Life in Words.

Home is simple. Home is always here. Home is family and people who have known you for lots of years, through good stuff and bad stuff. Home is Piggly Wiggly. Home is Erb Park and City Park. Home is College Avenue. Home is parents and sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew, aunts and uncles and cousins. Home is my dog. Home is warm and cozy and alwasy comfortable. Home is how happy my kids are being around people who love them. Home is seeing familiar faces and running into people at the grocery store. Home is sharing things in common. Home is knowing who to call when my kids are sick. Home is a house that we own, Jake and his lawn, weekend projects, and random gatherings. Home is safe. Home is clean and quiet. Home has been a lot of places for us, lots of different "buildings," almost-country and big cities. Home has been three different countries. Home has been too close to the train tracks. Home has been really good quality and one impulse decision. :)

I lost it this morning. I seriously lost it. I lost it so badly that I posted this to Facebook: You know what gets me all fired up? The way so many white people treat black people here. I brought Miss to the eye doctor because she can't see. The optometrist is treating her like she's an idiot. Over my dead body will we be buying glasses here. I am absolutely FUMING right now!!!!! They are words that I mean and words that were not well thought out, words that were fueled by absolutely shock and frustration and more shock. Words and frustration that felt the same as if someone had insulted one of my children. I had a reaction that got my blood boiling so hard and fast that I consciously had to keep myself in my chair and say, “Jessie…don’t say anything stupid.” I thought of my grandma Doerfler…I know what she would have done. She would have told that woman WHERE.TO.GO. As tempted as I was, I didn’t. I made Miss an appointment to see the eye doctor because the poor woman can

(not in any particular order) 1. The happy coffee guy who made me a really good latte this morning. 2. Clean air to breathe. 3. Warm, sunny summer...finally after a year with two winters in a row for us! 4. Quinn is happy at school once again. 5. Forgiveness from my children for not being a perfect mother. 6. My mom and dad who still love each other. 7. My sister who is sisterly perfection. 8. Matthew his humor. 9. A healthy body that will do most things. 10. Willie Nelson. 11. Talking things through with people who love me and feeling better. 12. Knowing exactly who my go-to people are. 13. Really cute babies wrapped up on their mamas' backs just along for the ride. 14. The first swim of the 2012 pool season yesterday. Water temp was 60 degrees but my kids didn't care! 15. Listening to Ben talk like he's 16. 16. Quinn's reaction to his new bike. 17. Considering my sister-in-law Julie a true soulmate even though we don't get to see

There is this weird thing in SA and I learned today that mistakes are not welcome when it comes to "now." Because I am not working in an office or part of anything organized really, I don't get the opportunities Jake does to learn how things are said, what they mean, where they are, etc. In other words, I am a slow foreign learner. A few weeks ago my friend Sandy (across the street neighbor) was going to come over for a glass of wine. She said, "I'll be there just now ." So I quickly open a bottle of white, pour her a glass, and add the ice that she likes. After all, she just lives across the street and she said she would be here now. Twenty minutes later she arrives. This is when I got my first lesson on "just now." I would equate "just now" in South Africa to "in a few minutes" everywhere else. So I learned not to pour the wine and add the ice if she is coming just now. And then there is "now now." Now now means

What would you do with more time? What are you NOT doing now because you don't have time? If you keep reading, I promise NOT to tell you that there is enough time in the day if you just MAKE time. It is not true. I am here to tell you that all of that is a load of crap. If you feel like you don't have enough time to do everything you want to do, it’s because you don't have enough time to do everything you want to do. Have you seen that stupid Pinterest thing with the girl with the perfect body telling you that not working out because you don't have time is just an excuse? I want to punch her in the face and abs and butt. My guess is that she is a) either a trainer who works out for a living, b) 23 with no kids, or c) a model who got stuck on this annoying picture on Pinterest and now all of her friends hate her because they think the words are hers. Since leaving my job, I have realized how valuable time is and have spent many minutes of that valuable time wonderi

Inspired by another "random thoughts" blog, here is mine for today. 1. I decided today that one of my favorite things about where I live is seeing the babies wrapped in blankets or towels on their mom's backs. You see a lady walking along and then she turns a little and you see these beautiful dark eyes peek out. The babies are often sleeping as if absolutely nothing is going on around them or just riding along as content as anything. Cutest thing ever. 2. The sun really shines almost every single day here. Some weather facts for you: The average temperature in Johannesburg, South Africa is 16.2 °C (61 °F). The range of average monthly temperatures is 10 °C. The warmest average max/ high temperature is 26 °C (79 °F) in January & December. The coolest average min/ low temperature is 4 °C (39 °F) in June, July. Johannesburg receives on average 849 mm (33.4 in) of precipitation annually or 71 mm (2.8 in) each month. The month with the driest weather is June w

...and it’s your attitude lady! I got to pick Ben up a little early from preschool today so I decided it was FINALLY time to visit the Bryanston Organic Market that is right down the road from my house. Why haven't I been there yet? Probably because it’s so obvious. It’s right there. It’s too easy. Anyway, Quinn, Ben, and I made our way through the booths which were filled with lots of little treasures...very cool. After a nutritious lunch of organic chocolate chip cookies and organic gelato (I think we really tapped into the whole organic thing...eat well, live well, blah blah blah), the boys found a sandbox to play in. I reminded Ben not to eat or throw the sand and my accent caught the attention of a lady sitting on the edge of the sand with her granddaughter and Bad Attitude (sorry...didn't catch her name). Lady says, "Where are YOU from?" I say, "north of Chicago," which I have found to be much much easier than saying Wisconsin. No one outside of t

I am sitting at Woolworth's having lunch after shopping for home goods and a few groceries. Lunch is delish. I am fully convinced that I could live in South Africa by Woolies alone. I love everything about it, especially their marketing department. They cater directly to me, I'm just sure of it. I love the colors and lighting in their stores, the fonts - oh the fonts - on their signage, and their grab-and-go food that is fresh and tastes like I made a real effort with dinner. See? Made pour moi! I met a mom yesterday whose kids go to the American school and are in tennis lessons with Quinn. We talked for a while and she asked me if I have met a lot of people since we moved here. Several people have asked me this and I can't lie...I can't lie because I can't fake the supporting information. The answer is no. I usually follow it up with, "We met our neighbors across the street and really like them, but I haven't met tons of people." (or anyone really)

I think its funny to joke about how kids can really and truly drive a person crazy. Literally, straight jacket, creepy asylum nutso. The kind of mental that you can really only tell your best friend or your sister about...the kind that you really hope no one witnesses. The kind that takes every ounce of restraint not to show in public. We all know how it happens, when it happens, why it happens - each of us gets pulled off the Throne of Good Mothering by our children once in a while. It’s funny to joke about it after the fact and its almost always funny after the fact. Not so funny when your otherwise sweet child smacks you in the head because you wouldn't buy him the truck at Sam's Club and you're 110 months pregnant and too fat to do much of anything about it but probably lay on the couch and wonder how this happened. See...funny now and I can't even believe that lovely public scene really happened to me. I mean, it was a full on 3-year-old blow to the head. Here

I was in the car today listening to Classic FM, all classical, all the time baby. It rocks and I have Jake hooked too. We're old people. I even listen to the Breakfast Quiz in the morning and contemplate calling in when I know the answer. If I did call in I would have to give a fake name because I would be too embarrassed to say my real name. Jenna? Jamie? Jackie? Anyway, I love classical music AND the totally nerdy hosts on the station. Over the last year or so I have started to notice that I feel more comfortable in my own skin. Its not all the time and I'm not floating on a cloud of self-love, I just noticed that I feel more comfortable. I do more things that I like just because I like them, not because I think I should like them. My friends seem happier too. My conclusion is this: WE'VE CUT THE BULLSHIT (except for giving a fake name on the breakfast quiz radio call-in). There was a lot of it in my 20's - A LOT - and even more before that. Embarrassing really but

We really aren't "those" parents. I love Quinn with all my heart, but I don't think he is necessarily exceptional academically. He is a very good reader; he is marginal at handwriting and art. He doesn't really have any special needs in school and seems to make friends pretty easily. You make decisions based on what you know at the time you make them, right? Quinn started Kindergarten in Arkansas with huge amounts of enthusiasm. He would run into school with barely enough time to smooch his mom and dad. He knew all the kids' names, all the teachers, and with the exception of the day he called someone a butt face, did really well. He loved school. When we came to visit and as noted in previous blog entries, choosing Quinn's school really wasn't a difficult decision. We looked at the American International School of Johannesburg and it was very impressive. A beautiful school, warm, friendly teachers, and lots of opportunity for kids to try new things

There is a saying here...TIA...this is Africa. We have found this to be very useful and a way to remind ourselves that absolutely NOTHING is going to work correctly the first time around, be easy to find, purchase, put together, or use, and that we should always ALWAYS expect a delay. I try to be positive on Facebook, in my blog, etc. but if I am to project an accurate picture of life here, I must also include a post on the fact that very, very few things have just plain worked out. Exhibit A: Cable Television, aka DSTV. It was one of the first things we did when we got here and we finally just now have it working correctly (thanks to our neighbor Lawrence who happens to work for DSTV and got us personally in touch with an installer). Literally...today. Hey, TIA. We have had multiple installers here for multiple days, some channels, then no channels, then some channels on one TV, then no channels on two TVs, and every error code you can imagine, just short of the screen flashing TIA

It is hard to go back, as I knew it would, to the first few weeks after arriving on our new continent, country, city, neighborhood, house. The reality is, I was not about to type a blog on my phone as I already feel like I have iThumb disease for the amount of time I spend surfing on that little electronic lifeline. That said, I will do my very best. First, I must say that I can't even begin to describe how much it means to me to read your thoughts, comments, and questions on Facebook. Thank you for talking on the other end of my tin can phone line. Now I can't imagine what it must have felt like moving to England back in 2000 without a super fancy mobile device and Facebook! I am sitting here wondering where to begin............. THE NIGHT WE ARRIVED: So the flight was fine. As previously noted, the kids slept all night and so did Jake and I. This is huge. Sleep is the jackpot for anything involving children, in my opinion. We managed to pile all 352 of our black, rolli

When Jake signed up for his first Ironman and now with this move to Johannesburg, people have said, "Wow...do you know what you're getting yourself into?" The honest answer is no...but yes. No, I don't know what is going to happen tomorrow no matter where I live. As they say, I could walk out my front door tomorrow and get hit by a bus. But yes, we are willing to go beyond what is comfortable to find out. People say, "I could never take my kids away from what is familiar." What is familiar is family, a roof over their heads, food on the table, and the consistency of how you run your family. I was really worried about telling Quinn he would go to a new school. His response? "YES!" He was pumped. And really, I'm not sure I want my 6-year-old dictating what is best for our family. Are you worried about your kids or are you worried about you? People have also said, "Isn't it dangerous there?" Yes. If you go to downtown Johannesburg,

I had to cancel my hair appointment yesterday. I am long overdue and I was bummed about making the call. I had been at a very sad funeral and watched my husband serve as a pallbearer once again. I then drove him to the airport and went to pick up my sweet Ben who was obviously in a fair amount of discomfort (thank God for my sweet and dearest friend Holly who didn't even bat an eye when I asked her to fit my sick child into her busy schedule). While these activities are taking place, I am away from work and watching as my inbox is filling up (thank God for co-workers who understand the importance of caring for family). We make it to the doctors office where he tells me Ben has strep, hand/foot/mouth virus, and an ear infection. Quinn is tired and crabby and mad at me because I won't let him play with his friends 24 hours a day. As soon as we get back to the car, I call to cancel my appointment. The lady says, in the most disgusted, annoyed tone ever, "Ok. Well, I guess I

I suppose part of me just wanted to get your attention but there is much truth to the title of my "note." In a matter of days, I have talked to multiple people who have talked about the stress they feel and how unhealthy it is. I have had a discussion with a relatively important co-worker who told me he was ready to cash it all in, buy a bunker in the country and ride his motorcycle as far as he could. I shared the picture on Facebook of a kind looking man who disappeared and whose family is absolutely desperate to find him. I have read over and over on Facebook - and felt myself - how quickly the relaxation and peace of the holiday break has evaporated and we are all back to this crazy hectic life we live every day. I find myself reading blog after blog about how to find peace in my life, how to appreciate myself, how to nurture the relationships I have, how to be everything to everyone while being everything to myself so that everyone around me gets everything from me.