Merry Christmas!

Praying you have a safe and wonderful Christmas!

The Ultimate Lost and Found

We saw this at a grocery while we were on vacation in September:

So if you lose your credit card, it shouldn't be any problem getting it back since they just take your card and pin it to a board with all your account numbers in full view of everyone.  We did go to the trouble of trying to remove the numbers from our photo but they were all in full view that day.

Just in case you were wondering, we never tried to use any of this info on eBay or anything...

Christmas Shopping, Done

Since I have decided to get this for everyone on my Christmas list.  "Cheap at twice the price," as my Mom would say.

Oh I am a Bad Blogger, is it?

We've been hearing from some people that we are not updating our blog enough. Like this suspicious user:

Now you cannot accuse me of being the world's WORST blogger since the blog address I originally wanted STILL looks like this:

This yahoo took my name, created a post about a pimped cooler, and NEVER updated it. Not once. Since 2004. I am not THAT bad. (see for yourself if you don't believe me.)

And in my own defense, it has still been raining. Most every day since early October so nothing much has changed really.

But I do hereby commit to thinking about making a New Years resolution to do better. Or at least to try to...

Rain

It has been raining here a lot. We are enjoying the rain and the coolness it brings, but not the mosquitos! We had been out one day and it started raining and we came home to a yard that was flooding. So what is a person to do when that happens? Just get out in the rain and take care of business.

Family

A lot of our readers know that I, Angie was adopted but I imagine a lot of our readers do not know that I was adopted. I was adopted at 6 weeks old by very loving parents that took care of me and loved me very much. Those parents were Dave and Wilma. They had tried to have a child of their own but were unable to do so. They decided to adopt and got me! When I turned 18, I wanted to find my birth mom so I started the search. Much to my surprise, I found my birth mom quickly. We have had a relationship for about 25 years now. It has been a joy to get to know her and her family. I was welcomed with open arms by everyone and one of the best things is that I have a sister!

Here are a few pictures of my birth mom and her husband, my sister, and my nieces and nephew.





I am glad I have two wonderful families.

Do-Nuts

We love it when a new store opens up around here. We want to try it out. No matter if there are 5 other locations of the same store that we have visited. Now when it is a donut shop, well that is a super duper occasion. Super Duper. That calls for a picture in front of the new business. Caleb was thrilled as you can tell. :-)

Not your usual restaurant

Here in SE Asia we have our share of restaurants. We have all kinds of restaurants. Fast food ones, western type sit down ones, tables in the middle of the street ones, and any other type you can think of.

But here our restaurants have something your fancy restaurants in the US don't have.... waffles for sale. No, not waffles on the menu, waffles that you take home and stick in your toaster and cook for breakfast kind. We were super excited to see these waffles because we have a hard time acquiring waffels in this part of the world. We found them in a speciality store one time and paid an arm and a leg to bring home the goodness. So happiness abides in the Davis home if only for a little while.

Oh, one more thing, they have loaves of bread also. How great is that? No grocery run for bread when snow is in the forecast, just head to your closest restaurant and pick up a loaf or two.

My kids keep calling me Medusa. I just cannot figure out why.

Parks: Same All Over

This trash can could be in any park in the world*, with its fake tree stump design, gaping hole, and PLEASE USE ME sign.

And in almost park in the world the back would be torn off so that as soon as you throw your trash in the gaping hole, it falls onto the ground. At least you feel better about yourself than if you just threw your trash right on the sidewalk, though.
*With maybe the exception of Gatlinburg, Yellowstone, and other bear-infested parks. And Indonesia which would never even bother to provide a trash can.

Holiday Stealing

Now I would be the first to say if you want something to catch on you gotta have a cool logo, catchy slogan, peripheral add-ons, and maybe a cute character. But I find myself asking if fasting month really needs any help in this department. Maybe that is the same way people felt when the first guy in the neighborhood hung up lights at Christmas.

Admittedly I probably thought that the first time I saw Ramadan Lights around here. This year, though, I believe its gone to new heights.

First we were greeted by this guy in a load of stores. I can only assume he is the Ramadan Bunny.

Then amazingly we saw this beauty last week.
Angie pointed it out and I was simply blown away* to see what can only be called a Ramadan Tree, decked out with lights and everything. It even wishes you a Selamat Hari Raya! I am so glad people are finding common ground.
*The really funny thing is that I had forgotten my phone that day and so I was without my camera til Angie reminded me she has this device that can make photos but cannot send text messages, receive calls, or access the internet. She called it her "camera" and I found it quite amazing that I had so quickly been assimilated into the technology world that I forgot I could make a photo even without my phone.

Teach 'Em While They're Young...

and when they are older they will be able to handle their liquor better.

Can You Believe??

Can you believe this is Angie not only cutting up an onion in our kitchen but smiling about it? She is amazing in her versatility!

Squatter Village

There was an official gov't decree recently that required all kinds of foreign workers to be registered. This was, of course, done with not nearly enough notice so the situation that resulted was masses of foreign workers being dropped off at the immigration office near our home for registration.

The line was so long no one could leave. Even after the office closed. For the weekend. We had hundreds and hundreds of people sitting around on the curbs, sleeping in the grass, and depositing their plastic bags all over the place.

Finally they did at least set up a few tents to give the folks a bit of shade. Restroom facilities seemed to be limited to the nearby restaurants, which also did a brisk take-out business.
Scenes like this are the reason so many countries are trying to do away with the plastic bag. It may be cheaper to make and ship than a paper bag but it stays in a gutter for much, much longer.

Finally (a few more days after the pix were snapped) the deadline was done away with and all the workers left the line and went back to the job site. At least for the time being.

Hudson's Birthday Extravaganza!

All the birthday excitement started (as it often does around our house) on Birthday Eve. The family loaded up and went to a Science Museum that has a building full of snow! Pretty incredible to be in a room that was a chilly -4c (25 degrees, I had to look it up) when you live at the equator.

Since NO PHOTOS are allowed inside we only have this one grainy video which may or may not be from someone's phone and may or may not include all the non-broken-rib members of our family wiping out big time at the end.

Did you see at the very end the lady come running in and snapping a photo? That is why NO PHOTOS are allowed. They want to sweep in, take a pic, then give you a tiny slip of paper to hold in your gloves or shove into the rental coat you have that features a big pocket hole and a ton of wadded up, previously washed slips of paper. FLASH BULB! Brilliant!

Everything was good til this group of Kindergarteners showed up. A bit of context: Asian kids have no patience, no understanding of "lines" or waiting their turn. Instead they speak enough English to say sweet things like, "Move" as they push through. Its darling. Perhaps you can imagine what they do with all the little slips they received from the photographer.

Maybe the bigger issue was the whole place has to grind to a halt for each individual tube to go down the hill. Mix in a load of sweet little children and you get a BIG back log.

So we were off to the museum and the 3D theatre for the shark show.

And the FIRE TORNADO!
We capped Birthday Eve at TGIF (where sodas now cost $3.20 ouch!).

On the actual day Hudson got to pick breakfast (pancakes)
Soon after the gifts started rolling in, from Bethany: a Lego guy.

From Caleb: a gag-gift toilet that squirts water. Notice how excited he was!
Some friends got him awesome stuff

You can't beat good buddies!
What was the bet gift? The Lego Star Wars watch??
Chipper Jones jersey??
The Lego Harry Potter game??
Surely its just being with friends and family!

Well, actually ... maybe it was the cheesecake.

That was how our special Davis celebrated being 8!

Its HUDSON'S 8th birthday

We had an awesome day celebrating on Friday and an action packed day on the actual b-day today. So action-packed that we are too tired to be blogging about it, sorry...

Actual pictures, run down, partying, and gifts can wait til tomorrow, especially since if I get to it before lunch it will still be his special day in KY!!

Back At It

On Wednesday we hung some wall fans and Angie, after using the hammer drill a bit, decided I was healthy enough to operate the drill on my own.

Though she did prove herself quite handy with power tools. See that awesome job?!

That is how I found myself back on a ladder exactly four weeks after my fall trying to do an Amazing Laundry Makeover. Which we did!
We took it from zero shelves to miles and miles of shelving, drying space, and hanging rods.

Special thanks to IKEA for all the parts and my new man-crush AJR who saved me from having to drill 15 extra holes in our concrete walls!

I Have No Self-Control!

One year ago I wrote a post called Stuff I'd Buy if I Had No Self-Control. Now I look back and realize we have purchased (or received) six of the seven items on the list. So, you know what that means. We have no self-control. Ouch. And we still have no zoom lens.

Maybe I'll Blog from IKEA

We have a trip to IKEA planned and since my phone can make it's own wi-fi hot spot, maybe I'll be able to create my own running blog commentary with photos while we are trying to get our stuff. This could be the most amazing way to show you how Dad and the kids feel on a day of shopping. And knowing how we feel will help you know how Angie feels, too.

Kabobs are Harder to Grill than You Think

Angie got this awesome idea to grill out some kabobs last week. It made me wish I paid more attention to that Grilling Guy on Food Network. All I actually know he does is put things under a foil tent to let it rest after he cooks it. Nice, but inadequate for my needs.
We found out we are a bit better at cutting peppers than we are pineapples. I could do a post called 'Pineapples are Harder to Cut than You Think' (I could also do the same for mangoes).
It all came together, though. We got from the kitchen to the grill.

Our extra pieces ended being for Dad since the kids wanted to eat off the skewers. The only struggle was keeping the meat from spinning on the skewer and just burning on one side. Guess I need to research that.

How colorful is that?? Pretty darn tasty, too. Well, at least Mom and Dad thought so. Bethany ... maybe not so much.

Speaking of Supermarkets...

We've been trying to remember when exactly it happened but can't do it. But last year our refrigerator compressor went out and we lost lots of important items. Most importantly, Angie's Miracle Whip.

Now a person can buy mayonnaise at any old market around here but Angie is convinced that Miracle Whip and mayo are not the same thing. So being the awesome husband that I am I started on this quest to find Miracle Whip. I literally entered every grocery store I came across in every place I went.

In and out, up and down the aisles of hot Indian grocers, searching through Mega-Import-Super-Markets (and finding Fruity Pebbles but no Miracle Whip), even in Korean grocery stores! I searched high and low to no avail. It could not be located.

Eventually I hatched a plan and some people carried MW in from another country. TWO JARS came just about a month before we left! One we opened and used those last few weeks knowing we could bring reinforcements from the USA when we returned. Which we did.

So imagine our surprise when we got back and went to a local grocery this week and saw this:

That is not just Miracle Whip, its MW in a SQUEEZE container!! And its right beside Ranch dressing (which incidentally was also by some awesome and twice-the-price Hidden Valley Ranch bottles). Miracle Whip! We couldn't believe it.

So imagine how we felt when in another spot in the same grocery we found these:
BIG Miracle Whip, Miracle Whip light, and even FAT FREE Miracle Whip. It sort of made all my fantastic husbanding look a little less impressive, which is why I bring it up. Just so no one forgets.