Wow, it’s been a busy month. I’ve got all sorts of stories to tell. I’m sitting in my favorite leather chair shipped all the way from Athens, GA to make my life a little more comfortable, finally got it on Tuesday and have been vying for time in it with both Kev and Sheridan … if I hesitate one of them gets the chair! Hmph! Continue reading →

Shortly after we arrived in Germany, Mom sent me a package: some mail from the PO box, Balance bars, a jar of peanut butter, and various stuff.

However, I never GOT the package. Who knows where it is? Mom has lost the customs form, and the USPS has no other way to track it (since they can’t look it up by name or anything simple like that). It’s lost in Nowhere Land, the place to which ballpoint pens and left socks disappear.

I think it was the peanut butter. Continue reading →

Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve been wearing artificial nails since, oh, forever. My own nails are thin and fragile, and peel. I can’t even open a drink can with them. Every two weeks or so I go and get my nails done. It’s one of the few “me” expenses I feel I can justify: at around $20 or so a pop, it’s worth it. The salon I frequented in Athens was close, usually pretty quick, and fairly priced. It, like many I’ve gone to in Ohio and Tennessee as well, was run by a Vietnamese couple, and employed mostly Vietnamese, but also a few Chinese. I had my nails done at my regular shop in Athens the day before we headed to Germany, and I’ll miss the folks who worked there. Nice people.

But no more. Continue reading →

HURRAH! Casa Smith/Stanford is now officially back online, thanks to Vodafone DSL! And it only took 3 weeks…
Continue reading →

It’s 7:12 am on the morning we fly off to Germany, and I’m sitting in the dark in my friend Linda’s living room with a knot in my stomach the size of Mount Rushmore. Have I taken care of all the paperwork for shipping the dog? Are any of our suitcases over the weight limit? Will I have any trouble at the passport check, or Atlanta security for that matter? Will the car I reserved be there, and large enough to hold all our stuff? Will I have any trouble paying deposits and getting the apartment key? Will we have electricity the first day? What about going to get furniture? AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH! Continue reading →

Well, “houseless” rather, as Kev likes to say. I’m sitting at my sister’s in Ohio right now, about 10 days before heading to Germany. We have our apartment confirmed, although I have to go through some acrobatics to get moved in: arrive in Frankfurt, rent a car and pile in people, dog, and stuff, drive to Nürnberg, find a “Sparkasse” so that I can pay deposit and first month’s rent, take the receipt to the WBG office, sign the lease and pick up the key, then we can finally get into the apartment and collapse! Continue reading →

Schöne Pfingsten! Continue reading →

We all got new cell phones today, in preparation for the big move. Our phones with Verizon were perfectly fine were we going to stay here, but since they are CDMA phones, they don’t work in Europe. So we bought new ones from T-Mobile, under a prepaid plan (no contract!), and can buy German SIM cards once we move.

Sheridan and I each got a Samsung Blast, a new slider-type phone that includes email and text messaging, as well as MP3 player and Organizer (calendar, tasks, alarms, etc). I’m going to have fun figuring out how all the bells and whistles work!

I’ve told Sheridan that she has to get a cover, or stickers, or something for her phone so we don’t get them mixed up.

…If you try and take a cat apart to see how it works, the first thing you have in your hands is a non-working cat…. — Douglas Adams

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