No Freakin Way!!!!

This afternoon, I was enjoying some time to myself, and working at beating my high score on Yahoo MahJong when suddenly my peace was abruptly shattered.

A HUGE crashing sound came blasting through the apartment, which had me ready to take a dive under the computer desk. Then I heared screams of "Shiza!!!! Shiza!!!" Even though I've spent a total of 12 years of my life here in Germany, that's one of the few German words I know, and when I've heared it, I know that it can only mean one thing..

Something bad's gone down.

Here in the 'hood, there's a massive construction project that's been going on. The government's decided to tear down a lot of the old World War 2 era housing apartments and put in townhomes. This has brought a lot of construction equipment into the area, and when one gazes out the window it's become the norm to see various things like bulldozers and cranes at work.

Like these here
I raced to the windows to see what was going on and discovered that the crash was the result of one of the cranes breaking... I guess the cables snapped or something, but it resulted in the top half folding into itself and crashing to the ground.

Guess who's designated parking spot is just a mere 10 feet or so from the path of the fall?


You can see Garrett checking out the wreck in this one.
Amazingly, it broke and all of the wreckage stayed within the fence line, but after the paint chip incident I almost died when I thought about what the consequences would've been if it'd fallen 10 more feet over....
Hell, if that had happened, I wouldn't be on here blogging, instead I'd be at the Frankfurt airport waiting to board the next flight to the states! LOL

All Good

Even though David was pretty ticked about me locking the keys in the Jeep, he seems to have gotten over it, and so things are all good, once again.

I mean, it's not like HE'S never had his own share of auto related mishaps. Between us, he's had A LOT more mishaps than I have. And they were A LOT pricier than those little paint chips that resulted from getting the keys retrieved from the Jeep.

For your amusement, and mine, here's just a FEW:

His mom had gotten a brand spanking new Fire Bird and after not even a week of owning it, he talked her into letting him drive it over to a friends house.
While there, he parked behind his friends truck. On the bed of the truck, there was a 4 wheeler. Due to events that no one could quite explain, the 4 wheeler somehow broke away from the straps that were tying it down and came crashing down onto the hood of her brand new car...

While driving his grandfathers truck, he was parked next to another vehicle that was running. After spending some time jawjacking, he tried to start the truck up, but for some reason it wouldn't start. So, he sat there and kept trying to start it....
Turns out, he forgot that he left the truck running instead of shutting it off. So, he burned out the starter and his grandfather had to replace it.

Not too long ago, he locked the keys in his siliconed car. Instead of calling a locksmith, like I did, he managed to pry the trunk open and then kick the back seat in, so he could access the front of the vehicle. (Also, he could have just called me here at home and I would have brought him the spare key......)

These are just a FEW.. In addition to these: we've nearly been taken out by a train while he was driving (It was REALLY close, and remembering that incident is enough to bring on an anxiety attack for me.), he almost drove us into a ditch, because he was too preoccupied yelling obscentities at some people we don't know, he's spilled countless cups of coffee in EVERY vehicle we've ever owned..

So yeah, I think he realized that looking at the big picture. For the only incident to occur, from my end, to be something as piddly as getting the keys locked in.. Well, he's got no room to talk.

For a Nickel

David called a few minutes ago to obtain a status report on how the Jeep's doing. By the time we got finished talking, you would've thought I'd just gotten done telling him that I'd wrapped it around a tree, doused it in gasoline, torched it then pissed on it.

Wanna know what caused this strained conversation?

Well, I'd taken the kids out and upon our return, I tumbled the front seat forward to let them out. F.Y.I: Tumbling the front seat requires the use of both hands, so whatever I'm holding is placed onto the seat and in this case, those things happened to be my wallet and keys....

After lifting both kids out, I happened to notice a shiny nickel on the ground and stooped down to pick it up. While I was doing this, one of my kids decided to be helpful and shut the door.

I'd pushed the door into the "lock" position as I was getting out...

Yup, you guessed it, I was fucked.

David's gone until the 4th of November, so waiting for him to get home wasn't an option.

So, with my jaw clenched to keep from screaming at the top of my lungs, we went to our neighbors place to use the phone and call the locksmith.

We waited in the stairwell for him to arrive, since it was getting quite chilly outside.

After about 1/2 an hour, a beat up VW Van pulled up with a picture of keys painted on the side and "Locksmith" printed in big, bold lettering. So much for discretion. I was hoping he'd arrive in an unmarked vehicle so none of the neighbors would know what a dip shit I am.

Of course, as he snaked these long metal contraptions between the door and the hard top, trying to push the lock button into the open position, just about EVERY single one of my neighbors passed by us either coming home or going out. And they all offered words on encouragement, "oh yeah, that sucks." and "Don't feel bad, I've done it before too."

After getting the door opened, he charged me 60 euro... (That's a little over $100) I was so happy about having my keys back, that I didn't stop to ask him for a receipt to see if my insurance company would cover it.

So, yes it was a very dumb, dumb, dumb day. In fact, it was so dumb,I should be spelling it dum.

So why's David all ticked off?

Because I made the mistake of telling him that a teensy bit of black paint from the hard top got chipped during this procedure. And it happened to a section that's covered up when the door's closed.

So, the remaining bit of our conversation was of me reminding him of my perfect driving record. Thank god I haven't had an accident. *knock on wood* And to diffuse some of the heat off of myself, I reminded him of my friend Erica who's had 3 accidents in the 2 years she's been here.

OMG, if I did have an accident, I'd just come home long enough to grab the passports and fly the kids and myself back to the states. Once there, I'd call him and tell him about it. (The man LOVES his cars, it's insane how obsessed he is with keeping them in pristine condition.) So, an accident would be very, very bad.

Ah well, in a few years he'll eventually get over it.

As for the nickel that caused all of this. As soon as I realized I was locked out, I flung it as hard as I could into the street... Didn't change anything, but it made me feel better.

JueDee's Favorite Things

My Favorite Smell in the World

For some reason, I've always LOVED the way rubbing alcohol smells.
My "Signature" Scent

I USE to love Fire and Ice, but I tossed it once I fell in love with Burberry Brit
My favorite medication

What? You thought I was just naturally happy all the time? With Zoloft, we can let the good times roll.
My Favorite Designer

Accept no substitutes when it comes to Louis Vuiton
My Favorite Vehicle

Our new Jeep arrived today, meet "Orange Crush"
David goes to the field tomorrow and has to work late... Poor guy won't get to drive it for 2 weeks. I guess it's up to me to break it in properly.

Hitscherhof Farm

Last night, while the kids were being watched by the "super cool single girl", we took a drive over to Wiesbaden and had a REALLY great dinner. So, we had a nice time celebrating our Anniversary.

Today, we packed up the kids and made a trip into the German farming community. Because David is leaving on Friday and won't be back until November 4th, we decided to let the kids pick out a few pumpkins, which we'll carve later tonight.

So, even though he'll have to miss going trick or treating with us, we decided to make sure he doesn't miss getting to carve jack o lanterns with us. (Ummm, and no, we definetly DON'T plan on keeping them around until Halloween-ew!! I'll have to figure out a way to smuggle them out of the house without the kids catching me throwing them out.)

So, here's a few pics:

Of course, we had to talk the kids down from wanting the giant pumpkin behind us.

Couldn't resist petting the moo cows.

One of the attractions was this corn maze.

Children of the corn
The farm we went to was really great, and let me tell ya, they've found some very creative ways to utilize the pumpkins and squash.
Here's some goodies I brought back:

Of course, you will recognize the corn and the pumpkins, and now moving from left to right, starting after the corn, we have: some sort of homemade blend of zucchinis, (not quite sure of it's pickled or what, but it looks REALLY good), chocolate covered pumpkin seeds, spiced pumpkin jam and pickles that were canned there.

In addition to this, we also saw pumpkin wine, cinammon spiced pumpkin seeds, and a whole slew of other pumpkin/squash related goodies.

Here's the website for the farm we went to (in English):
http://www.hitscherhof.com/english/home.html

Warm and Hearty

A hint of autumn has been in the air, over here in Germany. The leaves have started changing colors and some have started dropping off.

I'm definetly not a fan of cold weather, but I will say this... I LOVE to cook during fall and winter. During this time of year, I like to make a wide variety of soups, stews, roasts and just the usual "comfort food" fare.

Anyhow, with the cooler weather that we've had lately, I decided to try out my new Pumpkin Soup Recipe. This morning, I chopped, pureed and am now "slow cookering" my little heart out. Mmmmmmmmm.... The house smells so good right now, and the samples I've tried have been quite delicious. I'll add some crusty, french rolls to have on the side, and it should be a nice dinner.

The only downside?
The weather decided to go an warm up today... It hit 70 degrees...
Here's my recipe if anyone wants to give it a try:
Pumpkin Soup
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 leeks, chopped
1 small white onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
3 cans of pure pumpkin
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
32 Oz chicken stock
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon sage
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp crushed red pepper
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Heat oil in a pot.
Add leeks, onion, celery, carrot, sweet potatoes, and garlic, and saute until they start to brown, then dump it all into a crock pot.
Add bay leaf, stock, pumpkin, cream,sage, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon,salt and pepper to taste.
Once it's all cooked through and the vegetables are nicely mushy,remove bay leaf, and puree in a blender. Serve hot.

Here I am!

Every now and again, things get a bit hectic, even for a modern woman such as myself. So, I had to take a bit of a break from blogging to take care of the things that needed to be taken care of.
Of course, during this break, I have had numerous moments when I'd be out and about, and I'd happen upon lots of things that would make for a good blog entry.
Well, my Science class/lab has now wrapped up, and as of last night, I have submitted my tests, so I'm eagerly awaiting my final grade. *fingers are crossed*
Both of the kids decided that they'd like to be bats for Halloween, so I spent a day sewing their costumes, which turned out quite cute. I'll post a picture when they dress up on Halloween night.
David and I will be celebrating our Anniversary on the 19th. We're hoping "the super cool single girl that he works with" will be available to babysit. If so, we're planning on driving down to Wiesbaden to eat at a Thai resteraunt that's suppose to be really good. If she can't, we'll rent a movie, order take out and kick back here at home.
Last week we felt the need to take a break, so we kept the kids home from school and we headed towards the Holland border to visit Fantasia Land.

The boys make a new friend.



I managed to fight the urge to ride standing up, with one foot on 2 different horses, ala the Three's Company opening that shows John Ritter doing that.