Husband v Sister

My husband loves my sister and my sister loves my husband. Not in that sicko way but like brothers and sisters should. Better than in-laws typically do.

My sister posted an astute comment/observation to my Laundry Fairy post. The comment was aimed at my husband. Bullseye.

When I showed my husband her comment he chuckled. If I had said something he would have been cross and insulted. But when Steph says it he chuckles. Are you kidding me? She gets away with murder (being the baby in the family and all, blah blah blah).

So this morning I asked him if he wished he had married her instead.

My husband stops dead in his tracks and replies, "Must those be the only 2 choices?"

Ode to Tucker

My sister, Stephanie, had to put her dog, Tucker, down a couple days ago.

Tucker and I had a rocky relationship. It all started when he ate one of my favourite pairs of shoes whilst I was staying at my sister's house in Dallas, TX USA.

The next time I visited was with my new husband. We had gone out to dinner and left the top layer of our wedding cake on the dining room table. When we got home we discovered that Tucker had eaten the whole thing. My husband and I didn't eat cake on our first anniversary. But the dog sure looked like he enjoyed it

But my sister and her family loved this dog. I know how sad it is to lose a dog. Especially for the children.

When my parent's separated my mother had taken all of us kids to stay at one of her friend's house. When we came home our dog, Dolly, was gone. My father had taken Dolly to the vets and sent her to doggie heaven. We children were devastated. I don't remember a time when Dolly wasn't there.

Dolly was old. Her hearing was gone. My brothers and I had fed her crayons to see if she pooped in technicolour. The crayons came out in chunks. A successful scientific experiment, I reckon. We used to ride her around the back yard. She never once snipped at any of us. Even when we pulled her tail. I watched her puppies being born. I cried the day I took the last one to school for show and tell before she was given to a new family. That's me surrounded by her one and only litter of pups in the pic.

Tucker had lost control of his bladder and was in a great deal of pain. Stephanie did what she could to ensure Tucker was well cared for. He was a great family dog. He will be missed.

Social Networking

My name is LaDawn and I am a Facebook addict. And I'm not the only one!

My husband just doesn't get it. He can't see any inherent value in Facebook or any type of social networking tool. But remember this is a man who didn't remember to send his mother birthday cards. Ever. Until he married me.

I was frustrated when I joined Facebook only to realise that I had no friends. I remained friendless for a day and then realised I needed to take things into my own hands. I inivited all my friends and family. Some of them have joined. Some of them have embraced the services and made an effort on their profiles. Some have not. I suspect they don't get it either. Or they simply haven't made the time. Which is what it takes. Setting it up requires a bit of an effort.

But once it's there it just goes. Viral.

But I still here the question, "What's the point?" Well, it's about keeping in touch and supporting each other. Living is all about people. And your connection with them. I can't tell you how difficult it is to live 5,000 miles away from your family. And when you change jobs it is virtually impossible to keep in touch with former colleagues who you used to spend everyday work day with all day.

I have a former boss of mine, Kirk, who was fantastic to work with. He relocated from the UK to Australia back in December. I swore I would keep in touch with him. And even though I've got a blog and he's got a blog we still struggle to keep in touch with what is going on. I have so many colleagues that I worked with day and night for 12 years when I first graduated from university. We were ambitious and driven. We never took vacation. We worked hard together and played hard together. they were like a surrogate family. Do you know how many of them I am still in touch with? ONE! Tragic!

I do keep my networks separate. I use LinkedIn for my professional network. This includes people I've worked for, with and/or know in a professional setting only. I use Facebook for the other side of my life (woman, wife, mother, friend, sister, daughter)

Join me in my networks! It's a bit of an experiment but it can't hurt! And let's keep in touch!

Sisters in Europe - Episode 3

After our return from Paris, I had the week off work and Stephanie and I took off to travel around by car. We went all over Germany, northern France, Belgium and Holland. I had to trust Steph to read the map. We were lost most of the time.

In Germany we visited Heidelberg. As we walked around the grounds we pretended we were in The Sound of Music and sang The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Music from the top of our lungs. People stared. We giggled.

We sampled wine from a German winery and got a wee bit tipsy which made singing all the more boisterous. Nobody joined in. We were so disappointed.

We drove through northern France and I panicked when we couldn't find a place to stay. We ended up in the god forsaken village and stayed in a mite infested room. We didn't get much sleep because I couldn't figure out the lock on the door (I don't think it worked) and I didn't want to explain to my parents how Stephanie was kidnapped in France whilst I slept.

The next day on our way to Belgium, we had to pull over in a truck stop so I could catch some sleep.

We arrived in Belgium and got lost in Brussels. We both laughed hysterically as we got caught up in a huge roundabout and went round and round (like in Chevy Chase's film European Vacation). We got off after about 5 goes and found a car park. We went into the old town and decided to have some lunch.

We ordered the seafood platter. This was a multiple tiered extravaganza of seafood. We marvelled at the size of it. And then we drank the wine. And a bit more wine. Not entirely sure how much of the seafood we ate.

Steph got up to go to the toilet which was down a winding staircase. I heard a great clatter and soon thereafter my sister returned to her seat. Apparently as she made her way down the twisted staircase she lost her footing and caught the cutlery tray which she pulled down the stairs with her. At the bottom she found herself covered in forks, knives and soup spoons. She ran off to the toilet and returned to her seat so embarrassed she just wanted to leave.

We decided to go book shopping (as one does when drunk in Belgium). Whilst living in Germany, I found the hardest part was the fact that it was very difficult to buy books in English. Belgium had loads of English books. I bought a whole bunch of books that I have never bothered to read and can't even imagine what state of mind I must have been in to purchase them. The odd thing was I lost my sister in the book store.

Apparently, she sat down on a sofa and started looking at a book about the Rolling Stones. Then she decided she was going to be sick. I'm not sure how she managed it but she found her way to the toilets at the top of the bookstore on the 2nd level (3 floors up). I paid for my books and was looking all over for her. I was starting to panic and had even left the bookstore and scoured up and down the street. I returned and thought I would try the toilets (isn't that where you always find missing women?).

I found her on floor hugging the porcelain god crying because she had been sick in her shoe. I tried not to laugh at her. But even now as I write this I am creasing myself. All she cared about was her stupid shoe. The way she told it, these were her favourite shoes. All I cared about was getting her up off the disgusting floor of the toilet! (Ever an older sister - so sensible!)

I got her upright enough to be able to leave the book store and walked 50 feet down the road to the first hotel we came to and checked us in. It was a very expensive hotel but I didn't care. We both knew we couldn't drive out of Belgium so we would have to stay where we landed.

Steph spent a good part of the afternoon in the showering crying over her ruined shoe and how much she was missing her then boyfriend, now husband, Anthony. She wrote him a couple of very sappy love letters, which I think he still has and does use occasionally to blackmail her.

We left Belgium the next day (looking worse for the wear) and returned home to Dusseldorf. Steph returned to the USA the next day. We still laugh about these stories. I hope our children will one day as well!

Sisters in Europe - Episode 2

We spent the first few days of my sister's European Adventure showing her around my life in Dusseldorf. We went to the Altstadt, which is the Old Town, full of German pubs and nightclubs and restaurants. The pubs had no drinking age or closing times. This was a fabulous experience for an 18 year old from Colorado. I had to keep an eye on her!

We had a Scottish friend, John Craig, round for dinner. Steph didn't say much throughout most of the meal. She was helping me clear the table and bring out dessert when she asks me "So why do you speak English to him but he answers you in a foreign language?" She hadn't understood a word my mate was speaking. Of course he was speaking English just with a very heavy Scottish accent. I nearly died laughing.

The first weekend she visited we set off for Paris. We took the overnight train and arrived at Gare de Nord at 5 am. We checked into our little hotel and set off to explore.

I've been to Paris loads and I love the city. The architecture, the history, the food, the wine: everywhere you turn there are treasures to be found. I love sitting in a cafe and just watching the people.

We raced around in the August heat. It was 100 degrees or more whilst we were there and we made sure to stop at every public fountain and drip our toes in with all the other tourists.

We saw the Eiffel Tour and the Arc de Triumphe. We got lost (more than once) in the Louvre. We marvelled at Notre Dame (my favourite cathedral in all the world).

We went out for dinner on Saturday night to a fabulous restaurant. No one could quite understand the menu. French menus can baffles even the most fluent of French speakers. My then-boyfriend, Glen, ordered salmon. when it came it was very few very thinly sliced pieces. He thought he was going to starve and we shared our meals with him. Turns out, his was all you could eat and they just kept bringing him more. At least none of us starved!

We drank loads of great wine with dinner and then proceeded to spend a great deal of time in a cafe drinking more wine. Steph just couldn't believe her luck. At about 4 am we decided we might just maybe find our way back to the hotel. But first we needed to find a taxi.

We had decided amongst ourselves that Stephanie probably spoke the best French. She had just finished 4 years of high school. Whereas I had graduated high school 10 years earlier and had clearly forgotten everything I had learnt, especially after vast quantities of vin blanc et vin rouge!

Glen hailed a cab. I told the driver where we were going and he told us how much. I thought this was a fair amount but Stephanie, buoyed my the new found confidence of spurred on by lots of vin, she starts negotiating. In French! Flawless French. I tell you, she speaks better French drunk than she does sober. Well, at least that's how it sounded to me.

We got home and the next morning over our Cafe au lait et croissant le petit dejeuner, we discovered we paid this taxi the equivalent of about $20 to take us clear across the city. Wow, that Stephanie drives a hard bargain!

On Sunday we took the late afternoon train back to Dusseldorf. We had a very odd experience as we all settled down into our seats for the return journey with our books. Steph stared out the window waiting for the train to leave the platform and her index finger pad just suddenly split open and started bleeding. I have this photograph (which of course I can't find right now) of her holding up her bleeding finger looking extremely forlorn. God only knows what that was all about. But it has stuck in my memory. And hers. After forgetting her at the airport, it is the first thing she recalls about the trip!

Happy Birthday, Stephanie!

Allow me to introduce my sister, Stephanie. She lives in Lakewood, Colorado with her husband, Anthony, her daughter, Audrey, and her twin sons, Carson and Creighton. And she just happens to be one of the most amazing people I know.

Now I realise I might be biased. but ask anyone who knows her and they'll tell you the same.

Let's start with her laugh. It's beautiful. And infectious. And when you are around her you laugh a lot: with her, at her, at yourself, out loud, proper belly jiggling, tears rolling down your face laughing. Sometimes it is at what she did. Sometimes what she said. Sometimes it's just the way she looks. Not that she is funny looking. She is just funny.

Then there is her inner beauty. She sets the standard for being non-judgmental. She is honest and always gently (or not) points out when I'm not being my authentic self. She teaches me lessons in acceptance every day.

She is a great mother. She gave me a book called Babywise which basically taught Marc and I how to survive our first 6 moths as parents. We couldn't have done it without her. She gave us amazing tips on how to use a naughty step effectively.

When Stephanie graduated from high school, I was living in Germany. As a gift I gave her a ticket to fly out and stay with me. At 6:05 in the morning just as I was getting out of the shower the morning before I thought she was due to arrive, my phone rang. Steph was on the other end, crying wondering why I hadn't picked her up at the airpoort. I explained that she wasn't due to arrive until the following day. She indignantly replied that I was clearly mistaken as she was AT the airport in Dusseldorf. It was her very first trip outside the USA. She spoke no German and had to beg for change and instructions on how to use the phne. She was only 18. She could have killed me.

We have done numerous road trips all over the place. We drove around France that summer and stayed in some of the worst places. Then all over Belgium and stayed in some of the best places (after having about 3 too many bottles of wine). Do you remember falling down the stairs and tripping over the cutlery trolley? We sang songs from The Sound of Music on the hilltops of Hidelburg (I know it should have been Austria but we were close). We drove across Wyoming and South Dakota, through the badlands to Mount Rushmore. We drove across Colorado to Missouri.

Steph and I have a lot in common:

• We both LOVE sushi
• We both married tall men
• We both love being mothers but constantly struggle with the balance of keeping ourselves intact
• We love cooking
• We love reading

We are also very different:

• I'm super duper controlling; She is so laid back she is horizontal
• I'm a morning person; She is a night owl
• I am hyper organised; She is the last minute queen
• I am a baseball nut; She is a hockey fanatic

I have so many memories of time spent with my sister: taking a break from Christmas shopping and making up stories about the lives of fellow shoppers, her bachorlorette party (my mother is still angry with me), celebrating the Stanley Cup victory with the Colorado Avalanche, clubbing until the wee hours of the morning during my single days, her showing me how to give Sebastian a bath in our bath tub when he was a baby (without me having to get in with him), drinking coffee in the morning when the house is still quiet. I could go on and on and on and on.

I remember when I bought her her very first Louis Vuitton handbag. You would have thought I had delivered her the second coming. It still fills me with joy when she wears the diamond and pearl necklace I gave her for her sweet 16.

One of the best things my sister and I ever did was write a eulogy for my grandmother's funeral. It was the hardest thing we've ever done. Our husbands supported us with endless cups of coffee and watched us practice until we could do it without breaking down sobbing. I wrote. She edited. I remember standing up there next to her. I started off with a wobble in my voice but ended strongly. She started off strongly and then faultered midway through. Without each other, we couldn't have done it. That's pretty much how I feel about life and my sister. Without her, I don't think I could have made it this far. She is my go-to person for advice in just about everything! She's an expert at childcare advice and without her my children would still be taking a bath with me and not eating solid foods.

Today is Stephanie's 33rd birthday. I love you, sis! I miss you so much it aches. Hope you have a glorious day!

Sisters in Europe - Episode 1

When my sister, Stephanie, graduated from high school, I was living in Germany. As a graduation gift I gave her a ticket to visit and spend some time travelling around Europe.

First things first: she had to get a passport. One thing that always amazes Europeans is that so many Americans don't get passports as soon as they are born. I try to explain that with a country as big as America, they don't really need to go outside of their national borders to have a holiday. Pretty much every thing you can possibly want to do on holiday can be found somewhere in the 50 states. They usually wisecrack a response back like "except history beyond 250 years old". which I have to give them.... I try not to defend a whole country. I am just 1 American. I can't possibly represent a nation of 360 million.

Secondly, she got on the airplane and arrived at the airport in Germany. A day early. OK, a day earlier than I thought she was arriving. It was early morning and I was blow drying my hair (getting ready for work) and my boyfriend, Glen, answered our phone. I heard his side of the conversation which went something like this:

• Hi, Steph!


• Where are you?


• What are you doing there?


• How long have you been there?


• LaDawn, when is you sister arriving?


• To which I reply, Tomorrow morning.


• No, she's at the airport now


• To which I reply, But she doesn't get here until tomorrow.

I could hear my sister crying down the phone, "Come get me! NOW!!" He did.

I took the day off work and spent it apologising to my sister. I'm still apologising.

She didn't speak a word of German. She had to beg for change. Had to ask for help to dial the phone number. The phones were way too different for her to figure out. And the instructions were in German.

She still has not forgiven me. She insists I forgot her. I maintain that I just got the days a bit wrong.

A Typical Day

I saw a post by this woman named Penelope Trunk (not her real name) on a blog called the Brazen Careerist. She talked about the separation (or lack thereof) of her work and home lives. And how they bleed together. and how that just shouldn't happen. But it does.

A typical day for me consists of the following schedule:

6:00 am Awaken - Usually 1 or both of the children have climbed into bed with us and I allocate appropriate kisses to get them through the day. Sometimes, I've already woken and have been sitting in bed for the last hour or so reading.

7:00 am Get out the door - There is a whole bunch that happens in this hour but again this will be the subject of another post. Leaving the house is a time for enormous guilt. I inspect my daughter's hair which, despite my husbands best attempts he just can't fix as well as I can. More often than not he has failed to even run a brush through it. Seb is ok because he puts on the same school uniform every day. Abigail on the other hand is lucky to have a matching outfit. I play the "Husband is colour blind" card often even though it is not true. I

7:30 am Arrive at the office - I am lucky in that both of the 2 offices that I work out of are less than 8 miles away.

During the day I have complete hours of clarity of purpose. I am focused on my job. I lurch from meeting to meeting struggling to find time go to the ladies' room. There is the horrible odd occasion when you recognise the number ringing your mobile as the childminder or the school. this is the time you forget whomever is standing in front of or meeting with you and answer the blooming telephone. There is nothing like the feeling when you realise that you've missed calls from the school only to listen to the voicemail left an hour ago stating that they'd like to take your son to the hospital and could you call them right back. But for the most part, I am focused. I have no bottoms to wipe. No juice to get. No tears to dry (well, not many). I have pictures of my children on my desk and they are a source of great pride.

3:00 pm Do school run - This time of the day creeps up on me suddenly and unexpected every single day. I am usually mad rushing around trying to shut my computer down and shove everything into my briefcase. If my morning went as planned then my car is usually parked close by. If not, I have to walk to the car which can be quite a journey, particularly if I've worked in Windsor that day. during the drive to school I am kicking myself about all the things I've left undone at the office that needed to get done yesterday. I drive like a crazy Katrina mad woman because somebody needed to chat with me quickly as I walked out of office not realising that this timetable is a well oiled machine and 1 hiccup is going to derail the entire evening.

3:30 Pick up Sebastian at school - Small school now big school with all the parking implications. We pick up our children in 10 minute increments which mean you have to be able to time your arrival fairly precisely or you get yelled at by the parking monitor. Now mind you might think this man can't affect your life. You would be wrong to think this. This man can single handed destroy your life. If you cross him even just a bit he won't let you park for weeks. you have to make it up to him or you will get the most undesirable parking arrangements. Trust me. Don't piss this guy off.

3:45 Get home for Abigail to be dropped off - Jacqui, the child minder, has her own school runs to do for her children who are at 3 different schools so she drops Abigail off for me. She is usually waiting for me at the back gate to hand over Abigail.

4:00 Do Homework - Sebastian usually has reading and spelling homework. He's getting better at doing it by himself but whenever he moves up a level in reading he needs some help.

5:00 Start dinner - Hopefully, I've got something planned and remembered to take what I need out of the freezer. If not, this time gets very frantic. Feed dog. Feed cat. Feed fish. Marc feeds the pets in the morning so usually I only have to do the "night time" feeds. I usually move laundry round and try to fit in a load.

6:00 Serve up dinner - This is a best case scenario, followed by loading up dishwasher. Wait for children to finish. Abigail takes her time with her meal. Sebastian is a food hoover.

7:00 Get ready for tomorrow - This includes tidying up the house ready for tomorrow, getting all the children's gear ready for the next day, eg ballet kit, judo kit, swimming gear, etc. Make sure school uniforms are clean and ironed.

7:30 Bath children - We have to put so much lotion on Abigail's eczema that she is like a greased pig. Brushing her long blond hair (which is going to be short soon if it doesn't get easier by the time school starts) is going to send me to an early grave! How did my mother convince me that brushing my hair was a good thing? Or did I turn her grey as well?

8:00 Children to bed - Story time, tucking in, singing lullabyes, kisses and cuddles, ridding the bedrooms of under bed/closet monsters are all mandatory activities and repeat performances may be requested for the next 1/2 hour.

8:30 Check Blackberry, voicemail, email, snail mail, blog traffic, read blogs, digg, technorati - Answer work email that can't wait til the next morning. If I've really got my act together, I plan dinner for the next night. Usually I talk to my sister on the phone once day for a half hour or so. Plan school mum activities, do birthday cards, wrap presents, clear out fridge, place grocery order online, go through post. This is a very productive hour!

9:30 Collapse on sofa - Check news and make sure world has not descended into madness. Watch some recorded television, knit, quilt, sew name tags on school clothes.

11:00 Go to bed - Read.

Midnight - Sleep, unless I'm so stressed out I can't sleep.....then I phone my sister who is always amazed that I am still awake. Frankly, so am I.

Now you know how I get so much reading done!

Encouraging my Sister

When my sister was a little girl, I used to offer to curl her hair with a curling iron. For the first few times, she agreed. And each time I burned her forehead when doing her bangs (aka fringe in the UK). She wore a permanent scab on her forehead. Luckily, because she had fringe you couldn't see it.

Unfortunately, she became not so keen on letting me continue to do her hair. But she would always forget and after I would promise not to do it again, she would agree. And then despite my best efforts, I would slip and do it again. This still happens. I don't know but I think her forehead has a curling iron magnet on it. Or she is winding me up and bending into the curling iron just to make me feel bad. My torture of her forehead is not intentional.

This is, however. Despite my verbal encouragement, my sister has failed to update the blog for nearly 2 months.

My sister started a blog back in January. She got off to a pretty good start and the layout looked good. Pictures were impressive. Her posts were witty and enjoyable to read. But therein lies the rub. After just a few (less than 10) posts she abandoned her efforts.

She cited the fact that she had read it wasn't a good idea to post to a blog when looking for a job. We never did quite uncover why in the world this would be a bad idea. Given I haven't lived in the USA for over 10 years, I thought it best to trust her judgement. I now believe her job search has ended and she should now be free to blog uninhibited.

I once read a horrible statistic that most blogs out there have 1-4 posts and are then abandoned. Please, Stephanie, do NOT abandon your blog. Your writing is clever and funny. And peole are interested in what you have to say, about yourself and your family.

At the very least please please please change the last post you made way back in February so it is not the last post you made. If you do not I will post your email address on this blog and encourage everyone who reads it to spam you!

In the meantime, please post a comment to this blog and show my sister how much you would like her to update her blog. If you've never been to her blog go check it out - Woodhouse Family.

Internet Shopping

The grocery shopping is done; just got to pick up the prime rib tomorrow at the butcher's and a few bits that the grocery store was all out of and we are good to go. Marc is wrapping a couple presents (think those might be for me) and we've got a few more to do.


Jackie had the day off yesterday, so Abigail spent the day with me but it was all a bit of a whirlwind. The supermarket was jammed so doing the shopping took an extra long time. We had lunch at Starbuck's and then went off to see Sebastian as a spider in his production of Sleeping Beauty. I swear I thought it was Cinderella and it was a good 10 minutes before I realised I had the wrong fairy tale. I was soooooo confused. He was a spectacular spider despite missing 2 out of 5 days rehearsal. That's his mate, Lewis, standing behind him. Sorry about the red eye but my camera doesn't seem to cope with zoom and flash simultaneously.

We've had a snafu with some internet ordered pressies and I have to say I am not impressed. A few years back (the year Abigail was born) we ordered some VERY important pressies for Sebastian online (using http://www.gltc.com/). When they hadn't showed up and we were down to 5 days before Christmas I called them to chase. They informed me that the item was out of stock and would be delivered to me in mid-January. I explained that wouldn't work and it would have been very nice of them to have let me know when I ordered or in lieu of that, when they realised they couldn't deliver it by Christmas. Surely these people realise the purpose of gift orders in November/December tend to be for holiday pressies. Needless to say, I have never ordered a critical item from them and will go out of my way to see if I can find what I do want to order from somewhere else.

Well, it happened again with http://www.presentsformen.co.uk/. Now this catalogue always has loads of nifty little creative stuff, particularly the gifts for girls part. Well, I ordered loads of stuff from them several weeks ago. Yesterday I got a letter in the post saying they were having trouble with my credit card authorisation. So I rang them because I knew there shouldn't be a problem. I gave them 3 different credit card numbers to try and the lady kept saying none of them are working. When I offered my husbands card number, she told me she doubted that would work. I suggested maybe it was their system that was broken and not my credit cards. She said she doubted that. So I hung up. I called my credit card companies. All of them agreed there was no problem with my cards and in fact confirmed that they hadn't even tried to make a charge against the card. So I rang them back. I spoke to a different lady who managed to put the order through but given it is Friday before Christmas Monday, there is not a snowball's chance in hell the items will arrive in time for Christmas. Lot of good the order does me. So let this be a warning to you, don't use them. I will not be using them again.

I must say this internet shopping isn't all it's cracked up to be. You order and then hold your breath. Many US sites won't take credit cards from foreign banks or worse still, they require information like State, zip code, and phone numbers in US format only. Many UK sites won't allow for US shoppers to send to addresses here. What is up with these businesses? I've got friends all over the world and rather than use the postal/courier option which is unpredictable and accident prone, not to mention really really bad for the environment, I would like to buy them something from an internet site. I want the reality of the global economy not the promise of it. Even amazon requires that I have an account in .co.uk and .com. The only eShop that seems to be dealing with these issues is eBay. Thank god for eBay. Have you used the facility for transferring money? It is a beautiful thing! Minimal commission and now my sister went out and did all the shopping for me! Thanks Sis!!!!!