All I had to do was register my CPF number. It's equivalent to our SS number. Every time I went to buy stuff, the clerk punched in the numbers and before long I was racking up points again. I decided I was in no hurry and I might as well go for the R$100.

Late in January, I finally had 9,000 points. It was redemption time.

The next time I went to the store, I presented the clerk my receipt that showed my points and said I would like to use them. She told me I needed to call their headquarters in Sao Paulo first so that I could redeem them.

Can I just say here, that I love Brazil and all, but if there is a hard or complicated way to do retail business, they will choose it every time. But when in Brazil, I do as the Brazilians do.

So a few days later I called the 1-800 number the clerk at the store had given me to get permission to redeem my points. The lady on the phone said I had 30 days to spend the R$100. Thirty days? That should be easy.

Next trip to the store, I gathered up the things on my list and headed for the nearest cashier. My total was R$46.73. I told her I wanted to use my points. I was secretly hoping the person behind me in line would see that I was going to get my groceries for free and think I was a little bit awesome.

My delusions of grandeur were crushed when the cashier told me that I needed to use all R$100 in one transaction. The eager smile on my face disappeared and I stood there in stunned silence. I was informed that I could go ahead and use the points on the groceries I had that day, but I would lose the rest of the R$100 credit.

No way was that going to happen.

So I paid the R$46.73 and went home. I knew we had two dinners back to back coming up before the 30 days was up and I would use my R$100 then.

Last Saturday morning I went in armed with the list of groceries I needed for the dinners. I filled my cart, adding things up in my head so I would know I had reached the R$100 mark, and headed for the cashier. The total was R$128.78. I told the cashier I would like to use my credit today. She punched in a few numbers and said, "You don't have any credits to use. My computer screen says the points were used yesterday."

Now, I am usually a mild-mannered person, and under the circumstances I think I acted in accordance with that image, or delusion, whatever it is, that I have of myself. However, had I been drawn as a cartoon at that moment, there definitely would have been steam and or smoke coming out of my head. I wasn't giving in on this one.

The cashier turned me over to his manager who got on the telephone and called store headquarters in Sao Paulo and turned me over to someone there. The woman on the other end of the line had a lot of questions. She was a pretty tough cookie herself, but I insisted that I had not used the credit, and that I was not accepting this as a final answer. She finally said they would investigate and call me back within 72 hours.

72 hours = 3 days, right?

After 5 days and still no phone call, I went to the store again and found the manager on duty. His name was Anderson and he was very nice. I, too, was nice. He called their headquarters again. They said that a certain Francisca da Souza had used my credit and they had the receipt she had signed. They asked if I knew her. I told them that I did not, and of course, I don't. BUT... I would like to be introduced. Though I probably wouldn't have a sufficient vocabulary in Portuguese to tell her everything I would like to, I'm pretty sure she would get my drift.

So as of today, this still isn't resolved. Rodrigo from the store headquarters in Sao Paulo is investigating a little further and he will call me in 72 hours.

I'll be waiting.

You Know It's Time to Buy a New Sand Turtle When...

2011-01-21T19:56:00.000-03:30

Your old one can't even hold his head up, his shell is dusty and faded and he loses sand every time you move him.

I've been on the lookout for a replacement and Lady Luck was with me today.

I know, I know. I swore I wouldn't by stuff off the street again after this sad incident, but today when I stopped at a stoplight, I looked over and saw a row of fabric sand turtles looking back at me. Their glued-on sequin eyes caught my eyes. It was meant to be.

Luckily I had some cash with me and I purchased 4 of these beauties on the spot. The transaction was swift and nobody even honked at me. (That was really lucky.)

I promise I haven't lost touch with my Mini Bazaar senses. I know these are not cute or fashionable for the home, but they are very functional. We always have the windows and sliding door open so we can get a little breeze through the apartment. When the breeze catches the bedroom doors just right, they SLAM shut with an amazing force. Remember this other sad incident?

Anyway, to prevent the doors from slamming or from having to use canned goods as door stops, I bought 4 little sand turtle buddies today and I'm pretty excited about my purchases.

Door stop turtles rock!

(That's especially for you, Becca, since you are the one that thought the cans of peaches and pumpkin as door stops were a little tacky and weird.)

P. S.

I just noticed the my new turtle has lost his sequin eye. I'll have to see if I can find it, and in case you are wondering, yes, that is a fabric yo-yo on the top on its head for a hat. I guess the little fella has style after all.

Another P. S.

These little guys are a little too heavy to be packing home on a plane, so you can all relax. I won't be bringing you any for souvenirs or gifts.

One More P. S.

Maybe I should have titled this post "You Know You've Been Away from Mini Bazaar Too Long When You Buy A Turtle Door Stop."

That's kind of a long title though.

Wrapping up Christmas 2010

2011-01-05T19:54:00.001-03:30

I realize these are not the best pictures, but they are the best I have so I am going to post them. I also realize that Christmas 2010 is sooooo over, but I did start this post just after Christmas if that is worth anything.

The picture above is of a choir from our stake that performed at a local mall. They positioned themselves between the up and down escalators and sang beautifully. It really sounded nice in the open space and put us in a Christmas mood just a few days before Christmas.

They put up a big fabric tree every year in a little park in the center of a roundabout that is on our beaten path. Every year it is a slightly different style. They have been quite impressive.

Hiper was way into creating trees out of their products this year. Here is a tree created from boxes of candy.

Here is one created out of bottles of green olives.

Here is the Coca Cola tree in progress. This tree building looked like risky business to me, but in an all out effort to celebrate the season and sell more Coke, it had to be done.

The Quaker oatmeal tree,

the wine or champagne or some other alcoholic beverage tree,

and last, but not least, the tree of canned corn and peas.

My favorite tree this year was one they had outside one of the malls. It was covered with lighted toy trains, wreaths and stockings all on a huge metal frame. We thought the rope light-wrapped palm tree was cool too.

Apologies again for photography that is on the minus side of the scale of good photography. I think I either need to take better pictures or quit blogging.

You Put Your Right Foot In

2010-12-26T18:00:00.000-03:30

When we took the missionaries to the beach it was the perfect opportunity to take a picture of some of the sisters' feet. You can tell who has been here for a while and who arrived recently. If you look closely, you can also tell who has served in Baturite, where the mosquitos seem to be especially aggressive.

Maybe I should remind the sisters to use sunscreen on their feet. I don't know that they would though. Their tan lines are sort of a badge of honor.

Christmas Mystery II

2010-12-20T14:03:00.002-03:30

You know how some people have Christmas miracles? Well, we seem to have Christmas mysteries.

Last year we had Christmas Mystery I when we received a lot of gifts from an unknown giver. This year our mystery involves an unknown taker.

We have a hall tree just outside our door in the hall of our apartment building. Each floor of the apartment building only has two apartments and most people put some sort of furniture or mirror or decorations outside their door.

This year I decided to hang our Christmas stockings on the hooks of the hat rack/umbrella stand thing in the entry. When we left for church yesterday morning it looked like this:

When we got back from church, it looked like this:

I asked Alan, "Hey, what did you do with your stocking? Did you move it?" (Up to that point, we hadn't really decided which stocking was his and which was mine, but since the red one was missing, I decided the green one was mine.)

I thought he might have taken the red one and hidden it in one of the drawers in the hall tree or something to tease me, but he said he didn't. Of course I checked all the drawers anyway and looked around in the hall and elevator. It wasn't to be found. When we came back from a fireside last night, it was still missing.

We were bugged.

Who would have taken it and why?

Why take one and not both?

Who wants an empty Christmas stocking?

We couldn't think who would have taken it because we get along fine with the other people that live on our floor. Well, pretty fine. There has been a little coolness between us since their dog left poodle puddles in front of both our front and back doors and I told them about it, in a nice way, because I didn't think I should have to clean it up. I'm not the one with the ~~stupid, yappy, hyperactive pet~~ fluffy, white, poodle.

So, after my shower this morning, I thought I would go check and see if elves had returned it in the night and sure enough, they had. We have no idea who took it, where they took it or why they took it. We only know that now we're back to this:

And we hope it stays that way.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY !

True, but Sad Story

2010-12-12T23:18:00.001-03:30

I bumped in to What Not to Wear on the television the other day and decided to watch it. I don't know why, but I like that show. Anyway, as I am watching the part where they secretly film the unsuspecting victim and describe her fashion faux pas what do I see?

My blouse; my sort of special blouse. The girl with no fashion sense was wearing a blouse just like one I have that I think is kind of special.

I've got to tell you that it hurt quite a bit when they got to the part of the show where they picked it up off that rack of clothes, made a snarky comment about it, and tossed it into that big metal garbage can.

CLUNK!

I've been trying not to let it damage my self-esteem, telling myself that it's okay because I am a lot older than the girl on the show and I am wearing especially conservative clothes right now so it's okay for me.

AND

What do Stacy and Clinton really know anyway? I personally think that a person can have too many argyle sweaters or vests and maybe someone ought to mention that to Clinton. (Though Stacy is the one wearing the argyle in the picture above.) And even though that white streak in Stacy's hair is natural and she feels it's part of her identity, it can be a little too Cruella deVil "ish" at times, don't you think?

AND

While we're talking dogs, I may have a pathetic wardrobe, but at least I don't have a dog that I dress up in ridiculous clothes like the girl on the show did.

But still....it will never be the same . I'll never be able to wear that blouse again without feeling extra frumpy. I'll be looking over my shoulder for a hidden camera or to see if Stacy and Clinton are sneaking up behind me.

I really had no idea about all the insecurities that come with growing older.

It sort of bites.

A Follow-Up (but try not to throw up)

2010-12-01T21:38:00.000-03:30

I thought I would post a picture of the yams I made for Thanksgiving dinner. Try not to gag. As I said in the previous post, I had my doubts about them. When I opened the can and saw their color, I should have listened to the little voice in my head that was saying, " Don't waste the marshmallows and brown sugar on them," but I didn't.

Alan suggested that I NOT put them on the dinner table and I thought it was good advice. I did work up the courage to try a forkful. I didn't get sick or anything, but there was a definite metallic taste. It's probably unavoidable after 11 or 12 years in a can.

On a brighter note, I liked the way the pumpkinish thing and apple with candle decoration turned out. I guess you win some and you lose some.

T Day

2010-11-24T22:41:00.000-03:30

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

For the past two years we haven't really celebrated Thanksgiving in the traditional way with turkey and dressing and all that good stuff. Last year we ate fish; more like the pilgrims really did, or so I hear.

This year we decided to go for it. I bought a frozen chester, which, as near as Alan can tell from his search on the Internet, is just a big chicken with a a lot of breast meat. Hence, the name Chester. I bought a deboned one because it was half the price of the other ones and I figured I wasn't paying for bones either, so it would be a really good deal. We'll see how that goes. I'm crossing my fingers. Right now it looks kind of like a deflated turkey costume that someone left in a pile on the floor.

This one is for me. I always love a good belly-button joke.

The other challenge with this dinner is the lack of ingredients that it takes to make a traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner. No cranberries for sauce, not even cranberry sauce in a can. No celery for the stuffing and no Stove Top in case you wanted to go that route. No canned pumpkin or evaporated milk for pies. No yams, at least not orange ones. The sweet potatoes here are sort of a light purple. After you cook them they turn a gray color. As a general rule, I try not to eat gray food. Although I ate my share of gray-frosted sugar cookies while I was growing up. ( Lucy used to try to get creative with her food color combinations and as I recall, most of them turned out gray.)

This one is for all the Idaho relatives who are freezing their tails off right now.

We actually have imported items to try to make this at least resemble a Thanksgiving dinner. The only problem is that I had the kids send stuff we had in our storage room at home. From the date we had written on top of the can, it looks like we bought the pumpkin in 2006. It has an expiration date of April 2009, and it's not bulging or anything. I'm not too nervous about it. I may let Alan and/or the missionaries go first on the canned yams though. It looks like we bought those in 1999. Canned yams aren't my favorite anyway. ( I also can't figure out how I missed donating those for the Scouting for Food drive all those years.)

This one is for Alan. He's out on the treadmill as I type. He is way excited for the pie tomorrow.

Wish us luck!

TRICK OR TREAT

2010-10-29T22:14:00.000-02:30

I really didn't have anything major to do today, so I decided to make donuts so we could do some reverse Trick-or-Treating. That was my excuse anyway. They weren't picture perfect, but they were pretty good eating, if I do say so myself.
I made glazed ones because I planned to take some to a family in our ward who had visited the U. S. and loved the donuts there. I figured glazed would be most likely what they had eaten. I made some sugared ones because Alan likes those, and I like to spoil him a little. I made some with maple frosting because those are my favorite and I like to spoil myself too.
I was having a little trouble keeping the temperature steady so they came out in varying shades. I decided that was okay here in Brazil because that is how the people are; varying shades.

On Sunday afternoon we made caramel apples for a Halloween party in one of the wards. My friend is the Y. W. president and she wanted to have some traditional treats for the party. It's not something they celebrate much here, so she asked for my input. I told her donuts and apple cider were probably the most traditional, but since you can't buy either of those here, I offered to make the apples.

She was going to be out of town for the weekend on mission related business. Her husband is in the mission presidency and they were doing some auxiliary trainings in another city. I thought making 25 caramel apples was a pretty good trade off for not having to prepare and give training meetings, especially since their three kids, that were home alone for the weekend, came to help with the job.

Alan pitched in too and before you could say BOO!, we were done.

I snapped a picture of the youth decorating the room for the party. Becca got a steal of a deal on some Halloween decorations after Halloween last year. She sent some balloons, napkins and some of those stretch spider webs and they put them to good use. Speaking of spiders...

This big fella was in our living room a few weeks ago. Sorry about the blurry picture, but I was in a hurry for Alan to kill it and I didn't take time to focus. I think you get the idea though. EEEEEEEK!

The Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-08T17:39:00.000-02:30

I've been having a little fun making us a pumpkin patch. I've been teased by both my husband and my daughter about my little project. BUT given the resources at hand and how long it has been since I made anything, I think I like the results. We need a little Halloween at the "Bat"t house, don't you think? I got the idea from here. http://notsoidlehands.blogspot.com/search/label/Halloween

Comings and Goings On

2010-09-21T22:58:00.000-02:30

Just a few photos of what we've been doing lately. We attended a zone activity on the last P-day of the transfer. The church owns a really nice place in the hills that are close to the city. The property is within this zone and so it was the perfect place for them to meet to relax a little and have a churrasco (barbeque).

A lot of the Brazilian elders know how to use these outdoor grills. The North Americans just sit back and let them go at it. As you can tell, I was a lot of help too. It's definitely a man's job here in Brazil to do the outdoor cooking and I think the elders feel pretty manly when they do it. When you ask one of the Brazilian missionaries what their favorite food is, they usually answer churrasco. It's popular here, but even more so in southern Brazil, I understand.

Elder Neves is just putting a couple of pineapples on the grill. It is really good especially with cinnamon on it. They also cooked some chicken and other sausage-type things and grilled some bread that was pretty good. I brought some brownies with a layer of marshmallow and frosting on top. That was about as close to s'mores as I could get.

It has been really dry lately and the grass and trees show it. I hope they can survive because the drier and hotter part of the year is just starting. The trees on the hills behind are usually green and beautiful, but everything was pretty brown. In fact on the other side of that hill there was a pretty good sized brush/forest fire that day. You can sort of see the haze in the sky. You can't tell from this picture just how big this place is. They have about 8 or 10 of those lovely shelters with the fireplace things in them with tables and sinks. There are restroom/shower facilities in various places there and a few other nice buildings. All 13 stakes that are here share it, so I guess it has to be big.

This is our "going home" group. This time of year it seems like we always have some that have to leave a little early to get back to school, so we had a pretty small group left by the end of the transfer. The airline schedules were so varied and crazy, we had to have the farewell dinner for them on Sunday afternoon. We will miss these good missionaries.

On Monday morning, it was transfer day. The missionaries meet in the parking lot at a church near the office and make the switches. They also like to visit with their old companions and mission friends. It's a fun time for them, but we try to move them along pretty fast. There is work to be done, you know.

This is only a small part of the missionaries and suitcases I saw when I pulled up, but I just couldn't get a picture of it all. Quite often members from the wards will come down so they can help the missionaries get their luggage hauled. It is so nice of them. For some reason, the city buses won't let them get on with those big suitcases. If you've seen a crowded bus in South America, you probably understand why.

On Tuesday we dealt with more luggage when we met the new elders at the airport. Today we got a great group of eight, all Brazilians. We all go to our apartment and have a sit-down dinner and get acquainted a little bit. We will get one North American tomorrow. They are having trouble getting visas again so a lot of the North Americans are going to the MTC in Provo for training while they are waiting for visas. Sometimes they get stuck there for quite a while and then just trickle in as their visas arrive. It sort of puts a kink in our system, but what are you gonna do?

And that's what we've been up to lately.

Anticipation, Anticipa-a-tion

2010-09-08T01:10:00.000-02:30

Sometimes we get hungry for restaurant food we used to get occasionally at home. (We only talk about it 4 or 5 times a week. Or maybe a day.) We think the restaurants are a little expensive here so we don't go out too often. But, recently we saw this advertisement and thought Hallelujah! There is a place we can buy deep-fried, battered shrimp. Let's go! (We had asked before at a couple of other restaurants if it was available, and they acted like they had never heard of such a thing.)

We made plans, talked about it all day, and decided to take along our bottle of cocktail sauce we had imported from home. We headed out at about 6:30 or 7:00, which is early by Brazilian standards. We got seated quickly, and ordered quickly because we knew what we wanted. It didn't take long for our waiter to come back with our order. It was about this time we realized we had forgotten to bring our cocktail sauce, but no worries. We could see that it was a lot of food and we just figured we would eat some of the shrimp there and then ask for a box and take the rest home to eat with the sauce.

It looked great. The shrimp were all lined up around the outside of the serving dish atop some pretty rice and vegetables with some potatoes in the middle. (I just realized that I 'm not sure whether I should say shrimp or shrimps and use was or were. I guess I will look up the plural form later.) Anyway, Alan beat me to the first shrimp. He took a bite. I waited for a reaction. I honestly thought he was going to cry, and he said he almost did.

But alas, not for joy.

Each shrimp had been split and filled with what we later found out was catipury cheese before it was battered and fried. I think Alan described it pretty well when he said it was like biting into a nice, juicy shrimp that had been covered in a generic brand of Easy Cheese. I thought the texture was more along the lines of Elmer's Glue. ( Not that I've eaten any since elementary school, but that's what came to mind.)

So we ate the potatoes, of course, stirred the rice around a bit, and asked for a box. Before we left the restaurant Alan asked if we could order the shrimp another time without the cheese. The waiter said, "No because we just buy them frozen. They come that way."

Pre-frozen shrimp and we are 50 yards from the ocean? Talk about a double whammy! Actually, triple whammy if you consider the price we paid.

When we got home we made some incisions, squeezed the cheese out and enjoyed some nearly cheese-free shrimp WITH imported cocktail sauce. Not too bad, but there was a certain air of sadness, bordering depression as we ate.

It's still hard to talk about.

Mini's Brazilian Cousin?

2010-08-13T21:06:00.000-02:30

I spied this banner the other day and had to take a picture. Who knew I would end up so close to Mega Bazar after all those years at Mini Bazaar. I might just have to go check it out.

Where do the Hours Go?

2010-08-07T19:18:00.001-02:30

I ran across this little cartoon while I was trying to clean up my Inbox today.

Isn't this the truth or am I the only one that has this problem?

It also really reminded me of this picture:

I don't know why I like this picture of Mom so much. I know I have posted it before, but I had to put it on again when I was reminded of it.

Hold the Cheese Please

2010-07-30T01:02:00.002-02:30

I wonder how many of the weird misconceptions about what Mormons believe get started like this:

Recently a Burger King opened right across the street from the mission office in Fortaleza, Brazil. The missionaries were quite excited about it and the new Burger King has had a lot of business from nice, clean-cut, young men wearing white shirts and ties and a black name tag. The president of said missionaries has enjoyed a fair amount of Whoppers in the last couple of months. (In his defense, it is difficult to resist the aroma of the flame-broiled beef wafting through the window of your office, especially when you can "have it your way.")

Said president always orders his Whopper "his way"...without cheese.

Why no cheese? Because a) he doesn't really like the taste of it, b) they take 10 centavos off the price, and c) you have to cut calories somewhere.

The wife of said president doesn't care to have fake cheese on her hamburger either and also orders the Whopper without cheese. Recently, she ate there with a sister missionary that opted out of the cheese too.

A few days later one of the managers at Burger King approached the president with a stack of coupon cards that are punched when a sandwich is purchased. After a certain amount of purchases a "free" sandwich is earned. When the manager finished explaining the coupon card, he leaned in close, lowered his voice a bit and said, "And you know, we can make all of these sandwiches 'sem queijo' (without cheese)."

The president was amused that the manager thought that members of the church didn't eat cheese. He shared this story at a stake conference where he talked about how church members should share their beliefs with friends, family, and neighbors and clear up some of the crazy misconceptions that people have about Mormons.

Shortly after, during a baptismal interview, the missionaries asked a man, who had attended said stake conference, if he understood the limitations of the Word of Wisdom. He answered, "Yes, I know that alcohol, drugs, tobacco, and coffee and tea are off-limits, but what's the deal about cheese?"

So, I don't know if it is one of those misconceptions that is going to get out of hand or if I need to notify Elder Ballard that he might want to consider adding to his "Fact List" from his excellent talk that Mormons do, indeed, eat cheese. All I know is that when Rebecca and I went to Burger King the other day the girl took our order and then said, "Now that's without cheese, right?"

A Toast to the World Cup

2010-07-02T17:49:00.000-02:30

Brazil's next soccer match in the World Cup is due to start in half an hour. I'm already hearing some random horn-blowing and the traffic is starting to thicken as people are getting back home to watch the game. I tell you, everything comes to a halt during the games here. Stores, offices, and businesses close; even the buses stop. It's CRAZY!

Well, I'm back. (You probably didn't even know I left.) I had to stop blogging for lunch and the game. It just ended and Brazil lost, 2-1, to the Netherlands. I didn't even know they played soccer in the Netherlands. Aren't they supposed to be growing tulips or something? Anyway, the party is over for Brazil. Too bad, because they were having such a good time and I was hoping for a match-up between Brazil and the pretty boys of Argentina when Rebecca comes down next week. There is a pretty intense rivalry between the two countries and that would have really amped things up.

I've been taking pictures when I've been out and about that might explain some of the excitement that Brazil has for the World Cup and soccer (futebol) in general, I think.

Tons of cars have been flying these little Brazilian flags. I thought the super-fans were the ones sporting two flags, but then I saw this:

A car with four flags; one for each door.

There were guys at every main intersection selling flags and other World Cup stuff.

Even one of the guys that goes around pulling a cart gathering stuff to recycle from garbages bought a flag or two. (Or got them somehow. They do work at night quite often.)

We had to go around the block to get a shot of this bike a guy was riding. By the time we got back, he had parked it and gone in the pharmacy. I don't know if you can see all the time he put into it. It even had a little roof for shade over the top. I don't know how he could even see through all the streamers.

People had parties with friends and neighbors to watch the games.

People at the airport welcome visitors and share their enthusiasm.

Stores, restaurants, and even the gas stations got in the spirit of things and decorated.

Lots of neighborhoods put up streamers over their streets. At first I thought maybe the city was doing it, but I kept seeing older bare-bellied men up on ladders stringing up the decorations, and found out it was just something neighbors got together and did. We drive through this area that I call "The Hood" all the time. Let me tell you, "The Hood" went all out.

They started out with the streamers,

The next week there were more streamers plus the flags,

and the painted poles and walls that are around peoples' houses.

Here's a close-up of one of the walls. Who wouldn't want a mermaid with the thumbs up signal on the front of their house?

The boys in "The Hood" were caught up in the excitement after one of the games. I think the ball just got kicked into the street as I took this picture. I never could get a good picture of the street itself. Somehow, they even painted big flags and other stuff on it. They must have done it at night, because there is a lot of traffic on that narrow little street.

Even the richer folks got into it. Somebody hung this big Brazilian flag out of their high-rise apartment with a couple of smaller flags on the sides. (I thought they were Italian, but looked them up and found out the stripes are vertical on Italy's flag. There are too many flags that are quite similar and I didn't have the patience to figure out which country they represent. If you are interested or bored you can go here and see if you can tell.)

We got into the World Cup fever a little ourselves and decorated the table for a get-together we had with a bunch of parents and grandparents and other relatives of missionaries that were going home. I forgot to take a picture of the table before the party, so things look a little trashed.

Six different missionaries had relatives here and we had nice evening; visiting, eating, listening to testimonies, and saying good-byes. It is always a little hard saying good-by and we will really miss this group. They were obedient, hard-working, loving, and effective missionaries.

The World Cup will be held here, in Brazil, in 2014. I think some of the games will be played in the big stadium here, in Fortaleza. I can only imagine the World Cup fever then. We might have to come back just for the fun of it all.

Dad's Food Fads

2010-06-20T22:58:00.003-02:30

I thought I would acknowledge Father's Day this year by talking about some of Alan's food fads and favorites. I honestly can't remember all of them over the years, but I'll just mention a few.

One of the things he has been excited about since we've lived here is access to delicious watermelon at a fairly decent price year-round. He also had a few food fears, like salmonella, so this picture shows him washing a humongo melon with soap before we cut it and devoured it.

Zorro left his Z and Alan always leaves his fork in the rind, like a flag raised by the conquerer. It's sort of his signature move, I guess.

Alan rarely eats "the bowl." That's what my dad called the ends of the watermelon. He liked watermelon too and always ate it with a knife, not a fork or a spoon. Somehow Dad convinced us that the bowl was the coveted piece of the watermelon, second only to "the heart." It wasn't until I was grown up that I figured out that the bowl really isn't that good. I guess I got off track a little with that story, but since it is Father's Day, I hope you'll allow that.

Then there is Alan's famous fudge. In Idaho, certain types of weather, usually cold or rainy, triggered a "fudge day." Sunday afternoons were quite often "fudge days" too, especially in the winter. Even without the cold, we've had quite a few "fudge days" here too, until recently when he got on a health kick. (That is probably using the term, health kick, loosely.) He hadn't made a batch for a long time, but to celebrate Father's Day, he made some yesterday. The fudge recipe, which Alan has memorized, is one that his dad used to make when he was a kid, so it was fitting for Father's Day.

This photo captures his two most recent food fads, homemade tomato juice and coconut water. He boils up a big pot of tomatoes and blends it; seeds, skin, and all and freezes it. He just thaws it and drinks it and thinks it's great. The green things on the counter are the coconuts. He saws the ends off, puts a hole in it with a scary-looking tool made especially for that, and drains the coconut water into a big glass. Supposedly agua de coco has a lot of potassium and other health benefits. I think it is an acquired taste, which I haven't acquired yet.

So here is the Father's Day Portrait for 2010; Alan with his a coconut that just gave him 3 cups of coconut water. (That's a lot for one coconut). You can see the peeled potatoes on the counter ready to get made into potato soup, another long-time favorite food. He still has fudge on a plate in the refrigerator. Life is good.

AND

AS A FATHER'S DAY BONUS

Who said you can't teach an old Dad new tricks?

Guess who did all these dishes and stacked them to drain so ~~precariously~~ creatively? (Our kids probably won't believe that he did them.) He ~~never~~ rarely did dishes at home. I didn't really mind because I didn't really help him with his sheep either, but, here is proof. He knows how and he does a good job.

I can think of a few more of his food fads, like the fruit drinks, and his favorites, like the hot milk and toast. I'm sure I missed a few though. If you had the pleasure or the misfortune (depending on how you want to look at it) of sharing in one of them leave a comment and refresh my memory.

New Chapel

2010-06-08T22:21:00.001-02:30

This is the new chapel that was recently dedicated in Juazeiro.

The Church really uses quality construction methods and material.

It is so nice.

The inside is really nice too. (There is another bank of pews on the left side too, but it wouldn't all fit in the picture.) This room has air conditioning built right in so it is quiet and effective. I almost got cold. Almost. The bishop's office has air conditioning too, but the classroom's don't. More about that in a minute.

The choir practicing on Saturday.

Missionaries just chillin' while waiting their turn for an interview with President Batt. They are a great bunch of young men and you can see they are enjoying the break from the afternoon heat.

Sunday at church, we talked to this young couple with their new baby. He was so tiny; about 5 pounds, I think. I don't figure kilos/grams to pounds and ounces that well without a calculator.

Not the greatest photo, but I wanted you to see the nice basketball/soccer area they have. The young people gather almost every night and play there.

I don't know about Elvis still being alive, but I do know about John Lennon. That's him coming around the corner in the aqua blue shirt. I know it's him because I asked him his name when I sat by him in Sunday School. I wasn't sure I got it right, but then I saw it written on the roll when they passed it around and "Now I'm a Believer" (Oh yeah, that was the Monkees. Sorry.)

Remember I said there was no air conditioning in the classrooms? Lots of the babies were in diapers only by the end of the meetings. The little guy in front had had it too. The shirt came off the minute he was out the door. I wonder if they will be able to talk him into wearing a suit and tie next week.

The location of the new building is convenient. It's on the bus route and the bus stops right out in front.

Or, you can just all jump on the family motorcycle and "moto" on home. I hope he doesn't take the corners too fast.

This new building will really be a blessing to the people in this district. It's good to see progress.

Too Close for Comfort

2010-06-01T11:14:00.000-02:30

My next space neighbor in the parking garage just got a new toy.

I'm happy for him and all, but every time I pull in, I can't help but think about Pee Wee Herman and his Big Adventure.

Parking is pretty tight anyway, and squeezing a Harley in between my car and his, which is usually parked behind his motorcycle, has upped my parking anxiety level considerably.

If the unthinkable were to happen and I accidentally nudged it, I don't think he would have to scratch his head very long before he figured out who to blame.

Pee Wee had some pretty cool dance moves and those unforgettable shoes that smoothed things over, but all I've got is the "Pony" and flip-flops.

That probably wouldn't cut it.

Suppertime!

2010-05-14T22:45:00.002-02:30

Remember how excited Snoopy gets for his supper? That's how excited Alan and I were for supper tonight. What did we have?

Both of us: Chips and salsa.....delicious. We ate right out of the bag and the container of salsa. It just tastes better that way and why dirty dishes when it isn't necessary?

Millie: 1/3 bag of Peanut Butter M&M's (egg shaped...so much better for some reason and no, it wasn't a small size bag.)

Millie: 1/2 cup, at least, of Hot Tamale jelly beans (Really, why mess around with other flavors when there is

cinnamon.)

Millie: 3/4 bottle of lime flavored Gatorade (Frozen into a delightful slushy state)

Millie: 1 bite size Snickers (the ratio of chocolate to nougat is perfect)

Millie: 3 squares of a raspberry/dark chocolate candy bar ( Yum! Thanks, Geri)

Millie: 1 tuna fish sandwich (in an attempt to get my Omega-3's or is it 6's? and my minimum daily mayonnaise requirement)

Alan: 1 qt. Fruit punch Crystal Light

Alan: Sunflower Seeds

Alan: 1 tuna fish sandwich (in an attempt to be nice and let me pretend that I made supper)

Alan: I know there is more, but he says he is taking the 5th. He's not admitting to anything. But I'm quite sure I smelled Whoppers on his breath and there are various miniature candy bar wrappers in his garbage can.

So thanks, family, for the suitcases full of treats and other things we really needed. We'll eat better tomorrow. We promise.

We could all use more of this, don't ya think?

2010-05-05T15:53:00.001-02:30

Visitors in Fortaleza

2010-04-20T19:37:00.000-02:30

This past weekend Elder and Sister Holland, Bishop and Sister Edgley, and Pres. and Sister Godoy from our area presidency came to Fortaleza for a couple of days. They are traveling to a few places in northeastern Brazil checking on things, giving trainings, going to stake conferences, etc. We didn't plan to ask for a picture with Elder and Sister Holland. (We were trying to not be buggy.) But when we were at the temple site with the group, Sister Edgley got out her camera and it seemed to be okay, so we were able to get this one. I feel bad that we didn't get one with Bishop and Sister Edgley and the Godoys. They were all so gracious and tried to make us feel comfortable. They almost succeeded.

It is hard to see everyone, but this is a picture of ALL of the missionaries serving here right now. The missionaries were all in place, so when we arrived at the chapel with the general authorities, we just walked in and sat down. Pictures were snapped, the missionaries filed by to shake hands with Elder Holland and the others, they went to their seats, and a 3 hour meeting began. It was a great experience. I think the missionaries will always remember it. I know I will.

Contacting 101

2010-04-13T22:35:00.000-02:30

When we were at the airport last week waiting for the new arrivals, we noticed this Catholic bishop waiting for someone too. ( It is hard not to notice someone in long black robes with bright pink trim and cumberbund.)
Alan decided to strike up a conversation with him. He is always telling the missionaries that you can talk to anyone about the church, so I guess he was just putting his mouth where his mouth is, so to speak.
I wanted to snap a picture just for the pink cumberbund, if nothing else, but didn't dare. But one of the elders did and he sent me this photo. I just thought I'd share it.

Happy Easter

2010-04-05T00:17:00.000-02:30

I thought I would post a few pictures for Easter, not that it really feels like Easter, but just to prove that at least I know what time of year it is.

I didn't bring hardly any seasonal decorations with me, but this little bunny did make it in the pile of stuff we brought and I have been glad to have him here. Lucy sent me the pastel eggs last year after Easter and I was lucky enough to remember where I put them so I could use them this year. It is my one little spot of Easter and pastel colors.

This is a display of the Easter candy eggs they sell here. Every store has a TON of them. It was hard to show in the picture, but they hang them from wire frames and it creates sort of a Easter egg tunnel. I think they display them this way because just like real eggs, they are a little fragile. Inside the packaging is a large hollow chocolate egg with wrapped candies inside.

Another shot that doesn't really show what it is like very well.

This place even had columns of them. You can see that Easter is not about pastels here. I don't even know if pastel colors would look good in this country.

This was as "Eastery" as it got for us; a few deviled eggs. Before I die, I want to make deviled eggs and use a pastry tube to pipe the filling in so they look really nice, but that wasn't to be this year. I didn't even have any paprika to sprinkle on the top like Mom always did, but I did have real dill pickles to put in them. (Thanks, Becca)

Alan ate 7. I ate 3. I didn't know we would still count who ate how many of things when we were empty nesters. I thought it was just the kids doing that all those years, but I guess not. Nobody ate the parsley, but Alan did notice and mention it. I didn't know he knew the word, garnish.

Here's Alan burnin it off. That's what he gets for eating 7.

Bad Haircuts Happen

2010-03-26T23:06:00.003-02:30

I thought the cut might be a little off even before I left his chair, but when I spent most of the next morning trimming a little here and a lot there, just to be able to leave the house, I was certain.

After my shower, with my hair good and wet, I could definitely tell that I had paid about $35 for a haircut that was 3/4 to 1 inch longer on the right side of my face than the left side. Somehow that just didn't seem right; 3/4 to 1 inch difference just wasn't close enough for me, so I whacked at it, cleaned out the sink, and continued getting ready. I dried my hair and could see that I hadn't been brave enough with the scissors. I went at it again and cleaned out the sink a second time. After putting the flat iron to it, I could see there were other problems.

I don't know; maybe it was my fault. I told him I would like him to cut it like he usually does, but I wanted the sides a little longer this time and for it to slant from the back to the front a little more. I even looked up the word for slant so I would know how to explain it. As usual, I used a lot of hand motions during the explanation too; picking up the hair on the side of my face, using the universal scissors sign, complete with moving fingers, to demonstrate scissors actually cutting. With my thumb and finger I indicated the exact amount of hair to cut off the sides. I don't think I could have made it any clearer. But whatever I thought I said, he interpreted it by:

Cutting the back with a razor making repeated passes over the hair. This process was not only scary because a razor was involved, but the sound it made was, well, not pleasant. Maybe just one down from, fingers going down a chalkboard, on the scale of unpleasant sounds. When that finally ended, he got the blow-dryer out. I thought it was a little premature, but then I remembered I had seen him use the blow-dryer to blow the hair on the floor over to one corner so a lady with a broom and dustpan could sweep it up later. (The male, though quite possibly gay, chauvinist.) I thought maybe that was what he was up to. But no. He was blowing my hair dry and using a round brush on it.

Next, he got out his clippers, flipped the switch, and told me, "Don't move, please." I wasn't about to. Then with the clippers turned upside down, he worked on the sides of my hair, just cutting the top layers somehow. I didn't know what was going on with that. The next thing I knew he put the clippers and comb down and went for the mirror that he holds up so you can see the back. I was thinking, "Hey, what about the front; you know, the bangs? What about the length of the sides? Aren't you going to pull down on both sides of the hair with your fingers so you can see if the sides are even? Isn't that standard hairdresser procedure?"

Guess not. He was finished. He never once used a pair of scissors. (Apparently my demonstration hadn't been very effective.)

So after he showed me the back and looked at me for approval, I said, "Perfect."

Of course I was lying, but at the time, it seemed like the only thing to do. I just didn't have the vocab to ask him what happened to the slant and why he left the sides so long that I looked like an Afghan or a Bassett Hound or some other breed of long-eared dog. Of course, I was wearing my badge and that made me think twice about making a fuss.

But all is well that ends well, right? After a few more trimming sessions and a few more cleaning the hair out of the sink episodes, I was able to leave the house. It wasn't the worst haircut I had ever seen.

But this might be.

(The poor kid.)

Feelin' Just a Little" Wiped Out"

2010-02-28T22:41:00.001-03:30

It has been quite a month. February is always a short month, but this one has been packed. That's why I'm feelin just a little wiped out.

About a month ago I saw this poor toilet paper mascot guy at work in the grocery store. Above and beyond the humiliation of being in a toilet paper costume, the fact that he was probably sweating buckets inside that costume struck me. I decided to say something to him because really, how often do you get to talk to someone dressed up as a package of T. P.? It was my first opportunity and I decided to seize it. I could just make out a face inside the little mesh circle in the middle of the 4 rolls, so I approached it. I couldn't think of anything to say besides "Quente?" which means, "Hot?" He said, "Muito" which means, "Very." I also asked him how long he would be working so I could come back and take a picture, which I never did.

Luckily for me, when Rebecca came to visit, she, being a much better blogger than I, had her camera with her when we happened to run in to my BTPFF again at the supermarket. He was willing to pose for the picture and I really couldn't pass up the photo op.

Anyway, back to the busy month and why I feel so wiped out....The first weekend of the month we took a quick trip out to the Juazeiro district. This is inside the chapel in Crato. I'm not sure I am supposed to take pictures inside a chapel, but, it is kind of unique and I thought you would like to see it and besides that, I've done a whole lot worse things than this before.

Don't you love the windows? Actually there is no glass in them. The metalwork just keeps people from falling out because it is a second-story window. It lets a breeze in too, which is nice. It's not the greatest for keeping unwanted sounds out though. (Must work on my powers of concentration.)

Just after we got back from Juazeiro we got 4 North American elders who had been stuck in the MTC in Provo waiting for their visas. They were just a few weeks behind schedule. We had a nice dinner with them and sent them to work.

On Wednesday, Elder and Sister Ellis arrived for the mission tour. He is one of the counselors in the Area Presidency. They stayed with us for 3 nights. It was fun to visit with them and get to know them a little. They spoke at 2 big Zone Conferences.

Since Zone Conference was close to Valentine's Day I made sugar cookies for the missionaries.

Early Thursday morning Rebecca arrived. She was here a couple of days and then took off for Belem and a trip down the Amazon. (That is the Amazon behind her.) Our friends, Pres. and Sister Campos, were excellent hosts for her and she had a great time. With a week of total immersion in Portuguese and her Spanish background, I think she now understands Portuguese better than I . Maybe that isn't saying much though. Before she left, we had her fix some delicious chicken enchiladas for us and the Ellises. She brought the ingredients (and some other great stuff) with her. Mexican food is a little hard to come by in Brazil and they were so excited about it and very impressed with her culinary skills. Sister Ellis asked her what else she could cook. After a long pause she said, "Nothing." Too bad that is mostly true.

Somehow, I missed the picture of the missionaries that were heading home. We had a nice supper with the eight of them and the next day this mammoth group of missionaries arrived. Twenty-three at one time is the most we have ever received. We need them though and they seem like a great group. Now if I can just learn their names.

Just to keep in the theme of this post, I decided to include these pictures. Becca and I always make at least one excursion to Centro when she comes. It is so crazy and the streets are so narrow that I really don't like to go by myself, but it is fun with someone else along. This time we got stuck behind a couple of guys pulling a cart stacked high with toilet paper. We could see their load was shifting as the cart was moving along, and we were holding our breath for them, but......

with the bumps and holes in the streets, it was just a matter of time. They scrambled and packed it back on the cart pretty quickly. We just waited patiently, but then you can see, we really didn't have any other choice.

Anyway, the whole month went by so quickly, I can hardly believe it. We head out tomorrow for training meetings in Sao Paulo. After that, it looks like a few relatively peaceful weeks. I don't know if I actually dare say that out loud. I better go find some wood to knock on.

Ghost Town

2010-02-16T15:48:00.000-03:30

Hey, Where is everybody? I snapped this picture out the bedroom window down to the street that is usually streaming with cars, trucks,and right now I am so tempted to say "things that go". (Only those of you familiar with Goldbug will know what that is all about.) Anyway, I guess everybody left town for Carnival or something. It has been so quiet, the past couple of days, it's a little eerie. I've only heard one car with huge speakers and the volume turned way up go by all day and that didn't happen until afternoon. That's quite unusual.
Maybe people are right when they tell us we won't be able to sleep at night when we get back because it will be so quiet. I seriously doubt I'll miss the noise of the city when we get back, and I am so tempted to say "safe, home again," but I sort of miss it today.

P. S. Leave a comment if you know who Goldbug is. I'm just interested to know if anyone out there in Blog land recognized the quotes or is a fan.

You Can Call Me Grams

2010-01-29T22:19:00.000-03:30

Is this not a darling little face?

Love the crazy hair too.

He was born Jan. 13.

He can already make spit bubbles.

Alan says he is excellent.

For more pics, head here.

So This Was Christmas

2010-01-01T20:11:00.000-03:30

I was feeling guilty for complaining about the lack of Christmas blogs when I hadn't posted anything about our Christmas, so here it is: This picture, taken from the car, is the best one I got of the big fabric tree in the praca this year. It really doesn't do it justice, but it's the best one I got.

On the eighth of December we said good-bye to quite a large group of elders. It was a really good group and we were sad to see them go, but excited for them to be moving on in their lives.

The next day we received another group of newbies. Only the Brazilian missionaries that were scheduled to come made it that day. Actually they didn't arrive until night. There was a flood in Sao Paulo and they couldn't get to the airport to make the flight they were supposed to take. They finally arrived at about 7:30 at night; about 8 hours late. We didn't even get the North American missionaries that were supposed to arrive in this group. They had visa problems and were stuck in the MTC in Provo until just a couple of days before Christmas. Eight more missionaries was a pretty good Christmas gift we thought.

We got another good Christmas gift; a visit from Mom and Ellen. As you can see the trip made Mom a little tired. She sort of crashed the first day, but rebounded nicely. Alan drove us to see the site for the temple that will be built here. We took a drive along a road with a pretty ocean view too. I hadn't warned them sufficiently about all the trash and graffiti they would see. That took them back a bit, but being lovers of trees and flowering bushes, they could still see the beauty in the area.

This picture is out of order a bit as to how things really went, but I suppose it doesn't really matter that much. I took them to see a few of the tourist spots in Fortaleza. The mural behind them is made of little tiles; probably less than a square inch each. We drove past some other interesting spots in the city, but....

Ellen was pretty sick and really didn't feel like getting out for a bunch of photos. She spent most of two whole days on the couch or her bed.

We did drag her to the mall one day and took a picture of her in front of her grandson's, James, favorite birthday meal restaurant, Subway. She didn't feel like eating anything, but she was game for the picture. We had gone to the beach that morning too, but didn't get any pictures. We didn't stay too long and just waded. Ellen wasn't up to getting in the waves.

While Ellen was sick, Mom checked her e-mail and had time for a few forwards. Don't you love how she fits in Alan's chair?

I finished piecing a little quilt top for neto#1. Mom and Ellen said my sisters would help get it quilted and bound. I hope they don't mind being volunteered. I would do it myself, but quilt batts, quilt frames, and other quilting type stuff is not to be found in Fortaleza. They don't have to worry about keeping babies warm here.

Finally by Wednesday, Ellen was back on her feet. She wasn't feeling great, but I had asked her to help me make doughnuts while she was here and she did. We gave some to our stake president's family. (They had been to the U. S. and had mentioned that they really loved the doughnuts there.) Irene took a bunch to her family. Alan took a bunch to some of the missionaries and the people that work in our building. I ate 3, Mom had 2, and Ellen had a doughnut hole. I know, she can be such a pig sometimes.

Mom did her part putting the maple icing on some of them. You can see my attempt at the glazed ones in the background. I didn't quite get that down. I may have to practice some more.

The night before they left, we went to the market by the beach so Ellen could get all her grandkids a little something from Brazil. She has 17 of them, so it was no small chore. It was fun even though we got sweaty. Mom said she thought she saw half of the 2 and 1/2 million people that live in Fortaleza that night. I doubt she really did, but there were a lot of people there.

The next day Ellen came to the cooking rescue again. She fixed Cordon Bleu for us and for four missionaries. Two were heading home in between transfers so they can start school on time and one of them had mentioned that he really liked Cordon Bleu. I had never fixed it before, but I knew Ellen had, so I enlisted her help. She said it wasn't that hard, but I think her definintion of "not that hard" must be a little different than mine.

The week went by so fast and it was so good to see them and have them here for Christmas. I felt bad about Ellen getting sick, but we really think it was something she brought with her and wasn't something she picked up here. (We don't want to scare any potential visitors off.) I hope they had a good time and thought it was worth all the effort to get here. I just got a phone call that they had arrived in Grant. Back, safe, home again.

One Big Question

2009-12-31T14:54:00.000-03:30

Where are all the Christmas blogs? I know you are having parties without us, but NO ONE has blogged about a party, a dinner, a gift, or even a holiday family fight. We're thousands of miles away, you know, and we would like to know what's been going on.

What about all you guys with little kids? I know you took pictures on Christmas and couldn't you post a few?

Happy New Year! anyway, even if you are a bunch of slackers.

Merry Christmas, Do I Know You?

2009-12-14T13:51:00.000-03:30

Sunday, as we were just finishing lunch, the intra-apartment phone rings and the man downstairs says, "There is someone here with a gift for you." We like gifts so we said, "Sure, send them up."
We do a little spiffing up in the living room and wait, wondering who it could be. The phone rings again. Alan answers, listens, hangs up and says, "I guess they want you to go down to get it." I like gifts so I said, "Sure, I'll go."
I head down. When I get out of the elevator, I look for a familiar face. I don't see one, but there is a smiling face and it is smiling right at me. A little lady starts speaking to me and hands me a package wrapped in Christmas paper. I try to ask her who she is and why she is giving me a gift and if she is sure I am the person for whom the gift is intended. I wonder if she is delivering it for someone else and is making a mistake. She keeps talking.
I understand some of what she is saying. I know Natal is Christmas. I know para voce means; for you. She wants me to open the package and read the card, which I notice is a "Congratulations on your marriage" card. On the inside of it she has written a Christmas greeting. The puzzled lines on my face deepen.
She asks me if I am Catholic. I answer , No. I am a member of A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias. That seems okay with her and she continues wishing me Feliz Natal. The gate man at the front of the building is also taking part in the conversation. He assures me that she means for me to take the gift. I like gifts, so I take it. I thank her and wish her a Merry Christmas too.
When I get back in the apartment I try to explain to Alan what just happened. We decide he should go down and talk to the man in front and try to clear things up a bit. In a few minutes he comes back about as confused as I was.

Here are pictures of some of the gifts from our secret pal.

An embroidered tablecloth, with matching table runner and placemat.

Alan's favorite: a cover for the water bottle that matches the tablecloth and other things.
(Actually he is not a fan of covers for appliances. He says it's definitely an old lady thing.)

My personal favorite: The catholic charms and the St. Francis of Assisi, or possibly the Pope, key chain. We also got two apron/bibs for wine bottles and 3 nice dish towels, and a picture of the Helena, the gift giver.

I really don't mean to make fun of the gifts or the giver. After all, isn't giving what Christmas is supposed to be all about? I'm just a little confused about the whole thing still. I found out that Helena lives in the building just behind us. Apparently she just felt like giving something to someone and did it. She was just being nice. But I would like to know how she settled on us as recipients. I keep looking over at the other building wondering what apartment is hers. Has she looked in on us from time to time? Were we fully dressed? How did she know we have a round table or did she know? Is she looking back at me right now? Wow, this is almost getting creepy.

I better quit thinking about it and just try to think of something nice I can do for someone at this Christmas season. Thanks for the reminder, Helena.

Branching Out

2009-12-02T10:58:00.000-03:30

Last Saturday we went out to Juazeiro. Our flight got in early and we had a few minutes to spare, so we stopped by to see how the new chapel was coming along. It is the first real chapel in the district. Here is Alan in his suit. He looks a little more dressed up than he used to when he was checking construction jobs in Idaho. He really doesn't have anything to do or say about the construction of the chapel. We were just interested in seeing it.

There is a lot of cement involved and they do a lot of it one wheel barrow at a time.

It's hot in Juazeiro. A lot of the construction workers were wearing big straw hats with a hard hat on top. Sort of reminded me of the children's book, "Caps for Sale."

When we got to Zone Conference the Elders were in a pretty good mood. They might have suspected we were bringing cookies or something.

This is the outside wall around the "chapel" in Barbalha. It is a house that was reformed to serve as a church for the branch that was just started there. There will be a new sign, I think. This one was taken from another city where they just got a new church. The elders cleaned it up and stayed up a little past regular missionary bedtime to get it put on the front of the building before church the next morning. I kind of hope there will be a new color of paint on the outside wall too. All the paint on the inside is much more subdued and church-like. It all looked really nice except the outside wall. I didn't know if I should say anything, but I just couldn't help myself. I thought this was a little too French-looking or Scottish-looking. French as is French's mustard; Scottish as in McDonald's golden arches. I didn't say that though. I just suggested they use one of the colors they had used inside. This picture didn't really capture the intensity of the yellow. It really is pretty bright, but maybe it will draw attention and interest and turn out to be a good thing. I don't know. Any thoughts on the matter ?

This is the outside of the house/chapel itself. Elder Monteiro is one of the missionaries serving there. He goes home next week, so I wanted to get his picture. Every one of the missionaries serving there helped with the work on the building this week.
I don't think the chapel would have been ready without them working their tails off. They even got some cuts and blisters to show for it.

They rented a keyboard to use until we are able to get one. The only thing it was lacking was a stand for the book, but Elder Hirata filled in nicely. Elder Peterson plays very well and I didn't hear him miss a note, even if the book wasn't perfectly steady.

A group shot of the 6 missionaries, the branch president and wife, the district president and wife, Elder's Quorum president and some cute kids. There were 57 people there counting us. Too bad I didn't get a picture of everybody. Not bad for a little group that started out with about 6 people. Hopefully it will mature and grow and be strong. With a lot of faith and work, I'm sure it will come to pass.

3D F.H.E.

2009-11-17T20:55:00.001-03:30

Last night we did something we don't do that often; actually, two things we don't do that often. We went to a movie and we had F.H.E. Okay, we went to the movie for F.H.E. but still...

We went with a family that is very good to us, the Cabrals. We had been to their house for dinner on Sunday. They had their Christmas tree up and decorated. I added "and decorated" since there have been some years when I got the tree up, but it took me a few weeks, okay, one year it took me until Christmas Eve, to actually get it decorated. ( It's always those dang lights that cause me grief! )

The Cabrals had the Christmas tablecloth and napkins on the table and Christmas decorations all around. We talked about Christmas music and Christmas traditions and just worked ourselves into a Christmas mood, which, I might add is no easy feat when you have such strong associations of winter weather with Christmas. Anyway, they mentioned that they planned to go to Disney's new version of "A Christmas Carol" for Family Home Evening on Monday night and would we like to come. Alan evaded a direct answer for a few minutes, since he does not like to commit on such matters until he knows if he is going to "feel like it," but the Christmas mood was pretty strong and got the better of him, and we said,"Yes."

It took close to an hour to get to the theater. It's not so far away, but it was a really busy time of night and the traffic was crazy. I was afraid the traffic, especially the crazy motorcyclists and the road-hoggin buses, would cause a deep dip in the Christmas spirit we were in, but we passed a couple of our Elders on the street as we were going, and that brightened the mood again. We honked and waved, and a few minutes later they called us to see what we were doing in their neck of the 'hoods. I sort of felt bad telling them we were going to a movie, but I didn't want to lie, and besides that, we have a different rule book than they do.

The movie was really fun. It was the first time either of us had seen a movie in 3D and we were both pretty impressed. The movie has a lot of "flying through the air" scenes and "chase" scenes and "things jumping out at you" scenes, which were really great in 3D. The 3D falling snow was pretty fun too. I will caution you that it is dark and scary in a lot of the movie and I would not take little kids. I also watched it in Portuguese and didn't understand a lot of it so I don't know about language either, but I doubt they would take too many liberties with this classic Dicken's story. It was a good thing I was familiar with the story or I'm pretty sure I would have been lost. Andrea Bocelli sang a beautiful Christmas song during the credits at the end and it made it worth just sitting there for that part too, even though there wasn't any 3D action going on then. At least I don't think there was. Maybe I took my glasses off and missed it, I don't know.

Rotten Tomatoes only rated it 57% fresh, but I think I would give it a "thumbs up." But of course, I'm in Brazil and everything gets a "thumbs up" here.

It is probably a little early to say Merry Christmas, but Happy Thanksgiving and "God bless us, every one!"

Fact or Fiction: The Man behind the Mystery

2009-11-04T21:38:00.000-03:30

Happy Birthday, I won't say which one, to my one and only. On this occasion I thought it might be fun to play a little TRUE or FALSE trivia game so you can get to know the man behind the mystery a little better.

RUMOR: His bare feet have never touched the floor or ground. (See above picture.)
Only partially TRUE. They have never touched the floor or ground since we have lived here and never never in any hotel we've ever stayed in, even if we happen to stay in a really nice one.

RUMOR: He loves surprise parties.
FALSE: He threatens me every single year. And not to burst his bubble, but I don't even consider it anymore; haven't for years.

RUMOR: He can play the William Tell Overture.
TRUE: He plays it using his teeth and a pencil. He can play other tunes too, but the Overture is the most impressive.

RUMOR: He hates kids.
FALSE, even though he did actually say that he hated kids just last week. BUT, there was a really noisy one that needed a diaper change, for quite some time, in the seat directly behind ours when we were on a plane last week. I excused his comment because of our situation. I know he really loves kids and is already planning some "Grandpa projects."

RUMOR: He loves watermelon.
TRUE, absolutely true, and on almost any given day, we have the rinds to prove it.

RUMOR: He loves Christmas and the Blackfoot Fair.
TRUE, and I think the love for the two are about equal.

RUMOR: He doesn't enjoy talking on the phone.
FALSE, He is on the phone all the time and if it is a sheep friend he is talking too, definitely don't wait dinner.

RUMOR: He loves going to movies.
FALSE: It's a rare occasion that we go to a movie, but if he does happen on to one he likes, he will buy it on DVD and memorize it (at least his favorite parts). Cases in point: Cinderella Man, Rudy, Hoosiers, Sea Buscuit and more that I can't think of right now.

RUMOR: His favorite song is "Moon River".
NOT QUITE SURE: It was his favorite for years, but might be getting the bump by "The Dance." Yes, the Garth Brooks one. (I realize our kids are going to wish I hadn't mentioned that. For some reason they find that embarrassing.) Maybe it is embarrassing, but it's a little endearing too.

RUMOR: He is going to hate this post.
PROBABLY TRUE: But he banned the surprise parties, so what else was I supposed to do?

Beggin' for Bags

2009-10-21T23:58:00.000-02:30

If anybody has luggage they are thinking of tossing, please toss it our way. We are trying to round up some luggage to give missionaries leaving from the stakes in Fortaleza. Good luggage is expensive here, and it is hard for them to afford it. If anybody has luggage you no longer use or want, we could put it to good use.

If you don't have any you are getting rid of, please keep your eyes open if you go to DI or garage sales or other second-hand places. All we need is sturdy luggage that has some good use left in it. It doesn't have to be up-to-date or fancy or anything other than functional. When parents come from the U. S. to pick up their missionaries they can bring the suitcases down to us. The bonus is that we can have our kids (Rebecca, being the project manager) fill them with stuff we want. Did I say want? I meant need. That way you can accomplish two acts of charity with one suitcase.

Two elders have parents coming the first of December and Mom and Ellen are coming at Christmas, so we already have some carriers lined up. Post a comment or let one of our kids know and we will be glad to take your old luggage off your hands.

Thanks for your support!

I'd Love to See the Temple

2009-10-04T21:04:00.000-02:30

In case you missed it in the first session of conference Saturday, a temple was announced for Fortaleza! We tried to look up how long it takes from the announcement to the ground-breaking to completion, but I think it varies a lot from temple to temple. Of course, we are very excited about it and so are the members here. We heard people were cheering and hugging and that there were other displays of emotion and celebration at the stake centers around the city when the announcement was made. We missed out on that because we were watching conference at home on the computer. We had our own little celebration; nothing elaborate, just a little Woot! Woot! and maybe a high five. I guess we North Americans aren't quite as demonstrative as the Brazilians.

Right now the members here travel to Recife to go to the temple. They hire buses and people go for about a week at a time. I have heard people say how grateful they are that they are only 12 hours away from a temple. (How spoiled did that make me feel?) On a really good day, you know one without any sheep or cows on the road, I'll bet I could have been to the Idaho Falls Temple in 12 minutes!

Anyway, it's exciting news and we just wanted to share it. The work is moving forward!

Killing Us Softly With His Song

2009-09-03T22:04:00.000-02:30

We've been keeping the windows open most of the time lately so the breeze will flow through the apartment and we won't have to turn on the AC. It's pretty nice actually. When we first moved here, we couldn't imagine leaving the windows open because none of them have screens. We couldn't imagine that we could keep birds, flies, and bats, (spelled with one "t"; the kind that fly) out of the house. So far,none of these things has been a problem. The only problem we have is "sound drift" from the surrounding apartments that also have their windows open. We hear a phone ring and can't tell if it is our's or a neighbor's. Was that our doorbell or someone else's?

Well, our latest sound drift has been a saxophone. Ever since this started, we have been trying to figure out just where the ~~noise~~ music was coming from. Normally I sort of like the sax. I even bought a Kenny G or two back in the day, but this saxophone is NOT being played by Kenny G. My best bet is a 5th or 6th grader.
As best we can tell, he is working on the melodic scale and the first two lines of "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess. (It's never been a real favorite anyway, and the addition of squeaks and flat notes don't help a bit.) Who would have ever imagined that "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" was not the most annoying song in the world for beginning musicians?

Last night the ~~offender~~ musician got brave. The sound was much louder and we were pretty sure he was out on his balcony. Maybe his mother made him go out there to practice and shut (or locked) the door behind him. We stared out our window long enough to see that other people were also coming to their windows to try to determine the source of the ~~pain~~ sound. One guy was even in the middle of brushing his teeth when he went to his window. We never did figure it out, but after 30 or 40 minutes, it was over. I will say that by the end of last night's session he actually got through the lines of "Summertime" hitting all the right notes and had cut the squeaks considerably.

Who knows? Maybe there is a budding Clarence Clemons right here in our neighborhood; or maybe we are going to have to start using the AC.

Hoe to the End of the Row

2009-08-22T23:31:00.000-02:30

The title might make you think I am missing our garden and I am. Not that I really miss hoeing, but I do miss the great tasting veggies that are usually abundant this time of year. BUT that is not what this post is about.

It's about two of our missionaries that will be heading home in two days. They have been excellent missionaries: hard workers, obedient, got along with their companions, not obsessed with leadership positions, fun and friendly. The list could go on and on.

Tonight we attended a baptismal service for 2 families they have been working with the past little while. One couple has 4 children. The other family is a young couple without children. It was a very happy event. I was not only thrilled for the families, but proud of those two missionaries for working hard right up to the end of their missions. They knew how to hoe to the end of the row. If anybody out there is raising a prospective missionary, and I hope there are many that are, do him/her a favor and teach them that many times, the best harvests are at the end of the row, after you are already tired and tempted to quit. I hope I remember this myself.

One more picture: Two little cuties that were my BFsF after they found out about the Passion Fruit Tic Tacs I had in my purse. Aren't they darling?

Shopped 'til We Dropped

2009-08-02T22:33:00.000-02:30

How did we end up buying all these shoes and flip flops when all we were really looking for was a brown blouse and some cream colored shoes for me and a pair of sandals for Rebecca? We really aren't sure. Things like that just happen sometimes.

Just for the record, they weren't all for us. Some were gifts and some were "orders" Rebecca had taken. Really, that is the truth.

We had made plans to go shopping with Claudia, the lady sitting by her son, Jared. When we got to her place to pick her up, we found out 2 more sisters and Jared had joined the party. We did some crazy driving out to a nearby town, Maraponga, where they have a fashion market. Because of the lack of sleeves or backs in blouses, and an abundance of plunging necklines we didn't buy much, but it was fun anyway. Claudia is a crazy shopper, always excited for a sign that says LIQIDACAO or PROMOCAO.

We found the displays and mannequins pretty interesting. This bright yellow one with a bikini on certainly made us take a second look.

This extra tall dude with white hair and a goatee was worthy of a snapshot or two we thought.
And our favorites were the "man"niquins, as Rebecca called them, that we saw. They were so broad and the heads looked way too small for the bodies. The store wasn't for cross-dressers or even for plus sizes that we could tell. They just liked big mannequins. We saw quite few in other stores too.

The day before Becca left, she made me go to one more store and try to find the brown blouse I needed to go with this cute skirt she brought for me. I really liked the skirt and didn't want to send it back with her, so I was glad she didn't let me give up. I finally found one that had a back, some sleeves, and no plunging neckline and it was even on PROMOCAO!

Alan's newest YouTube fave

2009-07-10T09:04:00.000-02:30

I know some people think this is creepy, but Alan thinks it's great. I like it too.

Poor Little Fella

2009-06-29T22:21:00.001-02:30

This picture is so out of focus, it is sad, but maybe not as sad as the story it tells.

This morning Alan says, "Millie, you've got to come here."

What? He hasn't tried talking to me like that since we were first married, 34 years ago, as of last Thursday, and I knew he knew better, but I went anyway.

He points to the door jamb, near the floor, and there I see a very dead, very squished gecko. We literally had to scrape him off. What are the chances that he would be right there when the door was shut? We don't know when it happened, but he was pretty dry, so I'm guessing it was at least a week ago. Poor little fella.

It gives new meaning to "getting yourself in a jam(b)." RIP

Mo' MoTab Please

2009-06-21T22:57:00.000-02:30

I have never blogged about music before, because, let's face it, I'm probably too old for that, but, at the risk of being mocked by many of the younger generation that I am related to, I must say I really like the newest Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD.

I have liked gospel choir music ever since I was introduced to it in school choir at good ol' WJ. Back in the day, I think we could safely call the songs Negro spirituals. (I'm pretty sure that doesn't fly anymore.) Mr. Hansen must have liked "spirituals" too, because I think we performed at least one every year at the "Spring Concert." We really rocked the place with "Rocka My Soul."

I like American Folk music even more and Mack Wilberg is a genius at arranging, I think. The instrumental parts by the Orchestra at Temple Square really make some of the songs.

At first I thought there were a few outstanding favorites, but the more I listen to it, the more I like almost every song. There are a couple that have soloists that I am still getting used to. I like the singing of the male soloist quite well, but the shrieky soprano....well, let's just say I'm glad her parts aren't very long.

It is not enough of a problem not to buy the CD though. There is always the forward button and if you have to use it you are sure to find a great song just ahead.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!

2009-06-09T16:48:00.000-02:30

I have been waiting and waiting for a package Lucy sent the 24th of March. I had all but given up on it. Well, today, June 9th, it arrived. Yeah!
From the tags and stamps on the package I think it got held up in some sort of inspection. It looks like it arrived in Brazil on the 17th of April, so it arrived in the country in the usual time of about a month but the inspection held it up. I don't get this inspection stuff, because I know not every package gets inspected. But what's done is done and I am just glad it arrived.
Thank you ,Lucy, for the Easter things. I am excited to use them next year. Thank you, Grace. for the apron. Now I have an apron just like all the other hen and chicks. It was worth the wait!

It's War!

2009-06-02T21:58:00.000-02:30

Lately I've been losing the battle against mildew during this rainy season. This pair of shoes is the latest victim. The light parts on these shoes are actually black. They are just covered with powdery light bluish /whitish mildew and yes, they stink.

Every few days when I walk in our closet I sniff out something else that reeks. Having never dealt with high humidity and mold before, I was caught unaware, but I'm fighting it now. I've been inspecting everything in the closet, even giving things the "sniff test." Gag!

The mofo, Portuguese for mildew, seems to strike rather randomly. An unaffected piece of clothing will be hanging right between two smelly ones. Shoes and leather belts are favorite targets for the mildew too.

I've washed clothes and taken clothes to the cleaner. I've tried fans, used lots of laundry soap and perfumed softener, and put things out in the sun (if it stays out long enough.)

Today Alan came home with some humidity absorbing packets, and I brought out the biggest gun I could think of....bleach. I'm wiping down every surface I possibly can. I only got through half the closet before I gave out today. There are a lot of shelves in there and when you do tops and bottoms and all the sides of drawers you can work up a sweat pretty fast.

But I will get back to it tomorrow. I have declared war and I plan to win.

P. S. If anybody has dealt with this enemy before and has any suggestions, I will gladly hear them. I need all the help I can get.

I Am My Mother's Daughter, I Hope

2009-05-10T18:19:00.000-02:30

Yesterday when I found myself cutting off the burned edges of a cake, trying to salvage the non burned part to put in the freezer for future use if I get in a really desperate situation,I thought to myself, "This is something my mother would do." (You know you would, Mom.)

I'm glad she taught me to try to make the most of a bad situation and to be thrifty, and I hope I am like my mom in more ways than trying to salvage near misses in the kitchen. She is a great mom and grandma and just what I want to be when I grow up. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

While we are on the subject, I got a cute email I thought I would share parts of. These are questions about Moms that were answered by second graders. They made me smile. I hope you like them too.

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl/boy was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair.. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head

Is it Just Me?

2009-04-30T18:13:00.000-02:30

Is it just me or does anybody else have a hard time remembering the last pan of cookies when you are baking a batch? This picture doesn't really show it too well, but my last batch, the ones on the right, are definitely good for dunking only. They are crisp, dry, sad cookies. I must have adult A.D.D. or something, because I can't tell you how many times I have done this. I've done worse, much worse, but I really needed these last cookies today to make just the right amount for a Zone Conference. UGGHHH! So do I make a whole new batch or just make the assistants have the "well done" cookies? I have enough to give them two actually, but I'm not sure if two borderline burned cookies are better than no cookie at all.

Okay, okay, I'll post something

2009-04-22T22:51:00.000-02:30

I've been shamed into posting something on my blog. Becca gave me the "It's high time you posted something" lecture in an email today, so here is this gorgeous picture of me sporting my brand new "MOO-MOO" as Alan calls it. I'm holding a bottle of A & W, two packages of Girl Scout Cookies and a fly swatter that I look like I just got hid in the head with. All these things and a lot more were in the last shipment of goods we received just last week. It was great! (A shout out to Lucy Dahl for the use of her old burgundy suitcases she was going to take to DI. They have been to Brazil twice, loaded full of great stuff, since she gave them to the cause.)

I think the moo-moo is great even though Alan pretty much hates it. I know it is not the most stylish or flattering, but it is cool and that is what counts. Becca picked it up at Wal-Mart for me in case anyone is wondering where you can get one. She said they have plenty left.

We used one bottle of root beer for our FHE treat this week and made delicious root beer floats. We're saving this one for later. You have to ration these things, you know.

Russell sent us enough Girl Scout cookies that we have even shared a few. I don't know how many cases he bought this year, but we were glad he did his part to support the Girl Scouts of America again and share with us.

The fly swatter is great too. I've used it every day since we got it and many flies have rubbed their legs together for the last time. They probably have fly swatters here, but I had looked in 4 or 5 stores and couldn't find one so I just put it on "the list."

So thanks for the stuff. We're pretty well stocked again except for peanut butter M & M's. I had requested the Easter egg shaped ones because I swear, they are better than the normal ones. They were everything I remembered them to be. I was rationing them to myself, 1/4 cup a day. That was the serving size listed on the package. (I thought it was a little measly, but since I was rationing, decided to go with it.) There should have been 7 servings, but I don't know if the information was wrong, or if I got a package that was shorted, or if they meant there would be seven 1/4 cup servings if you didn't sneak in the package and eat a couple extra 2 or 3 times a day. All I know is they are gone.

Is There a Nurse in the House?

2009-04-02T20:59:00.000-02:30

One of my main jobs here is that of being the mission "nurse." So far I've dealt with quite a wide range of problems...sprains, headaches, flu, kidney stones, ear aches, head lice, appendicitis, cuts, acne, live bugs in feet and dead bugs in ears, not to mention heinous rashes and some of the more unmentionalble things that come up in a foreign country. Now that I think about it, a lot of medical problems are slightly unmentionable. It has surprised me that I have actually been able to talk with missionaries about some of these things and still have them look me in the eye the next time I saw them. (I, also, try to maintain eye contact.)

At first I felt totally lost when the missionaries would call. I really didn't know much about health and medicine to begin with and I really didn't know the Portuguese names for such things. But then the first mission secretary put together a sweet little binder for me with answers to common problems that he got from the web md website. He thought he was so funny when he titled it, "How to Save a Missionary's Life." A few weeks later I got a really good information packet from the Church doctors in Sao Paulo that had even more info and the names of things in Portuguese. I use it all the time.

Now we have two doctors, instead of just one, that work out of Sao Paulo and help with health problems in all the missions in Brazil. One of them even speaks Portuguese and will call the Brazilian elders if I need him too. They are great. Their reports back to me even supply us with quite a bit of confusion and a little humor.

We have received quite a few reports addressed to our mission, but about missionaries that are serving in some other mission. Or we get reports with one of our missionary's names on it with a diagnosis for a problem he doesn't have. Last week I had to call one of our missionaries to see if he really had cut his finger and had stitches and needed pain medication. I hadn't heard a word about it before the email report came and I figured it was for an elder in another mission with the same last name. But the fact that the elder's first, middle, and last name were exactly the same as our elder's, I decided I'd better check. Our elder was fine. He hadn't been cut, or had stitches or need pain medication and didn't have a clue how his name got mixed up in it. I don't know what happened either. I didn't want to call the doctor and embarrass him.

We got one today that was ours though. All the information on it was even right. It was the "doctor talk" that made us laugh. Poor Elder X.....He has a small bean shaped lesion on the upper portion of his leg near the buttock...... We must be easily entertained or just a little sick, but the word buttock, gets us everytime.

Street Shopping: A Thing of the Past

2009-03-10T21:47:00.000-02:30

Is this not the sorriest rose you ever saw? I was so bugged last week when I bought 3 from a guy on the street and this was the good one. There were people on corners of every major intersection selling flowers, mostly red roses, wrapped really nicely with some greenery. They even had little stretchy webs over the blossoms to keep them nice. (Sunday was a day to celebrate women and that's why the flowers. ) We were having guests for dinner on Sunday, and thought a flower might be nice, so I rolled down the window when the man selling them came by. I asked how much they were. He tossed one in on the seat and tells me it's $5. Apparently it wasn't his first day selling on a street corner. He knew how it was done. Five reais was a little high, but it did have cellophane around it and the stretchy thing. I started rummaging in my purse. I could not find a $R5. A $R10 surfaced and I think he practically grabbed it. He told me if I had 2 more reais I could have 3 for $R12 and he tosses two more roses on the seat. I wasn't sure I wanted to do that but you really don't have time to consider purchases or barter when you are at a stop light with a car or two behind you....especially when people use the horn so readily. When I got them home and unwrapped them, two went straight to the garbage can. The third one was almost holding it's head up, so I gave it a chance. By lunch time the next day, this is how it looked.
I have bought things from street vendors 4 times and been disappointed every time. I don't like getting "taken." I have learned my lesson. I'm officially through buying things in the street....unless something really good comes by.

Been there, Done that

2009-02-16T10:00:00.000-03:30

Bold the items you have done:

1. Started your own blog (Becca had to help me)

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band (only a rhythm band and I got the sticks instead of the tambourine and I'm still a little bitter about it)

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity (Maybe just more than I thought we could afford)

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain(if Table Rock counts and I think it should if Lucy is counting the Rexburg butte)

9. Held a Praying Mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child (No, but considered putting some up for adoption, back in the day.)

16. Had food poisoning

17. Been to the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa at the Louvre

20. Slept on a train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.....back in high school. (Yes, but only once. Haaaaaa)

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping (see Lucy's blog for details)

27. Ran a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language(Working on it)

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Cooked over a open fire

47. Had your portrait painted....sketched actually

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (We were too cheap)

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China (truly amazing, I thought)

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (No, but have eaten more than my share.)

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Tied a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a Bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (only from an airplane, but it was a clear day)

80. Published a book(I'm not sure Parties from Scratch counts)

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club (and vowed never to do it again at least twice.)

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Visited Italy

101. Fed chickens (I think Lucy added this one.)

102. Attended a sheep show (my addition)

I tag Myrna and Mardi and Merlene and Nancy ( I went with 4 because I don't know if Merlene and Nancy are still on the planet. It has been a while since they posted and the world wants to hear from them.)

Patience is a Virtue

2009-01-31T11:20:00.000-03:30

Just a little update on my last post. I had told myself that as soon as I posted my rantings about being on hold forever that I would hang up the phone and try again another day, but I didn't.

I just started doing something else and after a while I finally heard a voice, a real human voice. It did have an Indian accent, but I could deal with that. I grabbed the phone and said hello, hello, but apparently the agent couldn't hear me. I kept trying... hello!....HELLO! He also kept saying hello and then he said, "I will hang up now. Apparently you are no longer on the line."

Alan could hear this because the phone was still on speaker. He said he wished he'd had a camera to capture the look on my face. I'm sure it was one of panic and despair. At that moment there must have been a divine intervention because I hit the TALK button. I didn't know why, I was just trying anything. That turned the speaker phone off, finally, and best of all the agent could hear me now.

Raul was great. He fixed everything. In the course of our conversation he asked me how long I had been on hold. I promise I didn't bring it up, he asked. By then it had been really close to 2 hours, but I said an hour and 45 minutes, just to give them the benefit of the doubt. He politely apologized and then said that he was going to see that I got an extra 30 days of virus protection for the inconvenience. Woot! Woot! I love free stuff.

Later I worked it out and I probably made a whopping 2.50 an hour by being patient. Oh well. At least I got the dishes done, some filing of pictures and had something to blog about. I guess it was worth the 2 hours.

P. S. I was going to try to find a picture on Google images to go along with this post, but when I went there it said that "using this site could damage your computer." It said the same thing on Yahoo image search and others in the list. Is that warning always there and I had just never seen it before? Has anyone else ever seen that? Do I have to call Raul again?

Freaking Dang it!

2009-01-27T18:06:00.000-03:30

Freaking Dang it! is a missionary curse word combination I have heard one of the Brazilian elders here use. He is trying to learn English and this is what he uses to express his frustration. It makes me laugh every time I hear him say it.

But today I'm using it and I am not laughing because I have been waiting on the telephone for over an hour. It might be an hour and a half by now. I just had a simple question for someone about why Norton Internet Protection keeps sending me pop up things that say my subscription protection has expired and it doesn't expire until June 2009.

I really hate being on hold. This has gone on so long I feel like they put me on "mold." The "music" they have for you to enjoy while you pass the time is really getting on my nerves. It just isn't that enjoyable. The really sad part is that I decided to do the dishes and a few other things while waiting so I pushed the speakerphone button so I could hear it as I was working. I didn't want to miss it when the agent came on the line. Now I can't get the darn thing off speakerphone and the music is starting to bug Alan too.

So why don't I just hang up? Everytime I think I can't stand it anymore and I am going to hang up, a voice interupts the music to say, "We appreciate your patience. Please don't hang up. If you hang up now, it will increase your wait time as all calls are answered in the order they were placed."

Yes, I have it memorized, word for word.

I don't want to start over with this thing. I had already spoken to an agent in India who asked me all the initial questions before giving me this customer service number. Even though I had to ask her to repeat a lot of things I tried to be patient and nice because I understand a little about trying to be understood while speaking a different language and how frustrating it is when people don't really even try to understand.

Well, my patience is exhausted. The music track is cycling again and I just heard a really horrible instrumental rendition of "A Time for Us" for at least the 3rd time. I am through waiting. If a virus gets me, it gets me. I just can't take it anymore, freaking dang it!

The Party is Over...Way Over

2009-01-14T19:37:00.000-03:30

We knew our way fun Christmas was over when, just a few days ago, Alan was eating the last cherry chocolate the kids brought down. Is that a sad look or what? But we had a great time with our whole family down here for the holidays. Here are a few pictures of how it went.

We were absolutely spoiled this year, not just because all of our family was here together, but they brought us 10 suitcases , full to the max, of mostly food items, that we had been missing.

The trip wore everybody out so the first day, I saw a lot of this.

The tables were turned this year. We were opening all the gifts......

The kids were looking on with hardly a thing to open. Sorry, kids.

Thanks for all the nice things you sent us. Dale and Angela sent Alan this sheep ornament and that put him in a festive mood.

We managed to have a really nice Christmas dinner with most of the things we usually have back at home and a few new things too.

As is usual during the holidays, we ate a lot. Our waiter took a picture of us after we finished a meal at the churrascaria. It is one of those places where they keep bringing you different meats to eat and you keep eating it until you are sick.

We all posed for a picture after a lunch we had with one of our elders that was leaving the mission a little ahead of his group. I was glad the kids got to meet him because he was a really great elder.

Of course we went to the beach. This beach has some pretty interesting colors of sand. I liked the contrast of the blue sea and the terra cotta colored sand in this picture.

We rode dune buggies along the shore and up into some sand dunes.

We had to stay out of the sun for a day or so after all day at the beach. Let's just say most of us got a little pink. So we played games, mostly a variation of Clue that Lee and Kim brought.
It probably doesn't look all that exciting to anyone else, but we had a really great time. I'm pretty sure it will be a Christmas we will all remember.

Recent doings/ Random Pictures

2008-12-21T21:43:00.000-03:30

There is nothing quite like a missionary choir. This is one of the zones singing at the conference.

Alan has been busy making fudge. It is a hit down here. I really don't know how many batches he has made, but it is a lot.

I love this kid. Besides the fact that I don't understand Portuguese very well, he has a pretty heavy lisp. I don't understand hardly a word he says, but I always understand his smile.

We had to say goodby to two of our really great sisters on the same day. The one on the left will be back ,if everything goes well, after she gets her ankle fixed. The one on the right is headed for BYU.

This is a picture of some of the missionaries in the musical devotional getting on the bus to go to Sobral. They were a great group.

Alan is chatting with everybody after our lunch at the restaurant in Sobral. That long table of missionaries drew a lot of stares that day.

You can't go wrong with the candy bar game. Frankly, I don't think they make a candy bar down here that I would want to steal, but the elders had a lot of fun playing it.

This overturned truck was on the road to Sobral when we went out last week. It had a load of logs that were all over the place. It probably swerved trying to miss a big pot hole or a goat or something. Just another verification of the reason we don't like to drive that road. It was still on the road when we went back about 6 hours later.

I had to take this picture while we were cooking for the conferences. All six of the burners were on and the oven was on too. Can you say sweat? We were dripping.

It's Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas

2008-12-18T18:37:00.001-03:30

Although it really doesn't feel like Christmas to us here because of the weather and all, we have seen some pretty fun decorations around the city and thought we would share some of the things we see here. One good thing is that Brazil is a very Christian country so to have a nativity in the center of town is okay here. I really like this one even though it isn't typical. It is really pretty at night.
I got our own sorry little tree put up just in time for the new group of Elders that arrived a few weeks ago. It is a little lacking in decorations, but it looks okay at night when the lights are on.

There is a large round-about we drive through often with this large tree in the center. It is made of fabric on some large metal frame. At night, they have colored lights shine up through the middle and is really looks neat.I had to take a picture of the painted snowman on the windows of this mattress store, which, by the way, there are tons of in this city. I was surprised that a snowman would mean Christmas to people here since most of them have never seen snow. I was also surprised to see the painted windows like we have at home too.

I guess Santa doesn't come down the chimney here since there aren't any. He just sneaks in over the balcony.

This "tree" was colorful and caught my eye. I think it is at the headquarters for one of the groups of native people here. I don't know anything about them, but I thought the tree was pretty funky.

This big snowman is made of painted 2 liter bottles. It is actually sort of tacky looking, but I thought it was an accompishment of sorts.

I took pretty lousy pictures the night we were in the old Centro part of the city. I sort of liked the idea of the huge bow on the building though.

Another lousy picture...sorry. It was pretty in real. The lighting on the building is pretty and each balcony had a huge wreath on it that was lit up too. I don't know what the building is, but during December they open the balconies on all the windows and young people that are dressed in Christmas hats, etc. sing and dance. There are two in each window. I think they really might be lip syncing, but it is still really showy and sounds good. That actually got us in the Christmas mood. I think we will try to go again when our family comes down in a few days.

I have no idea what this guy was up to. He was just standing on the street as we passed by one evening. I don't know why he is wearing a green Santa suit. Maybe his red one was dirty.

FELIZ NATAL (Merry Christmas) everyone. It is still okay to say that in Brazil.

So Close and Yet So Far Away

2008-11-21T13:46:00.000-03:30

I'll warn you right up front that I am going to whine a little.

We've been here for almost 5 months and still don't have the stuff we shipped a few weeks before we left Idaho. We were told it takes longer to get all the paperwork and approvals for shipments to Brazil and to expect some delay, but I was under the impression that 2 months would be the maximum. We have had some updates on the location of our shipment. Our first update came from Lucy. She asked me if I knew our stuff had gone to the Philippines. What?!!!? I hadn't heard a word about it. The office in Sao Paulo had called every so often to say the stuff had left Idaho, or that it was still in the United States waiting for clearance or something, but they us had not called about that. Lucy heard it from a lady that stopped in at Mini Bazaar who had just returned from her mission in the Philippines. That made me worry a little and I called to see if it was really even true. They said it was true but not to worry because they had located in in Manilla and it was on its way to Miami. Great.

About a month ago we heard it was in Brazil. Then we heard Rio de Janeiro. At least it was heading the right way. Then we got a call that it would be here, in Fortaleza, on Mon. November 10th. Yippee!! I waited all day. Nothing. Nothing all week. Two days ago we find out it is here. Yippee again! But wait...it is sitting at the airport and won't be released until someone pays $RS700, about $370.00, in state tariffs or taxes or something. Our state just happens to be one of the few that requires it. *#/@*# &*# Curses! Sao Paulo office tells us that they think we can get around it if we can find a lawyer that knows about such things. Great.

At this point I am wondering just how bad I want my salad spinner anyway. I mean it's really only 4 boxes of stuff and this would give me an excuse to buy some new clothes that might actually be better for the climate here anyway. But then I remember there are some pretty important things in there, like my recipes and family pictures and my sewing machine and Dangit!...............

I want my stuff!

Iguacu or Iguassu (it depends what side of the border you are on)

2008-11-04T21:13:00.000-03:30

I thought I would put up a few pictures of our trip to Foz do Iguacu where we attended the Mission Presidents Seminar last week. All of the Mission Presidents from Brazil were there. Elder Scott presided and taught along with Elder Neil A. Andersen and the Area Presidency, Elder Didier, Elder Ellis, and Elder Soares. We learned a lot and had a good time too.
Hey! Where is everybody? That's what we thought when we arrived at the airport in Fortaleza. We found out our plane had just left. For reasons that take too long to explain, our ticket was printed with the wrong time.

Luckily, we were able to catch a flight on another airline and make it on time for the meetings. The grounds of the hotel were beautiful. This was the view of the gardens outside our window.

Alan thought the place cards they had for us in the dining room of the hotel were pretty funny, so I took this picture. Nobody calls us by the right name here either.

These are all the mission presidents and wives that are in the "Freshmen" class this year. We have a pretty big class. So far, no one has dropped out, but as we compared notes, we found out that we weren't the only ones that had wondered if we should. The upper classmen assured us that the first months are the roughest. We will all hang in there I'm pretty sure.

I snapped a picture of Alan during one of the breaks. We had meetings morning and afternoon for 2 and 1/2 days. You can see all the microphones and headsets so everyone could hear and get the translation if needed. May I just say I was grateful for those little puppies.

All work and no play? No way! This picture was taken with Elder Didier and his wife and his mother-in-law just before we headed out on the trail around the falls. The mother-in-law is 98 years old and lives with them. They take her with them whenever they can. I just asked if I could take a picture of Sister Didier and her mom, but the next thing I knew Elder Didier was there and said for us to hop in too. So we did. I think we would all like to live to 98 if we could be as perky as Sister Didier's mom was. We even heard that when the boat ride to the falls was over, she said she wanted to go again. I was just glad to be off the boat and still alive.

The day was rainy, but the view was still awesome. The couple posing are Walter and Claudia Queiroz. They are from Brazil, but have lived in the United States for 25 years. They are a really fun, hard-working couple. We really enjoy them. She always looks so cute. Check out her shoes. They were darling, but halfway up the trail, she was asking around for a bandaid.

I, on the other hand was my regular frump self, but the water falls were so close here, I had to put this picture on.

It feels pretty crazy to walk out on this walkway, but it is there, so you just have to do it.

In the center of this picture you can see Elder Scott. He is wearing the long sleeved white shirt and dark blue hat. We didn't want to bug him or act like paparazzi so this is the best shot we got of him. We were waiting around for the jeeps to take us down to get on the boats that take you right up to, and it felt like under, some of the falls. It really started to pour about the time we got on the boat, so I didn't get any more pictures. You are probably relieved about that. I know this has been sort of an overload. Anyway, we had a fun adventure along with some great meetings.

Going Up?

2008-10-22T11:55:00.000-02:30

We don't seem to be going to the sidewalk by the beach as often as we used to, so I have been walking the stairs in our apartment building for exercise lately. The stairs are right by our back door.

Yesterday morning when I came back and headed for the door, I saw a sudden movement that, of course, startled me. It wasn't a mouse, thank goodness, but it was a gecko/liazard/thing that was about 6 inches long. I let out a little yelp, my heart rate went back up, and I wondered how I was going to get past the thing to get back in the apartment. It had stopped right smack in front of the door and if I opened the door, I was afraid it would run in.

I went around the hall to the front door and rang the doorbell a number of times in rapid succession, as only a family member would do. I figured that even if Alan was in the shower or bathroom he would hear it and know it was me. I kept checking to see if the critter was still there and he was, so I kept ringing. When Alan got to the door I told him what was up. We just shut the door, went on with the morning and hoped the lizard would go away.

A little while later, Irene came to work. She usually just slips in quietly and goes right to work so sometimes we don't even know she is here. When we noticed her Alan told her about the lizard. She said she knew. It had run in the apartment when she went out the back to take out the garbage. She said, " It's right there." We looked to the corner she was pointing to and sure enough, there it was, all 6 inches of it.

We were both wondering why Irene didn't say anything to us or if she ever would have. Maybe it isn't a big deal, but we weren't that comfortable with the idea. While I was looking around for something to trap a lizard in, Alan opened the back door and headed in the direction of the lizard. I guess all those years of herding sheep paid off because that lizard headed right out the door and into the service elevator. I thought that was great, but I really wanted a little more assurance that I wouldn't see that lizard again soon. I ran down the two flights of stairs to the ground level so I could push the button and give Mr. Lizard a ride to somewhere besides the second floor. I really don't know if he was actually in the elevator or just clinging to the wall in the shaft somewhere. All I know is that I haven't seen him again and I have been watching very closely.

The elections are over!

2008-10-09T21:29:00.001-02:30

It has been pretty quiet here since the elections are over. It was just local elections, but we thought they went all out. Here are some of the ways they try to get the attention of the voters.

This is the election wagon that Moroni had going around town for weeks. He had some pretty music coming from it, but the volume was usually tuned up to "blast". You could hear that thing way before it ever got to your block. There were usually 4 to 6 people in it waving banners. Moroni is a member of the church, in case his name had made you wonder. He was running for mayor of Fortaleza, but he didn't win, dang it.

Mozart was also on the ballot. From this picture, you can't really tell, but this isn't just a banner hung on a wall. Signs like these were painted all over the walls that surround peoples homes. Out in the country some of the houses along the road were actually painted like billboards for candidates. You would hope that the candidates came back and repainted them after the elections, but I guess we'll find out the next time we're out in the country.

One method we saw often was the plastering of walls with small posters. I think one big one would have been more Feng Shui but this did have a certain amount of impact.

Vehicles of every kind are used for advertising. Here is a buggy (pronounced boo-gee) with banners flapping in the wind and speakers blaring. He's out getting votes for somebody.

Why have just a bumper sticker when you can get huge stick-ons like this?

Or how about this?

Check out all the speakers behind the mesh. I think we were lucky this one was just parked. It would have been an ear drum buster for sure.

This may have been the granddaddy of them all though. I think that is a semi full of speakers!

One Sunday on our way home from church we saw this in our rear view mirror. Talk about Bigfoot being scary!

We decided to let him pass us.

We noticed this guy in the lane beside us one day. His Santa hat caught our eye. Then we noticed he had painted numbers and stuff on his car windows like the candidates had. We think he was just making fun of the whole political process and having a good time. It looks like the election process is as ridiculous here as it is at home.

Food Dreams

2008-10-02T20:45:00.000-02:30

Last night I had a food dream. I dreamed I ate an entire cake by myself. It was an almond poppy seed bundt cake with the drizzled icing and it was so delicious I couldn't stop myself. I was supposed to bring it to a family picnic. When I got there people started asking about the cake and didn't have it. I was just trying to think of how to admit that I had eaten it when I woke up. Whew! I was relieved to realize: a) I hadn't eaten a whole cake by myself, and b) I didn't have to explain what happened to the cake.

I can't remember having a food dream before. I've had dreams about tornadoes and flying monkeys. That explains why I don't like "The Wizard of Oz." I've had dreams about not being fully dressed, being unprepared for classes, and about being able to fly. I don't know what all that means and probably don't want to.

It's possible that the food dream could have something to do with the fact that food is what my life is all about now. I am always thinking what to feed missionaries, buying food for dinners, e-mailing family for recipes, hoping my recipes and other stuff soon get here, looking up equivalents and definitions on the Internet , and shopping for hard to find ingredients. I did find powdered sugar this week that has the same consistency as the powdered sugar I am used to. I was excited about that. I still haven't found buttermilk, sour cream, maple flavoring, marshmallows, dill pickles, black olives, garlic salt and other things.

In my search I have come across some things that are new to me(lots of fruits I don't know), some things that have surprised me (sushi is everywhere), some things that seem weird to me ( the boxed milk), some things that make me hold my breath so I don't have to smell them(the slabs of sun dried meat stacked in the stores). But yesterday I think I found the most amazing thing I've seen so far...beet flavored rice in Sponge Bob packaging, and yes, it was purple. What I'm trying to understand is could there really be a bigger market for beet flavored rice than say...chocolate chips or tortilla chips or any of the other things I look for?

I'm not complaining. Actually the hunt for familiar food is sort of fun in a weird way. And now, since the dream I can add few other things to my list of stuff I am looking for...almond flavoring and poppy seed. Wish me luck!

So What if Dad Missed the Fair

2008-09-24T17:12:00.000-02:30

A few weeks ago we read the blogs about the Eastern Idaho State Fair..... about the great time everyone, except Becca, had. It was a little tough on Alan. He has always loved the fair. He doesn't do the rides or games, but since I have known him, he has never missed the animal exhibit except when he was on his mission. Well, on a recent trip to the "interior" of our mission, he took the camera along to show you all the animals you can encounter without even leaving the road. First, of course, is a sheep. You have to look pretty close to recognize that it actually is a sheep, but Alan says it was and he ought to know a sheep when he sees one.

Now, that's a mama sow if I've ever seen one. We thought it was ironic that he caught it strolling along the road right by a sign that almost spelled PIG.

Even with all the variety of foods at the fair, I'll bet you couldn't get fresh dove meat like this guy was offering along the side of the road.

One of the many groups of goats meandering down the side of the road. There never seems to be anyone tending them either. Alan always says, "Who owns these stinkin' goats?"

The elders are always complaining about not being able to drive here. Alan offered them this alternative. I think Elder McConkie's legs would be dragging. All the horses we have seen here seem quite small.

I doubt this burro would win any ribbons either. They are unattended usually too. They just stand in the road, never moving as cars go by. It may not really be like the fair, but driving in the interior is always an adventure.

We Meant Well

2008-09-22T19:56:00.001-02:30

Last week I attended a Helping Hands service project. I had never been involved with one before, but I guess the church does them all the time when there are natural disasters and stuff. If I understood correctly it was a huge project. Members all over Brazil were cleaning and painting public schools. Our ward and another one were assigned to a school not too far from our house.

When they handed me the putty knife I thought I would be patching holes, but I actually spent most of the time scraping gum off the bottom of desks and chairs. I didn’t really mind. In the long run, I think it was more interesting. A lady that speaks quite a bit of English told me that they give a medicine to the school kids in a gum/candy form. It must not taste too good because I think that was actually most of what I was scraping off the bottom of the desks.

While we were cleaning the desks, the paint crew came in. The just moved all the desks to the middle, took a few essays off the wall, and brought out the paint brushes which looked very much like the end of a broom to me. They were only painting the bottom half of the room. I guess that makes sense, from a functional point of view, because that is the only part of the wall that gets much wear. From an aesthetic point of view, it wasn’t that great of a plan because the paint wasn’t quite the same shade of white. But really, that point was minor.

The paint they were using smelled more like thinner than paint and it was very runny. With the broom like brushes you can imagine the drips and drops that were flying everywhere. The crew was mostly made up of men and boys and I really don’t think they thought about the drips and drops. They were just there to paint. When the paint crew moved on, I grabbed a rag and started wiping up drips. The one good thing about thin paint is that it cleans up easily. I didn’t even have to get any paint remover or thinner to get it off things. But I did wonder how long that paint was going to last on the walls.

After that was done, somebody handed me a small paintbrush and some of the smelliest, stickiest paint I have ever worked with. Three of us were supposed to paint the metal bars on the gate of the school red, yellow, and green. I had the red and two Mutual age kids had the other two colors. We were trying to work around each other keeping track which bar was supposed to be red, which was green, which was yellow. I sensed early on that this was not a place that I was going to be proud of my work. I ditched out of there as soon as another Mutual age girl came along. I think she wanted to paint with her friends anyway.

Then I got on the scrub team. The women there that day really knew how to scrub. I don’t know how long it had been since those wooden desk/chairs had been scrubbed, but they were getting the scrubbing of their lives that day. Those ladies were intent on getting all the writing off them. I don't even know what kind of cleaner we were using, but if you ever want to remove writing and the finish off furniture, I will try to find out.

It was fun to work with the people even though I couldn’t talk much and it was interesting to see what their schools are like. I sure didn't see much in the way of supplies or equipment and teachers' desks were a far cry from what I've seen in our schools. They weren't that great to start with and now there is a good chance they won't be able to get their drawers open...ever again. That bright yellow oil based paint they were putting on them is seriously sticky stuff.

This project probably turned out just fine, but let's just say I hope we did more good than harm and I hope the church doesn't get sued.

What's Been Goin On

2008-09-12T17:11:00.000-02:30

Last week we finished up Zone Conferences. This is the lunch line. They seemed pretty happy when we finally got done with interviews and brought out the food. I made 2 cookies for each missionary and even though they weren't the greatest cookies, they were a hit.

This Elder painted the back of his badge to read "I am hungry." He turns it that way when they go to lunch at some of the members’ homes. He thinks it is hilarious. Don't ask about the tie. I might have to see if I can make that disappear sometime. Though ugly, the extremely patterned ties do hide food spots better and might not be that bad of an idea for some of them.

Some of our sweet Sisters.

The next two pictures and the captions are out of order. I have already spent too much time on this post, so you will just have to figure it out. Sorry.

At the last minute Alan brought the office Elders to the going away dinner too. That explains the short tablecloth. The dinner was well, interesting. I tried to make sweet and sour chicken and besides the chicken ending up a little tough, the sauce sort of congealed (I think that is the word) while we were waiting about an extra hour for them to get to the house. It turned out looking a little like globs of jello stuck to chicken. It tasted okay though and they ate it. We had brownies and ice cream for dessert (Thanks for the idea, Mary.) and that seemed to make up for it.

We had 5 missionaries leave this week. We had a dinner for them the night before they left. The previous president's wife always had their names on a paper taped to the door when they came so I did that too. It gave the missionaries the perfect opportunity for one last immature moment together before they become dignified "returned missionaries." Our tallest Elder and our shortest Sister were among this group. Side by side, the difference is very noticeable.

We had an uninvited guest show up. Yes, that is a gecko climbing up one of the Elders pants. It was really tiny and not very scary, but still just a little creepy. We captured him in a jar and I dumped it outside the apartment building in one of the plants. I noticed his tail had fallen off though. I hope they are like lizards and can grow a new one because that curly tail was pretty cute.

The next morning we said goodbye to them at the airport. They all looked so great. Elder Hamilton, next to Pres. Batt, is from Blackfoot. We didn't get to know him very well, but wish we could have.
Right after we said goodbye to the ones returning home we greeted 18 new ones. They look excited to be here and they seem like a great group.

We even got two new sisters which is great. We need to keep a little bit of the feminine touch in the mission. So, here we go again!

Why is there a blender in my trunk?

2008-08-31T20:11:00.001-02:30

Just when I think things might be going a little smoother, that there actually might be hope for this Brazil thing to work out, I have a day like this:

Friday we had zone conferences. They were at a church pretty close to home and I know how to drive there so Alan went ahead of me in one car. I was going to finish cutting up some fruit for the lunch, pick up a few things we needed at the grocery store and come a little later in the other car. Irene was here helping me with the fruit. She doesn't speak English and I, well.... you know. When we finished cutting up the pineapple, she put all the little scrap pieces in the blender, added some water and gave it a whirl. She doesn't waste anything and I guess she was blending it to strain and drink later. I don't know why I felt it was necessary to say something, especially when I can't , but in very broken Portuguese I tried to tell her that I thought that was a good idea to use up those scraps. She smiles, says something in Portuguese that I don't have a clue about, but I smile and nod my head in agreement. The next thing I know she is washing and drying the blender and putting it in a bag. I just watch, trying to figure out what is going on, but in too big of a hurry to go look up words in my dictionary to use to actually ask her why she put it in a bag. We start to take the fruit out to the car and I notice she has also picked up the bag with the blender in it. It gets put in the trunk with the fruit and other stuff. We say "tchau" to each other and I drive off with a blender in my trunk.

I head to the store, successfully get the parking ticket out of the machine at the parking lot entrance and go straight to the deli counter. I order the sliced cheese we need, tell the man I'll be back in a minute to pick it up, head for the bakery counter and ask for 80 buns. I had double checked how to say eighty before I left home so I didn't expect any trouble. He started loading the right kind of buns. Things seemed to be on track. Then I notice he is already going for the scale and the little machine that spits out the sticker with the amount you owe. I say, "Mais, Mais," which means, "More, more." He looks slightly puzzled and so I say "oitenta" again, this time drawing the numerals, 8 and 0 in the air as I say it. I think to myself, "That for sure ought to work," but it didn't. Another store employee comes along, says something to him, and I think I'm saved. He starts loading more buns, but hands them to me way before there are 80. I start looking around for anyone that I think might speak English. There is a lady in the line that has started to form behind me that steps forward, and asks me how many I need. I tell her 80. She then says "oitenta", just like I did, and now his light goes on. I load them up in my cart, trying not to make eye contact with anyone in the line that formed during this misunderstanding and is now having to wait while he counts out 80 buns. I head for the checkout. I remember to get my parking ticket validated. I drive safely to the church. Everything is good . I start unloading the car and suddenly remember I forgot that stupid cheese. I just don't have it in me to go back and get it then. I figure the Elders can pick it up when they get the pop later. I try to slip into the meeting next to Alan quietly. He can tell by the look on my face that I must have had a bad morning. He whispers, "What's wrong?" I say,"Nothing really, but there is a blender in the trunk and I have no idea why."

Fare Thee Well, Hebecca

2008-08-24T20:30:00.000-02:30

The party is over, but we had such a good time with Rebecca, or Hebecca, as she was known here in Brazil. This is a picture of her arrival at the airport. She seemed a little giddy to have escaped Paraguay and all her critter friends.

We had her room fixed for her and welcomed her with a smile.

She went shopping with us and was shocked at some of the sticker prices. You can see why I no longer make anything that calls for cream of mushroom soup.

Grocery shopping is still an adventure and Rebecca liked going with us. We are still trying to figure out what things are and what to do with them once we know what they are.

We fixed a breakfast for some Elders that were leaving the mission. I thought we had to have it ready by 10:00, but the morning of the breakfast, I found out it was supposed to happen at 8:00. Yikes! I wouldn't have been able to pull it off if Rebecca hadn't been here to help. She had all of this arranged at the mission office by the time I got there with the cinnamon rolls. She had made banana bread the night before and we had quite the nice breakfast buffet. The Elders seemed to be happy with it at least.

This is the driver of the van that took the missionaries to the airport. He is a bishop here in one of the Fortaleza wards and we use his van/taxi service as often as possible. When he came for the Elders we invited him to join the party. I included this picture for a reason though. Notice the gold watch on his right arm. He no longer has that thanks to being held up right outside our apartment building just after dropping Alan off early one morning.

Double yikes!

Rebecca took this picture one of the evenings that we went walking down by the city beach. We usually go in the evening and it is often just this pretty. We were glad she got to enjoy that beautiful evening with us.

We got to celebrate Becca's BiRtHdAy with her. We went out for a nice buffet dinner and tried a lot of foods we hadn't tried before. Some we'll have again I hope. Some I hope we won't.

Anyway, we had a great time and hope she did too.

A Day in the Life

2008-08-21T23:57:00.000-02:30

Last Sunday was a pretty long, but nice day. Alan, Rebecca, an Elder, and I left Fortaleza about 7:00 a.m. and headed for a couple of the outlying branches. Sometimes I have to settle Alan down as he is driving. It's his most traumatic time. Sunday mornings aren't all that bad though. We had pretty nice road most of the way and enjoyed the scenery which I didn't take any pictures of. Sorry.

Alan had to interview a sister that was going to the temple for the first time later in the week. She could not get to the neighboring city where he was doing other interviews, so we drove to her branch in Russas. Here he is talking with the Branch President, his counselor and Elder Olivera. You can see how young some of the church leaders are here. They all look like missionaries.

They had fixed a house into a church for the branch. I thought it was so pretty. It had a fresh coat of paint, new tile, and just really looked nice.

Rebecca and I had time to check out the neighborhood a little and I got this cute picture of her in front of one of the prettiest little places I have seen in Brazil. It is just across the street from the church. The fence was low enough that you could see into the beautiful yard and we thought it was a great photo op.

We then drove for another hour or two to Aracati. They have two branches in this town, maybe wards. I can't remember for sure. This is the church parking lot. Ours was the only car there. These good people walk, ride a bike or maybe a motorcycle to church.

I had packed stuff for sandwiches and we had a trunk picnic. Too bad I forgot the knife to cut our buns or spread the mayo and mustard. We were hungry enough to deal with it though.

We had to hurry back to speak at a fireside which we found out started at 6:00, not 7:00 like we were originally told. We made it by the skin of our teeth, but everyone was in their seats waiting for us. How embarrassing. This is a picture of the bishopric and some of the missionaries that serve in that ward.

By the end of the day, I had to kick back a little. I found just the right spot to do it too.

A Day at the Beach

2008-08-21T22:23:00.000-02:30

We had to go to the beach, praia, while Rebecca was here. There are lots of great beaches in the area. We drove to Beach Park, which is sort of like Seven Peaks, but on a beautiful beach. They have way less slides, but it looked like a pretty fun place.

This is some of the scenery on the way there. It really is just outside of town and only took about 15 minutes to get to.

We found out when we got there that Beach Park was closed for maintenance. So we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. Yeah!! We hadn't planned to do the slides and stuff anyway.

This fun girl from the ward here went with us. We love her for a lot of reasons....like I said, she is fun, she speaks English, and her name is......Kimberly!

The sky was beautiful, the breeze and the temperature perfect for a relaxing day at the beach.

This was the only picture Rebecca got of me at the beach that I will post. Believe me, it's for your sake as well as mine.

Sleepless in Fortaleza

2008-08-07T00:24:00.000-02:30

It is the first night here that I really haven't been able to get to sleep. It was bound to happen. It happened every so often at home. I would usually just get up and catch up on the ironing or something useful, but kind of quiet. There are some useful things I could do here tonight like write a talk I have to give Sunday, but I just can't force myself to do it. So I thought I would blog.

Is blog a even a verb? I never used to think about verbs, past tense, or conjugations. In fact, I don't think I'd ever heard about conjugations until trying to learn this language. I pretty much stink at it so far. When I talk to the North American missionaries I usually ask, "Would you like to speak in English or would you like me to torture you with my Portuguese?" I know there are more difficult languages to learn, but let me just try to explain to you why I sometimes get a little overwhelmed and confused. Let's say that blog is a verb. In Portuguese it would probably be "blogar" which would mean "to blog". The conjugation chart would look something like this:
Eu blogo = I blog
Voce bloga = You blog, he blogs, she blogs
Nos blogamos = We blog
Eles blogao = they blog
Really, why do you need all the different ways to say blog? or run? or eat? or anything?? But since at least 50% of the missionaries here are Brazilian and because I really would like to learn this language, I have to keep working on it.
Here are the top 5 reasons I need to learn Portuguese:
5. So I don't have to have the duuuuhhhh expression on my face for 3 years.
4. So I don't have 4 cars waiting behind me while I am trying to figure out how to get a validation ticket out of a parking lot entrance meter. By the way, why would you need to have a validation for a parking lot at a grocery store and why wouldn't it just come out automatically?
3. So 3 hours at church doesn't seem so very long.
2. So when I'm at a hotel and all the little tubes of toiletries look the same, I don't use lotion for conditioner.
1. So when I ask to see a menu at a restaurant they don't show me where the bathroom is.
Really though, the number 1 reason I need to learn Portuguese is so I can get to know these great Brazilian members and missionaries.
Tchau! for now..

2008-08-01T22:28:00.000-02:30

Okay, I know this is going to sound whiny, but I am really missing milk. We've tried milk from boxes that don't require refrigeration, milk in a plastic pouches, soy milk, even powdered milk stirred up and refrigerated, Nothing quite cuts it. I thought after a month or so I would forget what a really great cold glass of milk tastes like and become accustomed to the milk here. I guess it might take a little longer than a month.

I'm Sorry....Another Frog Blog

2008-07-24T22:58:00.000-02:30

I just thought I would take a minute to say I had to apologize to Rebecca for making light of the frog situation she is dealing with. Remember the title of a blog post she did recently, "You can't flush a frog?" Well, maybe you can. In fact I'm about 99% sure I did last week. We were traveling and we stayed at a really nice resort type hotel. I was pleased when we saw the room because we had stayed in a well....how should I say it?.... not so nice hotel the week before. Even though it was nice, I was a little leery just because or our experience the previous weekend and because of Rebecca's creepy frog stories. I know you won't believe this, but I had a frog/toilet experience also. Because I was a little leery I checked things out before I went, but when I flushed, a frog shot across the water in the toilet. I about killed myself trying to get the door open and get out of there. After I calmed down and told Alan we went back in to see if Kermit was still there. He was not to be found. I truly think I got him flushed! Shortly after that we got a phone call from the front desk that our car alarm was going off. Great. We went out to see what was up and while we were checking it out, we saw the night manager. Alan told him about the frog and he simply said, "Yeah, it's frog season." It's frog season? What is that supposed to mean??? I thought he would apologize and offer us a rate reduction or at least acknowledge my serious invasion of privacy. But no, just, "it's frog season." Since that experience I have become more compassionate with Rebecca's situation and I swear, no more lame frog jokes.

P. S. Nothing was wrong at the car, but as you can see, our battle with beepers, buzzers and most things electronic continues.