The GPS Stole My Voice

We bought a mini van with built in GPS. The system has three voice choices. One is a male that sounds like a robot, one is a female robot and the last one is Angie. Well, the display actually calls it USA - Michelle but they stole my voice. It used to completely wig me out every single time I heard her give me directions.

Finally I am getting used to her but yesterday while driving Brian put his hand on mine in the passenger seat and said, "This is not going to sound right but the GPS sounds so much like you I just tune it out and don't realize someone is giving me directions I am supposed to follow. I don't even hear her most the time."

Best Brag Yet

Ashlyn is in that standard kid stage where she says a lot of "Watch me. I can do this!" She's seeking affirmation and wants us all to know she's big like us.

Today I overheard her tell her guys, "Watch this guys. I can spank." Then she swatted Madison on the back side. It was kind of awesome. Madison just calmly asked her not to spank anymore and I had to stifle my laughter in the other room knowing my eight year old had just been swatted by a three year old. 

Now Ashlyn is taking big steps around the house then small and meduim steps. I'm thinking in preschool today they must have been exploring how to move their bodies. I love that little lady!

Remember the Time?

I remember a day my sister Kristie was with me and Brian driving home from Lake Powell together. She was driving and I was co-captain manning the tunes. The Mask of Zorro was kinda sorta a recent movie and it had a great song "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You" and Brian had the soundtrack from his birthday. I put it on and hit "repeat" because it was such a good song and chatted with Kristie while she drove along those vacant desert roads. I was absorbed in the compelling conversation. I guess she wasn't. About 30 minutes later she finally asked me exactly how long the song was because it wasn't changing.

I did it again tonight and I can't stop giggling because it reminds me of all the fun times we have had together over the years. I found a song called "See You Again" and the music was nice so I clicked a version on YouTube to listen to while I surfed Facebook. After 14 minutes I asked Brian if it had switched yet because it seemed to still be the same song. He checked. It was the same some set to run for over an hour.

I love it when random things remind me of my family. 

Daddy Was In Charge

I had Boy Scout committee meeting tonight while Ben had his patrol meeting so we both took off right after dinner. We ride in style these days. Ben had a bike and I ride the electric scooter.

Dad was in charge of dinner clean up and bedtime. I'm curious what precipitated this wardrobe for Ashlyn. My hypotheses is she was whining it was too cold. She got socks for her feet but when she wouldn't stop crying over it she was told to put socks on her hands too. I have vague recollection of myself telling one of the other kids to do the same thing many years ago.

Chicken Lollipops for Dinner?

Another cool find here. Zing Chicken Lollipops. In the freezer section and appear to be dinner food rather than dessert as I would think of as a lollipop.

Ben's First Pimple

April 8, 2014

The first pimple he got turned out to be a big one!

That left a mark.

Character Dress Up Day

Today was alternate dress in the intermediate school. Can you guess what Ben chose to dress up as?

Ben in the Yearbook. He is hilarious!

Autocorrect

"I need to go to giant turd city tonight. Do you need anything and want to come along?"

She replied back letting me know it had autocorrected. I can't stop laughing. Giant is the name of a grocery store here. I was going to the one at the shopping complex called Turf City.

More Reading Giggles

Today he read "sit" as "shit". I couldn't even correct him. Just let it go with his cute little chubby fingers. I love morning reading when he's a happy boy. 

Fat Americans

Catherine, our tour guide, told us that Chinese people often say Tienamen square is so big that it can fit 2 million Japanese people, 1 million Chinese people or 0.5 million Americans. Of course that is funny enough as it is but it was proven later that night.

We went to a hot pot restaurant on the 8th floor of the building so we took the elevator. Everyone in the lobby rushed into the elevator including half of our group. The alarm was going off and the door wouldn't close meaning it was too full i.e. over weight. Two of our group got off, then one more person. Still the alarm was sounding. Bryce was the last one in our little party in the elevator and when he stepped off the alarm stopped and the doors began to close.

Shon started laughing and said out loud that once all the Americans got off it wasn't over weight anymore. Everyone inside the elevator and outside started laughing along with him. I guess we have to admit we are a bunch of fatties after all.

Time to Baby Proof

June 25, 2013

Time to rearrange the cupboards! Ashlyn swapped the diaper rash cream for liquid nail glue. Complete surprise when I saw it. That could have been a hilarious disaster!!

Motivation Part II

What motivates you to do something? I mean, what really gets you up out of your seat and moving toward an end goal--especially when that goal may be somewhat difficult or time consuming to accomplish?

In "Motivation Part I" I wrote about the motivation factors that moved me to obtaining my motorcycle license.  While I was working toward obtaining my license, I met another person on the same path.  I told Angie about this person and she made me promise to post about this encounter and this other person's motivating force, so here it is.

The first class I was required to attend was an orientation class.  During this class we were introduced to the training center and the Honda motorcycles we would be learning on.  The instructor taught us useful information such as how to use the motorcycle controls, how to start the motorcycle, and how to get the motorcycle back on its wheels after a fall.  We had not yet obtained our learner's permits so we were not allowed to actually get on the motorcycles--that would be covered in the first real skills class.

I looked around my classmates and noticed something--I was a bit out of place.  First, I was the only "ang moh" (Caucasian) in the class.  Second, I was a bit older than all of the other people in the class.  In Singapore, the minimum age for a drivers license is 18.  Since cars are so very expensive, the first license many people get is a motorcycle license.  Therefore, all of the other people in the class were probably very close to 18 years old.  Well, almost all--I noticed there was one other person that appeared a bit older than me.  I have not quite learned how to judge an Asian person's age, so I had no idea how much older he might be.  His was a larger man with his head completely shaved--so I couldn't even use his hair color as an indicator.

A couple of weeks later I was able to attend the first theory class.  When I entered the classroom, I recognized a familiar face--this same person that was in my orientation class.  Happy to see at least one familiar face, I waved hello.  He smiled and appeared to recognize me as well.  I sat down in the desk next to him and we began to talk.  I found out his name was Christopher.  Like me, he had a car license and several years of driving experience.  Christopher has a couple of dogs.  He is Singaporean and has recently retired--turns out he was quite a bit older than I had originally thought.

A few days later, I attended the second theory class.  I entered the room and sat down.  Within a few minutes, Christopher appeared at the doorway.  Seeing a familiar face, he walked over and sat down next to me.  Again, we started talking.  This time about why we were gettting our motorcycle license and what type of motorcycle we wanted to get.  I told Christopher that I wanted to get a cruiser style bike and that I was getting a motorcycle so I could still drive to work when my wife needed the car. 

Christopher then told me that he wanted to get a bike with a side car.  I found this a little peculiar because the motorcycles with side cars are usually smaller bikes.  Christopher was quite a bit larger than the typical Singaporean and seemed to me to be disproportionate to the bike he was describing.  When I asked him how he planned on using the side car, he told me his motivation for getting a motorcycle.  Christopher wanted to get a motorcycle with a side car so he can transport his dogs.  At this point I was envisioning this large man on a small motorcycle with two dogs in the side car with their riding goggles over their eyes and riding scarves waving in the wind trailing behind. 

Christopher continued his explanation by telling me his dogs suffer from motion sickness.  When he has to take them somewhere in the car, it turns out to be a messy experience.  If he can transport them in the side car, then he will be able to clean up after them much more easily--he can simply hose off the side car and let it air dry.  I found this a very peculiar motivation for a retired man to decide he needed to get a motorcycle license after all these years of driving a car.

I continued on with my classes as fast as the class and test schedules would allow.  I ran into Christopher a few other times, but he seemed to be progressing through the classes a bit slower.  I hope he was able to make it through to the end.  If you see a motorcycle travelling down the road with a couple of dogs in the side car, wave hi for me.
 

There's a Hole in My Underwear!!

Jacob is upset and doing the flippy-floppy on the floor insisting he can't put his underwear on. It's over his feet and already pulled up to his knees. He can't possibly remember how to pull them up from his knees to his waist. Then horror of all horrors. He discovered his underwear has a hole in it and doesn't want to wear them anymore. I could get a new pair but it wouldn't help. All boy underwear has a pee hole. Too bad kiddo. Suck it up and deal. Now pull your drawers up!

Special Dam Briyani

Sometimes I glance numbly through my environment and see nothing. Other times I do a double take. This is one of those cases. Anyone for some "Special Dam Briyani?" Brian thinks it's one of those typical English misprints and should read, "Dam Special Briyani." This is at Al-Ameen Eating House at the market nearest out house. We pass it almost daily. I think this should be our next Friday night date night location so we can try it out.

"I'll Spit On Her!"

Ashlyn is a very wet baby. She always has slobber dripping off her chin and copious amounts of spit bubbles on her lips. She sneezed a big wet face full of nasty onto me yesterday. I proclaimed, "Eww!! That's gross Ashlyn!" Jacob ran over to me and loudly declared, "I'll spit on her for you!" Have I mentioned that he's spending fifty percent of his time outs as a result of spitting? It's a problem to be sure.

Also Ashlyn has some news. She's discovering her hands. She is playing with her binkie on a string and gobbling her fingers all day long. This picture made me laugh. She pulled the string hard and it sprung up. She was so confused and couldn't find it anywhere. Poor girl. It was sitting right there on her forehead.

What's In a Name?

Sometimes my accent makes me hard to understand. Even in the US people on the phone sometimes think when I say Angie that I'm saying Andy or Annie. Often I have trouble when I pass security gates at my friends condo gates. The security guards can't get my name. It's hard to help them get it right. The other day the guard heard me as MG. He raised an eyebrow but I
quickly assured him that he was correct. My name was MG and I made it through the gate with my visitor parking pass in record time.

Ben also had a funny one this week. He got his new retainer on Tuesday and the case was labelled "Master Benjamin Ryan Zufelt". Unfortunately his middle name is Brian not Ryan. Plus we must have checked the wrong box when we did his new patient forms. I smile every time they call him back to his dental cleaning, "Master Benjamin." Maybe the box said "Mstr" which means master but to me looked like mister. Even his receipts have it printed out completely formal just so I can laugh all over again when I file the insurance claims.

Graffiti at Church

While we were inside at church services we got graffiti-ed. I thought it was hilarious! No idea who did it but we saw one on the Coombs van as they drove out of the parking lot too so we aren't alone.

Maddie is Pregnant

Maddie is only five and I just got the news she's pregnant. Dr. Ben just took an xray with the metronome (for the piano) and it says she's going to have 216 babies! They will all look just like Ben's Precious Moments doll Potsy as you can see on the tv monitor and they will all be dressed in blue pajamas with white stars on them. I was anxious about having just one in a few weeks. I'm such a wimp!

Then I hear the c-section surgery begin by our neighbor, Dr. Allen. He is using a neon orange chainsaw and his assistants have other useful tools. I'm hoping my doctor has a smaller knife ready for me in March. Of course they all switched jobs when I tried taking a picture but I love the way Maddie is laid out on the top of the fouton couch and how Eun Seo is unscrewing her belly button. Imagination play days are so much more fun than video game and cable tv days at our house!!

Dinner Conversation

At dinner tonight Jacob pointed to the pasta and said, "I want protein dinner." Then he let us know that he needed some applesauce to put on it, the stroganoff sauce. I told the family that I had run into a gal today that had never in her life had a Goldfish cracker. I had to snicker just a little bit since they are almost at the point of qualifying as their own food group in the States. She was visiting from London, doing her "looksie" to see if they really want to move here so she came with us to playgroup so she could ask the more seasoned moms all those vital questions that she needed to answers too. Brian's comment was, "She's lucky." Too funny.

Meet My New Family!!

Amanda, You didn't leave an email, so maybe you'll check back and see that your photo was deleted. I was genuine in saying you have a cute family. So sorry for posting and I hope you aren't too upset. Having the email address I do I get flooded with junk from other people that I assume use me as a dummy address. I got two messages just yesterday from Ron Zufelt and someone else Zufelt that think I am in their family. I have asked four times for them to remove me from their family distribution list as they send 10 MB of pictures every few weeks of people I've never met. Their response? "Your email address is just too close to my daughter-in-laws" so they can't promise it won't happen again. Sorry I get frusterated by it all. I totally understand your feelings. Many people prefer not to be public online. The photo has been removed. As a kindness in return, please be careful not to use my email in the future. Thanks. No hard feelings.

***Picture deleted at request of the real Amanda.***

Aren't we cute?? So I've been meaning to tell everyone. I changed my name to Amanda Zufelt and then went blonde. Oh yeah. And got a new husband and two kids instead of three. Here's what happens when people type in the wrong email address.

I'm sure it was an accident since the account actually does exist and it wasn't a scam email. Costco sent me the note today saying my online account would be deleted in January 8 due to inactivity. Interesting. First, my name is not Amanda. Second, I'm becoming more and more a believer that everyone is out to get me (via email). Just for kicks, I decided it might be fun to see if I could get into the Costco account. Sure enough they sent me a new password to the email address she signed up (mine) and I got to check out sweet Amanda's family pics. Love them by the way. Cute family.

One more thing. Big shout out to Alene Zufelt from your buddy Duane Domagalski (you know, the service manager at Andrew Toyota in Wisconsin). He just wrote to say Happy Birthday on the 24th of this month. He sends me notes for you from time to time. He also informed me that you are over due for an oil change a few months ago. Sorry for not delivering the message sooner. Peter Klein sent a coupon to you. Let me know if you want to use it.

My mother-in-law sometimes teases me about me always stealing the login/screen name "azufelt." She says I'm always too fast (her name is Anne). Hopefully this makes her feel just a little bit better. Having an email so generic is beginning to cause problems afterall.