back online, old post 7-9-07

No imagination necessaray . . . Thanks to Tyler for "capturing the moment (photo edited for your pleasure!)

July 9, 2007
7:05am
Paris, France

Just to paint a picture (not to gross anyone out or anything), but I am sitting in our little living room, with French “Lazytown” playing in the background, while Tyler’s getting out of the shower telling me the benefit of dry weave fabric. He’s telling me this as I am sitting on our couch wearing my zip up sweater and black wool socks that I brought to keep me warm on the plane. That’s it. My other clothes are still drying so I can wear them, for day #3. That’s right, fans, we have yet to receive our luggage. I at trying to get over the bad mood that I’ve been in since waking up at 5:30am this morning, but I am not having much luck. I can’t decide if I am more upset about our lack of control in the situation, my hairy legs and pits, my cute clothes going unworn, our electrical adaptors that are keeping us from charging the our cell phone we have since they’re ALSO in our suitcases, along with the umbrella we brought in case it rains . . . which it did all day yesterday. Sigh.

Really, all things considered, we had a pretty good day yesterday. We awoke early, ate some baguette, and took a nap. We did shower with our ghetto fab French soap and shampoo that we bought the day before and then put on the same clothes we had flown in back on. Totally grossed me out, but whatcha gonna do? We opted for the cheap versions of our toiletries because we were so confident our baggage would arrive yesterday. We walked to this market place called Rue Cler, which is supposed to be bustling, but they were closing pretty much everything down by the time we got there. It was quaint, nonetheless, with a bunch of sidewalk cafes that were packed for lunch. Tyler and I bought sandwiches, tartes, and sodas and walked to the Eiffel Tower for lunch on the lawn. It was surreal. There were families and couples spread all over the grassy lawns and tourists taking pictures. It was a little overcast, but really nice weather. Just as we were finishing (we took some pics), the wind picked up and it really cooled off. We were going to ride up the tower right then, but the lines were insane, so we decided to walk past the American church and across the Seine to the Grand Palais and Petite Palais (two buildings built for the World’s Fair). The Petite Palais had free exhibits, so we hit those where we wandered for a bit before heading up to the Champs Elysees so Tyler could look for him a sweatshirt. By this point it’s pretty chilly and obvious we’re going to get rain, so we start looking at the shops for long sleeves for Tyler . . . we ended up (after a couple hours and sitting out some of the heavier rains) finding him a baseball cap to keep his head dry and a t-shirt for me (just in case). We called on our luggage a couple times, and basically were told it was confirmed to be on the plane that arrived yesterday morning (by Continental) and that it wasn’t on the flight it was confirmed on (by Air France). After the shopping, we headed back to the Eiffel Tower, where the crowds were long gone, and we headed up the elevators. Despite the weather and fog, it was amazing to see the breadth of Paris. We went all the way to the top (because, as Tyler explained, it would be lame to report we only went half-way up.) It was cold, but amazing at the same time. I thought it was interesting there were all these signs warning against pickpockets and security guards with machine guns. I am sure those who build and engineered the Eiffel Tower didn’t envision that scene with the monument.

By 8pm we headed home, stopped by a little market for laundry soap, and came home to make pasta with bolognaise sauce with fresh grated swiss cheese on top. It was a fine French meal, if I do say so myself. We called about internet and cable; it’s supposed to be available tonight when the owner of the apartment comes by. And started laundry. Oh man, do I appreciate our washers and dryers back home. In the apartment it’s an all-n-one contraption which takes FOREVER, thus the naked me except the sweater and socks. How sexy am I in France? I think we have finally figured out the dryer, so I am going to shower and we’re headed to the Louvre. We figured a museum day would be better considering the weather will be (at best) about 70 degrees with a good chance of rain. Oh, man, I wish we had our bags! Pray for the best (and quickest) return of our stuff. Tyler’s had a great attitude, but I am feeling a little more despondent about the whole situation.

In a happy moment at the Eiffel Tower! FOR REALS!

Back online, old post 7-7-07

Me and Tyler after we had loaded the plane, waited on the tarmac, and unloaded the plane.

July 7, 2007
6:27pm
Paris, France

Well, we made it, FINALLY! I figured without considering the time changes, we have been traveling for 24 hours consecutively by the time we made it to our apartment . . . which is fabulous. Small is probably an understatement. More than two people would be obscene to try and work in this place. The elevator (our apartment is on the fifth American floor) can barely smush me and Tyler, which he loves. I can tell it will be the gropevator.

So, we finally got out of Las Vegas at 3:45pm, but didn’t arrive into Houston until 8:45pm (with time changes, etc.) and were aching to get any information (we’re still hoping we’d catch our flight, but no dice) and made it to the Continental service desk right before about 50 other people who had also missed their connections. Talk about a small miracle! The agent told us he could quickly book us on a Air France ticket that left at 9:55pm, so we ran (yeah, I know, totally Amazing Race, especially because we were standing in line for a while and everyone around us was all pissy and stuff, but we stayed calm and I think that’s why we got hooked up. HOWEVER! I don’t understand having 4 agents, one totally devoted to first class passengers, when you KNOW you’ve had rain delays and missed cancellations and rebookings, etc. It was ridiculous, but I digress!) So we get to the Air France counter and they are literally ready to close the doors. There’s all these hee hee haa haa (if you say that nasely it make sense) kind of Frenchmen working the counter with heavy accents and we slip the guy our paper and he types in the computer and NOTHING comes up. Of course, we panic because the other Continental dude kept our other boarding passes and was leaving for a pee break. Air France wouldn’t call Continental so we quickly called customer service, where I got a mentally challenged agent, and we finally ended up with our confirmation, and got on the plane where the door practically hit us on the rear end. This nice gal traded Tyler seats so we even got to sit by each other. IT ALL WORKED OUT OKAY . . . except we figured out today that we’ve been calling the wrong number for the apartment to let her know we were delayed. She wasn’t thrilled with us, I don’t think, but it’s better than showing up Sunday at noon, which was our only other option. OH, the only kicker about getting on Air France was out bags weren’t going to have time to be switched, but supposedly they’ll get delivered tomorrow. I am kind of bummed since I wanted to go to church. Tyler and I have one outfit each, finally bought toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, and deodorant, and we’ll just walk around France France without clean underpants. Keeping the fingers crossed and a little constant prayer that when our luggage arrives at 7:40am some nice French person will rush it right over to us.

Again, the apartment is darling. I can’t write too much longer, I am really tired as I didn’t sleep too much on the plane. It was hard to resist the all-you-can-watch movies or video games at your own seat. Yeah, Air France was pretty cushy, still crowded, but we were excited for the free headphones and night eye cover thingies . . . oh, and ear plugs, and good meals on board. We wandered around the neighborhood and found a market where we got the aforementioned toiletries and some groceries. I am not feeling so eat out as much as I am move in and hang out. We’ve talked about seeing the Eiffel Tower tonight, but I think I will be sleeping instead.

Our home away from home for the next ten days. Happy to be here!

Voila!

Oh my people! How I have missed the connection to you and my daily dose of bloggage! There's no way I can go into too much detail tonight, as it's almost 3:00am (we took naps this afternoon . . . our sleep is gonna be so messed up!) and it has been one heck of a week. For those of us in the know, we finally got our luggage last night at 11:00pm. Yeah, so I'll let you think about what it's like to travel thousands of miles from home to a foreign country and have no luggage! I'll post the details tomorrow (which will be while you're sleeping, so maybe worth a 2am blog check, Nate!), but know that we are fine, and enjoying our stuff in Paris. A bientot!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

So, Tyler and I are sitting in the McCarren Airport at 2:21pm. Yes, I know. Our flight was SUPPOSED to leave at 11:10am. Apparantly Houston (our connecting flight) is having record-breaking rains and so we have been grounded. Of course, this came after we loaded, taxied, and were ready for lift-off. We spent an hour 75 minutes on the tarmac (got through all my People magazine by that point) and another 45 minutes back at the gate before they would let us deplane (at which point I, of course, made conversation with the other passengers while Tyler tried to call the lady in charge of the apartment in Paris to let her know we won't be meeting her when we said we would.) And, really, a shout out to the flight attendants who are the bearer of bad news. We were all getting hungry and worried about missing our flights, etc. and they are frantic that people don't get off the plane unless the absolutely have to. I do have to say, though, that my "Amazing Race" and "Airline" TV watching have come in handy as I have made some phone calls and discussed our options to get to Paris in time (pretty much not gonna happen!) It looks like we'll end up in Houston and make it to Paris Sunday at noon instead of Saturday. I am trying to have a good attitude about it all. And not think about all the other things we could be doing. I mean we are officially on vacation, even if it's hanging out at swanky McCarren airport and eating Chili's-to-go. I'm calling my "inner Jenn" of airport prowess and going to offer to decline overnight/day accomodations in Houston in order to upgrade to first class tickets to Paris. That would be a silver lining on a rainy Houston cloud. **Raspberries**

Notorious

It's 12:11am when I start this post and Notorious Mobsters is showing on the TV in the background. Tyler is lying next to me on the couch because he's too chicken to go in to our bed. Why, you ask, would he be too afraid to get in our own cushy king-sized bed? That would be because it is now the sick bed. About 8pm tonight Mackenzie started to complain of a killer stomach ache. I gave her my usual brush-off with "Stick your bum up in the air," cuz, you know gas rises, so if it is a gas issue wavin' her tush in the air would fix the problem. Well, that didn't cut it and she even turned down a trip to the ice cream store with Tyler. Shortly after Tyler left with Caylee and Brevin, Kenz totally lost it in the toilet. WHICH, I should have been more compassionate, but since I was finishing my video montage I coached her from the couch. Like, "Good job, let it go . . . all done? . . . ope, no? okay let it all come out . . . now get some tissue and wipe up . . . rinse out with some water . . . go brush your teeth" etc. I am having a bit of remorse about that now that she's spent the last three hours wretching in the bathrooms. Poor thing was so tired she was crying more about having to keep getting up more than she was crying about being sick. So, about 10:45pm Tyler was unloading groceries (yes, he grocery shopped tonight so's not to have to fight the crowds tomorrow . . . you know those crazy 4th of July grocery shoppers . . .whatever, he did it and I can cross it off my to-do list), I was putting away laundry in my room (while stepping over Kenzie who is now camped out on the floor in my bathroom) when Tyler called, "Sarah?!" in that oh-crap-I-don't-like-the-sound-of-it-kind-of-way. I walked in to the kitchen and there's Brock with barf smeared across his face. *If you have a sensitive stomach you could skip the following detail * AND, of course, his schalacked bink still in his mouth. EEEEWWWWW! He was totally dazed and confused and I rebuffed his "Hold me" pleas until he was stripped and wiped down in the bathroom. Tyler (another bonus point for him) was stripping Brock's bed. Now, I don't know what the exact protocol is for cleaning up bed sheets, but the thought of just tossing them in the washer creeps me out. It's like washing it all in the puke. Usually I pre-wash the gunk in our utility sink, but tonight I made Tyler go outside and use the garden hose to pre-wash the sheet. It's funny when you have enough kids who have been sick enough times, how little it phases us anymore. Like me not jumping up to stand by Kenzie the first time she was sick (on her subsequent heave-fests I came in to check her out.) We have funny conversations and find joy in the little things. Tonight Tyler commented, after examping all the bed fixings, that Brock "did well" and aimed his ick mostly on his blanket. Of course the report continues with what else "just had a little bit on it here and there . . . " but you know what I mean? I thought it was funny, cuz there's no logic in the stomach bug. Mackenzie said she thought all the throwing up would make her teeth a lot whiter, which threw me for a minute as I thought, "acid wash?" and then realized she meant from brushing her teeth. Tyler, too, automatically plays out all his scenarios of when he's going to get sick and he's prepping for being sick on the plane. How fun would THAT be? AND not to have a whole separate tangent, but does Pepto Bismal work or anything or anyone? We had some tablets that I had Mackenzie take to settle her stomach and within 7.2 minutes they were reappearing in a liquid, vomit version. EVERY time I have taken it for stomach issues, I have a similar response to the stuff. Oh well. I am hoping, considering my illness at girl's camp last week I am immune from it OR I get a full blown version by tomorrow. I am worried about my brother, David, who was with Brock all day today. Sorry, Dude, if your day off turns out not-so-great. And our babysitter who arrives tomorrow. I might see if she can stay a night with my in-laws until it works its way through the kids. UGH, this is bad time. We are notorious for that. Going on a trip? Get sick. Needless to say, I'll be cloroxing the house and making new plans for our 4th holiday. I imagine once I spread the word that we've got a flu bug Jared and Mindie's will be lookin' pret-ty good. At this rate I am figuring everyone's gonna get it from somewhere anyhow, so bring it on. (As far as we can tell, this is still Nate's fault since he was the closest relative to have it last. Thanks, Man!) My SIL, too, to compound the issues, will be having a baby tomorrow (the 5th) and we'll not be spreading that to her. Oh well. Thanks for letting me vent about this for an hour.

Another thing I am notorious for is not being great at thank you cards. My dear, sweet friend Jenn from Texas sent me the most darlingest apron from Anthropologie for my birthday. I have been stalking it in our local store for months, yeah, the exact one she got me, and I didn't even tell her that I was looking at them, or how cute I thought they were, etc. Of course, Jenn being Jenn, (she's very astute and perceptive) she took time out of her busy baby #2 life to send me something via mail (and on time, no less . . . I am also notoriously late with birthday gifts). And do I take a minute to email her or send her a cute note telling her how fabulous the gift was, how touched I was at her thoughtfulness, and how she's an amazing, inspiring woman? Nope. It dawned on me that I hadn't sent anything when she got worried enough that it was lost in the mail to have to ask me if I got her package. So, SORRY JENN! I also owe everyone who came to my party (and the rule-breaking-gift-giving), the youth conference committee kids, my friend Barb (who helped me make some YW invites when I was totally stressed and headed out of town and she just totally made all of them for me), the lady who spoke at our Senior Luncheon, AND all those who gave us wedding presents thank you cards. I am horrible at it. Notorious, actually.

And one more notorious thing . . . lists. I can't help myself. I've got about five going on right now, just for the next three days. They are:

Things to do:
Grocery shop (done tonight)
Fill car with gas for sitter (Fri. morning)
Ms. Ashton's appreciation/Thank You/all-holidays-in-one gifts (Did I mention I notoriously procastinate?)
Nan's baby invites
Buy underwear and good quality bra (cross your fingers on this one!)
Get my kids pictures done (Thursday morning if nobody's sick and I can convince Mackenzie the world will keep spinning if she misses one morning of class!)
Pick up dry cleaning
Presidency Meeting for YW
Buy b-day presents
Call Daniel so he can RE-explain the computer mumbo-jumbo he was telling me today

What to pack:
Too much to list, but I am trying to double up on my options since we'll have laundering opportunities at the apartment we have in Paris.

What to print/type:
Nan's invites/shower games
France planner stuff I've compiled
Babysitter instructions
Letters to my kids for different days so they know we're thinking about them (my amazing sister does something similar to this with mini-gifts for each day. I'm not as ambitious)

What to buy/exchange/return/borrow
Bra
Shade shirt
Power adaptors
a home decor item for Ms. Ashton

Oye! Believe it or not, I got lots done today and most of the picking up done tonight, so I am ready to clean tomorrow, er, I mean, today. I am sure I'll have some major thing I need to write about later, so I am going to go fall asleep so one of my darlings can wake me up just as I finally drift off into la la land.

Uber Procrastination

So, I have a MILLION things I should be doing, but believe it or not, this is on my list of to-do's. The final product of Tyler's hard work and it is just as fun to remember my party as it was to be there. Now, I gotta speed clean my house before I can really post. Thanks for watching.


Sarah's Birthday Party

Happy Camper

Apparantly I had 24 hours to post upon my arrival home regarding proper blog ettiquette. I have failed. I got home from girls' camp Saturday about 3:30 afternoon, but I couldn't hardly function until Sunday. Seriously, I just zombied. But, then, Sunday afternoon I had to take one for the team and nap with my kids. Yeah, I know, best mom ever! We went and visited Tyler's family and then when we got home, Tyler hopped on the computer and I hopped in bed. Good recovery weekend. I took Tyler's camera with me this week, but I still need to upload the software for that too, WHICH, brings me to the technology update that I am sure you're DYING for. I haven't done squat and the Cox guy said our phone/internet issues were a fluke. EVERY time someone calls and I answer the phone, I get kicked offline. EVERY time. Doesn't sound fluke-y to me. Anyway, I am looking at all the software on my computer I don't need and so, of course, I called Daniel to proposition him for his services. We have a date tonight so he can hook me up.

Camp was great. Really, it was. The pictures will be better so y'all can understand where I go, why I go, etc. The theme this year was "Hearts Knit Together" which, really, with a group of 170 12-18-year-old girls, it was a fabulous thing to focus on. The drama was minimal, the spirit strong, the activities well-organized, and I was able to get to know a lot more of the young women, etc. I learned more about charity and I really hope I am a better person for it. I wasn't hardly involved at all with the planning of camp this year, and my responsibilities consisted of the leader skit and listening to the girls pass off their spiritual challenge. The days went by quickly and I enjoyed every minute of it. MINUS the night (Monday) when I ended up with the flu bug my brother had the weekend before (yeah, Nate, I am blaming you for this one.) It was 18 hours of pure hell as I cleaned my basement regularly and OVER regularly. Pretty much until I got some Immodium I was useless on Tuesday, but after that I was better.

I have tons to do today and the next few days to get ready to leave again. I am worried about Brock as he has been really cling-y and whine-y. I am trying to not panic as my to-do list gets longer and longer. We'll see how much I get done today. Laundry, errands, etc. Oy! Hopefully I will be able to post something interesting and witty soon!

Finally, a shout out to three of my best girlfriends EVER who celebrated their birthdays last week while I was in the wilderness. Amber, Nancee, and Barb, you ladies Rock my world! Thanks for getting me through some of the most shaping times of my life . . . you helped me be who I am today (maybe that is scary and calls for an apology instead :() Love you all! I thought of you Friday and Saturday and wished I could give you a cake to celebrate your big days :)