September 24, 2007

• same thing, different day.

  all links in blue

  randumbassness in black

  Not being content to wash my husbands' ballpoint pen and outrageously priced tiny flashlight, this week I went for broke and washed his wallet.  The part that's really bad is I checked all his pockets....2 in the front and 2 in the back.  I missed the pocket halfway down the thigh on the left side.    Normally he empties his pockets himself, this after I ruined his $20. penlight that he needs to get in the nooks and crannies of a C-21. I felt so bad about that one that I gave him mine.  In all fairness to the maker of the $20. penlight it did last thru 3 or 4 washes.  The wallet however is ruined after wash number one.  You know how leather gets gummy when it's wet for a long time....yeah, it does and my washer is one of those little bitty hardcore European machines so this wallet is clean, clean and completely ruined.  Everything is kind of warped looking.  The only thing inside that got ruined enough to really worry about was his Euro, it came out almost dyed looking and with the exchange rate being what it is we are taking it to the bank pronto.  To give everyone an idea of the exchange rate, right now one Euro will buy $1.49 in American, give or take a penny on any given day.   So for example you rent a hotel room for a romantic night away from home. The hotel cost 80 Euro, in dollar terms that's about $115.  $35 more. That's not even adding in the fees that the bank charges to do the exchange.  (This exchange rate is at our bank, a bank in the states or another country might give you a different rate and charge different fees. Also it changes on a daily basis, literally.)

  We get paid in dollars we pay our rent in Euro...ouch.  I now solemnly promise to double check ALL pockets even though he also promised the same thing.

  I can't focus. I'm pretty sure that's why everything is getting done half-assed.  Patty Loveless had this great song a few years ago, "I Try To Think About Elvis." and even though in the song she's trying to avoid thinking about a guy, this song fits me perfectly. I just can't concentrate. Actually I'm not really sure what I should be concentrating on, so that might be part of the problem.  "

  C'mon Liz, get it together...." 

  It is now official, I'm flying home on Oct. 24 and Barry flies in on Nov. 3 we fly back home (Germany) on Nov. 17. For Barry this will be his first trip back to the states in over three years. For me 13 months.  We are excited.  (That's a mild understatement)  While I'm there for the 10 days he isn't, I'm going to try and get our house completely emptied out and ALL the rest of our stuff put into storage.  I'm going to be a packing machine. After all I might as well put to good use all the experience I've had over the last three years and 5 moves.  We meet with our contractor/builder when Bear gets there and then the house renovation begins.  New floors inside and new central heat and air, new siding outside, just to start.  Our builder happens to be a family friend who has already worked on our house before, so we know each other really well.  He and Barry tore the roof off the vaulted ceiling, they raised it 4 feet and changed the pitch.  Now we have a loft/library and another bedroom up there.  For about 2 weeks during that period we had no roof over the middle part of the house and every day I prayed it wouldn't rain.  Arkansas in August so naturally it didn't...much.  (When they finally got the roof back on it seemed closed in, it didn't take long to get used to all that openness.) I'll take pictures of the house while I'm home and that might clear up any confusion, lol.

  We went to the Lamplighter's Bazaar on Saturday out at the post.  They had two aircraft hangars filled with vendors from all over the area. crystal, rugs, wine, handmade French soaps, Belgium chocolate, Pottery, paintings, antique furniture etc, etc.  Some of it was priced outrageously. For instance the Kaefer Porzellanhaus, a kitchen speciality store, was there from Sohren.  Lisa had driven me up there when we still lived in Lampertheim and I bought a set of Marc Aurel crystal glasses and 2 sets of WMF speciality spoons.(egg and ice cream)  At the store I paid about 12 dollars per set of 6 spoons, at the bazaar the same spoons were 21.95.  I really feel bad for anyone who bought knives or spoons at their booth.(edit: okay, not feeling near as bad as I did, I looked online and these spoons are high priced, I found 2 spoons for 11.95 online and that was about all I found, this proves out the old adage about going to the source.)   I was going to replace the water glass Barry had broken but we changed our minds when we realized we could just drive over there and pay half price and have a nice drive as a bonus.   (Mmm, retail therapy) Also at the store they take VAT forms so we don't have to pay the almost 20% value added tax and they speak English so well that your not embarrassed to be speaking your broken German.  (Yes, my German is still broken.)  They have Villeroy and Boch caffe sets that make me happy to see them, they are funky and colorful, but I doubt I'll ever pony up the money to get them. We drink our coffee out of plain ol' mugs and in 25 years we've never needed a little plate or fancy cup and spoon, so since they would run about $30. per plate and cup I think I can do without that particular bit of cheerfulness. 

  I hope no one was waiting for me to get to a point, any point.....in case you haven't figured it out yet this blog is pointless.  Concentrate people! Keep up here!

   

  • 7:33 am
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