the eagle club

7|march|1987
Dinner was disgusting so Mike & I went out to dinner at the Metropol.

I am not sure who suggested it, but we went to the bar at the American Embassy. It was like any almost dive-bar where you have the best fun. There, we met plenty of marines and other foreign personnel. But most of all, the beer was cold, not just chilled from being left outside in the cold. (The Poles do not have large refrigerators. Like most Europeans, they shop daily for food.) And the mixed drinks were cheap! Only 75¢ for a whiskey & coke. I later found out that they used Johnny Walker Red. (Should I thank the US government for subsidizing?)

Lori, Teré & Nopp talked with the marines. Lori asked everyone she met if they could get her real toilet paper. Mike & I talked with the embassy staff. I met an attaché named Bill. I won't write too much about him. My behavior embarrasses me. OK, it wasn't that bad. I didn't have sex with him though I wanted to at the time. Twenty two years later, I realize what a sleaze he was and was glad I didn't succumb to his advances.

We went most Friday nights. It was nice to speak to other Americans and as the marines could not fraternize with the Poles, they were happy to speak to us too. Tony and Phil were the two marines we became good friends with.


(click to view larger)

Lori, Teré & Nopp started eating at the Eagle Club most days. Mike & I did not since the prices were not so good. It was cheap by American standards but we could find much cheaper places like the hotels and local cafés. What we didn't know is that unless you were embassy personnel, you had to have a membership. I purchased one but somehow the girls got in when I wasn't around.

found my journal!

I was writing up another post about my trip to Poland. My memory was shaky on some points and I knew I wanted to should look for the postcards and letters I sent to my mom. She gave them all back to me when I got home so I could keep them. They had been in my trunk for years until I started scrapbooking. Then I took them out and was putting the postcards onto the scrapbook pages. I have them, somewhere, in this house.

I didn't find the postcards but I did find my journal. We were told to keep a journal though it was meant to be more visual with sketches of the cities we went to. I am not confident in my sketching so I used it more for thoughts. I don't remember writing down as much as I did. So I will have to read some of this before I post another chapter. I'll have to scan the tickets and memorabilia taped in the book as well.

Here is one snippet...

28|february|1987
The toilets are starting to get to me. Not many people flush. Yuk!

[fun] friday

6 am, Ryan told me he had no shorts to wear to school today. Huh? OK, let's do some laundry.

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Being a mom is routine. Mostly. It's enough of a routine that I tend to forget to check my calendar and get mixed up with dates and times.

I thought Friday was haircut day.

I wasted the morning with exercise and laundry and finishing Andy's photo book for his birthday. (Only a month late!) I had planned to pick up the boys from school. Ryan's teacher wanted me to pick him up earlier to avoid the chaos.

I got to school just before 3 and saw some kids coming out front. Hmm.. As I got closer I heard the alarm. They were having a fire drill. Oh joy. I thought I was going to have wait a while the kids got back to class but Ryan was waiting with the behavior specialist. We went to sign out the kids (rules!) and we saw Andy walking back to his class. We got out of there before 3:15.

We were going to be early for our hair appointment so I stopped and got gas. Prices are going up again?! And why have they gotten rid of all the thingies that hold the pump open? My hand tends to cramp while pumping in 26 gallons of gas. We would still be early but nothing else to do. We got to the salon to find the door locked. Huh?

When I got the call earlier this week, I was asked to come in earlier since there was a cancellation. But it's hard to get in earlier because of school. I decided to call Dana then realized I didn't have my phone. Did I have her cell number in my iPod Touch? I decided to check the appointment and found out it was next week. Oops.

Surprisingly, Ryan was OK with the mix up since I still promised the book store. Andy whined a bit but stopped once we got to the mall.

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Andy picked out another Thomas book while at the book store. We went to go find Ryan who was checking out the Peanuts books. Andy saw a book about the Simpson's and picked it. That one was big and expensive and basically showed how to draw the character. Andy doesn't draw so I showed him another book. He wanted it so I told him he had to choose. He chose Bart over Thomas. Part of me is happy he is growing up and wanting things more appropriate to his age. The other part of me doesn't really want him repeating those things that Bart and Homer like to say.

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I really don't mind that my boys don't acknowledge Mother's Day with cards and gifts. My mother expected it and make it seem her right. It was more a chore than a good experience trying to give something back.

Today I got 2 cards from people other than my kids and it makes me feel bad. I feel like they were given in pity. Probably not but maybe I feel guilty for saying Mother's Day is just another day around here.

hang it up

A couple of months ago, I caught Andy trying to refold his shirts that were in his dresser. The OCD in me wanted to scream to make him stop. I take pride in my clothes folding skills. But I let it go. I showed him how and left the room.

A few days later, Andy mentioned something about hanging it up. I think he might have been learning about hanging up clothes at school. I asked him if he wanted to hang up his clothes and he got excited. We went into his room where he had one shirt haphazardly hung in the closet. I showed him how to hang up his clothes and we hung up until we were out of hangars. Now his shirt drawer is practically empty.



I still fold his shirts and put them in his drawer but then he goes and hangs up the ones he wants in the closet. I should probably get a few more hangars so he can hang up the rest of his shirts.

macaroni & cheese

I love macaroni & cheese. My mom used to make it from scratch. She made a huge bowl of it every Friday during lent. John used to put ketchup on his. Nancy & I copied him until I realized I didn't like ketchup.

When I was 14, I got my first taste of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. I loved it! It was much cheesier than mom's since she was trying to make hers go farther.

In college, I learned how to make this just using a hot pot. Freshman fifteen anyone?

The boys were just little when they introduced the single serving packets. Ryan ate it a lot until he turned about 2 and stopped eating anything but chicken nuggets, fries & cinnamon raisin bagels.

I started getting individual portions from Stouffer's. Oh those are good! But they are loaded with fat & calories and aren't cheap. Sorry but Lean Cuisine meals just don't cut it.



I was so happy when they came out with EatingWell's Comfort Foods Made Healthy: The Classic Makeovers Cookbook as I have blogged about it here. I made the mac & cheese right away. I decided that I prefer it without the spinach. I made it twice when my dad was down bit he never had any. As much as I love it, I don't want to eat it four meals in a row. So this time, I made 4 individual portions and stored them in 2 cup pyrex dishes. They can be frozen for up to 3 months.

[weigh-in wednesday] 5/9 the differences between men & women

This week, 1.4 pounds, total 41 pounds.

As if it wasn't bad enough that women only earn 76¢ for each dollar a man earns, women also have to work twice as hard to earn those pennies.

The same is true for weight loss. Men can reduce their calorie intake and lose weight. Women reduce their calories and their metabolism drops trying to hold onto every last fat cell. Sure there are exceptions but we don't care about them.

My brother would give up snacking during lent and lose 20 pounds in those 6 weeks. I give up chocolate for lent and turn into Ms Grumpikins and not lose a single ounce. Of course we can be happy that is a famine comes, our fat bodies will let us live longer then the men. But I really don't see a famine coming any time soon unless I want to move to Africa and I don't.

So we are stuck not only reducing our calories bit exercising as well. Maybe it's because we can handle 2 things at once and men can't?

off the wagon

I could say that I fell off the wagon. But the truth is that I gladly leapt off. I mentioned in my last post that I was distracted while Ryan watched sports. So I got up and made s'more granola bars.



First off, these really aren't granola bars. OK, they do have some rolled oats. But they mostly are sweet and yummy. I got the recipe here. I didn't vary from the recipe (I'm anal like that.) though I did use Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips. I love dark chocolate. I didn't have that large of a baking sheet so I used two 13x9 pyrex dishes. I had to bake them for about 10 minutes before the marshmallows began to brown. I sprayed the baking dishes lightly sprayed with Pam but I think I would use parchment paper is I did this again. They were sticky as heck to get out of the pan. Hey! Aren't those messed up pieces that you used to get to the rest calorie free? The rest are about 96 calories. Not bad if you can control yourself and eat just one. I don't have that control. I had to give some to the neighbors before I ate all 36.

distracted

I love sports but would rather play than watch. Saturdays meant dad and John watching sports on TV. I occasionally watched with them but would get bored. My roommate, Danielle, loved watching baseball and hockey. I got away from watching/listening to sports on TV when I lived alone. The TV was on a lot but I preferred watching old movies or reruns.

Then Gail came along. He would turn on ESPN first thing in the morning. Football and hockey were Gail's favorite sports. He said he didn't like baseball but would watch it when there was no other sports to watch. I would sit with him but learned to tune it out for the most part.

After Gail died, we didn't watch sports. Well, except when dad came down for the winter. Over time, Ryan would complain and dad pretty much stopped watching TV all together.

Lately, Ryan has started watching TV. ESPN. Saturday morning comes and he turns on the TV. He watches ESPN while looking for other sports on the channel guide. His says favorite sports are baseball, football, basketball, racing and hockey. Though in reality, he prefers those sports with lots of actions and heavy scoring like basketball.

Saturday, he watched TV most of the day. I found myself not being able to tune it out and concentrate on anything else. I finally got up baked some s'mores granola bars. (More on those later)

Ryan did stop watching long enough to ride his bike for 15 minutes. And he won't watch after 6:00 pm. That's his rule, not mine. Also, he doesn't sit and stare at the TV. He is up and playing with his cars or trains. But he won't leave the room except during commercials. He hasn't learned that commercial breaks last 2-3 minutes and he has plenty of time to go to the bathroom and wash his hands.

taking no chances in texas

even the bronze pigs are wearing masks

new shoes, the third

I love him but, he's costing me too much money! After Andy broke his birkenstocks in 2 short weeks, I ordered a pair of sandals from Lands' End. He likes them but they don't fit so well since he has high arches. So I went looking for another pair. I ordered the Chaco sandals from Shoebuy.com. Service was OK though it took a week for them to ship.

These Chaco Unaweep sandals are beefy! They are supposed to help correct pronating. And these are big. Men's size 9. They almost fit me. Andy seems to be OK with them but I think he would prefer slides.