Words of Wisdom

Thank you all for your comments.  I think I'm going to stick with being a nonsugaric.  I agree that there are many naturally sweet things and I'm mostly satisfied with those.  I am creating a plan for next year when I do plan to add a few small sugaric items to my diet.  I'm not eliminating sugar to lose weight.  I plan to do other things in order to accomplish that.  I find it interesting that in these same books that say you shouldn't deprive yourself they also say that you should stop smoking.  Isn't that depriving yourself?  Do people that try to quit smoking eventually return to smoking with a vengeance?  I think sugar is as bad a habit as smoking for lots of people.

I am reading



to my kids.  We just read the chapter when the Wilder parents leave for 2 weeks and leave their 4 children home by themselves.  As the parents are driving away the mother shouts over her shoulder, "Don't eat all the sugar."  As soon as the buggy was out of sight the kids made ice cream.  They also made candy and cake and more ice cream.  By the time it was time for their parents to return you could see the bottom of the sugar barrel.  I think the Wilders were pretty rich for their time.  They had wonderful meals, which usually included apple pie.  They even had apple pie for breakfast.  They also drank eggnog during harvest time to cool them off and give them energy.  I just find it very interesting that rich people indulge in sugar.  Don't you?


Of course, the Wilders also ate lots of veggies and fruits and all kinds of cuts of meat including tongue and head cheese.  It reminds me of the other book I read.





I love the way the used EVERYTHING.  Every winter they slaughtered 5 pigs and a yearling calf.  Every year they would save the calf hide to make shoes.  I just love it.  Which brings me to something else I have been pondering.  As I've mentioned I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We have a book of scripture called The Doctrine and Covenants.  In this book, in the 89th section we have a revelation that is called The Word of Wisdom.  This revelation is a health code.  I have been studying it and trying to decipher it for quite some time now. 

I have been trying to decide how I feel about meat.  There were a few verses that were a little confusing to me.  I wasn't sure if it was saying we should or shouldn't eat meat at certain times.  Just yesterday I read the verse again and it made perfect sense to me.

 Let's first look at verse 4.  It is one of my favorite.

4 Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of ^aevils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of ^bconspiring men in the last days, I have ^cwarned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation—

I just think it is a good reminder that food companies aren't looking out for us.  Then the section goes on to say that we shouldn't drink alcohol, use tobacco or drink coffee.  This is where most people stop reading and figure they've got it.  I however, really wish more people would focus on the shoulds of the Word of Wisdom.

10And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome ^aherbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—

 11Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with ^aprudence and ^bthanksgiving.

These 2 verses make me want to learn all about herbal medicine.

12Yea, ^aflesh also of ^bbeasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used ^csparingly;

 13And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be ^aused, only in times of winter, or of cold, or ^bfamine.

Now these are the two verses that I really struggled with.  When I read "sparingly" before I thought it must mean just a little every once in awhile.  However, I looked up the word "sparingly" and it also means not being wasteful or using all the resources.  So maybe I should start eating liver and tongue and blood pudding.  Ha, ha!  You never know, I might.  But, I think it is great that the Lord doesn't want us to be wasteful. 

Verse 13 was the hard one.  I'm wasn't a very good English student so it took me awhile to decipher this.  Yesterday one little word stuck out that really made a difference.  The word "or".  It seems that if the Lord was making a list of the times we should eat it he would have said "and" not "or".  It may seem like justification to you, but to me it was a little personal revelation that answered my question.  I feel like science supports that we should eat lots of protein along with fat and carbs and I just love it when science and revelation meet.  I studied science in college and I had a professor that said, "If science and religion don't agree, we just don't know enough about one or the other."

And the last verse that I really like is this.

16All grain is good for the ^afood of man; as also the ^bfruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground—

 17Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain.

Seems to me like we should be eating whole foods!  Plus, I like that it says "wheat for man".  Down with high fructose corn syrup :-) (that was for you Mom).  I also like that it says (oats for the horse) because whenever I am asking for oats in Albania they say, "Oats are for horses".  Right you are!

Just so you know if you follow this health code here are the promised blessings.

 18And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, ^ashall receive ^bhealth in their navel and marrow to their bones;

 19And shall ^afind ^bwisdom and great ^ctreasures of ^dknowledge, even hidden treasures;

 20And shall ^arun and not be ^bweary, and shall walk and not faint.

 21And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the ^adestroying angel shall ^bpass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.

Sign me up!  I only wish it said something about sugar.  However, we are not to be commanded in all things so I'll have to figure this one out for myself. 

I've gone on long enough tonight.  I will talk more about my decision to stick with it tomorrow.

Pop Tarts

Sweets saw a picture of herself eating pop tarts when we lived in the States.  She really wanted some.  She almost cried about it.  It isn't like we ate pop tarts all the time.  We had them about once a year.  Then we went to the American Favorites store and the storekeeper mentioned that she had ordered pop tarts, but they hadn't come.

I had some left over pastry in the fridge from when I made apple pie this weekend and I thought that maybe I could make homemade pop tarts.  I decided to google it and found a recipe from this cookbook.




I decided to make it with my left over dough.  They turned out okay.

I put the glaze on too soon because the kids were dying to eat them.  We even had some sprinkles.  The pastry wasn't all that good because the kids had played with it too much.  My pastry recipe was different from the one she used.  I do want to try again with her pastry recipe.  Her pastry had eggs in it.  I made one for myself with nonsugaric jam and with no glaze.  I thought it was quite a treat.

I have been debating a lot about my decision to not eat sugar.  I still think it is a good thing to eat no sugar, but I've read so many books about overeating and weight loss lately and they all say that if you deprive yourself too much it just comes back to bite you.  I keep thinking maybe I should just eat a very little sugar.  Opinions?

Bad Choices

Yesterday, B.D. called from soccer to say he hurt his arm.  I asked a few questions, but figured I'd check it out when he got home.  When I "examined" it I thought for sure it was broken.  He couldn't bend his wrist or twist his forearm.  However, there have been other times when I have been sure things were broken and my dad tried to convince me otherwise.  Every time my dad has been right and I was wrong.  It only makes sense.  The man has been in the Emergency Room for 35 years.  He has seen a few things.  My dad said he had never seen an arm broken by a soccer ball.  I also spoke to Dr. Guy, my local American family doctor.  He also said it probably wasn't broken.

I had put B.D. in an ace bandage.  He was surprised at how well I wrapped it.  I was kind of surprised too until I remember those years long ago when that was my job in the ER.  How could I have forgotten?

I told myself that this time I was going to listen to my dad and not go get an x-ray.  In the morning B.D. was complaining of the pain.  We went to the American Favorites food store.  The kids got oreos and tootsie rolls.  B.D. couldn't help me carry anything which made things quite difficult.  On the way home he said his thumb was cold.  I couldn't take it anymore.  I was just sure that this was one time in a million that a soccer ball had broken an arm.

We got home and put Bumbles to bed.  I tried calling the doctors here, but they said they wanted to look at it.  I just didn't want to go all the way to the clinic just for them to tell me to get an x-ray on the other side of town.  I decided we'd go for an x-ray when Bumbles woke up.  We did.  The doctor was not there so they didn't give us the films.  I told Andi I could read the x-ray.  He laughed.  I was serious.  Andi didn't believe me, but I convinced him that after reading x-rays regularly in the ER I was pretty good at it, unless it was a chest x-ray.

They brought me the films.  I felt silly "pretending" that I could read them in front of the x-ray tech.  I read it anyway because I couldn't stand not knowing.  It didn't look broke to me.  I just couldn't believe it.  When will I ever learn.  There is a slight chance that I missed something, but I'm pretty sure it is just sprained and bruised.

I quickly changed the subject and talked the kids into doing more summer clothes shopping.  We made some pretty good finds.  Then the kids got to play at the mall playground for a few hours.  There was no point in going home because our cleaning lady was there and Andi goes to church on Tuesday evenings.  Every Tuesday we go to some indoor playground and hang out until it's time for bed.  It helps us not miss our dad.

The ice cream helped too.

B.D. seems to be enjoying his ice cream.
This was their first ice cream cone since winter began.

Bumbles even had some.

I have to confess that I did have to lick a little ice cream because Super Jack had drips and he's a little obsessed about sticky/drippy things.  Sometimes as a mother sugar just can't be avoided.  While I'm confessing I have to confess that I did eat 1 1/2 oreos too.  You see Super Jack bit his and dropped them on the counter and he didn't want them.  I just couldn't let them go to waste.  I have a real problem with letting food go to waste.  However, yesterday when Sweets and B.D. left apple pie and ice cream in their bowl I didn't eat it.  Andi did eat it later, but I had to stare at it a few times before he got around to it.  Sometimes I'm weak.

When we got home Noni was here.  It was nice to have her help while Andi was away.  She is going to start coming every Tuesday to help with the kids.  My life is way too good.

Exhaustion

I had a very exhausting weekend.  Saturday morning we went to this lovely park.

We had an Easter Egg Hunt with our church.  The eggs were hidden on a hill and I just didn't think I could manage it in a long skirt and flip flops.  I asked one of the missionaries to help Super Jack.  Thankfully, he was willing.  The kids came back with baskets full of red eggs.  These were real hard boiled eggs.  They do not have plastic eggs here.  My kids are trying to get used to it.

After awhile Super Jack realized that there were blue eggs and he had only found red eggs.  He was begging me to help him find blue eggs, but I was nursing Bumbles.  I asked Marion (you know the Marvelous Mormon Meat Man) to help.  He looked in the stack of eggs that they had saved for the grown-ups and found a few blue eggs.  He turned around to give them to Super Jack.  Super Jack gave him a funny look and immediately Marion got it.  He realized Super Jack wanted to FIND the eggs.  Marion went and hid them and then helped Super Jack find them.  I was laughing so hard.

Once Super Jack and Sweets were busy making daisy chains with the missionaries, B.D. was playing volleyball and Andi was visiting with people I decided I should do some visiting.  I went and sat with two older ladies.  I don't know about you, but I just LOVE older ladies.  I know some people find them annoying, but I find them very interesting and they warm my heart.  I was not disappointed.  Bumbles played with Motra Kashari while I talked to Motra Hoxha.  Motra Hoxha told me about her first daughter who died at 6 months.  She was trying not to get emotional.  Then she told me that her husband died when her youngest was 9 years old.  I got a little choked up myself.  These women give me so much strength.

We did finally head home and we had to stop to buy some of these.






Sweets is a huge fan.

We were exhausted, but Super Jack made such fast friends with one of the missionaries and he wanted him to come over.  So I invited them over for apple pie.  I had made the crust already.  I thought it would be easy.  For some reason making those pies really wore me out.  However, the missionaries REALLY enjoyed them and so did our neighbor, Toni.  I had made one crumb-topped and one double crust.  I also only put in half the sugar.  He decided that he liked the double crust better.  It is so nice when you make a recipe with half the sugar and people like it more.  Don't worry, I didn't eat any.

By the time the kids were in bed I was completely exhausted, but I had to be the Easter Bunny.  I also had about 5 loads of laundry to fold.  I wished I could have just gone to bed, but the kids were so excited for the Easter Bunny.  I pushed on.  I hid chocolate coins.  My kids love those.  I did also find a pretty expensive bag of Easter candies at one of the Italy grocery stores.  (The same place I found candy canes for Christmas).  I started to get into hiding the candy.  It is pretty fun.

Our neighbor came over with some Easter Eggs.

She did a very nice job.

I think that brought our total number of eggs to 5 dozen.  I must say the ones from our neighbor were the prettiest and the bowl is lovely.

B.D. and Sweets woke up early and made plenty of noise to try to wake up Super Jack.  We had to send them back to bed, but eventually it was time for the hunt.  We gave Super Jack a 3 minute head start since he hadn't been sitting in the room looking for candy for an hour like B.D. and Sweets had.  At first he was unsure, but quickly got the picture. Their baskets were stuffed.  I purposely made smallish Easter baskets so my kids wouldn't get too much candy.

I made them using this book.



I need to make another one for Bumbles.  If anyone wants to go to Michael's and buy me some 100% wool yarn and send it to me I'll get right on it.

B.D. and Super Jack ate most of their candy before we even left for church.  I was so exhausted at church, but again I pushed on through it.  It was so nice to come home and put Bumbles to sleep.  I couldn't relax though because I was suppose to make a cake for Easter.  I made Nathan's Lemon Cake using my Wilton Silicone Cake Pan.  Of course, I only have one of those so it took me twice as long to bake the cake because it was a two layer cake.  Once again, if you feel so inspired to send me another Wilton Silicone Cake Pan feel free.  (I could use some nice spatulas too, while you're at it.)

We went to my MIL's for dinner.  I knew we were in trouble when Andi said she wanted the kids to bring their baskets.  She had more candy for them, she bought them mifisha and she had a cake.  We also had lamb for dinner.  The kids were scared to try it, but they did and they liked it.  My FIL also had a big chocolate bar for everyone.  I passed out my lemon cake.  Andi said it was too lemony.  I didn't try it so I can't say.  We left the both cakes there, but we went home with plenty of chocolate.

Andi had to go out again to visit some people.  I put the kids to bed and started to realize why I had been so exhausted.  I had a breast infection.  I texted Andi to bring home some antibiotics and took a nice long, hot bath. I was so happy to swallow my first antibiotic knowing it was the secret to feeling better.

I was trying so hard to work up the will to blog last night.  Andi was working on my computer.  He was reinstalling some things.  I asked if I could upload some pictures.  He just looked at me funny and said I couldn't blog that night.  I was so grateful to be on blog restriction.  I went straight to bed. 

I was still weak most of the day today.  I had a very hard time motivating myself to do anything.  I did get one load of laundry done and I cut Super Jack's hair.  When I went to put Bumbles down for his afternoon nap I was so tired.  I tried so hard to keep my eyes open, but I eventually gave in and took a nap. 

Tomorrow, I'll tell you what happened to B.D. at soccer practice.  And I hear the American Favorites store got their shipment.  I think I'll be shopping tomorrow.

P.S. If you have any ideas of what to do with a 5 dozen hard boiled eggs please let me know.  Of course, we'll be having egg salad sandwiches.

Peeling Eggs

Bumbles playing with a rag.  His new favorite toy.

Ice Cream and Crepes

Our day started with a lovely breakfast made by these cuties.

I recently taught Sweets how to make french toast.  She loves it so much and I'm not really a fan.  I decided it was time she learned.  I think B.D was feeling a little pushed aside by his sister's new skills.

I had a hard time finding enough clothes for everyone this morning.  The season is changing so we needed to go buy clothes.  We piled in the car along with our new English neighbor, Naomi and Andi's cousin's wife, Kjara and went to the mall.  It was stressful as usual, but it was a lot more fun with two other women.  Kjara even bought all of us lunch.

Then on to ballet and back home.  Bumbles took a nice nap and shortly after he woke up Andi and Noni arrived, which meant .  . . . Time for my Date.

We walked all the way down to our favorite ice cream shop, Rudi's, and bought a kilo of vanilla ice cream.  I'm getting ready to make some apple pies and we just have to have Rudi's vanilla ice cream to go with it.

Me and Rudi

His shop is right by our old house and he knows us.  Every time we come he is so happy to see us.  It took him a few minutes to fill our order.  Some other people were waiting around for their ice cream.  They got annoyed because of the wait.  They said something rude to Rudi because he was talking to us.  They said something like, "Do you plan on working or not?"  Rudi responded saying that he was working and they could just wait.  Andi and I were laughing because it seemed so much like the Nazi Soup man on Seinfeld.  He doesn't have to be nice to his customers because his ice cream is the best in time.

On the way home Andi had to stop and get a crepe.  It is so fun to watch the process.

The assembly line

I love the little tool they use to spread out the crepe



Most of the crepes that were made were like these.
Chocolate with cookie crumbs
Nutella
Chocolate and bananas





They do make savory ones.



This was Andi's order
White chocolate, pineapple and coconut

Can you tell how big the crepes are?

P.S. I did not have a bite of the crepe or the ice cream and I don't plan to eat any apple pie.

Brotherly Love

I have been thinking a long time about this post.  I wish I could provide you with more pictures, but I only have one.  It isn't even that great of a picture, but here it is.

Two men on a motorcycle

There is something that Albanians do so much better than Americans, brotherly love.  Men in this country are not afraid to show their love to each other and I love it and every time I see it I want to cry.  The motorcycle picture is not the kind of love that brings me to tears.  In fact, when I see two men on a motorcycle it makes me laugh.  Especially when they are on a bullet bike.  Men in America would NEVER ride together on a bullet bike.  I also laugh when I see men riding pink bicycles or carrying pink umbrellas.  There is none of that pink is for girls and blue is for boys here.  It is a good thing too because Super Jack's favorite color is pink.

The kind of love that brings me to tears is when I see four young men walking down the street with their arms around each other.  I love to see old men greet each other and kiss each other on the cheeks while they hold each others' necks.  I love to see young men standing around talking and hanging on each others necks and rubbing each others heads.  I know it sounds weird and you're probably thinking that these young men must be homosexuals, but I'm sure they are not.   In fact, I believe that there is a very small percentage of homosexuals in this country and it is probably because they aren't afraid to touch each other.

Sometimes I'm Lame

As you know, I recently read this book.


 It was awesome and I learned a lot.  I want to use this book in order to eat right, but I also wanted advice on how to exercise.  She recommends reading her other books for advice on exercise.  She said she had one for beginners and one for people who are a little more fit.

I figured I was pretty fit so I got this one.




In the first chapter or two she gives you some tests to see if you can handle this program.  I thought I could handle most of them except the push-ups.  She said you had to do 6-7 push-ups.  She also said that if you were below average on any of the tests that you should use the other book.  I decided to start my testing with the push-ups since I figured if I couldn't do 6 there was no point in doing the other tests.

I DID 3.

Not only did I do 3, but my arms and chest were VERY sore the next day.  (I want to hear about how many push-ups all ya'll can do).

So looks like I'm starting with this book.




I've also got to figure out how to fit in a work out in my life.  I found an awesome 24 hour gym by my kids' new school.  I'm thinking I'll have to talk to my neighbor that sends her daughter to that school and see if we can trade babysitting/walking the kids to school/workouts.  It sounds like a good idea I know, but Albanians aren't as workout-crazy as Americans.

Plus, I really need to be able to sleep in order to workout.  This morning at around 3:30 a.m., Bumbles was trying to go back to sleep, when Super Jack woke up to puke and then Sweets came in the room to say she was sick.  Don't you just love 3:30 a.m. parties?  I left Andi with Sweets and Super Jack and went to Sweets' bed with Bumbles.  I think Andi got the raw end of the deal, but he can't nurse Bumbles so what could I do?  Sweets has tonsillitis, but Super Jack is feeling a little better although he started coughing.  Before bed I gave Sweets antibiotics, Super Jack "Vick's Vapor Rub" (his favorite) and a humidifier and B.D. needed pain meds for his pulled groin muscle.  Apparently, kickball got a little crazy at Cub Scouts.

A little note, B.D. is awesome and he has been so positive and happy and helpful during all this illness.  He is really trying hard to be happy and helpful and I LOVE it.

Funny story, I wanted to make a nice dinner for Andi because he had a rough night.  Plus, the missionaries were coming over to teach our neighbor so I thought I'd feed them and my neighbor too.  I made Chicken Crepes from the Southern Living Cookbook.  It was a lot of work and the last step was to add whipping cream to the sauce.  I thought twice about adding it, but I decided to add it in the end.  Turns out the whipping cream I added already had sugar in it so the sauce was sweet. (of course I didn't know this until we started eating it).  My neighbor had actually cancelled his lesson with the missionaries so it ended up just being our neighbor.  He couldn't stomach the crepes, but he did like the leftover creamy pumpkin soup.  What a waste and it was embarrassing. 

The Nurse

Today I began my day very early because of Bumbles. 

Bumbles is bright eyed and I'm not

Bumbles has been sick so Andi and I haven't gotten much sleep.  I was also greeted by no power this morning.  Nonetheless, life went on and the power did come on again just long enough for Andi and I to take a shower. But not for me to make breakfast.  We had bread and butter.

We headed to the American Favorites store to see if their shipment from the US came in and it hadn't.  Nonetheless, we went to our usual grocery store and bought a few things.  On the way to the car Super Jack said he felt tired.  We hopped in the car and went home.

As soon as we arrived he curled up on the couch, asked for a blanket and fell asleep. (THIS IS VERY UNUSUAL)

Sweets immediately went into nurse mode.

Super Jack has been on the couch all day with a fever.  While Super Jack and Bumbles were sleeping there was a knock at the door.  It was B.D. with our neighbor.  He had fallen and scrapped up his knee really badly.  B.D. had gone over to see if he could play and when the neighbor answered the door B.D. thought he needed to be rushed over to me to be "treated" for his wound.

I am often the only mother home in these parts so I get visits from some of the kids.  I kind of like the fact that I get to treat the playground injuries and feed kids who get locked out of their house.  I'm glad I can be a comfort to them when they realize they forgot their key or they miscommunicated with mom and dad.  I guess they used to just sit outside and wait, but now they can hang out with us.

Super Jack is still sick and throwing up.  I hope we get some sleep tonight.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Dasma

We were invited to my husband's first cousin once removed wedding.  Dasma is the Albanian word for wedding.  I have been told that children never go to Dasmas and this one began at 9:00 p.m.  Therefore, I had no intention of going.  However, several of Andi's cousins were insisting that we come.  Mostly, they wanted me to come and hang out with them.  I was so pleased that they wanted to include me in the family as much as I wanted to be included. However, I can't leave Bumbles for very long - especially not at night.  Once the cousins understood this they said we should just bring the kids.  Still it was a difficult decision because it was past the kids' bedtime. 

We decided we would try it this once and see how it went.  It isn't everyday we have a Dasma.  We put Super Jack and Bumbles in their jammies.  B.D. and Sweets were dressed up.

I did Sweet's hair in fish braids

The kids were so excited, but by the time it was time to leave for the wedding they were exhausted.  Super Jack and Bumbles slept on the way there.  Once we got there Andi carried Super Jack and I carried Bumbles toward the door.  The music seemed loud from outside.  But . . . . . when they opened the door the music was BLARRING.  It was so loud I couldn't stand it.  I couldn't imagine walking into that noise with my small children.  It would pop their eardrums and my own.  I walked in for a second and lots of people came up to greet me.  However, I quickly ducked back out to save Bumble's ears.  I was hoping people would just come outside and greet me, but they didn't. 

The person that was getting married was Narissa, who is the daughter of Andi's cousin Diane, who died young.  Diane's brother is named Veton and he was at the wedding.  Veton and his wife Kjara came outside and begged me to go back in just for 5 minutes.  I put the blanket over Bumble's ears and covered his ears with my shoulder and my hand.  Super Jack was inside already with Andi with a thick hood over his ears.

I never took my hands off Bumble's ears, but I did sit for a few minutes and I finally met the one cousin of Andi's I hadn't met yet.  I met a few other first cousins once removed.  If you know me you know that meeting first cousins once removed or FCORS as my family likes to call them is a HUGE thrill.  I'm a family history NUT and nothing makes me happier that getting family relationships all straighten out in my head and on the computer. (okay maybe a few things make me happier than that).

Andi was watching me and he kept mouthing, "Should we go?"  I kept mouthing, "Yes".  So we finally left.  I was so sad that they had the music so loud because I really wanted my kids to be there and learn some Albanian traditions.  Sweets did actually do a little dancing.  I guess we'll just have to pray for another Albanian wedding earlier in the day with quieter music.

After Andi got us home safe and sound he went back.  He took a few videos and pictures.

Andi's cousin Altin with his sister-in-law Genta

Andi's cousin Kreshnik

Andi's cousin Veton and his wife Kjara

Andi's FCOR Arber and Andi

Here you can see the back of the bride.  It was hard to
get a picture of her because she had to dance for hours.

In the back on the left you can see the bride's brother
Klidi (also Andi's FCOR)

P.S. After we left they turned the music down - a little.

The Chicken Soup Tureen

I'm going to have to tell you about the Dasma tomorrow.  Andi took some video that I'll have to watch and pick the best one to show you.

Today I woke to a sick Bumbles.  Andi took the kids bowling with our Cub Scout Pack.  He tells me it was really tough taking care of all those kids without me, but he handled it.

Andi even had enough energy to let them play on the
playground before he came home.

Meanwhile I was at home holding my sick baby the whole time.  I was pretty happy though because I got to watch a whole session of General Conference without interruption.  I can't even remember the last time that happened.  It was wonderful! General Conference

My neighbor brought me some pumpkin that her mom brought her from Greece.  I decided to make Creamy Pumpkin Soup. 

Everyone loved it, including Super Jack!  Too bad it is impossible to find pumpkin or squash of any kind here. I think I love making soup because I used to HATE my mother's stew.  She would put it in this chicken tureen.  I would always come up with some kind of strategy to avoid it.  However, my mom always made me eat it - even if I gagged.

She gave me the soup tureen because it makes her think of me.  Now I have it and it makes me think of her.  It also reminds me that kids are picky eaters, but they grow out of it.  Since I've lived in Albania I've learned to like soup.  I even LOVE soup now!  Apparently, all I needed was a little lemon juice.  Here in Albania they put a squirt lemon juice in their soup and it is so amazing.  Please try it!  Since I've lived in Albania I've also learned the art of setting the table.  I LOVE setting the table and sitting down to dinner with my family ESPECIALLY when everyone is saying how yummy the dinner is!

Yummy!

Bumbles has mastered going up the stair so now we have to watch him very closely.

I guess he got tired out because he just wanted me to rock and him dance with him.  it was a great time dancing to "Someday" by Diana Ross.  I fond memories of singing that in the kitchen when I was younger.

I went on a date with my husband.  We went to Refan.  It is a store that just opened up that has all kinds of fun things.  Natural soap, perfume, aromatherapy candles, etc.  It was high quality stuff.  They even had some organic things.  I was so happy when I found that they had the essence for my favorite perfume - Cool Water.  I got a few little treats.

A coconut candle and
Pomegranate, Papaya body lotion.
They both smell delicious!

It is in the Bloku across the street from Kolonat right next to a souvenir shop - if you're interested.

Believe it or not it is 8:50 p.m. I have to go get ready for a wedding.  My husbands first cousin once removed is getting married.  We are taking all the kids with us and I am really nervous that it is going to be a nightmare, but everyone REALLY wants us to come.  This is my first Albanian wedding.  You'll get to hear all about it tomorrow.