Photos: Day 6-10

Day 6 - Dinner

On this week's menu:
Whole wheat pasta with chicken, artichokes, olive, tomatoes and capers
Tilapia with brown rice and broccoli/cauliflower
Brussle sprouts with avacados and bacon, plus pasta with pesto sauce
Jambalaya with shrimp and pasta
Sing it, "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just isn't the same....." I ran out of paper plates;)

Day 7 - Button

I picked these up at fabric market in Dongdaemun. I have no idea when or how I'm going to use them, but I couldn't resist.

Day 8 - Sun

Morning time, looking at the sun coming up through the trees.

Day 9 - Front Door

We picked up this little gem when we went to Donghwasa Temple. I can't remember what it says, something like health, wealth, luck and happiness. Right now it's hanging on the inside of our front door, herolding our arrivals and departures. Some day it will hang on my front porch and play with the wind.

Day 10 - Self Portrait

I really wanted to look my best for this one, so I let Madelyn and Alex give me a makeover. They took their job VERY seriously, and assured me that I looked VERY good.

I think the close-up proves they were right;)

Come back in 5 days for more.

Photos: Day 1-5

I'm copying Katie (again), and doing this photo a day blog challenge.
The only thing is, I'm not going to post 1 photo each day - I'm going to post them 5 days at a time, okay?

Day 1 - Your view today.

We finally got a really good snow the day before. This is looking out the front door of our building.

Day 2 - Words.

I have to endure (yes, ENDURE) these words every day when I pick up the kids from school. These are the school's goals for the year, focused on reading and writing. I admit, I'm not a genius when it comes to gramar, but this seems blaringly obvious to me. Check out the bottom left corner. "Read and Response". Anybody? Anybody? Shouldn't it say "Read and Respond"? How can this go unnoticed in a SCHOOL?!

Day 3 - Hands.

At 4 years old, Alex's hands are already well acquainted with electronic devices. It is still amazing to me to think of the advancments in technology that have occurred in MY lifetime. I don't remember using a computer until I was in 6th grade, and that was to play Oregon Trail. I don't remember doing any of my school papers on a computer until high school. We got a Nintendo Entertainment system when I was in high school. I remember a time when we didn't even own a VCR, and we had to rent them along with the movies at the store. Anybody remember laser discs? Those didn't last very long. And how about recording music off the radio onto casette tapes? Aaaahhhhh, the memories:)

Day 4 - A Stranger.

Oh my gosh, I love this picture. I swear they all stopped smiling at the exact moment I took the picture. I substituted in the Sunbeams class at Church. I knew these boys' moms, but I did not know any of them - so yes, they were strangers......as well as the girls in the class, who were all in the bathroom when I took this picture. All it takes is one class to fall in love though;) A couple of hours later, and not only did I know their names, but I knew a great deal about their personalities and they're likes and dislikes. I got hugs. I got sneezed on. I learned that graham crackers and ritz cheese crackers taste best when mixed together. One girl invited me over to her house, but said that she would call to make sure I was "available" first. And in the opening prayer, one girl said, "Thank you for my forehead". Priceless.

Day 5 - 10am.

This is Joe, Madelyn and Cora inside the tent that the kids made. It was huge.Anybody else a fan of Community? It reminded us of Abed and Troy's blanket fort.

Apparently I have a hard time posting just the pictures, and not the long explanations;) Stay tuned for days 6-10.

I'm Trying To Sleep

Sometimes I attempt to sleep in on days that I don't have to get my kids to school. It's like playing a bad practicle joke on myself. Inevitably, someone comes in about every two or three minutes.

This morning:

Mom, is it morning time?

Mom, can I have breakfast?

Mom, what can I have for breakfast?

Mom, can I watch a movie?

Mom, how do I cook this?

Mom, the sound isn't working on the TV.

Mom, can I have cereal?

Mom, can I use your bathroom?

Mom, can I have a cheese stick?

Mom, the microwave isn't working. (Did you hit reset? I hear buttons being pushed on the microwave - beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep beep, beep- what the?!)

Mom, can I rent Spiderman on iTunes?

Mom, look at this.

Mom, can I have an apple?

(I hear arguing) Mom, she called me a big turd. (Now I hear laughing - good to know they can forgive so easily)

Mom, I'm bored.

Mom, what are you doing?

Mom, can I turn on the light?

Mom, when are you going to wake up?

You'll note that not once did any of them address their dad, who was sleeping somewhat peacefully right next to me;)

He Doesn't Work in a Button Factory

Today is Joe's birthday, and he turns 35. Maybe some of you don't know Joe very well, so let me tell you 35 things about him. I'm sure he'll really appreciate this (wink, wink), but really, it's for his posterity;)

1. Joe likes bikes/biking/building and fixing bikes/anything to do with bikes A LOT!

2. Joe currently owns (Don't kill me Joe) 6 bikes. I own 3 (I think), but he's definitely tried to get me to buy more. Our 4 kids have more than 4 bikes (7 maybe). I see more bikes in our future.

3. I do not discourage Joe when it comes to bikes because 1) it is a great stress reliever for him, 2) he/we love biking as a family (although we don't do it as much as we should) 3) it is a WAY cheaper hobby than fixing up/building cars, which he also enjoys.

4. Joe is a tinkerer, whether it's bikes, or cars, or computers. When we first got married he wanted to get his degree in mechanical engineering and work with cars. He would have been very good at that, but he went a completely different way.

5. Joe is very good at everything he tries:)

6. Joe sings all the time.

7. I swear Joe knows every song ever made (the lyrics, the name of the song, who sang it, etc.).

8. More often than not, when Joe sings he makes up his own words to songs. It's usually about me or the kids, and it usually makes me roll my eyes....but smile too;) And he's very loud and dramatic about it. The kids have picked up on this, especially Madelyn. Sometimes she really gets going, vabroto and all, and I warn Joe that one of these days I'm going to lock him and Madelyn in a room together and make them sing each other to death.

9. You know that scene in The Sound of Music, where they're just about to kiss, but instead they break into song (I Must Have Done Something Good), and you're thinking, "Who does that?" Well, Joe does, that's who.

10. Joe actually has a really great singing voice - everyone in his family does, and we call his father Beethoven, because he is a genious on the piano. When Joe was younger, their family was like the Liddell version of the Osmonds. Though their fame didn't go much beyong Manti, they were often asked to sing at church, activities, city functions, and even people's family Christmas parties. Even though I sometimes roll my eyes at his made-up lyrics, I really do love to hear him sing:)

11. Joe was in plays and musicals in highschool. If only there were videos! Are there videos? Anyone?

12. Joe played the trumpet in high school. He doesn't own a trumpet now, and I've NEVER heard him play one - that is just wrong!

13. Joe is hilarious, just ask anyone in his family. Whenever he is around, they are laughing, and they wish he was around more often. I love laughing until I cry, and he makes this happen regularly.

14. People at Joe's work don't usually know how funny he is. He is more reserved and serious-like at work. When he breaks out of his shell, people are usually quite surprised.

15. Joe doesn't like to watch a lot of TV, but I introduced him to a few he currently likes, his favorite of which (I think) is Community. But HE started us on the best one EVER - Doctor Who! Thanks Joe:)

16. When Joe calls me or other family members on the phone, he often will use a fake voice or accent to try to trick us. Sometimes he succeeds in fooling family members - once he got his brother to agree to do a 45 minutes survey about bikes! Perhaps his inspiration comes from a couple of phone calls his mom got in the past, which have become family jokes. One time she answered the phone, and someone asked, in a weird voice, "Is this the Shaker?" And another time someone (probably a sales person, because they always get names wrong) asked for el-low-iss lie-dull (her name is Eloise Liddell).

17. Even though Joe has tried to trick me MANY times on the phone, he has NEVER succeeded. However, it made me suscipicious of people with weird voices and accents, and this WAS the cause of one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. I know he felt bad about it, but I'm also pretty sure that he LOVED it;) So, one time I got a phone call from a Korean gentleman, and I thought it was Joe at first, and I kind of made a fool of myself. It wasn't too bad, but a little embarrassing, and Joe got a good laugh about it and told some people at work, and I told him he had to stop trying to trick me, which he did....for a little while. Not too much later, I got another phone call, and I was 100% sure that it was Joe (it sounded just like him when he's using one of his really weird voices), but IT WASN'T JOE! The guy was from Joe's work, and he was calling because he had left his I.D. at work, and Joe had taken it to bring to him (or something like that). I can't recall ALL the ways that I made a complete idiot of myself during that phone call, but there was a lot of "Stop it", "Stop it RIGHT NOW" and "This isn't funny anymore". The guy finally gave up and hung up on me - I had figured out that it wasn't Joe exactly 1 second before he hung up on me, which was WAY too late. The guy, understandably, thought that I was a complete nut case. After he hung up with me, he asked another co-worker if he knew Joe's wife, and if there was something wrong with her (me). Fortunately, this other co-worker was a friend of Joe's and knew about Joe's history with trying to trick me on the phone, so he explained it to this other guy and laughed his head off about it. Joe also thought this was hilarous. It WAS hilarious, but not so much so for me, especially when I had to meet that guy a couple of days later at a work party. I apologized profusely for my behavior, and he just laughed and said that he had never had an experience like that before, and didn't know what to do, and really honestly thought that I was crazy. Joe doesn't try to trick me very much any more.

18. The very first time that I ever ate dinner with Joe and his parents was at his parents house in Manti. Joe's mom was in the kitchen making dinner, and Joe went in and said, "Mom, Ruth wants me to ask you when dinner is going to be ready, because she's really hungry." I realize that she must have known he was joking (I think), but at the time, not really knowing them or anything, I was a little embarrassed. He continues to do this kind of thing every chance he gets.

19. I think Joe likes to embarrass me - never in a rude or hurtful way, but just enough to make me feel silly. He definitely teases me a lot. It's unfair because He does not get embarrassed about anything. Well, the only thing I've ever seen him get embarrassed about is here in Korea when Koreans criticize him for his kids not wearing socks or coats. He's never cared about what other people think or say about him, but for some reason he cares about this. I can't use this against him, because it would be mean, so there's really no way for me to get back at him and make him embarrassed. If I tried to do something to embarrass him, I would probably just embarrass myself, and he would think it was funny. Actually, maybe writing a whole blog post about him will embarrass him.....who knows:)

20. One way that I know I can always get him is to ask if he has checked his alarm clock at night. I KNOW that he's already checked, because he usually checks it twice. But I also know that if I ask him if he's checked it, that he HAS to check it again, even if he's already check it twice;)

21. Now, I know you must be thinking that I must be a very patient wife to put up with all of Joe's shenanigans, but in reality, Joe is the one who is patient with me. It might surprise you to know that I am not the easiest person to be married to - shocking, but true. He isn't all that patient when it comes to a bike part he wants, or finding out where his next assignment is, or other things, - but when it comes to putting up with my crap, Joe is the most patient person I know, and I love him for that.

22. If Joe were to tell you one thing about himself, it would be that he is a Family Man. He'd rather spend his time with his family than anything else. So true.

23. Joe is addicted to me;)

24. (The next 4 things are from the kids, when I asked them to tell me one thing about their dad). Cora says that Joe is funny and fun to play with.

25. JT says that Joe works hard.

26. Madelyn says that Joe plays with the kids a lot.

27. Alex said "because we are a family, and we stay home, and we kiss people." Huh? That's such an Alex answer.

28. We often quote movie lines in our family - who doesn't, right? But do you ever quote the Manti Miracle Pageant? Well, Joe does. Growing up in Manti, Joe and his siblings had the opportunity to be in the Pageant many years. He played different parts like Robert, Joseph Smith, Nephite soldier, etc. I'm pretty sure that he (and his brothers) have the ENTIRE pageant memorized, and he will occasionally break out a few lines at weird times (my sisters-in-law tell me that their husbands do this too).

29. Joe jokingly calls me his trophy wife. He "worries" that people will think that he only married me for my looks, because they'll be so blinded by my beauty, when really I have so much more to offer. He's such a drama-queen;) I know that he's joking, and yet, at the same time, I also know that he really does think I'm that beautiful. I love how he has the uncanny ability to tell me how beautiful I am on days that I'm not feeling beautiful at all. I love that he has never made me feel unbeautiful.

30. Joe served his mission in the Dominican Republic, spanish speaking.

31. Joe has an amazing gift for languages.

32. Joe speaks Spanish and Korean fluently (I know he will be the first one to tell you that he doesn't speak "Korean" fluently, but he has had people who served their mission here ask him if he served his mission here too, because he is that good).

33. Joe is a language analyst in the Air Force, so he can test out of other languages as well - he has tested out of Portugues (both Brazilian and European) and Italian, both of which he learned on his own.

34. Joe once studied German for a few weeks (just for "fun"), and he retained more of it than I did in 3 years of high school German.

35. This is hush, hush, but Joe just put in for an assignment to learn Serbo-Croatian.....we shall see:)

Happy Birthday Joe! We Love You!

Miso - It's not just a Fermented Paste

I was able to chaperone one of Madelyn's field trips today. We went and saw "Miso", an original Korean musical at the Chongdong Theater. It was a love story, and had a wonderful mixture of traditional costumes and instruments, music and dancing and singing and more. It was great! I wish I could have gotten the whole thing on video, but no cameras were allowed. But here's a promo video of it to give you an idea.

I love being able to experience the unique culture here in Korea. I have really grown to love so much of this country, and I will truly miss it when we move.

Defining Success.....For Me

I never make New Year's resolutions. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea, and I've always admired people who make resolutions each year, but......I've just never done it. I don't know what my problem is with making goals. Maybe it's because I'm always afraid that I'm not going to follow through with the goals I make - that I won't have success. Sometimes I change my mind - I'm blowin' in the wind, and sometimes it's blowing this way, and sometimes it's blowing that way. Right now, I'd love to lose 30 lbs., learn to play the guitar, make two quilts, learn Spanish, and read 100 books this year (lofty, I know - maybe that's my other problem). But what if I make those goals (or similar, but smaller ones), and then.....I don't know......something, blah, blah, blah.....and I don't accomplish them? Does anybody else ever feel this way, or is it just me?

I think what it really is, is the idea of a YEAR goal - one that I can only measure my success of at the end of the year when I say, did I accomplish this goal? - Yes or No? One big pass/fail grade at the end of the year. That's just daunting. I prefer percentage grades;) Sooooooo, what I'm thinking is this - I'm going to make a New Year's resolution this year, and it is to FEEL MORE SUCCESSFUL, which has led me to have to think about what it is that actually makes me feel successful - as a wife, as a mother, as a woman? Here are some things that make me feel successful, in no particular order.

On a daily basis:

1) Get my kids on the bus in the morning feeling happy, and with a kiss and "I love you". I HATE it when I get mad at my kids in the morning. Sometimes this is hard. Sometimes there is a lot of sitting around instead of getting ready. Things seem to move in slow motion. Occasionally I turn off my alarm and fall back asleep, and then we are running late. But if I can keep it together, and be patient and calm - if I can avoid tears or yelling or bad feelings - if I can say goodbye to them for the day with love and happiness - then I feel successful. I feel like they will have a better day at school, and that I will have a better day too. It would be even better if I could keep this up from the time they get home from school until the time they go to bed (and I'd feel even more succesful), and some days I do, but not always. It doesn't help that I am the walking hormonal imbalance (a.k.a. woman) that I am. And I always feel guilty when my branch president talks about his mother who NEVER ONCE yelled at her kids, and how we should all be like her (which he talks about often - and yes, "the guilty taketh the truth to be hard"). But I am trying, and until I am perfected I will enjoy my success each morning at the bus.

2) Read my scriptures before I even THINK about looking at or touching my computer. I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but every morning when I get up, my first instinct is to get on the computer. I say instinct, but that's something you're born with, and this is more of a sickness really. If I indulge in that sickness, I usually find that the rest of my day is less productive and meaningful, usually because I spend WAY too much time on the computer. So my rule is, I have to read my scriptures FIRST! When I do this, I have found that I actually have less of a desire to be on the computer during the day, and I feel successful.

3) Clean one thing. This doesn't even have to be a whole room, although it could be. It could be one load of laundry or dishes, or just to clean off the kitchen counter. Sometimes this one is tough for me, it's true. There are days when I literally don't clean ANYTHING. I don't like those days, so you'd think I'd be more inclined to clean. I'm lazy. Well, it's not just that. I don't like cleaning because it doesn't last. When I put time and effort into something, I like to have something to show for it when I'm done - something that doesn't disappear (or rather, get destroyed) at the end of the day - something that you don't have do again and again. But it doesn't matter how I FEEL about cleaning, because the fact is, it just has to be done, end of discussion! So, if I can clean at least one thing a day, I feel successful. The more I clean, the more success I feel, yes, true, but if I can at least clean one thing, that's something I can feel good about.

I have other things that make me feel successful, things like eat healthy (I know what this means for me personally, and I won't bore you with the details other than to say it involves balance and portion control), moving my body (a.k.a. exercise), spending QUALITY time with Joe and the kids, having a prayer in my heart continually, etc.....but I think I'll leave it at that on here.

On a weekly basis (although these are good daily too):

1) Read something that makes me think/evaluate, uplifts me, inspires me, educates me, or just makes me use by imagination. This is in addition to my scripture reading. This does not include self-help books, which I do not read. It also does not include any foreign language books, since i don't know any foreign languages.....yet;) I really like to lose myself in a good book, and I like variety - science fiction, fantasy, historical, biographical, etc. You can learn a lot from books, ya know. And if I can find time during the week to do that, I feel like I'm using my time in a good way, and that makes me feel successful.

2) Have fun with my husband and/or kids. We spend a lot of time together as a family - certainly we are in the same room with each other for many hours every day - but if we're reading, or on the computer, or doing homework, or eating dinner, or a variety of other things, that's not exactly what I call having "fun", even if it IS quality time. When I say "fun", I mean just moments of pure joy that just spill out of you, laughing until you cry, and being totally crazy. It could be on a date, it could be on a family outing, it could be in our living room. It's spontaneous, and freeing, and keeps your gas tank full. If we're continually having moments like that as a couple and as a family, than I feel like we're doing things right, and I feel successful.

Other weekly things include spending time with friends, going to church, sewing something, etc.

It's good to know that I have so many things that can make me feel successful, and I don't have to wait for the end of the year to feel it. And even though I might not find success with EVERY thing EVERY day, I CAN feel successful EVERY day! I can recognize my daily successes, and be grateful for them. I can give myself a pat on the back, and be inspired to be even more successful the next day. I think it's important for all of us to do that, instead of focusing on our daily failures - what we DIDN'T do - getting discouraged and feeling bad about ourselves. Certainly nobody makes a New Year's resolution to do that, so why do it?!

Here's to hoping that everyone feels successful this year - best of luck with all your resolutions!:)

Hello 2012

I have high hopes for this year.....I have high hopes for every year.....I'm a hopeful kind of girl. To bring in the new year, we watched some fireworks put on by the Hyatt in Itaewon.
We had a good view from the playground in our apartment complex.

Not all of us could be there though. Joe had to go to bed early, because he had to wake up EARLY for work the next day, so this is how he and Madelyn spent the midnight celebrations.

We'll catch them in 2012.