I have ALWAYS said that nurses have such strong immunity that only us and cockroaches could survive a nuclear disaster.

If I can get off of the trains and subways that I was on today WITHOUT swine flu or head lice it will be a miracle. I am a magnet to carriers of such things.......urg.!

Fun times.

Olivia told us at dinner tonight that she has decided what she wants to be when she grows up.

She says she wants to be a teacher. "I would really like to be a queen because I like to make rules but Mom.....the queen always dies of some strange illness (speaking of the queen of Cinderella and Snow White) so I don't think I want to be a queen."

Claire's answer to the question. "I don't know......but I am gonna live with you Mommy".

Aside from the obvious, holidays, I get the most "homesick" when I hear the National Anthem of the United States. Last week we went to an event at the girls school and it opened with playing "The Star Spangled Banner" while raising our flag. I cannot sing that song anymore without tears that roll down my cheeks.

I suppose when you go for MONTHS without hearing your National Anthem, you grow numb to being the foreigner but WOW.....to be able to stand with your hand over your heart and sing ..."land of the free and the home of the brave" ......! I don't think I will ever take that opportunity for granted again.

She did NOT put that there!

My girls never cease to amaze us with their sense of entertainement and humor.

Claire exits the bathroom saying "Look, I'm a bunny rabbit".

you got it.....you know where she stuck her toilet paper!


This has to be a Hobson trait...urg!

Oh my....I knew I had not posted any news in a long time but 1 month?! I am so sorry to both of you faithful blog readers.:)

Well, then ....how about a very quick update:

1. Doctor appointments......DON'T ASK!
2. Contractors in the house every day for 8 hours.
3. A very mean, hard-headed dog named Chloe.
4. Work.
5. 2 girls in elementary school and all of the parties that go with that.
5. Did I mention doctor appointments?

I could go on and on but I will spare you the details only because you are friends and well, you probably would not stick around to read them anyway.

Thanks for hanging in there and checking back. I hope to get back in the swing of things soon.

the violin saga continues.....

I woke up yesterday to the sound of Claire playing (or attempting) to play her violin. NOW I am offering her $100 if she will let me buy it back!

She doesn't want to sell it to me. "The strings are made of real horse hair!" Claire says, which was apparently part of Olivia's sales pitch.

.....................hmmmm this is getting out of hand.

Something doesn't sound quite right.....

Olivia has asked to start Karate lessons. Mark and I reminded her that she started and quit violin lessons over the summer. AFTER I bought her a violin, had some work done on it and was out about $100. So, I agreed that if she could sell the violin and get back my $100, I would agree to her re-investing the money in Karate lessons/uniform.

Tonight: Olivia enters the room to say she has sold the violin. "Sold?" I said. "Yea, I sold it to Claire! I asked her if she wanted to buy it and she said yes."

So now what we have is a huge mess! Claire is playing a violin. Olivia thinks she is starting Karate lessons. Mom is STILL out $100 bucks.

sigh.....I don't know how I get into these messes!