Here I Am

Time For A Test. A SKIN Test.

2010-03-30T21:05:00.000-07:00

I was approached this afternoon to do a 2-day free sample of Arbonne skincare products. This company seems to be in the typical Tupperware/Avon/Mary Kay family of businesses - sales parties, sales reps/consultants who get their cut/discounts, etc. I'm a little wary of the company itself after reading a few reviews and articles online, plus the prices are astronomical relative to our tiny budget. But I thought, hey it's a free sample, why the hell not.

This blog, by the way, isn't part of the trial itself. It just occurred to me while I was starting my trial that it would be an interesting blog post, plus it's been a couple weeks since I've blogged. My bad.

Let me point out that "my daily skincare routine" is, at best, a slight misrepresentation. As in, I don't always clean my face every single day. So, uh, don't ever look too closely at my face. It's mostly because I honestly can't be arsed. When I first began to take care of my skin properly (in college), I used the traditional three-step process: cleanser, toner, moisturiser. Over time I've used such brands as Clean & Clear, Dove, Avon and Aveda, but these days I'm Team Oil of Olay. I love their affordability, their universal availability (basically they were the first brand I saw and recognised when I moved to the States), and their efficiency. I have combination skin (dry patches, mild oiliness at times, but generally pretty good) and it has never gone berserk on me. These days I just use a cleanser (usually a gentle exfoliating cleanser because I feel it does a more thorough job - and actually at the moment I'm using a Nivea Visage that I bought in Australia - Team Oil of Olay FAIL) and the basic $6 Oil of Olay cream. Toner is an extra step that I can't be arsed dealing with (or paying for - even though it's like $2, that could buy me a coffee and a doughnut at The World's Best Coffee Shop.)

So to this free sample trial. Not two steps, not three steps, but FIVE steps in this thing. I'm sampling the RE9 Advanced range, touted for increased skin firmness, texture refinement and reduction in the appearance of fine lines. It's basically an anti-ageing thing (the person who gave me the free sample claims that women in their late 20s are really getting into this kind of stuff. I'm 26. I sit firmly in the mid-20s camp, and already feel old enough, so that did not really make me feel very happy).

We start with the Smoothing Facial Cleanser. Once I figure out how to use the dang stuff (whaddya know, it's just like every other cleanser I've used!), it actually feels and smells pretty good. Lemony. Despite its lack of exfoliant (I'm kinda anal about exfoliant), it feels like it's cleaning really deep.

The Toner is next (which was applied with toilet paper, due to lack of cotton swabs - w00t!), which I haven't used in a long time. Being in one of those little ketchup-y style sample packs, it was hard to get enough toner on the "Cotton Swab" to do what I would think is a sufficient job, but I do okay.

Step 3 is something referred to as Intensive Renewal Serum. I know, I'm just as terrified as you are. It's applied like a lotion I guess, and it really does feel amazing. While I'm applying this, Aaron comes into the bathroom and we're having a general end-of-the-day chat about stuff and I have to interrupt myself to rave about how awesome my face is feeling already.

Next we come to Corrective Eye Creme. See, my eyes need correction, but on the inside. Fun Fact: Susan got contacts again and is in the process of getting used to them again. I think I've deduced I have horrible dry eyes because after 4 hours I feel like I'm under water and I can't see a dag blasted thing. Anyhoo, so needless to say this is the first time I've used an eye cream (or an eye creme, for that matter). Thinking back to TV commercials, I dot it under my eyes (along the giant purple bags - hooray for toddlers) and gently massage it in, possibly giving my sinuses more of a massage than reducing crow's feet or whatever this is meant to do. But again I have to admit, I'm enjoying how smooth my face is feeling. Even the eyes, and they're notorious for being pathologically lumpy.

Last but not least, we have Night Repair Creme. Apparently my face is its own worst enemy, who waits until the cover of night to attack and generally undo everything I've just spent the past 10 minutes doing. So we have to build up our defenses. This creme feels a little thicker than the others, but it's still feeling awesome.

And finally I'm done. Right now, it's been a good twenty minutes since I finished, and I keep touching my face to make sure it still feels awesome. Check. It sure does. Even my lotion-and-creme-applying fingers feel amazing. I still have another day or two for this trial so we'll see if I a) keep it up, b) fall hard in love with it, and c) decide it's worth taking 10 minutes at the beginning and end of every day to repeat this process.

So I haven't blogged much...

2010-03-20T20:05:00.001-07:00

...a fact pointed out to me by a very good friend of mine ;) (Warning, this entry may be a total teal deer)

So what's been going on? Well, not a whole lot. The winter whizzed by, praise the Lord, and now spring is well on its way.

We had a blast visiting Australia for December, and were very reluctant to leave. Adelaide gained many friends and admirers during our trip, and now loves to talk to our faraway loved ones on the phone - her especial favorites are "Gammy", "Gampy", "Sholl" and "Rodyn" (you all know who you are ;P) We got sunburnt several times, had a few interesting adventures (don't ask Aaron about walking from Mundulla to Bordertown because his version of the story makes me look like the bad guy), and made some wonderful memories with wonderful people! Hopefully it won't be too long before we all get to see each other again.

Adelaide is now two years old, if you can believe that, and boy is she zooming along. She seems to talk non-stop these days - her favorite phrases are "what you doing", "read book" and "apple-nah-butt" (apple with peanut butter - guess her favorite food!). She's becoming more and more of a wonder every day, and often surprises us with her astute observations or statements.

As for life in general, well, the economy has been less than helpful. We've been living with Aaron's folks for almost two years now, and while we will always be grateful for their amazing hospitality and generosity, I think we all feel it's time for something different. The kind of wages we need can't seem to be found here in the Brainerd Lakes region, despite constant job-hunting by Aaron - and more lately by me. We've had a few interviews and possible opportunities pop up in the cities, so we're setting our search engines for the Minneapolis region.

The job hunt has been hard for both of us, and it's something I'm sure millions of Americans can relate to on some level or another. Apply for a job, get an interview, get a callback, wait a few weeks... and nothing. Repeat ad nauseum. Every time, I find myself getting overly excited about an interview or a call-back, only to have my hopes dashed at the last second with "sorry, we decided to go with someone else". And that's with Aaron's interviews - it must be a hundred times worse for him (though he shows it differently). We try to stick together and keep encouraging each other, though, and he has been fantastic despite the disappointments. As always, please keep praying for us. We have one particular opportunity about which Mary and I both have that "this is IT" feeling... Aaron had a call-back earlier this week, and he also seems optimistic (which is saying a lot!). I'll keep you posted about it.

Spiritually things are going well. :) I'm helping out with the dramas for Kidstuff, the Wednesday night kids' service my church does, and I really enjoy it. I know God has given me a passion for drama, especially when used in church situations, so I'm humbled that He has given me this opportunity to use it almost every week. The end results are never perfect, lines are often forgotten and props left at home or improvised at the last minute, but we always say that as long as the general message gets across and we have fun, that's what matters. :) I've found myself really having to step forward in the Kidstuff drama arena since Carrie, Ben and Jake moved to Colorado (three wonderful, amazing people whose skills at the performing arts are just mind-bogglingly awesome - I believe Darth Vader made an appearance at the Christmas sketch in 2008?), and I've enjoyed the challenge. I find myself relying more on God for help during the performances, which is how it should be. :)

Aside from Kidstuff, well I just gotta keep reminding myself that God is in control. That's really my main thing. Any time I find myself freaking out about something, or frustrated about an interview, or frustrated about our living situation or my job, I realise that the things I'm actually freaking out about or frustrated at are things that are not in my control. They're in God's control. And He knows what He's doing - He has plans for a hope and a future for us, and I just need to remember that. :)

Cocoa Oatmeal Cookies

2010-03-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

I just made the most delicious cookies tonight - Cocoa Oatmeal Cookies (as you may have been able to ascertain from my post title. Maybe. If you're clever.)

They are, without doubt, the tastiest oatmeal cookies I've ever had. Mmm. And really, they weren't any more difficult than any other cookie I've made either, and I'm a four-step-max recipe kinda gal. I got the recipe here.

Adelaide didn't seem too excited about them, surprisingly. She was much more into the ice-cream I served it with. Sigh. This kid is a cold-food freak. She's begged for a block of ice on sub-zero days before, and I'm all "WHY!!"

Craft Challenge #2 and #3

2010-01-18T19:22:00.001-08:00

Well, Craft Challenge #2 kinda whizzed right by me - we were too busy having fun in Australia!! But I realised afterwards that I *did* actually complete the challenge subconsciously!

Craft Challenge #2 was "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas".

The day before Christmas, I settled down on the armchair in Mum and Dad's living room, a lovely day in the high 90s, and made six little Christmas stocking ornaments with the bits of scrap yarn I'd brought on the trip. My Gran and Lala had little Christmas stocking ornaments on their tree (albeit sewn) with a roll of Lifesavers stuck in them - one for each grandkid. They were very special, and so I wanted to create a new set for our family. And as I finished the sixth, I went "...hey! I just did the Craft Challenge!" Haha - see Megan, even without realising you were totally on my mind!! ;)

They didn't take very long at all to do - I found a pattern online, and hunkered down with my hook. The first one seemed weird until I actually folded it in half and saw what it was meant to look like. I had one of those "...oooooooooh!" moments.

Well here's some photos of the finished products - be warned the colors aren't terribly Christmasy!

Craft Challenge #3 is "It's All About Momma". I don't know what I'm going to do for this!! I might try something aside from crocheting, since that does seem to be the only thing I'm doing. And "challenge" usually implies some kind of, oh I dunno, challenge. ;) I'll be back to post about it soon - watch this space!

Craft Challenge #1 - COMPLETE!

2009-12-03T15:05:00.001-08:00

I did it! :D I've been crocheting like a mad woman this month, and I managed to complete the challenge! Hooray!

As my previous post said, I decided my "Let's Hear It For The Boy" boy would be three boys - Dougie, Curt and Sean. I apologise for the horrible lighting conditions in the photos!

Firstly, meet my hat model, Joe:

Joe is a Rigadoon doll that I got for Christmas when I was 5. He's obviously not in his original outfit (I believe he had a striped teeshirt and jeans), but he's a very special toy to me. And he's the only one I could find that has a head suitable for modeling!

Here's Sean's hat...

I used Red Heart Super Saver yarn (easily my favorite brand), though I don't remember the color name or whatever. It's just the one yarn, the type that changes color as it goes. This hat was very simple to make - increasing double-crochet stitches to get the desired size, then double-crochet stitch some more til it's long enough!

And here's Dougie's hat...

The yarn I used for this one is called Caron SimplySoft Eco - the yarn itself is polyester, made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles, but it is easily as soft or softer than the "babyweight" yarns out there. Plus it's eco-friendly! I did find this yarn doesn't have as much "give" to it as the Red Heart, so it's not my favorite, but it sure made a nice hat.

And this one is Curt's...

I didn't mean for it to turn out so... "girly"! I just thought "rainbows, cute!" and went to work. But it's turned out to have a real Rastafarian-Rainbow feel to it LOL! It's Peaches & Creme yarn, another favorite brand (it's almost twine-y), just the one skein. Hopefully he'll like it!

So yes! This is my Challenge Completed post - hooray! I'll post some photos of the boys wearing them for Christmas and do an update ;)

Craft Challenge #1

2009-11-08T10:47:00.001-08:00

A very good friend of mine had a very good idea to get people motivated to do more craft stuff! It's called the Craft Challenge, and every month we'll be doing a different challenge (well it's all explained in her blog that I linked, so I guess I don't need to go into great detail). This month's challenge is LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOY! Our challenge is to make something for a special boy in our life - husband, boyfriend, son, father, etc. We can use our choice of medium, and we have a month to do it -- during which time we should be blogging our progress!

This is a wonderful chance to get me blogging again... sorry to all you faithful readers who, y'know, are sick of seeing the same dang entry over and over. *blush* Susy Blog FAIL.

Anyway! I'm pretty excited about this particular challenge, because Christmas is only seven weeks away. And this Christmas I've made the decision to make as many of my gifts as I can! We're not doing a lot of gift-giving this year, on account of things are going to be tight (plus being in Australia is going to be a great gift for our family and friends back home anyway!), but I have been making... well I don't want to go spoil any surprises! ;)

My chosen medium at this point is crocheting. I learnt how to crochet while bored at work in 2007 - true story! I was pregnant and wanted to make a baby blanket, and my boss Geraldine said she'd show me. And to her credit, she did - not only how to make the stitches but also how to hold the hook and loop the yarn, etc. I don't think she realised how hard I would fall for this art form!!

I'm still fairly inexperienced - I've attempted a few "intermediate"-level patterns in the past few months, and have learnt some new stitches and techniques. I've also "winged it" on more than one occasion to join things together, and have been kinda surprised that nothing's fallen apart yet!

Anyway, enough blabbering. Onto the Challenge.

Who will the special boy in my life be? Honestly, I don't think it will be Aaron. He's not the knitted-hat-or-scarf type. Because Christmas is coming, and since I haven't started anything for them yet, I think I will have three Specials Boys in my life - Sean Patrick, Curtis William and Douglas M. Royal -- my nephews!

Three childrens' hats, one for each of my nephews.

I trawled some online yarn craft pattern sites last night, and found quite a few good ideas there. Since I'm still fairly beginner-level, like I mentioned before, I don't want to try anything too fancy. I think the fact that my challenge response includes three separate items is fancy enough!

I have a big bag full of different colors/textures/weights of yarn, but not really any "manly" colors. I'm thinking about a soft greyish-purple for Dougie (he just turned 1), maybe orange for Curt (he's 3.5) and blue for Sean (to go with his other gift I've already begun - he's 12). I actually just last night began making a hat for, er, someone who may or may not be reading this blog ;) in a pattern that is super-easy to follow, but doesn't take forever to see results -- that's the problem with one of the first hats I tried, it was a very simple formula but it was single-stitch the whole way round, so it seemed to take forever just to take shape.

And maybe on Christmas morning, when they've received their pressies, I'll post photos of each of them wearing their hats!

Now, in spite of being required to blog my progress, I don't think I'll be blogging every day. I doubt I'll even be working on the hats every day. I'll get started later today, since the image in my head of Doug-alicious wearing a fuzzy purple cap is just killing me with cuteness.

Stay tuned, faithful readers!

"Breastfeeding Is Offensive"?

2009-08-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

Check out this awesome blog post. I found myself cheering along as I read it!

5 mouths in 2 seconds.

2009-07-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

Wow, bet you all hate me by now! It's been way too long since I updated.

I just wanted to post this because it was kind of... well, "life-changing" is a tad dramatic, but it did definitely push me in a particular direction for a particular thing, so I guess it kind of is. And I wanted to share it with you all.

I read a National Geographic article recently about the global food shortage, and while I'm totally not trying to be all pushy about it, it really opened my eyes to things I never even really thought about before. Animal farming is one of the least efficient ways to farm because you have to provide so much food for the animals before you can even get anything from them, for example.

It was a long article, but it was also a long, slow day at work so I had the time to read it. ^_^ Then this one paragraph towards the end jumped out and bit me on the arse.

New climate studies show that extreme heat waves, such as the one that withered crops and killed thousands in western Europe in 2003, are very likely to become common in the tropics and subtropics by century's end. Himalayan glaciers that now provide water for hundreds of millions of people, livestock, and farmland in China and India are melting faster and could vanish completely by 2035. In the worst-case scenario, yields for some grains could decline by 10 to 15 percent in South Asia by 2030. Projections for southern Africa are even more dire. In a region already racked by water scarcity and food insecurity, the all-important corn harvest could drop by 30 percent—47 percent in the worst-case scenario. All the while the population clock keeps ticking, with a net of 2.5 more mouths to feed born every second. That amounts to 4,500 more mouths in the time it takes you to read this article.

That last, bolded section is the part with the teeth. 5 extra mouths to feed every 2 seconds. Thousands of extra mouths just while sitting at work reading that article! I was gobsmacked. And it suddenly hit me: "Wow. I don't want any more kids."

And since that thought came to me, my mind has accepted it, simply and wholeheartedly. I realised that I didn't want to add another mouth to an already starving world, and that I would rather adopt an existing hungry child than produce another. It's been quite the revelation to me.

I think in a lot of ways, this concrete decision will be good for me. Just like a lot of people, I get all gushy when I see tiny babies. Today at work someone brought in their 5-month-old and boy was she a cutie! :D She had that chubby baby grin from ear to ear, and more than once I thought to myself "Ooh babies! I want one!" And I often get people telling me I'm going to change my mind about having another baby (my decision has previously been justified by the fact that I don't want to go through pregnancy-related heart-burn/gallstones/lack of appetite/nausea/throwing up/etc again), but my decision is so thoroughly decided now, that I can say "well actually I won't change my mind. This isn't about me anymore."

Well I just wanted to share that with you. :) And like I said earlier, I didn't post this to try and push anything on anyone, and I certainly don't condemn people with more than one child.

Finally?

2009-05-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

Okay so I've decided I might start doing something about this spare tyre I got hangin' round the mid-section.

I was looking through a magazine at work today (you know, the type that has good recipes and ways to lose weight etc), and found this neat "healthy eating" spread. It's based on a 1500 calorie diet, and you basically eat one thing from each column (conveniently labelled "Breakfast", "Lunch" and "Dinner"), plus two things from the "Snacks" column, and they had all these delicious-sounding suggestions, complete with instructions of how to make it or prepare it. What caught my eye was the yummo photo of salmon with pesto-fettucine and spinach, and as I looked through the other suggestions I went "...hey I could do this! Ooh and this! And this one!"

I'm not saying "OMG I'M GOING TO LOSE TEN KILOS IN TEN WEEKS!" because I'm trying to be realistic! I'm not even really planning exercise as of yet, it's more of a healthy-eating thing than anything.

The reason I called this post "Finally?" with the question mark is because who knows if this is going to work, or even last. I'm the type who dreams big and does little. But I want to be the one in control of how I eat and what I eat, I don't want my eyes to be all "OMG EAT THIS NOW" when I'm not even hungry.

It's going to take a lot of work, though. I'm very good at grazing/snacking on the wrong things, and my portion sizes would make many Americans proud. :P And one of my biggest downfalls is COFFEE... oh I love it so much. But I have to have it with half-and-half (there is no Australian equivalent of this... it's literally half-cream half-milk - super thick milk, basically, fantastic for adding to coffee), and I have to have it three times a day. And when I stop for coffee I usually get a jelly donut... or a sugar donut... or something else equally horrible for me... basically my self-control is shot.

I often wonder what happened. The year before my wedding, I was super-disciplined. I had gained ten kilos on my trip to the States about nine months before the wedding, and I managed to lose it all quite easily when I got back home. I wouldn't even look down the chocolates aisle at the supermarket, I wouldn't even think about drinking soft drink, I wouldn't even consider eating anything with salt or butter on or in it. What the heck happened to that girl?!?!

So... yeah. For dinner tonight I cooked up some spaghetti noodles, and served them with some baby spinach sauteed in a little oil and some minced garlic, plus some canned chicken mixed in (I wanted some meat with it, and there was some leftover canned chicken in the fridge - does anyone else expect to taste tuna when they eat canned chicken?! It's such a mind trick!). It was good, really good (especially the garlicky spinach - it was kinda "al dente", if spinach can be so described), and to drink I just had some club soda/soda water. I got a little hungry earlier this evening (because I ate around 6, instead of closer to 8 or 9 like normal), so I had a little cup of natural unsweetened applesauce. YUM!!

I don't know whether I should set my hopes up or just assume I'm going to fail with this... like I said, I'm all talk :P. But maybe it's time for me to stop just talking and actually put my butt into gear. It seems I rely much too heavily on "I'll do this when..." or "I'll be happier when..." or "I could get this done if only...", which is no way to live. True happiness (ie. JOY) comes from being at peace wherever you are, a lesson I really should have learnt by now!

So I guess I can say... let's see what happens. One day at a time. :D

Quick Update, Chapter the 2nd

2009-04-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

So I just looked over this blog and realised I haven't updated in REALLY AGES. Except for two minutes ago. And that was so little it's kind of an insult.

Well, as compensation I offer to you the following adorable photos!!!!!!

Quick update

2009-04-06T18:53:00.000-07:00

So hey wow, I haven't updated in forever, have I?! Just want to quickly say a few things.

* I've just now started another blog called Cracked!, about my experiences in the world of chiropractic. I'm still learning, and I am learning a lot so I thought it would great to have a place to record all these learning experiences. The address is http://crackedbysusan.blogspot.com Enjoy!

* Adelaide is fourteen months old and... WOW. Just wow. This kid never stops. She's always on the go, always wanting to play with her toys, play with the fridge, play with the dishwasher, play with the dog, play with the dog's toys, play with Mumma's cellphone, play with the hallowed Remote Controls, play with everything! She loves books, which is great. She's also recently begun to eat peanut butter, and drink 1% cow's milk, and she seems to enjoy both. :)

* The three of us WILL be definitely coming out to Australia for Christmas! YAY! So if you're in South Australia and want to catch up with us some time in December, email me!

Permanent residency!

2009-02-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

So the final stage of my residency adjustment happened on Monday. And I figured since this blog is technically supposed to be about my journey through the immigration process and all that, I should probably dedicate an entry to it! So here we go :)

My interview was scheduled for Monday at 8:30am, in Minneapolis. Since it was so early, we went down on the Sunday and stayed with Matt and Sarah. For this interview, I needed to have a whole swagload of paperwork: birth certificates (for me, Aaron and Adelaide), marriage certificate, passports, any and all immigration-related documentation ever issued to me, documentation demonstrating a financial commitment to each other (bank statements, insurance papers, etc), and anything else we wanted to bring that would demonstrate our commitment to each other. Since my application was based on marriage, we had to show them that, yes, we got married because we love each other; yes, we are still married; yes, we intend to stay married for a long time; no, we did not just get married so I could get into the country; and listen, the noisy and fussy toddler we have brought with us shows that we have obviously consummated the marriage at least once.

For most of the immigration process, I've been quite nervous about doing "official" stuff. Since most of the process has been me waiting for them to contact me for the next step, paranoia has been allowed to grow in such pauses. And you'd think this last, final step would have freaked me out, but... I wasn't too freaked. Comparatively, I mean. I was still nervous, but not so nervous that I can't sleep the night before and feel like I'm about to barf on whichever lucky immigration officer is lucky enough to be handling my case that day. No, this time I was pretty calm about it. We were organised (we brought two file folders with us - one with original documents of all the aforementioned paperwor, and one with copies of every piece of original documentation), we had everything, we didn't have to pay to get anything (except to get to the cities and back), and -- well, it was the last step. The past three years have almost felt like I've been holding my breath, waiting for someone to say, "okay you can breathe now". So knowing that the end was so, so close was enough to calm me down a little.

So anyway. Matt and Sarah live about a half-hours' drive away from where the immigration services office is. We Mapquest'd the directions the night before, we knew where we were going, and we were organised. It wasn't until we got on the road the next morning that we went, "...oh shit, we're going to be on 494 at 8am on a weekday?!" FYI, I-494 is an extremely busy interstate highway that runs halfway around Minneapolis and the surrounding suburbs. There are several connections between other interstates (394 and 35W, for example) that make those particular sections absolute hell. And we had decided to tackle this highway at 8 on a weekday morning! Woohoo! THANKFULLY, due to Aaron's fantastic driving skills and some incredible luck on the roads, it wasn't too bad, and we rocked up precisely at 8:30am.

As we drove there, my nerves did start to pick up a little, despite our super organisation. There's a incident in the real-life story of the Von Trapp family (The Sound of Music family) where, upon arriving in America and being asked about the duration of their stay by immigration, Maria Von Trapp in her excitement burst out with, "I love America! I want to live here forever and ever!" At which point the entire family was sent to a detention camp for several weeks. I know I have more self-control than THAT, but I also know that the filter between my brain and my mouth can sometimes fall asleep for short bursts. So I was a little wary!

The first thing you do when you get to the immigration services office (and I presume it's like this at any office around the country) is go through the security check-point. Just like at the airport, you empty your pockets into the little conveyer-belt basket and place your bags on the belt for the x-ray machine. Then you walk through the metal detector. If you have a baby pusher, you push the baby through, then you go back through and walk through on your own. I pointed out that Adelaide can indeed walk, but they said not to worry about it.

Then up to the visa interviews waiting room area. The room was full of chairs, a few people sitting on some of those chairs, and a flat-screen TV switched to CNN. Guh. Cause that's what I want to watch to help keep me calm - deep insight into the country's financial crisis. Woo.

Adelaide provided a little entertainment to some of the other interviewees. Her favorite thing at the moment is to smile adoringly at strangers and say "Hiya!" (although it sounds more like "Iya" - maybe she'll 'ave a Cockney accent, guv'ner) It's much too cute. Once again I was reminded of just how much of a blessing she is for me, helping to distract me from thinking too much about the interview.

Our interviewer, Officer Lang (I think that was her name), was a lovely woman who looked not much older than Aaron. She led us back through to her office (through about three PIN-coded doors), and we settled in. She then invited Aaron and I to stand, raise our right hand, and did the whole "do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" thing. Of course we both said "I do" (the last time we both said "I do" somewhere it was a little warmer, a little more romantic and we were dressed up quite a bit more).

The interview itself was not very harrowing. The officer explained that she would be asking a series of simple questions based on the information I'd already supplied to USCIS over the months and years. Simple questions like my parents' names, my birth date, my daughter's name, where Aaron and I met, when did we marry, when did I first come to the States, what is my employment status, etc etc. We answered them truthfully, as we had sworn to do, in between wrangling the now fussy, bored and hungry child.

Finally, after maybe about fifteen minutes of being in the office, Officer Lang said (and this is verbatim), "Okay well I'm going to approve your application, so I'll get this stamped today, and you should get your green card in about two to three weeks."

I just about fell off my chair.

I was gearing myself up to be told, "Okay we'll go through this and you should hear back from us in about six to eight weeks," -- instead I'm told that I'm actually APPROVED and that my green card will be here before MARCH!?

It's a weird feeling. Even right now, as I'm typing this on Tuesday night, it doesn't feel real. And that's because it really doesn't change anything much. I still have the same rights as I had before -- I don't need to be specifically authorised for employment, since that comes automatically with my green card, but otherwise it's pretty much exactly the same. I'm still Aaron's wife and Adelaide's mother. I'm still half a world away from my family. I'm still allowed to be in the United States. Only now I *know* I can stay. The reason it doesn't feel real is because it's not a huge jump from one state of being to another. When I moved here back in 2006, that WAS a huge jump from state of being to another. Now that I've been here two and a half years, and now that I know I can stay here, I feel... calm. I admit I did a little dance in the elevator on our way back to the car, but aside from that I haven't really celebrated much. It's just another day.

I would like to take the opportunity of having this public soapbox to totally sing praises of my husband. Talk about an ego boost -- it really hit home yesterday just how much Aaron must love me, if he's been willing to go through all this for me and with me. He could have just as easily found himself a perfectly nice Midwestern girl to marry, without having to worry about immigration and visas and bloody thousand-dollar non-refundable application fees and plane tickets and the like. But the fact that three and a half years ago, he promised to love, honor and respect me above all others, and has in my opinion gone above and beyond that a thousand times over, it really makes me feel special and loved. There have been times when we've both been so despondent about immigration stuff, wondering whether we can afford the next lot of fees, wondering whether we can afford a trip to Duluth to spend five minutes in an office being fingerprinted and photographed, filling out an application form then realising we've filled out the WRONG one and having to re-write all that information... it's a lot to have to deal with, and the fact that he's done it virtually without complaining (but having to deal with ME complaining and having panic attacks about the whole process) is a real testament to his character and to his commitment to this marriage - and to me. I know he doesn't read this blog (he's into car forums, if you can believe that), but... thank you Aaron. I love you.

Okay, mushiness is over.
^_______^

Short update with some photos!

2009-01-04T16:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't updated in ages! There's been a lot going on - Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. Here's a few photos to tide you over until I blog some more.

Here's one of me, Adelaide and Aaron with his grandparents on Thanksgiving.
Here's one of Adelaide, aged ten months, playing with Granpa's hat.

Here's one of Adelaide, eleven months, after eating VEGEMITE for the first time - she enjoyed it thoroughly, as you can tell by the splodge on her nose!

Here she is being adorable (obviously):
Here's the two of us on Thanksgiving.

I don't have any photos from Christmas uploaded yet, but I will be doing that shortly. Plus Adelaide's birthday is in a few weeks, so I'll be taking loads of photos then!

ABCs

2008-11-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

A is for age: 25
B is for beer of choice: Well I'm not really big on beer. I'll drink MGD if I have to.
C is for something you crave: Chocolate. All the time.
D is for your dog's name: Not my dog, but my in-laws' dog is named Sophie.
E is for essential item you use everyday: Cellphone. I iz lame.
F is for favorite TV show at the moment: The Simpsons, as always.
G is for favorite game: Mario Kart Wii
H is for Home town: Keith, South Australia
I is for instruments you play: Piano and guitar.
J is for favorite juice: Anything with mango in it.
K is for kickin ass: I... don't understand the question. But I'd prefer my ass not be kicked.
L is for last place you ate: In the car?
M is for marriage: I am married, to a lovely chap named Aaron <3
N is for your full name: Susan Jane Plein, nee Eckert
O is for overnight hospital stays: I was in hospital for three days when Adelaide was born, back in January.
P Is For favorite place: With my hubby and baby.
Q is for quote: "All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for that which I have not seen."
R is for biggest regret: Not having a lawyer or attorney to handle all this immigration crap I've been going through. Would have been so much easier.
S is for status: Marital, social, Facebook? Well I'm married, my social status I guess would be like... working class? And my Facebook status refers to the fact that I know what ozone smells like (long story).
T is for time you woke up today: 7ish?
U is for underwear you have on now: Hanes with zig-zag patterns - woo!
V is for vegetable you love: Peas.
W is for worst habit: Biting my nails and chewing on my cuticles. Don't ever look at my fingertips.
X is for x-rays you've had: A few for my arm, one or two for my teeth when I was younger, and some of my lungs when I had my physical exam for my visa.
Y is for yummy food you ate today: Cookies and cream Hershey's <3
Z is for the zodiac sign: Cancer.

Tag time! Erin, Megan, Sarah and Kez! Go forth and complete your own!! :)

2008-11-17T16:48:00.000-08:00

As I type this, I'm lounging back on a couch that isn't ours, listening to a microwave that isn't ours warming up some leftover spaghetti not made by me. Two dogs that are not mine are dozing near the entertainment center that isn't ours. There are stairs to the left of me that spiral down to a basement-apartment-type-set-up that is kinda half-ours, and it contains a sleeping child which is mine. ^_^

The Pleins are house-sitting!

Some friends of John and Mary's were in need of a house- and puppy-sitter for a few weeks - and it could possibly stretch out longer, over the winter. Rick and Barb aren't sure, so neither are we. The "puppies" are Rocky and Raja. Rocky is a 6-year-old Rottweiler, and he is friendly and loving and loves to be petted. Raja is a 4-year-old Mastiff who is just beautiful, but a teeny bit of a drama queen. They are both fantastic around Laidey (Rick and Barb's grandson is a few months older than Laidey, and they've been around him a LOT).

Hang on, the microwave's done.

Mmm leftover spaghetti. I don't know how Barb made it, but it's FANTASTIC.

Anyway. So we're here! The basement-apartment is really nice - three bedrooms and a living room, plus the main-use bathroom is down there. Upstairs is a lofty, almost New-England-style living space with loungeroom and kitchen, plus another bedroom, a bathroom, an office and the laundry. We've been here a couple days now, and it's been really good.

What else is going on? Well, not too much. I just wanted to update because I figured you might want one. Aaron's doing some work for his parents - they have their own web development and graphic design business - which is good because he enjoys it, plus we get some extra money!

Work for me is still going well. I'm only working three days a week, though, which really isn't enough. I'm going to have to find something more financially viable. Which makes me super sad because you have no idea how much I love working at Lakes Latte. It's a wonderful place to work - and my coworkers are more like friends. Every time I've dropped in for a coffee when I'm not working, there's always been at least one other coworker there who's not working either! It's just an awesome, awesome place to hang out.

I've started to think more and more about Christmas. It's coming up fairly quick here, and this is going to be Laidey's first Christmas. Money is tight, and we're not sure about gifts. More than anything, I want to impress upon Adelaide the spiritual and familial aspect of the holiday. Plus I'm sure she'll be just as excited by the wrappings and ribbons and stuff :P

Well, arrivederci comrades (see that? I mixed two languages.) Have fun!

Quiz thingo.

2008-10-23T18:23:00.000-07:00

I've seen this quiz out in the intarwebz, so I thought I'd give it a whirl!

Attached or Single? Attached to Aaron

Cake or Pie? Cake ^_^

Day of Choice? Hmm, probably Thursdays.

Essential Item? Coffee or my cellphone

Flavor of Ice Cream? Mint choc chip

Hometown? Keith, South Australia

Indulgences? Breve lattes and cookies

January or July? Ooh. I would have said July ordinarily, being my birth month. But Adelaide was born in January, so it's a toss-up now! As far as weather goes, that depends on whichever hemisphere I'm in!

Kids? Adelaide, nine months old

Middle Name? Jane

Number of Siblings? I have two older sisters, no brothers.

Oranges or Apples? Granny Smith apples.

Phobia or Fear? Spiders, and those big windmill things.

Favorite Quote? "All I have seen makes me trust the Creator for all I have not seen."

Reason to Smile? I believe Pearl Jam said it best - "I'm still alive!"

Season? Australian summers - hot and dry.

Unknown Fact About Me? The idea of being in outer space terrifies me.

Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals? I like a lot of vegetarian foods, but I'm omnivorous. Sometimes I gotta have me a big chunk of cow.

Worst Habit? Biting my nails.

Xrays or Ultrasounds? I think ultrasounds are more exciting. You're looking for a beautiful little sign of life; whereas in an x-ray, you're looking for broken bones or fluid on the lungs. Woo.

Your favorite Food? Chocolate.

What is your sign? Cancer.

I tag Erin, Megan and Jen! Go!

I'm it!

2008-10-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

Being the up-to-date type of gal that I am, I of course missed that last week I was tagged by Sarah! Basically, this entry is going to be me revealing seven random facts about myself. And, well, I'm up for the challenge. Here goes...

1. I have windmill phobia - or at least a severe aversion thereto. Weird, right? But those wind-generator windmill things give me the heebie-jeebies like nothing else. I understand the whole green power thing is good, and I don't object to their reason for existence. I just don't want to be anywhere near them. Even seeing them on TV freaks me out. I can't really explain exactly what it is; I think it's just that they are so huge, even from far away (imagine how much bigger one of those massive blades would be if you were standing right next to it...), and you know they're really loud and bird-killingly destructive, even though they look so serene and peaceful and quiet... ugh. Gives me the shivers.

2. When I was 9, I wanted to be a nun. A real-live nun. I could live in a beautiful convent, we would pray and sing and pray and sing and pray all day, and then I could be sent to be governess to a wealthy navy captain's children, fall in love and become a Baroness.

3. When playing any game of the Mario Bros. franchise, I refuse to be Luigi. He's like the loser cousin of Mario who wants to be cool by association, but he doesn't ever get to hook up with Peach.

4. I never liked Dr. Pepper until only a few months ago. Now I live on the stuff. If you want to know who to blame, that would be Erin. :P

5. I am a self-confessed "name nerd". I'm intensely interested in people's names, how they were named, or what and how they name their children. And I die a little inside when people name their child Aidan or Jaidyn and insist they never heard another person named that, and thought it was really unique.

6. I love the Babysitters Club. I was a huge fan when I was a teenager (when all the 'normal' teenagers were hooking up and getting drunk and being rebellious - I was sitting at home reading BSC while waiting for youth group or church to start - whee !), and still have a collection of the books sitting in our bookshelf next to Douglas Adams and Tolkien and Jane Austen. Pretty sure their very existence makes Aaron die a little inside.

7. My all-time favorite band is Hanson. Ever since MmmBop was released in '97, I've been their #1 fan. I have all their albums (Snowed In and 3CG have gone walkabouts but all the others are firmly in my possession), and I've been to see them live - it was an AWESOME experience. One of my biggest Hanson-related regrets was the fact that I passed up the opportunity to see them in Minneapolis last December. But I was eight months pregnant so it probably wouldn't have been ideal anyway. Sigh.

Alright well there's my seven! Hope you have learned a little something about me today! :)

Update!

2008-10-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

Okay okay okay. So it's time for an update, yes? I'm sorry I've been so lax; life has been barreling along like, well, like a runaway barrel. (Yeah, that was pretty lame. Sorry. I attempted to be funny and failed.)

I've found myself back into the trap of "if only we were back home, things would be easier". Things have been really tough recently - we've had some major trouble with our bank (or, I should say, our FORMER bank), which subsequently led to troubles with some of the people we owe money to... so it hasn't been too fun. And as I've been 'slaving away' for a measly $7.55/hr, I can't help feeling tempted by the premise of $17/hr if I worked back home in Aunty Chrissie's shop. It would be so nice.

Oh well. It'll all happen in God's good timing I suppose. Guess I just have to ask for patience to deal with stuff til then!

I've recently quit working for Subway. In the end, I was only working one day a week, which wasn't even covering childcare costs, so I was literally losing money by going to work. Messed up, hey? Then there's the wonderful matter of the SUMMER BONUS. Which turned out to be nothing. A big fat nothing. Apparently "food wastage costs" meant that we weren't given anywhere near what we were supposed to. So I was MAD as a cut snake. But I thought "you know, I'm over this place and these people anyway, why waste my energy getting so mad all over again?" So I handed in my two-weeks notice, and then Monday was my last shift ever. As always, I felt kinda nostalgic. It's always hard to leave a place that you know so well, and the people you've gotten to know (and really, apart from my bosses, all the crew at Crosslake were wonderful people that I really enjoyed working with).

And things are going pretty nicely at Lakes Latte. The manager has gone on her maternity leave (ie. she's left for good), and her replacement is really great. Very laid-back, but passionate about making the shop a great place to be. We now have a regular schedule, and I'm only working two days during the week, then both Saturday and Sunday. Having to work every weekend is probably going to get sucky soon enough, but at least I'm only paying for two days of childcare a week now. However...

I may have to cross the floor and work for the enemy. I love working at Lakes Latte, but I've recently discovered that Starbucks offers health insurance to all their employees. Let me just say right now how much I detest Starbucks and their coffee. But the thought of having health insurance again gives me warm fuzzies. I filled in an application at the Baxter store, and have an interview lined up for Monday morning. I'm really feeling conflicted about the whole thing, but it would be a great job to have, I have to admit.

We're thinking about moving down to Brainerd, hence why I'm applying for a job in Baxter. Aaron works in Merrifield which is only a ten minute drive from Brainerd. So it would be really nice to be able to move out and let John and Mary have their house back!! I know they don't mind having us here, but I'm sure they won't mind us moving out either! ;-) We'll see what happens.

I've just updated Adelaide's totsite, so if you want to know what's going on with her, check it out! But here are a few photos just because...

She is definitely her father's child in this first photo!

So cheerful!

"Okay Mum, enough photos - feed me!"

Where's Summer B.

2008-09-08T09:03:00.001-07:00

Isn't it strange how you can be so thrilled and so depressed about a single event? As far as my job goes, I'm so thrilled that summer is over. Now I just have to wait for my summer bonus check, then I can tell Subway to shove it. But I'm so depressed that summer's over. We were still getting light snow flurries in April. And it's now September and summer is over. WTF?!?! And it seems there's such a stark contrast between the seasons here. Autumn (excuse me, fall) and spring hardly seem to exist. You get fall or spring weather for maybe a few weeks, and that's it. It's so dang depressing. Like, two or three weeks ago, we were sweltering in the high 80s and lower 90s. Now, we're lucky if we get to 70, and the sweaters and blankies have been brought back out. We're going to turn on the heat in a week or two, for crying out loud!

Dear Minnesota,

What's up with your weather?! Please make it, y'know, not suck.

Sincerely,
Susan

Sigh.

But aside from that, things are going okay. Like I said up there ^ I'm really looking forward to being able to quit Subway. I think I've worked one shift over the past fortnight, and I couldn't care less. They've stopped doing the shorter 4-7 afternoon shift, which was really good for me because it meant I was available virtually every day if I wanted to be. But now that we're going back to winter hours, that shift is no longer available. I'm calling my manager today to see what's going on though, because I'm apparently not on the next two weeks of the roster - as in, my name isn't even on it at all. I don't mind if they give me no shifts, but it looks like they're acting like I'm not even there at all anymore. I've been told conflicting things about when the bonus check is meant to arrive - one person told me it arrives today (ie. the 7th) and someone else told me it arrives in two weeks (ie. on the 22nd). I'm seriously hoping it arrives today, so then I can get it and say "well you know what? If I'm not even on the roster, what's the point of me hanging around?"

Don't get me wrong - I'm really not pissed off anymore. To be perfectly honest, I have no feelings for them whatsoever, and I don't mean that in a sad, negative, resigned kinda way. I literally am indifferent. Subway gives me no shifts - eh, whatever.

As for Lakes Latté? It's still going swimmingly, and I'm just totally in love with it. My coworker and I have decided we need to do a mockumentary: "A Day In The Life Of Lakes Latté" -- you know the movie Empire Records? That's kinda how it feels working at Lakes. It's friendly, it's awesome, and most of the time it hardly even feels like work. And to capture that kind of atmosphere on film would be, as the French say, le wicked. (Well I don't think the French actually say that, but you get me.)

My little baby ain't so little anymore. It's kinda scary to think about. She's almost eight months old - EIGHT MONTHS OLD!! Boy howdy, the time has flown. She's still yet to break any teeth through, except for that one teeny glimmer of a canine, but she's moving. And boy is she moving! She crawls like a pro now, except when she's wearing feety pyjama, and she pulls herself up on tables and chairs or whatever else she can use. She likes to yabber too - "da da da da DA DA DA DAAAAAAA. AAAAAAAAH da da da daDADADADADADD! Ahh *thbbbt*. BUH buh buh buh NANANANANA." She's recently started saying "mama" but it's usually when she's sleepy or grumpy. Or when she's meant to be trying to sleep and I'm on the laptop here in our room. I'll hear "*scuffle scuffle scuffle* MAMAMAMAMAAAAaaaamam. Mamamamam." and then I know she's gotten out of her swaddle, is standing up by holding onto the bars of her crib, and is looking at me. Before she started saying "mama", I would usually just let her yammer on til she got bored and went to sleep, but I hate to refuse to recognise her now that she's actually calling to me specifically!

"Don't presume people are ignorant!"

2008-08-20T06:13:00.000-07:00

I have a simple question for you. Does assuming someone doesn't know something in turn assuming that they are ignorant? I guess the word "ignorant" has negative connotations these days; people associate it with being stupid or dumb or dense or whatever, but the literal definition is that someone just doesn't know something. So I guess my question is kinda moot and talks in circles, &c.

In the words of a wonderful actress, "Let's see if I can make it easier." If you were American, and asked me where I was from, and I said "I'm from the southern part of Australia", would you be offended and think I was claiming that you are ignorant? Because I totally encountered this situation at Subway the other day.

I'm serving a couple guys, cutting their bread and putting the meat on their sandwiches. They're nice guys, very friendly, a tad rough about the edges, but very friendly and funny. One of them asked where in Australia I was from. I said, "I'm from the southern part of Australia."

There was another guy at the counter paying for his purchases, and upon hearing that he turned to me with a look of incredulation (is so a word) on his face, and said, "Do you know how big the southern part of Australia is?!?"

My first thought was, "Wait, is this a trick question?" To him, I good-naturedly replied, "Well I lived in Australia for the first 23 years of my life, so yes," and he said, "But that doesn't narrow it down at all! To say you're just from the southern part of Australia is like saying you're from the southern part of the US!" By now I'm thinking, "Dude, chill out." To him, I replied, "Well yeah, but the vast majority of people I encounter don't know where any place in Australia is, except Sydney." And then his face got more serious and intense and he says, "Don't presume that people are ignorant. Don't presume we're ignorant!" By this point, my coworker and the two friendly guys were looking like "what the hell", and Crazy Guy then challenges me: "Tell me where you're from." I said, "I'm from the south-east of South Australia."

Sadly, he knew exactly the area I named. He replied, "Oh nice, good wine country down there." Don't you just hate it when annoying and possibly crazy people are right? I grinned and said, "Yes that's right," and he said, "See? Don't presume people are ignorant!"

This was getting old fast, so I said, "But when I'm having to tell my life story ten times a day, in an industry where I hardly get any time to speak with anyone, it's much easier to simplify." Apparently that's a sucky reason, because Crazy Guy kept going on about how wrong it is to presume ignorance in people.

Okay. Crazy Guy? You're crazy, firstly. No doubt there. Secondly, have you ever lived with an "affliction" that people immediately notice when you open your mouth? Have you ever had people stare an extra second longer at you when they hear you talk? Have you ever had people say, "Oh I love your accent!" or "I could just listen to you talk all day long!" or, even worse, "Ooh say something!"? Have you ever had people say, "Oh my cousin lives in Perth, Sarah Smith?" What, am I meant to know her?!?!

It just really bugged me. Aside from the reasons I listed just now, I really don't think I was assuming ignorance. I really was just trying to simplify. For the most part, people are chuffed to know I'm from somewhere that isn't America. If I said, "Oh yeah, I grew up in Keith, moved to Adelaide for uni, then lived in Bordertown for awhile," it's not going to clear it up for them.

I'm not saying I don't want people to learn about things, or that I shouldn't try and give people more information. But it's not an ideal location. People who go to Subway are usually in the store for three minutes tops. It's fast food; they want to get going fast. Plus, they're the customer - it's not about me, it's about them. If they ask me questions, I'll answer them simply and politely. But if someone says, "How did you end up in Minnesota?" I'm not going to go into intricate details about our courtship, marriage, visa woes, etc. Why the hell would I want to share stuff like that with a stranger who just put mayonnaise on a meatball sub, for crying out loud?*

I don't presume ignorance in a bad way. If people in the States don't know anything about Australia, well that's just how it is. And it works in reverse. I bet the vast majority of Australians don't know where half of the US states are. Heck, until I met Aaron, I didn't know that LA and NYC were on opposite coasts. But don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying this is necessarily a sign of the bad kind of ignorance. Both Australians and Americans seem to have this inwardly-facing sense of the world. "Australians are best at everything." "America rules the world!" It's not up to me to say one or the other country is right or wrong or supreme leader of the universe. I'm just saying, not knowing something about a country that's on the other side of the world is pretty common. It's literally ignorance, I suppose. But my blanket statement of "I'm from the southern part of Australia" was not said because I thought people were dumb.

Crazy Guy, you are the stupidest link. Buh-bye.

Work.

2008-08-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

Well. It's been quite awhile since my last entry. And life has been interesting.

I'm working incredibly hard. I currently have three jobs - one at Subway, one at Lakes Latté (a cute little coffee shop in Pequot), and one at a resort called Pinedale (where I do cabin-cleaning on Saturday mornings). I rarely have days off anymore - I count myself lucky if I get an afternoon off. Most mornings are an early start - beginning work at 6 or 6:30 - so I'm not getting much sleep. Plus Adelaide is going through some heinous teething right now, so the small amount of sleep I'm getting is constantly interrupted.

Hopefully my work situation will change soon. I've discovered that Subway makes a great sandwich but a horrible employer. My bosses are not nice people. They make me doubt my own word (I told Lady Boss I couldn't work a particular time; she schedules me for it anyway, insisting I wrote it down for her and "I've got it right here in your own handwriting that you can work"). They 'forget' to tell you things ("Oh didn't Guy Boss tell you you're not at Store 1 anymore? Oh I thought he was going to tell you - no, we're just scheduling you for Store 2 now, okay? We decided two weeks ago"). They have double standards with their employees (the manager at Store 2, for example, works incredibly hard, was not allowed any time off over the summer, and is given no leeway - the manager at Store 1 "forgot" to tell her coworkers she was going out for a 25-minute cigarette break when she was working at Store 2, and was defended by Lady Boss who insisted that Store 1 Manager was "having a rough day" and we should "cut her some slack"). AND I found out today that it's not unheard of for them to be mean and whatever around this time of year - why? They pay out a summer bonus to all employees who work from Memorial Day to Labor Day (ie. the whole summer). The more summer employees they can piss off and get them to resign before August 31st, the less bonuses they have to pay.

Now, I realise publicising this blog entry on the Internet could be seen as some kind of slander. I have no definitive proof or whatever to back up what I've said. All this is from what I've heard - except for the lack of communication thing with me. So take it with a grain of salt.

Me? I'm not even caring anymore. I got a little upset this afternoon when I found out about their alleged Less Employees Means Less Summer Bonuses deal. But I had to remind myself that the whole thing is really not worth my energy to worry about. All I need to do is get to work, do my job, and go home again. They want to create a whole lot of bullshit, well, that's their prerogative. Once I've got my summer bonus, I'm handing in my resignation. Sure, I could quit now, saying that a few hundred dollars isn't worth it. But if they want to get rid of summer employees, I'm going to make them pay for it first! ;)

Lakes Latté, on the other hand, is a haven. Just stepping inside the doors is a heavenly assault of the senses. The aroma of coffee fills your nostrils, your lungs, your entire body. The warm lighting of the seating areas makes your whole day feel like nap time (not necessarily a good thing for me during our lunch rush, though :P). The sound of the coffee grinder, the espresso machine, and the funky "café appropriate" tunes (which range from Beck, Ben Folds and Jack Johnson to Basement Jaxx, Daft Punk, Weezer, The Fray and the soundtrack to the anime Cowboy Bebop) are enveloping and fun. The touch of... well, I'm not sure if touch is a sense that features here. Did I cover the others? Smell, sight, sound... oh, of course. And TASTE. Boy howdy. You haven't had good coffee if you haven't had a coffee at Lakes Latté. Honest to goodness, this isn't a promotion for them or anything :P but I'm just so in love with them, I have to rave! We use organic fairtrade beans, and we grind them ourselves as we go throughout the day. We use one more shot per drink size than most other coffee establishments (for example, a "small" 12oz drink usually is just one shot of espresso - we use two). We have a huge variety of flavorings, with a good selection of sugar-free choices. We... um. Well, we just rock all round. THE OREO FLURRY. Oh my goodness. You haven't lived til you've tried an Oreo Flurry. And I'm not saying a "McFlurry". Gawd no. This is different. And awesome. I describe it to customers as "heaven in a cup", because that's rooly-trooly what it is. Mmmm.

My current favorite drink? A 12oz brevé, with coconut and vanilla (a brevé is made like a latté, only you use half-and-half instead of milke). MMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmm. Talk about enveloping. That thing just swallows you right up.

...

Well I must say I'm enjoying the direction in which this post has come. I started out all "boo hiss Subway SUCKS" and now I'm salivating at the thought of the lovely brevé that will greet me when I go to work tomorrow. :)

So, long post short: Work at Subway sucks. Work at Lakes Latté is teh r0x0rz. That is all.

Wake up, sleepy!

2008-07-10T06:38:00.000-07:00

So I have a new alarm clock. This model comes with a personalised alarm tone, and is also one of those ones that moves all over the place. Yes, her name is Adelaide.

You're probably thinking, "Why is she new now? Hasn't she been waking you up since January 16 this year?" And you're right, she has been. But she used to wake me up with whimpering and crying. Now? She's waking me up with blowing raspberries. Seriously. Even as I type, she's just woken up from her morning nap, and she babbling quietly to herself, going "buh buh dadadadad... THBBBBBT... aaah... ooh daddadadadad... nnnng... THBBBBBBBBBBT a THBBT. THBBT." Crazy child. I woke up about ten minutes before Aaron's alarm went off because of noises just like this.

Dilemma

2008-07-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

Someone tell me why it is that I well up with tears when being disagreed with, or being misunderstood. I was apparently scheduled to work today, a fact I did not discover until I was in my car on the way to Brainerd on a birthday shopping trip (thanks Mum!). I was called by the manager of the store I’m meant to be at today, whom I have yet to meet but she sounds amazingly kind and understanding. It wasn’t with her I got emotional. It was my boss. She has a very “it’s your problem, deal with it” kinda attitude when you have to call in, or when you realize you’ve apparently forgotten a shift. Despite the fact that all the schedules I had seen – on the bulletin board at Nisswa and in my date book – clearly stated I had the 3rd off.

Apparently we (my boss and I) had discussed the 3rd and I’d said I was available to work. I don’t remember this particular occasion, but I’m willing to believe I just forgot about it, since my memory isn’t always the best (despite the fact that I love Sudoku, can memorise lines for plays, and know almost everything about almost every Simpsons episode from seasons 1 – 10). My conversation with my boss went like this:

Me: I can work it, I’ve organized daycare for Adelaide with my in-laws, but yeah, I’m sorry there must have been a misunderstanding or something.
Boss: Well we did discuss it, when I called to organize you working at Crosslake, I specifically said the 3rd and the 5th and you said okay.
Me: I’m sure I did, I’m sorry that I forgot.
Boss: Because I remember discussing it.
Me: … yeah I’m sure we did, I probably just misunderstood or forgot. I’m sorry. I’ve organized daycare and I can get there soon.
Boss: That’s okay, just get there when you can.

Maybe I’m being too bratty, but that seemed a bit unnecessary. Yeah, we discussed it, you said we did, and then you keep harping on it even though I’ve apologized and said I can come into work. DESPITE the fact that I have plans, have to organize daycare, and haven’t washed my work clothes yet because I didn’t think I was working again until Saturday.

Argh.

I guess the real issue isn’t whether I forgot it, or whether my boss was being unnecessarily mean. The issue here is, why the hell did I well up with tears after hanging up the phone from this conversation? Despite the matter of what she was saying, she wasn’t yelling or being rude, not really. I understand her point of view, in that she was under the assumption she had all shifts covered, only to discover one employee had forgotten or failed to notice it. So I can see why she would have been annoyed. But I got more upset about it than I really should have. I even gave myself a stern talking-to on the way back home: “It’s only work, there’s no need to get upset. Stop with the upset already.” But I still almost actually cried. If it weren’t for the tall iced latte, and the full-blast singing-along to the theme songs of Excel Saga and Chrno Crusade in the car, I probably would have.

Well, I guess I’m posting this for some suggestions. I’m not big on confrontation, in fact I avoid it where at all possible. I’d rather “suffer” myself than confront someone about anything. But when it happens, I really need to learn to deal with it properly and maturely. I tried distraction, and that seemed to work. But I know I won’t always be able to distract myself, and I don’t want to ever break down in tears over something someone has said to me at work, or in any aspect. Any suggestions on how I can get over this whole thing?

A post of Christmas past, and Christmas future.

2008-06-30T19:33:00.000-07:00

It seems we are laying tentative plans to fly to Australia for Christmas 2009! Maybe we'd be able to afford it more comfortably for, say, Christmas 2012, but until she's two years old, Adelaide can fly for free. So we're going to take advantage of this wonderful thing.

It is, you see, one of the only wonderful things left about flying.

I don't know if they've done this over in Australia, but some of the domestic airlines here (United Airlines is one of them) have started to charge for every checked bag. It used to be you could get two bags checked at no charge, but now every single bag you check will cost you a sweet US$15. I guess it will mean people will try to pack lighter, therefore reducing fuel consumption or something, I guess. But you know who is going to be negatively impacted by this most? Families. If we each pack one bag, that's $45. If I take a stroller, that takes it to $60.

Not only THAT, but I've also heard today on CNN that they are going to be more strict about carry-ons. Well, that's great. Not only are the airlines going to charge us for checked luggage, but on top of that they're going to go all carry-on-Nazi on us. Fantastic.

I'm not saying airlines can't introduce fees or restrictions where they see fit. When it comes down to it I'd rather pay an extra $15 or $30 and be able to go back to Australia for a bit, than to not visit at all. But it's going to make traveling frequently a lot more unattainable for us. Which is sad.

Anyway, this post wasn't started so I could gripe about airlines. I wanted to share with you all my exciting news about Christmas 2009!

At this point in time, Aaron's brother Matt, and Matt's lovely girlfriend Sarah, are planning to come over as well, but will probably do some of their own thing rather than spend the entire time with my family (fair enough - I go crazy spending time with my family, and I'm one of them - can't imagine what it's like for an outsider... poor Aaron ;-P).

Mum and I have already started planning - Christmas on the beach! We'll rent a couple beach houses or shacks, either down at Kingston or closer to the Coorong (if it hasn't been completely extincted or dried up by then...), have some seafood on the barbie for lunch, have a hit of beach cricket, go for a swim (maybe even hire some surfboards??), and get hammered. A typical Eckert family Christmas wouldn't be complete without getting hammered.

Exhibit A: Submitted for your approval - particularly Kerrin - the time she got wasted and I believe there was a SuperSoaker and peanut chucking war started, including peanuts being ditched at the kids over the neighbor's back fence? And I believe Kerrin was overheard saying to her 18-month-old baby, "Hello Vallie, Mummy's very drunk!"

Exhibit B: Then there was the time Aunty Chris ordered two alcohol baskets from Chrisco, and Sam was mixing drinks for Dad and Gaz first thing Christmas morning, so by the time I got back from church most everyone was on their way to being well and truly sloshed, and we polished off a bottle of champers on the way to the cemetery to say hi to Gran and Lala? And then Dad drank the cream?

Ah, memories...

If you don't know of these events and are now viewing me with some apprehension, please be assured that I'm usually the sober one. Hence why I remember all these events!

It sure is going to be interesting introducing little Adelaide to her extended family. The kids are all nuts (but adorable), the bogan streak is well and truly alive in the entire family (some more than others...), they/we are all very loud, and our way of thinking is very "small town". Not really anything like the subdued but awesome Plein family! Hopefully there will be within her an unquenchable Eckertality (see, Kia Rondo, I can make up words too) that will come out and prepare her for The Crazy. We'll see what happens.

Vent

2008-06-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Subway customers,

Well, you are not just Subway customers. I guess this applies to any kind of customer, so for all I know you could be a Macca's customer, or a Burger King customer, or a Holiday or SuperAmerica customer. As long as you're a customer, this applies to you.

Just because I am behind the counter at a shitty job, it doesn't mean I'm not worthy of respect or courtesy. You think I enjoy working for stupid bosses who tell me "no it's okay to serve a sandwich made with tomatoes that have cored holes through the center. Yeah that's cool." and people who only pay me $7 an hour, therefore barely making it worth my while to even go to work? You think I like that? You're a moron.

The following is a list of things you should never, ever, ever do if you're a customer.

* If you've been standing in line for even one minute, you have no excuse to hem and haw over your choice when you get to the counter. The menu boards are big and up there so you can make your choice before getting to the counter. It's the whole "make your drink selection before opening the fridge" thing. There's a reason retail fridges have glass doors, and that's the same reason the big menus are put up. If you have been standing there yakking to your friend for five minutes, then get to the counter and take two minutes to choose between an Italian BMT and a Spicy Italian, I will not like you. I will serve you politely, as is my duty, but I will not enjoy it.

* If I ask, "Would you like The Works today?", please answer it correctly. Don't go, "Yes - I'll have lettuce, no tomatoes, pickles, and maybe some black olives." No. That's not "Yes". That's completely not The Works. That's three things you want and one thing you don't. The Works is a specific order for the vegetables on your sandwich. It is lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, cucumbers, onions, black olives, and if you wish, jalapeños and banana peppers. If you don't want one particular thing, it is okay to say, "I'll have The Works, but no pickles or hot peppers" -- that's fine with me. But don't say "Yeah I'll have The Works", and then stop me on every other vegetable to say, "Oh except that."

* One of the things Subway is famous for is portion control. You've all seen sandwich artists preparing the sandwiches - six tomato slices, six cucumber slices, etc. We don't do it because we like the number 6. We do it because that's how a Subway sandwich is put together. And guess what. We can only put six olives on as well. It's not very many, and I think it's personally pretty dumb. But that's what we do. If you ask for more, we can put a maximum of twelve slices on. If you get shirty with us, well that's just us doing our job.

* When you get to the counter, please remember this. I am not a dancing gypsy. So don't throw money at me. Seriously, I've had this happen. I say, "That'll be $12.47" or whatever, and people will literally toss a twenty at me. It's degrading. You wanna know how many times I've been tempted to throw your change back at you? A lot, that's how many. And don't throw your card at me either. I really, really, really hate it.

And number one rule for being a customer.

* If you are on a cellphone and have no intention of ending the conversation, or take a long time about ending it, I will not like you. If you are at the front of the line, and are having a phone conversation, I will serve the person behind you. Don't look at me all pissed. You were having a conversation with someone, it would just be rude of me to interrupt. Put down the phone, jerkwad.

Okay. I'm done.

Although hopefully I won't be at Subway much longer. I have a job interview tomorrow for a bank admin assistant! Yay!

[insert appropriate title here]

2008-06-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

I had a bit of a breakdown the other night. You know how it goes - crying on your husband's shoulder in bed, not being able to shut your mind off to try and sleep, feeling miserable enough to transfer over to the next day. All that jazz. As it so often happens, it started as one tiny thing and gushed open into a million others.

It seems my current 'button' that pushes me over the edge is my milk supply. Now, Adelaide has had formula before at daycare when necessary, and although I'm not a huge fan of it, I'd rather her have that than go hungry. But as best as I can, I want to make sure she's eating as much breastmilk as possible. So when my supply goes wonky, I tend to go wonky also. And the other night, my supply was going wonky. In hindsight, it was probably due to being sick over the weekend, or maybe not drinking enough milk and/or water myself, but at the time I was freaking. It was about 10pm the night before an 8-hour shift - for which I had just over a full bottle for Laidey (about 6 or 7 ounces all up). True, she could just have formula if she gets hunrgy, but I think I was in a bit of a fragile mood anyway, because it got me crying. Not just that, though. The whole thing about why I even have to work at all.

I don't want to be one of those people who bitches about "back in the day it cost a nickel to fill the car up, and it'd run for dickety-six miles on the sniff of an oily rag". But with the price of gas, plus the price of childcare, going to work often seems like an exercise in futility. I'm making US$7 an hour. Minimum wage. Yeah, it sucks. Childcare and gas costs approximately $37 per shift. So in order to break even, I need to work for at least six hours at a time. At the moment, they're giving me 8-hour shifts, which is good, but it's still only getting me $56 a shift, before tax. At the very, very most, I'm making $20 a shift. So sometimes it's kinda depressing to think about.

Plus there's the whole maternal thing. I like to work (mostly), but I also like being a mother. I love my baby like you wouldn't believe, and I love to spend time with her. I know being a stay-at-home mum isn't an option, but it's a truth I accept and act upon reluctantly.

So, take the "exercise-in-futility" mindset, weigh it against the "I-love-spending-time-with-my-baby" mindset, and add to the mix the "holy-crap-my-supply-is-running-low" mindset, and... well it ain't pretty. As I said before, my brain wouldn't shut off, I couldn't fall back onto the whole Scarlett O'Hara mantra of "I won't think about it now; I'll think about it tomorrow". It was there, in the front of my mind, and I couldn't ignore it. I was working for pennies a day, which was taking me away from someone I love fiercely, and I couldn't even make it up to her by supplying her with enough food for while I was gone.

Fun times.

And I learnt something about myself while I was bawling my eyes out. Most of the time, the things I'm crying about aren't what they appear. It really wasn't my supply, or that I'm not making much money at work. It's that I'm not at home. That's really what it comes down to. I found myself thinking, "If only I was home. If only I was home I could be making so much more money... I wouldn't have to pay for childcare because Mum or Kerrin or someone could watch Adelaide... I wouldn't be living in my in-laws' basement... I would feel so much happier at home..."

And that's pretty much the core of anything I'm ever upset or angry or frustrated about these days. Everything comes back to "if I were at home, things would be different/easier/better."

I've got to stop thinking that way.

Simply put, I'm not home, and I won't be home for some years yet, most likely. It sucks, but that's the truth of it. I married Aaron knowing (though perhaps not to such an extreme extent) that life would be difficult for one of us no matter where we lived, and we made the choice to live in the States. This is where I'm living, this is where my "home" is right now.

Now, I'm not saying I should completely turn my back on Australia, or that being homesick is wrong. But to blame all my problems on being here instead of there, and imagining that everything would be hunky-dory if only we were back home, that's not helpful.

I sometimes get annoyed that I'm the one 'suffering' while Aaron gets to stay in his home land. But then I imagine moving back home with Aaron and Adelaide, and I see how crushed Mary and John would be... their already-small family being split in half. They love Adelaide so much, and she thinks they're just the bee's knees. I can't imagine it. And when I think seriously about moving home, when we start to think of the logistics, I can see why Aaron would be reluctant. We'd probably move back to Keith or Bordertown, so we'd be surrounded by a bunch of yobbos and bogans... not exactly Aaron's type of place.

Maybe it's that I'm more adaptable and flexible than he is. I never thought about that. I don't feel it very much, but I guess I kinda am. A lot of people have told me how much they admire me for moving halfway across the world from my home and family, and a lot of the time I just brush it off, joking that "love makes you do some crazy things". I don't see it as something admirable. I love Aaron, so I'm here. Simple as that. It's nothing I've worked hard for, or aimed for all my life. I fell in love, and now I'm here. It just happened. I know it's not really as simple as all that, but that's what it comes down to. If I'm really as homesick as this blog shows (and I'm sure I am), then it must be an insurmountable love that's keeping me here. And I know I've got that in Aaron. What a guy. <3

Well. I'm not sure exactly what this post was meant to be. It kinda went around in circles, and so if you're still with me, here at the end, I commend you. If I could give you a cookie, I would.

Sick! or, Father's Day 2008

2008-06-17T07:51:00.000-07:00

"I don't like Fathers Day." This was Aaron's final summation of his very first Fathers Day. Personally I don't blame him one bit, considering at the time of his uttering aforementioned phrase, he was in bed battling nausea. And it was such a 'neat-o' experience that he shared it with me.

Father's Day began pretty nicely. Aaron did have to work that morning, from about 5:30 til 9:30, but he was used to it so it's not a huge deal. Then after Laidey and I got home from church, we all with John and Mary made a Fathers Day brunch. I'm not sure how widespread this type of brunch is in Australia; all I know is I never experienced it quite like this til I came to the States. Bacon, eggs, French toast, biscuits and gravy (biscuits = huge-arse buttery scones), juice (my new favorite, pomegranate blueberry - yum), and fruit. We had cantaloupe (= rockmelon), watermelon and strawberries. Everything was incredibly tasty, and we all ate quite a bit. Aaron opened his gifts (a two-year subscription to Motor Trend magazine, and his first inaugural Fathers Day Cheesy Tie), we lounged around and basically had a nice lazy morning. John and Mary went into town (= Brainerd) to do some shopping, and then to visit Mary's mom and dad, and once Laidey had napped and was ready, we would join them.

Aaron and I fell asleep on the couch, which I thought was due to a) him getting up early for work; and b) me getting up early for church. In hindsight it was probably the beginning of the whole sickness thing. Anyway, so we woke up and Laidey woke up, and we all got in the car and headed into town. On the way, I started to feel kinda weird. I guess Aaron did too, but he never said anything. We went and spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa, who were very pleased to see little Adelaide. Who of course showed off her new mad skillz by creeping across the table several times, and rolling and sitting like a pro! *bursting with maternal pride*

Soon, though, Aaron was looking tired, so we headed out. On the way home, we discovered we were both feeling pretty crappy. Which made itself known very rapidly as soon as we arrived home... poor Aaron threw up before we even got inside. The rest of the evening was spent making sure he was comfortable and that Laidey was entertained... before it hit me. I tell you what, nothing is more miserable than laying in bed, waiting to throw up. If Aaron wasn't sick too, I would have sworn it was morning sickness all over again.

So... yeah. That was Father's Day. Monday was spent with both of us at home. I think Adelaide got bored with just hanging out with Mumma on the couch, instead of playing with the other kids at daycare, but she did well and thankfully she didn't get sick.

Oh, which reminds me: not only did she dazzle us all with her creeping skillz, she also had her first taste of big-people food on Sunday!! I froze a piece of cantaloupe and put it inside a mesh pacifier thingo so she couldn't actually get any of it into her mouth. She was just able to suck on it and have a taste. I'm not sure entirely how successful the endeavour was - she seemed to enjoy the coolness of it on her gums to begin with, and when she reached the actual juicyness her expression changed. I don't think it was "Yuck" or "Yum", it was more "...well this is different." Of course she got very sticky, which meant Daddy gave her a nice warm bath in the middle of the day.

But it's back to work today. We're feeling much better. :)

"Oh, sick!"

2008-06-09T03:15:00.000-07:00

The titular phrase of this post, to most people, would be a negative comment. Not in Australia. To say that something is "sick" is to say that it's "cool" or "wicked" or "awesome". To say "fully sick" is the ultimate in coolness.

I'm not one who uses the phrase - it's more of a Queenslander thing to say, I imagine. But I did hear it the other day at work.

For those who don't know, yeah I work at Subway. It's not glamorous or high-paying, but I get a free six-inch sub and all the fountain soda I can drink (er... "fountain soda" means "soft drink out of those self-serve machines"). I also live and work in quite the touristy area, and so there are a lot of resorts and camps out this way - you know, the type for summer camps that we see in movies like Addams Family Values and stuff. A lot of these camps use counselors from other countries; they have programs to help bring them over and stuff. I actually considered this as a way of coming to the States back before Aaron and I were engaged, but it didn't work out. Anyway, so where I work is quite close to several camps, so a few groups of counselors have been in for lunch on occasion.

The first time a group came through, I noticed one girl asking for "uh simwuch on whit brid". I asked, "Are you from New Zealand by any chance?" and she was! I almost cried with joy when she asked for "girkuns" instead of "pickles"!

But the most exciting visitor was a few days later, when a guy started to order and I noticed something very familiar about the way he was talking. Instinctively, I asked, "Are you Australian?" - and he was! I said, "So am I, I'm from South Australia!" and he said, "Oh, sick! Yeeah, Oi'm frum up tha Goldy!" Translation: "I'm from the Gold Coast." And he asked for capsicum instead of green peppers! The rest of the day, I was quite hyper. I confused and amused my coworkers by calling everything, "fully sick". And of course I was quite homesick, but managed to cover it well enough. These moments happen and I can't stop and mope about it when they do. Especially when there's subs to make.

Recommendation, by the way. If your local Subway offers a Chicken-Bacon-Ranch sandwich, take it. Get it toasted, with cheddar and shredded cheese, and add tomatoes, and ranch dressing. Then eat it. Boy howdy that's a good sammich.

To vax or not to vax?

2008-05-31T20:13:00.000-07:00

This was the question weighing heavily on my mind recently: whether or not to vaccinate my baby. Despite parenting being such an intimate and personal journey, there are so many people who think their opinion is number one, that if you don't do this, this and this then you're a bad parent, that their way of parenting is perfect for everyone. This is the set that I've heard being referred to as being "mommier-than-thou".

If you ask me, parenting is tough enough without having the extra external pressures. I experienced this even before Laidey was born. I commented to a coworker that we were not planning to push the whole Santa Claus thing for Christmas (that we would instead be focusing on the giving, the togetherness, and the true reason for the holiday). Well. You'd think I'd walked up to this lady and spit in her face. "MY kids believed in Santa, and THEY turned out JUST FINE!" And she literally ignored me for the rest of the afternoon. I couldn't believe it. Okay, so the whole Santa deal worked for your family. That's great, it really is. But that's your family. Every family has their own decisions to make, and just because our decision is different to yours, doesn't mean either one is 100% perfect or correct.

But easily the largest decision we've had to make is regarding vaccination. There seems to be a real fierce divide between camps on this issue. It's either "vaccinations give your children autism!" or "not vaccinating makes you a bad parent and citizen!" Sheesh. Firstly, neither of those extreme views are entirely correct. Secondly, refer to what I said about each family making their own decisions.

For our family, it was tough. I have friends and family who have decided to not vaccinate, for various reasons that I completely agree with and for which they have my utmost support. And I have other friends and family who did decide to vaccinate, and that's great too. Like many things in life, I don't think this is a black-or-white issue. There are certain circumstances in which, at least for some vaccines, the shots should not be given (certain allergies to some of the proteins or preservatives), so to claim not vaccinating is bad parenting is judgmental, wrong and careless at best.

My main concerns were not the shots themselves, or the pain that would accompany the administration of these shots. I was more concerned about a) the necessity of each shot; and b) the ingredients of those shots. I spoke about this with our paediatrician, who was very kind and helpful. You can get a lot of rude and dismissive physicians who don't even take the time to listen to you or answer your questions in depth, so it was really good that Laidey's doctor took the time to listen to my concerns, and gave me her opinion. Now, to her credit, she didn't just go with her "official professional opinion". She said that, as a doctor, she really wasn't allowed to suggest a modified or delayed schedule, but she gave me examples of what other patients had done, and told me which diseases are prevented by which vaccines.

We didn't go into any of the ingredient stuff, but that's another thing to look out for. Ingredients like formaldehyde, thimerasol and mercury still exist in certain shots, and I know that some parents are concerned about the safety of their use. And like I said above, some shots contain certain proteins or preservatives that make them unusable to people with certain allergies (I can't remember which shot it is, but I'm pretty sure one of them contains egg white, so if you were allergic to eggs, you shouldn't have that shot).

As Laidey's two-month check-up approached, I started getting panicky because I didn't know what I wanted to do. I knew I didn't want to get the shots done "just because the doctor says so", but I wanted to be informed for myself. I did a bunch of research (note to everyone: be careful when using the Internet as a research tool. Every psycho maniac and his dog has access to the Net these days, and there are some pretty loopy web pages out there!) and made sure I knew what was going on. That's the important thing. Knowledge is power and all that. If you are just blindly going along with whatever some guy in authority says, there's a very real danger for exploitation, and keeping the masses uninformed. Do whatever you do with all your heart, and make sure you know WHY you're doing it. If "because that guy said I should" is your reason, it's the wrong reason.

Anyway, then it was just a matter of deciding whether the benefits outweighed the risks. Do the slim chances of autism, and severe side effects outweigh the benefits of not seeing my child contract diptheria/tetanus/pertussis/meningitis/polio?

In the end... we decided to get her vaccinated. She's not allergic to anything, and she doesn't have any issues that would mean we couldn't vaccinate. There are risks involved with every decision you make, but when it comes to such terrible diseases that can reach epidemic proportions so quickly, I'd rather know she was protected.

I'm not pushing an agenda here, by the way. You may have noticed I've tried to be extremely diplomatic, because I know at least one of my readers is very adamant about her position on the topic (you know who you are :P). For all you parents out there who are reading this: I respect your decision. It's a tough one to make, and there are so many tough choices to make for your child. You have to wonder whether what *you* are deciding is something your *child* would have decided or would have liked. It can be tough to be an advocate to someone who doesn't walk or talk.

What are the Silly Songs really trying to say?

2008-05-29T19:52:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about the Veggie Tale Silly Songs for awhile now. We have them on DVD (*cough*pirated*cough*), and if Laidey's being squirmy when I'm trying to change her, I'll slip the DVD in and select the Ultimate Silly Song Countdown episode. That way, we have a whole lot of silliness we can both enjoy.

But I was thinking, are they really that silly? Are these songs, silly though they appear, really conveying some sort of subliminal message? Do you think I'm a little touched in the head for suggesting this? Let's explore, shall we:

* The Water Buffalo Song. "Everybody's got a water buffalo, yours is fast but mine is slow, oh where'd we get them I don't know, but everybody's got a water buffaloooooooo..." Here's my interpretation: the water buffalo represents commercialism, capitalism. Everyone has lots of stuff, and everyone compares their stuff to other people's. We don't know where we get them - because it's all meaningless? THEN of course, Archibald comes out and tells Larry off for singing about water buffalos, because of course, not everyone has one. So Archibald is pretty much saying, "Yo, Laz. Quit with the bragging. Not everyone has a mansion and an SUV and a pool and an inheritance. STOP BEING A CAPITALIST PIG!" Woo, go Archibald!

* The Hairbrush Song. Now this song really pisses me off. Larry has a hairbrush. He can't find it. After a few red herrings, his BEST FRIEND Bob finally confesses that he GAVE LARRY'S HAIRBRUSH AWAY. He didn't ask Larry's permission first. And he obviously thought Larry didn't deserve a hairbrush, just because he didn't have any hair. Whether or not that is a logical train of thought is beside the point. Bob had no business giving away something that wasn't his to begin with. It's rude, it's thoughtless, it's inconsiderate, and it's just plain mean. Maybe Larry liked to massage his scalp (... or whatever it is cucumbers have). THEN (yes it gets more annoying). THEN when the Peach is revealed to be the new owner of the hairbrush, the narrator states that the Peach "recognis[es] Larry's generosity [and is] thankful". What the hell! Larry isn't generous! He wanted that damn hairbrush!! He loved it enough to make a song and dance about it, in a slippery bathroom, while wearing nothing but a towel.

* The Dance of the Cucumber. This is one of my favorite songs I have to admit (mostly because I like to sing along with the Spanish and pretend I can actually speak Spanish when really I can't), but it once again puts Larry in the character of bragger. According to his translator Bob, he's such a rad dancer that he moves like butter on a bald monkey, and the breath from his throat is like a chorus of little birdies. Quite the modest character, this cucumber in authentic Argentinian garb. Anyway, it gets worse. After waxing lyrical about how fabulous he is, he then turns on his translator and best friend Bob, to point out to the audience that Bob can't dance or sing - "miren el tomate, no es triste? el no puede bailar - pobre tomate" Look at the tomato, isn't it sad? He can't dance - poor tomato. He then goes on to point out that Bob *wishes* he could dance, freely and smoothly, but he can't. What is this song trying to tell us? That it's okay to brag about how awesome you are, and then LAUGH at your friends for not being as good as you? Whatever happened to different gifts serving the same God? Laz mate, you may be doing some goober dance with a sombrero, but Bob is translating for you. Wonder if you could translate into another language, huh. Maybe THAT'S his talent, and not goobering around.

I'm sure there are issues with the other Silly Songs, but I haven't delved that deeply into them. I will have to watch them when I get a free moment, and then I shall report back here!! I hope I haven't ruined Veggie Tales for you :-P

God and stuff

2008-05-29T05:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I mentioned in my first post that I would go into more detail about God and stuff in another post. And here is that other post. I figure this is kinda an important enough subject that it should be dealt with first, rather than "OMG there's a new Charlie the Unicorn video on Youtube!!!!!!"

Okay, enough silliness for now. Onto eternal matters.

Well, I don't know exactly what it is, but things have been kinda... interesting with me and God over the past year or so. When I first moved to the States, we didn't have a church to go to, and now we still don't. When we lived in Fridley, we found a larger, more charistmatic Lutheran church in the next suburb over. I went to it a few times on my own (Aaron was working weekends), and while the music was great and the preaching was great... but the people left a bad taste in my mouth. It seems at the time I went, they had started a new series of sermons called "Reach Across The Room" or something. Basically, the premise was that people can get lost in big churches, and they should make the effort to get to know other people, and reach out to strangers like Jesus would do. Well, guess what. I went to that particular service three times. And the only people who talked to me were the people at the Welcome Desk when I wanted directions to the chapel, the first time I went. No-one else even looked in my direction the other two times I went. So that kinda hit me for six, because doctrine and teachings and theology aside, I wanted to find a church that was warm and friendly like Keith UC and Marion UC, back home.

So then we found another nice Lutheran church nearby which was more up our alley, a little more traditional but really good (and it had this massive stone dove thing hanging from the ceiling - seriously, if you're under that thing, you and the twenty people closest to you are squished dead). I even went as far as to volunteer to help with the music, and spoke with the band director, but then we moved clear across the other side of the city, so that was no good.

Then there was a church right across the road from our apartment complex when we were in Eden Prairie, but it wasn't really our kind of thing. A bit too noisy I think. Aaron has kinda sensitive ears, and there was some guy who was part of the music worship who was excessively loud - actually yelling into the microphone. I'm not sure he understood that microphones mean you don't have to yell, especially when it wasn't that big a chapel in the first place. So that put Aaron off, understandably. And I found the theology to be a bit... holey. Maybe it was just showing the holes in my own way of thinking, but I remember there was this one part where a lady got up to talk about a prayer chain she started for her friend, because there were forest fires in her area, and 'because of the prayer chain', her house was spared while everyone else's was burned, so let's praise the Lord. My first thought was, what about the other people around her? Should they praise the Lord because their houses were burned? Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong, but it didn't really sit right with me.

Anyway, so we didn't go back there. And there our church search (hehe that rhymes!) ended for awhile. I found my pregnancy nausea too unpredictable to plan on going anywhere, and Aaron was working weekends again. When I began to feel better, I didn't want to go on my own (I had this paranoia that people would assume I had conceived out of wedlock since my husband wasn't at church with me - woo for paranoia), and then I had Laidey and-- well, I'm sure any new mother can tell you, trying to plan ANYTHING requires much more work than you'd think.

Then when we moved up here, I was happy. Finally, we would have a nice church to attend. When I was visiting here back in 2004 we went to the Lutheran church in Pequot, and we also went there to have Laidey baptised. It's a lovely church, on the traditional side, but the people are nice. We've been there a couple of times. But it doesn't seem as good as I thought it would be. Maybe I'd built it up in my head too much, and the reality wasn't quite as dazzling. So for the past few weeks we haven't been going to church.

"But you don't *have* to go to church to have a relationship with God, Suse. Surely you did devotions and read your Bible and stuff..?"

Yeah... you'd think so, wouldn't you. I tried to keep up with devotions, and I tried reading my Bible (haha, I just typoed and wrote Buble...) on my own, but I was experiencing the whole coal away from the fireplace thing. I guess I even still am now.

Then, about a month ago, I decided I wasn't sure what I believed anymore. I had discovered that an old friend from Easter Camp is now agnostic and had written lengthy musings on the subject of spirituality on his own blog, and it kinda blew me away. He was the typical pastor's kid, passionate about God, introduced me to Veggie Tales, and now he doesn't believe in God anymore?! I didn't begin to doubt because of what I learned about him, but I guess it kinda fueled my doubt a little. I've always been kinda afraid of questioning authority, and as authority goes, they don't come any bigger than God Himself. So it was like, that guy behind the pulpit said this, so it must be right. But that other guy last week said something different? Maybe they're both right and I'm just too dumb to figure out how it works together. La la la la. And, oh what my friend said just now sounds kinda weird but we're both Christian so I should agree with her. La la la la. Heck, I would even feel bad if I switched the radio station from Life FM to Triple M, even though they play the same dang songs every day, because I should like Christian music. That was my train of thought. So when I read my friend's blog, I thought that maybe it's not such a big deal to question, to think for myself, to doubt, to disagree with what other Christians say, to think that every single Paradise Community Church song sounds exactly like the other (seriously - C, C, G, F, C, G, F, bridge, chorus chorus, ad lib).

Thus, my train of thought is currently kinda stopped at the Station of Musing (oh my that's poetic and metaphorical and such. Whaddya know, I guess my English degree is actually good for something). I believe there's a God, and I believe Jesus was His son or special messenger who was born to fulfil the prophesies of Isaiah. As far as everything else goes... well, the jury's still out. Now that we're settled in here, I'm hoping to go to church more often, maybe get into a bible study group or something. My friend Erin goes to a nice church about twenty minutes' drive from us, and we're planning to go this Sunday. It's the church that runs the mothers group I go to on Thursdays (not today, I have to work), so I will already know some people.

Anyway, so that's my God and stuff post. Woo!

Hooray for band-wagons

2008-05-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know. I've jumped on the Blogger band-wagon. Quite comfy actually, someone's thought to provide cushions - and is that a minibar I see?! Hot damn, I'm in good company.

So why am I starting this blog? As some of my long-standing valued readers may realise, I was quite a journaller (journalist? journalista?) back in the day. I have a box filled to the brim with old notebooks and exercise books that are full of my high-schoolish proses and musings. Mostly about boys. "OMG I'm totally in love with Scott/Duane/Ashley/Ben/Josh/Trevor/Ben/Josh/no, definitely Ben/Paul/Nathen." Yeah. You get the picture. Ahh, for the days of my youth. And I've had other blogs over the Intarwebz in the past, usually more of a "this is what I did today OH BOY IT'S GREAT FUN" variety. I've also been into musing on a spiritual level as well, having prayer journals in which I would write out my prayers and thoughts and worries and bring them to God, and sometimes I would write poems and songs.

My penchant for journalling and blogging seems to have lagged of late, mostly (I'd say) because I guess I lost my purpose or aim in exactly what I was doing. I remember first setting up an internet blog when I came to the States back in 2004, so that my family and friends could keep up with how my trip was going, but when I got back it kinda fizzled and became more about the lead-up to our wedding, and how much of a jerkwad my old boss was (he was an interesting one... he had some major anger management issues). Then over the past year, I've been somewhat preoccupied with the whole gestating, giving birth and being a mother thing. It's only taken over almost my entire life, so you can see how I may not have had much time for blogging anymore.

So why start one up now? Especially when I have a Totsite for my daughter, where I can update everyone on her progress, which is pretty much what is overtaking my life (see last sentence of above paragraph). Well, firstly, there's the whole band-wagon thing (did I mention the minibar? - mmm, mojitos...) and secondly, well, I have a lot to say I suppose. Some people here in the States probably don't realise it, and some people back home in Australia probably don't realise it either. I guess life is a lot different to how I pictured it, and seemingly I have adapted to fit into this new rollercoaster of a life. So I'd guess most of you don't really know much about how I think these days. But don't feel too bad, it isn't your fault. Adapting to my new life has seen me become a lot more introverted, maybe even a little fearful? No, that's not the right word. I guess, less trusting? No, wait. Argh. I suck at teh rytingz. I guess I mean, I'm not as willing to be open to anyone I meet anymore. I know this really is something I need to work on, and maybe something I need to trust God more for (more about That Guy in another entry), but the simple fact of the matter is, that's how I am these days. Or at least, for the time being. We'll see what the future holds.

I got lost... what was I saying? Oh yes. Why I'm starting a new blog. Well, I've realised recently that I've been getting more and more nostalgic when I think about Australia, and the family and friends I have back there (hence the url address of my site, stupidpacific.blogger.com - as in, "stupid Pacific Ocean, get outta my way"... get it? Yes? No? Okay). This could be because my visa is due to expire within the next two months - yeah, tell me about it! Two years has passed like a freight train. I'm in the process of adjusting my status - in fact, I'll hopefully be sending out the application on Friday. Let's just hope those lovely chaps at Immigration Services get to it and send me my receipt notice before July 23rd, hey? Maybe I should start some kind of a countdown on this page. Wonder how I can set that up? I shall have to explore this whole Blogger thing over the next couple of days. Anyway.

And as much as I love the guy, I don't want to get too nostalgic and homesick around Aaron. It's not that he wouldn't understand, or that he would resent it. I do have moments where I'm feeling sad or whatever, and I just have to say that I'm homesick and he's fantastic about it. But I don't want to overwhelm him. It's not his fault that I'm 15,000kms from my home. We love each other, and are in this whole marriage thing for the long haul, and we both knew that being married would include some incredible sacrifices for the both of us, more so than couples who are both from the same country. And more so for me, since it was more 'logical' for us to live here. I knew that, and I made the decision to move here. And I don't think it's fair for me to continually go on at him about how much I miss Australia, and how awesome it would be if we could move back, and why can't we move back right now, and so on. The truth is, I think about home a lot, and they're my thoughts. I can be pretty flighty and confusing in my thoughts, so to verbalise them can be pretty overwhelming for him, I'm sure.

This has turned out to be a much longer first post than I originally intended. Thus proving beyond any doubt that I have a lot to say. Also, if I got too emotional and whatever with the whole Australia thing just now, for anyone back home reading this, I'm sorry if I made you sad reading it. I do like it here, and I'm glad I'm here, but you know how it goes... be it ever so humble, there's no place like home, etc.

Okay well I think I'm heading off now! That's enough of an essay to get you all started. I will most likely be adding to this a lot over the next few days. And, as most of my long-time valued readers will know, I can sometimes go for long periods of time between entries... I'm like that. Easily distracted by new things and-- ooh look! That dog has a puffy tail!!