So Long Ordinary

Happy Thanksgiving!  I thought of you all when I found this in the grocery store yesterday.  It gave me good chuckle anyway...  Not definitely, but probably the best in Indonesia!  No unattainable promises here.  Gotta like the honesty in the marketing department at Shira Potato.  By the way, these are diet potatoes, as you can see on the bar code sticker. Yes, diet potatoes! Probably. Nothing says yummy diet potatoes like the Tasmanian Devil, and I'm sure no copyright laws were infringed upon.  Probably? As you've noticed I've been on a sort of an unplanned hiatus from blogging.  Our October was crazy - very good, but indeed very crazy.  Apparently, the craziness continued through November and here we are nearly into December.  Oops! In my defense, I did attempt to blog several times over the past few weeks only to discover that Blogger and I were having technical difficulties.  Well, I think we've got those things figured out and ...

Folks, life as I know it has changed drastically.  A Hypermart just opened in our little city - that's an Indonesian version of Wal-Mart.  It is clean and bright and fully stocked with more stuff than I've ever actually seen in Indonesia.  All in one place. I am in awe. I am having a major culture shock moment. I am dreaming of limitless dairy supply. This new store is a major attraction and the place is crazy beyond crazy after it's grand opening on Wednesday.  Sean and I took the girls to brave the craziness on opening day.  We couldn't stand to wait, we were so excited!  But I went back today for the first time to really do some real grocery shopping.  I went early, so I could find a place to park.  By the time I left, it was mass chaos and I was glad I was done. But my culture shock has nothing to do with the loads of people.  I live in Southeast Asia.  I'm kinda used to that.  No, it was the pure luxury of options!  I...

While Sean and Brooklyn were gone, I tried to venture out at least once a day with the girls - to the store, to KFC - even though these kinds of outings on hot days when the whole country is out and about, really wear me out. My friend and I (her husband also went on the trip) spent a very long time standing in line at KFC, sweat dripping down our backs while we watched our kids weave in and out of dozens of kids on the playplace and we cheered them on as they dodged the cheek-pinching fingers of adults enamored with their pale skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair. When we finally got to the front of the line, the ice was gone and the original recipe chicken was sold out. No matter. I rattled off a different order than the one I'd had in my mind for the past 30 minutes.  The cashier handed me an evaluation card. He expectantly waited for me to fill it out while he watched. I had the option to check the box with the smiley face or the box with the fro...

The sweet, smokey fragrance of incense wafts through the house... The incense was bought this morning in a desperate attempt to cover up the stench of rats living (or are they already dead?) in our attic space.  I seem to be the one who smells that death-stench most often - it appears to be concentrated right above my side of the bed.  Of course.  I'm not going to lie.  It's rank.  And because it is so rank, I am grumpy.  And I always feel somehow infected and creepy whenever I get a whiff of it - what is up with that?  It's just air, right?  Even if it is air that stinks.  It can't actually infect me with something can it? Something had to be done.  I'm not going up there to remove the dead rat or the live ones if they are there... and I think they are because we hear them at night...shiver.  Sean is not going up there to remove the dead or alive rats or any combination thereof.  We can't bring ourselves to ask a friend to do ...