Working late nights and blogging just don't mix. That's why I've been making weekly posts these days. I can never seem to find the time (or the energy) during the week to do it. Anyway, I figured that I'd just quickly list a few things to sum up this past week.
One. It was busy. My boss was actually back in Stuttgart for the week (after being gone for about two weeks for TDY), which means complete and utter chaos and, again, just late nights for all. It's really not that bad though. I never leave the place every night feeling stressed (because everyone's cool and the job really is, to me, pretty enjoyable)--just super tired. I'm there at 6:45 a.m. and then leave twelve or so (or more) hours later. So when I get home, I'm just completely drained--physically and mentally. I mean, my mind runs a million mph all day long. That's a lot of energy burned! Then, when I get home, it's just about time to get Sina bathed and into bed--not nearly as much time as I would like to spend with her. Sometimes it makes me sad.
Two. My daddy turned 59 on March 1st! Love you dad :)
Three. It's Mardi Gras season in many parts of Europe. In Germany, they call it Carnival or Fasching. A few weeks, my NCO told me that she thought we should have a Mardi Gras luncheon, so I told her to put one together. I mean, what a great idea, right? So we had one on Thursday and we had such a good turnout, great dishes, and even decorations! I took a stab at making king cake. I knew nothing about king cake before making it and I usually shy away from recipes that require me to make my own dough. Surprisingly, and even though I'd overdone the bottom of each cake a little, people loved it. It even looks cool, what, with all that colored sugar on it (which I made by myself, by the way!).
Oh, and am I the only person that didn't know that purple, green and gold are signature Mardi Gras colors? When I first saw the recipe (my NCO found it for me), I told my office I wanted to choose nicer colors for it (like red) and I was told that I couldn't. Also, it's tradition for a small baby figurine or a little trinket to be placed inside. Whomever finds it is usually "crowned" king for the day or is blessed. I stuck an angel ornament in mine. I'll be posting a recipe on my cooking blog soon.
Three. A few weeks ago, I won a giveaway (which never happens!) on Jamie's blog, Stuck in a World of Blue & Camo. Jamie and her family are currently stationed in Japan and she sent me a Japanese tea (or maybe saki) set, a fan, chopsticks, and a pretty set of hair clips. I love it! Thanks Jamie!
Four. I wanted to go to a fasching parade in Weil der Stadt, which is about a 38-mile drive from our place. It was a good thing I checked the town's website online before we left on Saturday morning. It said the parade was on Sunday. I was bummed, because it was such a beautiful day yesterday--sunshine! The first day like it in a while! Instead, we decided to venture out the Patch Barracks gate into town. We had no idea that there is a nice mall about 1.25 miles from our house! When we got there, we ran into a friend of ours who told us that she and her husband usually walk there every Saturday morning for breakfast with their dogs (because you can bring your dogs in), do some shopping, and walk back home. And, in the spring there's a farmer's market in that plaza. So cool! Looks like that will become a weekend thing for us too!
Malu always asks me why I get so excited in these German malls; because it's not like we don't have malls in America. Yes, we do have malls, but these are slightly different and it's always fun to compare (I think it's a girl thing, really). The mall we went to has two grocery stores in it. They have these cool escalators that allow you to go on with your shopping cart. Tell me these aren't differences that can't be embraced? And...this particular mall has a cafe/gelato place that sells cones for 1 euro. Yum!
When we got home, we took a long nap. I mean, walking can be exhausting! We spent the evening catching up on The Tudors.
Five. We were going to attempt to go to the fasching parade today, but it was a little cold out today and Sina's got the sniffles again. We didn't want to take her out and we always have next year--or the year after that. So we pretty much stayed in all day, watching movies and binging on Ben & Jerry's Phish Food. My idea of a great rest day :)
Six. We're dog-sitting again for our friends' two Shelties. Two boys--Griffey and McCoy. They're the cutest! I'll try to get some pics of them later.
Seven. Sina is officially 7 months old today!
I know...I can't believe it either. I'll be making her 7 month update soon. This is a picture of her helping her daddy unpack earlier this week. And no....we're still not done unpacking! One of these days I'm going to show you guys what our place looks like, completely furnished. But at this rate, it won't be for another month!
Anyway, I'm signing off for now. It took forever to make this post--our internet connection has been horrible tonight! Have a great week everyone!
