Hell's Bells

Warning - this isn't even a good story.

I forget everything.  Okay, not EVERYTHING, but I forget a lot of stuff.  I forget to take the dog on enough walks during the day.  I forget to pick the kids up from school.  I forget to pay on their lunch accounts.  I forget the weekly youth church activities. I forget to plan ahead for Joseph's birthday every year. Once, I even forgot Cora's best friend's baptism! 

I'm constantly asking myself, "What am I forgetting?"  But it's hard to remember what you've forgotten, ya know?

I have two things that help me remember stuff I don't want to forget.  First, I put EVERYTHING in my calendar, and I check it every day.  If it's not in my calendar it might as well not exist.  But sometimes a calendar isn't enough.  Let's say I have a luncheon planned on Thursday.  On Thursday morning I look at my calendar, and I know I have the luncheon.  All morning long I will tell myself, "Self, you have a luncheon.  Don't forget."  I repeat this over and over.  Then, about 1/2 hour before the luncheon, the fact that I have a luncheon completely escapes my brain somehow.  I don't know where it goes, but when it feels like it, it meanders back into my brain, usually a couple of hours after the luncheon is over!

Sooooo, the second thing I have to help me remember (my backup plan) is the alarm on my phone.  I have a GAZILLION alarms set on my phone.  It's ridiculous.  I can't even keep them all straight.  But it works.....for the most part.

The first two alarms I have set every morning are at 6:30, to wake up, and 7:15, to remind me to tell the two older kids that they have 10 minutes until they have to walk out the door to catch the bus.  They are both a must.

Two nights ago I woke up in the middle of the night and could NOT go back to sleep for 2 or 3 hours.  Needless to say, I was pretty groggy when that 6:30 alarm went off.  I must have hit the off button, instead of the snooze button like I usually do (just in case), and dozed off again.  The next thing I knew, the 7:15 alarm was going off!  Nothing like a shot of good old adrenalin to wake you up in the morning.

I jumped out of bed, rushed in to the kids rooms, told them we were late, and that they had 10 minutes to get ready.  Granted, I COULD have just let them miss the bus and driven them to school myself, but I just thought, "We can do this!"  I've got to give credit to Cora and Joseph - they did not complain or get mad at me at all.  Maybe they were just really happy they got 45 extra minutes of sleep, or maybe they're just really good kids, or maybe a little bit of both ;)  In any case, they scrambled fast, got ready in record breaking time, grabbed a package of Poptarts to eat on the go, and by golly, they made that bus!

Good times.

If you have guessed that this is not the only time that this EXACT same thing has happened, then you have guessed correctly.  I'm sure it won't be the last.

See, I told you this wasn't a very good story.

Mainz

Mainz is just across the Rhein River from us.  Even though it's close, we'd only been there for the Christmas market.  We fixed that on Saturday, and here are some pictures from our walking tour.

Eisenturm (The Iron Tower) - a mediaeval tower dating to the early 13th century.  One of three remaining towers from the city walls of Mainz.

Gutenbergplatz, with monument and theatre - Johannes Gutenberg was born in Mainz, and it is where he printed his renowned Gutenberg Bibles (considered to be among the most valuable books in the world - estimated at $25−35 million for a complete copy, and individual pages now sell for $20,000–$100,000, depending upon condition and the desirability of the page. FYI).  You can see two copies of Gutenberg Bible in the Gutenberg museum, which we did not go to.  But we did see the monument.  It's a start.

Hofchen (Marketplace) and Marketbrunnen (fountain)- they were having a farmer's market the day we went.

 

 

St. Martin's Cathedral (975 A.D.) -

St. Christopher's church (1292 A.D.) - it was destroyed in World War II.  Instead of rebuilding, they have turned it into a memorial and shrine of remembrance.

 

 

Domus Universitatis (Old University) - Constructed in 1615 as a Jesuit College, and now used by Mainz University.

 

Deutschhause Mainz (German House) in the Platz der Mainzer Republik - currently the seat of the Parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate.

St. Peter's church (1748?) - Unassuming on the outside, but holy crap when you go in. "If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it" ;)

Christuskirche (Christ Church - 1896) - Can you tell we like churches? ;) The dome of this Italian High Renaissance-style church caught my eye right away as we drove across the bridge into Mainz.  It is beautiful on the outside, but I was surprised to see that the inside was so very, very plain. Not even worth taking a picture of.

Lovely city.  Lovely day. 

Apparently we missed seeing the famous blue stained-glass windows at St. Stephen's church, but we weren't there during it's opening hours anyway.  Something to look forward to next time....as well as the Gutenberg museum....and St. Augustine's church....and anything else we missed.  Good thing we live just across the river ;)

Starting the New Year Right

After VERY careful consideration, I have finally come up with my New Year's Resolutions.  It's time to get serious people.

I will not attempt to knit a pair of mittens using dental floss.
I will not lose 312 lbs. using the peanut butter diet.
I will not finish an entire tube of cherry Chapstick.
I will not pick my nose when someone is watching me.
I will not learn how to play Pachelbel's Canon on the trombone.
I will not stalk people named Janet or Emery.
I will not run a marathon wearing only socks.
I will not cook a five course dinner for Tate Donovan.
I will not be attending this year's National Council of Teachers of Mathematics  
Exposition in Boston.

I think this is a well-rounded list of attainable goals.  I feel confident that by the end of the year I will have accomplished all that I set out to do.....or not accomplish all that I didn't set out to do?  Anyway, it's going to be a great year.

In other news, my feet are freezing and I'm ready for winter to be over, even though it has just settled in and got all comfortable. Of course, it's not as cold here as it is other places, but I acclimatized rather quickly to California's mild weather.  I'm a big wimp now.

Joe thinks it's time to take down the Christmas stuff, but I'm having a hard time getting around to it.  I mean, isn't Christmas the only thing that makes winter bearable?  It's cold, gray, and uninviting outside, but inside I have happy, white, twinkling lights.

I just wish that Christmas lights would warm up my cold feet.

Also, I tried roasted chestnuts for the first time ever this Christmas - they're at all the Christmas markets.  I gotta say, I'm not a fan.  They're soft, and I'm a firm believer that nuts should be crunchy.  Peanut butter, though, I prefer creamy.  Anyway, I still like the song, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...."  I'm not a hater.

In the end my cold feet won out and I went to put some socks on, but I couldn't find any socks, because I never wear socks.  Instead, I'm wearing some leg warmers I found, from an old Halloween costume, and I'm pretending like Christmas isn't over.

Taffeta Darling. Taffeta Sweetheart.

A video I made Joe for our 15th wedding anniversary.  Enjoy.

Making the Yuletide Gay

Christmas Eve - new PJs

Christmas Morning - Stockings

 Matching hats

 the Aftermath

 What's for Breakfast

 You can't have Christmas without Gingerbread

 The Feast

 SNOW!......two days later ;)

2014 Christmas Card

Here's our Christmas card for this year!

 

This year we've had a lot of big changes.  Here's a run-down of each person in our family.

Joe - Started out the year with a few blessed, extra months to learn and pass Iraqi.  Almost every waking hour was dedicated to study, and he was very nervous.  Ruth never doubted him for a second, and of course he PASSED!  Phew.  In CA he was serving as the 2nd counselor in the Elder's Quorum presidency.  In the little spare time he had, he loved biking along the coast, and tried to drag Ruth with him as often as possible.  Now in Germany, he is enjoying looking at and dreaming about European bikes and cars.....although he's sick of cars, because he as spent a great deal of time repairing them here.  He is now serving with Ruth, teaching the Sunday School class for the 16 and 17 year olds.

Ruth - Stayed busy for the first half of the year with homeschooling Cora, serving as the 2nd counselor in the Primary presidency, and reading as many books as she could.  Even though she was really looking forward to moving to Germany (a dream come true), she was really worried about her mom, who had a close call in January.  Unfortunately, Ruth's mom passed away in August, right before we moved to Germany.  It was hard, but Ruth was grateful that she didn't pass away AFTER we moved to Germany, and she was able to spend a few extra weeks with her family.  Ruth is now enjoying more free time than she's used to, and trying to take advantage of it by traveling more, reading, sewing, and whatever else she feels like ;)  She's 40 now, and feels as happy about that as Cora was to turn 13. She has "forced" Joe into participating in the choir at church, and on Sunday she played a piano solo for the Christmas program (she's trying to do things that get her out of her comfort zone). 

Cora - Finished up two years of homeschooling, having improved her grades GREATLY!  She officially became a teenager in February - she's very excited about that ;) Cora left a large group of good friends in CA (both in our homeschool group, and at church), and that was very hard for her.  She did, however, reunite with one of her best friends from TX, and they spent a few joyous weeks together.  Here in Germany, for the first time, she finds herself as the only Mormon girl her age at school.  She gets a lot of questions at school, and she gave away her first Book of Mormon the other day.  She was quick to make friends with some really good girls here, having started attending the middle school, and is enjoying the whole middle school experience.  She made the honor roll her first quarter, and we couldn't be more proud.  She is in the science club and the cooking club.  She is also the current music director in Young Women's.  One thing that continues to be a source of amusement to her, is that everyone is always curious about her race, and they never believe that she's just plain old white ;)

Joseph - Enjoyed being homeschooled, but was glad to get back to regular school, where he could spend more time with friends. Joseph and Cora had the opportunity of being in the Manti pageant this year, and they both had a lot of fun doing that, and staying with Grandma and Grandpa Liddell for a month.  Joseph loved going back to TX this summer, and said he would love to move back there some day.  We swam almost every day we were there, and that almost wasn't enough for him.  He REALLY loves to swim ;)  Joseph turned 12 this year!  He has loved being a part of the Young Men's program, passing the sacrament in church each Sunday, going to the activities, and having his first temple trip.  He taught the Young Men's class last Sunday, and felt really good about that.  He is enjoying middle school this year too.  He says he hasn't tried any German food that he doesn't like.

Madleyn and Alex - I'm combining these two because there's not much to say.  They both love school and are good at it, they both are quick to make friends wherever we go, they are both growing like weeds, they both lost more teeth, they both got attacked by wasps this summer, they both use a ridiculous amount of paper to create works of art each day, and they are both generally very happy people.  We like them both ;)

And that's been our year.  I feel like I'm forgetting stuff, but oh well.  We can't wait for 2015 and all the adventures it's going to bring us.  We love you all, and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Burg Ronneburg

The Christmas market at Ronneburg is a bit different because it has a Medieval theme to it, and the market spreads out around the grounds, and INSIDE the castle (burg) - So. Much. Fun!

All of the vendors are dressed up in medieval attire, and a lot of the people who go to the market are dressed up as well.  A lot of the vendors sell things like armor, leather goods, weapons, capes, and everything else you would need to have a really great medieval costume.

The castle doesn't look like much from the outside, but it's totally like the Tardis - bigger on the inside!  Oops, my nerd is showing ;)  The castle is out in the countryside, so there are beautiful views from the top of the tower.

We had a lot of fun at this place, and would love to go back.  Enjoy the pictures.