Sing with me!

The following is now the official theme song for my season as a stay-at-mom. (Please sing to the tune of "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes")

Laundry, dishes, grocery store, grocery store
Laundry, dishes, grocery store, grocery store
Vaccum, bills and so much more!
Laundry, dishes, grocery store, grocery store

Some days I feel like this is all I do! I find it ironic that Jesus taught that we shouldn't worry about what we will eat or what we will wear and I spend the majority of my time planning meals, going to the grocery store, cooking, doing dishes (man, I miss my dish washer!), doing laundry and putting it up!

Give us this day our daily rice

This is truly what the Lord's Prayer is in the Korean Bible. "Give us this day our daily rice." Most people know that Asians eat a lot of rice. I didn't realize how MUCH rice they ate until I moved to Korea. Koreans don't have "breakfast" foods. They eat the same thing for breakfast that they eat for lunch and supper--rice, seaweed soup, fermented cabbage, you name it. (Their desserts are even made out of rice, and a picture of the rice cakes is above.) After moving here I found out that it was only recently that ovens were even something that Koreans could buy. Up until that point they couldn't even MAKE bread, let alone eat and enjoy it. I'm from the south where bread is so important to the meal that if you don't have a roll or biscuit to serve with dinner then you put a loaf of sliced sandwich bread and a tub of butter on the table.

With that kind of background in the wonders of bread, I always felt kind of sorry for Asians. There was no way that rice could be as good as bread! While I still hold to my belief that bread is better than rice, Jeremy & I must inform the American public that American white rice is the sorriest excuse for rice that has ever been manufactured. It is terrible. It shouldn't even be called rice. Before coming to Korea I could probably count on one hand the number of times I made rice with a meal since I've been married. Jeremy just "wasn't a fan" as he would say. After spending four days eating Korean cuisine (!) at the ski lodge we both realized just how much better Korean rice is than the rice we had eaten in the past. Someone told us it is because American rice doesn't have any gluten left after it has been processed. I don't know what it is that makes the Korean rice better, but I have had cravings for it. Can you believe that? I've been craving rice.

I went to the commissary on my initial search for Korean rice. Who knew--maybe I wouldn't have to go to a Korean store to buy it. Heading down the grocery isle where the rice is sold, I passed a Korean lady leisurely strolling behind her cart. She was obviously just picking up a couple of things at the store. Those couple of things happened to be two FIFTY POUND bags of rice. Do you realize that is the equivalent of 800 CUPS of cooked rice? I wasn't in the market for that much rice, so I left the commissary without my needed purchase. Thankfully, God provides for His children. On Thursday as I was driving back from a chiropractor visit in Seoul, I went through the toll booth to pick up my ticket. On this particular day there was a person standing at each ticket machine--you know the ones, were you drive up, push the button, and your toll ticket comes out? The person stood there, waited for a car to come up, pushed the button for the driver and handed them the ticket. On this particular day the people giving out the tickets were also giving "samples" of rice to all of the drivers! I say "sample" because to a Korean, a one pound bag of rice is about enough for one meal! But to this American, God fulfilled His promise to "give me this day my daily rice." Of course, the cooking instructions were in Hongul, so I had to guess how to make it, but man was that rice good!

Penny for your thoughts

I remember a long time ago there were rumors about taking the penny out of circulation in the US. I have always thought that would be weird. I mean, think about it--there would be no 99 cent menu at Wendy's. The rollback smiley face at Walmart would have to rollback to even numbers. The ab rollers on infomercials couldn't be four easy installments of $19.99. So much of our consumerism is surrounded by the psychology that we are getting a bargin when the price ends in a nine. Think of the man hours it would take to reprice and remarket virtually all of the goods sold in America!

Or maybe life would be as it is here at Osan Air Base. The ONLY establishment on base that uses pennies is the post office. Just yesterday I bought a milkshake at Burger King on base. It was $1.39. The cashier said "$1.40, please" while the register clearly said $1.39. Today I bought some things at the BX and the total was $3.76. I gave the gal $3.75 and called it good. It's all about rounding. One would think that my exacting nature (cultivated by years as an accountant and even more years as a perfectionist) would be driven mad by the blantant disregard for exactness. But I've realized that the rounding is a lot easier than trying to re-think the way I shop.

This still leaves a bigger question--if the penny does bid farewell in our culture, will Hannah understand the saying "A penny saved is a penny earned"?

Here's a penny for your thoughts...

Exercise, Exercise, Exercise

No, I don't mean push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks. Our base is practicing for a chemical attack; in the military such practices are called "exercises." As with all professions, the military has its own language. The reason people stay in the military is because it takes years to be able to talk with and understand your boss and the abbreviations they use! (Just kidding!)

During this particular exercise week Jeremy is working a 10am - 10pm shift. This means that on a good day (ie, he doesn't have to do any of his normal job in addition to the exercise) he works 9:30am - 10:30pm. Because of the "ops tempo" here in Korea (ie, the insane amount of work that must be done in an insanely short amount of time) his day-to-day job keeps him hoppin' with about 11 hours of work a day. If there is an exercise for five days, that means he misses 55 hours of time to get his day-to-day work done. And the piles keep growing...

It is interesting to live on a base that takes the exercises so seriously. It takes getting used to since it wasn't like this at our last base. Just this past Thursday I went to the Post Office and they were closed until noon because they were pretending the base was under attack. I've seen guys driving huge pieces of equipment in chem gear in 90+ degree heat. I've seen guys with machine guns hiding behind concrete walls. And let us not forget all of the barbed wire that gets rolled around the buildings. Military members aren't allowed in the grocery store (aka the commissary), the general store (aka the BX), any fast food restaurant, or off base during the exercise. They can't even order pizza. Let me not neglect to mention when they decide that they can't let people off base and I sit in my car in a line at the gate just waiting for twenty minutes while trying to keep Hannah pacified. It is definitely not boring around here!

Being a spouse during the exercise is interesting, too. All of us SAHMs (stay-at-home-moms) know that if we don't fill our schedules with extra lunches and play dates we will just about lose our minds due to lack of adult conversation and general around-the-house help. Add to this type of isolation the pressure of keeping kiddos quiet while daddy sleeps because he is working the night shift of 10pm-10am (or some type of 12 hour rotation) and you have the making for some stress in the house. All because we live a few hundred miles south of what some call a less-than-stable North Korean dictator. But, the military tries to compensate.

Many of us joke that living here is like being in college. We go to the same stores, same grocery store, same churches; we live in apartment buildings together; and exercises are just like finals. We just pray that we make it through another round!

Calgon take me away

The alarm clock sounded and I enjoyed my bed for a couple of extra minutes this morning. I went into the bathroom, turned on the water and went downstairs to fix my breakfast while the water warmed up. In our apartment building, it takes 15-20 minutes to get hot water for a shower if you are the first in the building to take a shower in the morning. This usually happens to me on Sundays... After fixing breakfast I decided that instead of a shower that I was going to enjoy a bath! Hannah was asleep, and if the wee dictator woke up, Jeremy could take care of her. So I started filling my large bathtub and opened the cabinet under my sink to look for some bubble bath. As usual, there are four or five different products to choose from. Not because I have a facination with good smelling bath products, but because I never use the ones I have.

I have always known this was a chronic problem of mine. I get bath salts or bubble bath or mineral rocks or something good smelling from a friend and immediately it gets stored under my sink. Getting bubble bath from a friend is such a lovely gift. She is telling me "I want to give you the gift of time for yourself, a little something for you to indulge in." Times alone in a large sudsy tub are so necessary in this life in which I live! Yet, why are such times so few and far between? When I had to pack up all of my good smelling bath products and move to Korea I realized that I had a task before me--I must use all of these before I moved back to the states. I could not be the woman who packed and unpacked the same collection of bubble bath with every move. Likewise, there is no way that I could throw away such items, either. They represent a state of blissful peace that all of us long for in the chaos we call life.

And so, I soaked in my bubble bath. What a wonderful thing to put on my to do list!

Pass the Peas, Please

A great debate starts when a child is around four months old--when do we start with solid foods? Because Hannah is still nursing, the thought of starting solid foods any sooner than I absolutely had to (as mandated by my pediatrician!) seemed like a complete and utter waste of my time. Why try to coordinate extra meals to be prepared and eaten? Why have extra dishes to wash? Hannah starting waking up twice a night to eat about a week and a half ago. I don't mind one night time feeding during her twelve hours of night time sleep (I know, I'm blessed among women) but two times a night is just not conducive to an alert and functioning mind. So we made the plunge last week and started feeding her rice cereal. She is five and a half months old today, so I did pretty good to avoid the inevitable. She has had rice cereal for dinner three evenings in a row and hasn't spit any of it out yet. The first time I fed her she was grabbing at the spoon to try to feed herself (that will be a long process!). And now I've entered uncharted territory in my journey of parenthood and the questions rain down upon my head--how much do I feed her? What time of the day? How many times do I nurse her? When does she get to start on veggies? And on and on and on. The answers are as many as their are children on the planet, and I figure that if I'm doing something wrong, Hannah will let me know--she is good at that!

Let me Introduce Myself

Forgive me for being so rude. I've started a Blog without a proper introduction. I thought the most fun way to start this introduction is to respond to a "tag" I got from my dear friend Amber (they are good questions!). The answers would probably reveal more about me than endless chatter, and it will be faster for you to read! Here goes....

Foursquare!

Four jobs I’ve had in my life
1. Bank Teller
2. Coffee Barrista
3. CPA
4. Military Wife

Four movies I could watch over and over
1. Mary Poppins
2. Pretty Woman
3. You've Got Mail
4. Hitch

Four places I have lived
1. Blacksburg, Virginia
2. Boston, Massachussets
3. Great Falls, Montana
4. Songtan, South Korea

Four TV shows I love to watch
1. Mad About You
2. The Cosby Show (they don't have to be new!)
3. Family Ties
4. ??? I don't watch TV...

Four places I have been on vacation
1. Seattle
2. Glacier National Park
3. Bob Marshall Wilderness (did you know I love to backpack?)
4. Statesville, North Carolina (where most of my airplane rides end up!)

Four websites I visit daily (this is sad...)
1. www.gmail.com
2. www.espn.com
3. http://ambjoy.blogspot.com/
4. www.usaa.com

Four of my favorite foods
1. Veggie Burgers at Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea
2. Lattes from the Coffee Tree (that counts, right?)
3. Filafel at Emilios
4. Chick-Fil-A grilled chicken sandwiches
(I think my inability to have almost all of these things is a contributing factor right now...)

Four places I would rather be right now
1. My mom's house (or my mother-in-law's!)
2. Boston
3. Kosova
4. coffee with my girlfriends in Great Falls

Sleeping Beauty

Here she is. My little Hannah Grace. Isn't she precious? Because of her entrance into the world I made a job change from a CPA to a Research Analyst in Child Development. It was a great change for me. My job is NEVER boring and I am always learning. I have an amazing network of professionals. Some are new to the field as well. Some are so experienced that they have earned the title of Senior Research Analyst. Some of my friends have three experiments they are currently working on. Jeremy and I are still wondering how many experiments we will pour ourselves into...

At any rate, my life has never made more sense than it has since she was born. Isn't it amazing how even the presence of children (not really anything they TRY to do) can cause us to realize what life is all about? Didn't Jesus try to tell us this a couple of thousand years ago?

Computer Illiteracy

My friends have blogs. Bill O'Reily talks about his blog every night on FoxNews. I "have a blog" but I'm not yet sure how it works, how to make it attractive, or how to post my picture. But I know that I need to learn how. I need to learn how to Blog just like my mom needed to learn how to use email. I need to learn how to Blog so that my daughter doesn't think I'm hopelessly old-fasioned (she's five months old, so I'm sure she'll be having those thoughts anyday now!). And so, here is my first real posting to my blog--the self-confession that I have no clue what I'm doing but I have a self-mandated requirement to learn!