Friday, March 13, 2009

OUCH !!!

Yesterday the one and only day my husband did not wear his helmet, proved to be a big mistake. Germany's streets and sidewalks are covered in cobblestone, as lovely as they look they are slipperier than snot when it rains. Unfortunately he went down fast and hard, while riding his bicycle to our daughters school. Fortunately his shoulder, hip and side of body took the brunt sparing his head of injury.



Today we visited the hospital, it was our first official encounter with a doctor in Germany. ( Other than a vet for Sophie) I have to say we were nervous, we were hoping he didn't break anything, also with our limited almost nonexistence German how would we communicate. It was nothing like in the States or on Grays Anatomy or ER . We had to sit in an office and answer questions from a rude German lady that was so annoyed that we spoke English and had American insurance. She charged us 49 Euros cash up front! Okay that's fine why 49 and not 50 whatever ! After she took our money she said go sit in the waiting room, for someone to come take us to Ambulance. I said Ambulance?! And she said why yes, to take you to see the doctor. Okay he is in pain but an Ambulance is that necessary! After what felt like forever a lady dress in blue called his name, and brought us back to the "Ambulance".



Ambulance is just the examine room! It doesn't move it's not mobile....just a room like in any hospital in any city, country. We waited again for what felt like forever, than Doogie Howser MD and mini me showed up. These two teens dress in white combined maybe were our age. Why is it when someone young in the medical field shows up, you automatically start doing the math on age. Okay graduate High School at 18 maybe 17 if a late Birthday, okay undergrad finish at 21 unless he took summer class maybe 20! Na probably 21 then Med School, Residency, yup no way is he a Doctor!

Not a Doctor, not sure even if a Med Student but he was wearing white scrubs and had a stethoscope! His English was limited but better than our German. There was a lot of filling in the blanks or guessing what he was trying to say. X-rays came back, no broken bones just a bad bruise. He gave Hubby a days worth of 600 mg. Ibuprofen for the pain! IBUPROFEN!!! Hello no vicodin, percocet he is in pain and whining in pain, come on Doogie!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Happy Birthday Week!

Happy Birthday Week - Alissa and Rachel

These are two of my nieces out of nine. They are both celebrating their Birthdays this week. Alissa is turning 18 and Rachel 20. I wish them the best week and hope their day is as special as they are. Happy Birthday girls! Love you and Miss you Both!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Corners and Collection

My favorite corner of our home away from home is this wall of bookshelves located in our office. It's a feeling of our home in Utah, pictures of family and friends, variety of books. A collection of travel mementos and movies, games and Nick Knacks.
One thing I have started collecting during our travels is mini plates. I love plates and these are reasonably price items to collect considering the cost of souvenirs in places like Paris and London.

What is your favorite corner of your home and what do you collect?

Thursday, March 5, 2009

What's in a name....



Today I received an award from Rachel at http://areservationforsix.blogspot.com/ . Rachel is a new blogging friend of mine, she is very funny and has the most adorable kids. Thank you Rachel.


This is officially known as a "Premios Dardo" blog award aka a smoking typewriter award. Rachel did the research and found this award is


"given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing... created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web."


OMG if you saw me in type class Junior year of High School, it was not pretty , not much better on the computer but any way back to the award....

The first part of Rachel rules to accepting the award includes posting the picture and linking back to the blogger who awarded me. Done above! (sorry not that savvy to link correctly)Next comes the fun task of putting my name in a Google image search. Rachel put a different spin on this because, why not! There's not rule police! But I'm a rule follower part of my integration of living in Germany, you must follow RULES. Google search and will share 10 results!

The UK's No.1 Professional Uniform Model
Kathy West sexy professional glamour model site, stunningly sexy in Policewomen, Schoolgirl and French maid uniforms. ( Don't image search this one not appropriate for young eyes, or most firewalls) Funny to me I hate wearing uniforms of any kind, costumes too! Too many years working in the Grocery Stores flash back!

MySpace.com - Kathy West - 102 - Female - UK - www.myspace.com ...
MySpace profile for Kathy West with pictures, videos, personal blog, interests, information about me and more. (Okay I think this is the same Kathy because again not appropriate well it's semi tasteful MySpace profile picture but ......) My Face Book profile picture is nothing like this!

Riverside, Corona, and Riverside County, Real Estate - Kathy West
Riverside, real estate and homes for sale in Corona and Riverside County. Your Riverside real estate resource center, find MLS listings, condos and homes ...Wow Real Estate ...never really saw myself doing that ! Good to know when I get back to States my name is already established in Real Estate community I imagine that's important.

Kathy West Acupuncture
Why Kathy West? My practice is focused on your wellness, emphasizing a holistic approach ... Kathy West, L.Ac.. All rights reserved. Web Hosting Companies ...Wow again Acupuncture..have you ever had this done? My husband did and well there is no way in hell I'd be on the receiving end or giving end of that.

kathy west with peritoneal cancer
25 Sep 2005 ... Information about kathy west with peritoneal cancer.OMG Sorry Kathy I hope you are in remission.
kathy west: Directory - LinkedIn
Directory of professionals named kathy west on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a networking tool that helps you discover inside connections to recommended job ...Whoo Hoo there are Kathy West professionals out there....! Wow I hope my parents are proud! Oh wait I'm unemployed! Damn!
Kathy West Flagler County & Palm Coast Realtor (Trademark Realty ...
ActiveRain real estate profile for Kathy West Flagler County & Palm Coast Realtor (Trademark Realty Group) a Real Estate Agent in Palm Coast, FL. More good news my established Real Estate career waiting for me in the States has expanded I'm now located in California and Florida. Which is really good because after a couple years in Germany I'm going to have to move somewhere sunny.
Kathy West - Dating, Gossip, News, Kathy West Photos
09 February 2009... Kathy West news, photos of Kathy West, biography, Kathy West
I do like to gossip, but in a good way! But a biography about me! No way I haven't accomplished enough in my Real Estate, lingerie modeling, acupuncture career to write a bio. Maybe a ghost author wrote it.....
Kathy West Staff Profile
Kathy West. Head Winspear Business Reference Library ... Edmonton AB Canada
I'm not sure what this but I have a STAFF so needless to say it's impressive in my book!
I'm not able to list the last one definitely not appropriate for my followers and their firewalls.
All I can say is I hope any of my people searching my name in hopes to be my Face Book friend throw my maiden name in there. I'd hate word to get out I'm a lingerie model in the UK! Yikes I don't know if Utah is ready for that.
To fulfill the final step in accepting this award, I'll pass it along to 5(Rachel did ten but I only have 11 followers so I'm making my own rules) more deserving bloggers, with the hope that they'll accept, take part in the fun, and feel free to put their own "creative and original" spin on the meme!

These like many are wonderful ladies with great blogs, please congratulate them and check out there blogs.

Signs of spring


Spring has arrived in Germany!





Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Bicycle, bicycle I like to ride my.....

I love my bicycle! It's a Kona Africa bike 03 the cool thing about my bike is Kona donates bicycles to African Home Health care workers so they can deliver medication to Aids/HIV patients. And with every third bicycle sold they donate a bicycle to various African villages, so If you are in need of a new bike check out Kona and their bicycles.

Spring has shown it's face in Germany and I'm back on my bicycle again, which is so nice because waiting for buses and trams takes a lot of time. The problem I have is when I ride my bicycle I can't get the song out of my head from Queen " I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my bike...bicycle, bicycle and so on"! It's bad I know! I go back and forth between Queen and the wizard of Oz . I think about the wicked witch of the west riding the bicycle really fast and the background music "da na na da na na " something like that! Seriously need to ride with my ipod, I know!

Welcome to Frau's Kitchen Tour

Joyce at A Perfect Beginning challanged me to share our heart of the home with you, telling you my loves and not so loves about our kitchen. Also to answer some questions along the way. Our German house we are renting so unfortunately there is not a lot I can do to change it, but I tried to make it a small reflection of us.


1. What color is your kitchen? Sterile white, I guess I could paint but when we leave the whole house must be white. Sometimes I hate the white, but on gray, dreary days it brightens a room.

2. Describe your kitchen: By German standards it is large, by America standards it is not. I'm very lucky I do have a normal size refrigerator but a tiny oven.

3. Describe your dream kitchen: My dream kitchen in Germany would be something out of an Ikea AD, functioning yet realistic.

4. Fave activity in kitchen: Gathering with family talking about our day, while pouring a glass of German Beer! Ja!

5. Name one thing your kitchen is lacking/missing: Cupboards space, color,oven that cooks!

6. Do you cook or bake a lot? I do because I'm not working, and my family likes to eat! No really I like cooking but the problem here is most my recipes there is always a missing ingredient therefore everything taste a bit off.

7. What don't you like and what would you change? I love the three large windows and the natural light it brings. I would paint it a color if I could.

8. What do you love about your kitchen? I love all my rooster,chicken,hen decor it's a little bit of Utah I brought with me. I also love the bulletin board/dry erase board area helps keep me organized.

9. Worst kitchen activity? emptying dishwasher or garbage it's a toss up.

10. Tea or coffee? Both

11. Chocolate or vanilla? Both

12. Do you like to prepare food- or eat it? Eating!

13. Do you prefer to serve meals in the kitchen or dining room? Our kitchen only has dining at the bar, so other than breakfast we eat in our dining room.

Thanks for joining my kitchen tour hope you enjoyed ! If you have any ideas what I can do with the lovely blank white wall I'd love to hear them?

I'm also going to challenge 3 others to show us a tour of the heart of your home, first is Somer at http://lovetobreathe.blogspot.com and second is Heidi at http://faboolosity.blogspot.com/ and my third is Rachel at http://areservationforsix.blogspot.com/

Have a great Wednesday!

Frau

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Elizabethan Sophie


Poor poor poor Sophie! She is so embarrassed and miserable, just look at that face! Sophie is suffering from allergies and her skin is pink and itchy. She has had this problem all her life and the vets can never figure out what she is allergic to. She is seeing a specialist in dermatology ( that sounds so la dee da!) hopefully he can figure it out. She scratches do much that it breaks the skin and gets infected from her licking and scratching. But I know I'm no vet but he is treating the infection first and then we will look into the cause of the itch. Okay but it's getting infected because of the itching so doesn't it make sense to stop the itching? He does not want her on cortisone so she is being treated with antibiotics and a antihistamine. Needless to say she is walking around here like Eeyore with her head down low and a look of "why bother"! Poor Sophie!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Big girls don't cry!

For the record I had no control over the tears! Yesterday I went with my husband to get his haircut, while I was waiting, I asked the guy that works there if they do eyebrows? Ja! come sit! Do you wax or thread? Ja! he says! Okay buddy that's not really an answer, but my bad for asking two questions at once. He than comes around the corner with his tools...thread and tweezers! Oh boy I thought there is no turning back now!



Have you ever had your eyebrows done this way? I have once well twice now, but after the first I vowed I would never do it again. The pain, oh and did I mention the pain, it hurts! So there I was already in the chair and sporting a uni brow to boot, so I obviously needed to be there. But did I mention the pain and oh it hurts!



Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably, I know I tried breathing and in my mind I was having a little talk with myself saying suck it up! The whole time my husband was two chairs away saying " oh man that looks painful!". After he was done, I wipe the tears and looked in the mirror, wow it was amazing! No more uni brow and very little redness. So he says okay now we do the lip! And I said I don't know I think it's fine! No he says its not fine we must do! The tears started again and maybe a little whimper! The pain from the eyebrows was nothing compared to the lip. He did half first and let me breathe some and finished the job.



My lip and eyebrows looked amazing, I was thankful I didn't ask for a bikini wax also! The best part was the price for both the total was 7 Euros! I think this would be a perfect form of torture! I'm thinking of bringing Katelyn there next week, not for the torture please her uni brow is bad!