Terrific Twos

Sedona's Birthday Party

Sedona just turned two a couple of days ago. She wins the prize for being the easiest baby so far. She has been the kid with the lowest demands and the most returns. There is nothing like Sedona lov'n. Even at this stage she tries to be a little naughty but I simply have to tell her 'No Sedona' and she will turn around and say in an apologetic way, "Oh, kay". Maybe the devil in her has yet to come out, or maybe all middle children are this way. Or maybe the devil in her HAS come out, we just don't notice cause she is the middle child? Ignorance is bliss...

These are just a VERY few things I LOVE about Dona:

1. She is easy going. We took her to India with us and she was so low maintenance. It was incredible the things we did with a 5 month old baby on that trip not to mention all the attention she got from the locals. I swear there are some Indians out there that have more photos of Sedona than I do.

Delhi, India

Himalayan Mountain Range

2. She loves music and LOVES to dance.

3. She will eat ANYTHING.

4. There is something very calm, knowing, and mature about her spirit.

5. She can sleep anytime, anywhere, and with anyone.

6. She is very motherly and loves babies.

7. She is very tolerant of her brother and sister.

8. She loves all cultures and people.

9. She is willing to touch and play with anything.

10. She has the most infectious smile that can illuminate an entire room.

Cheesy photos taken on Haleni's cell phone

Everyone loves the Dona!

Happy Birthday!

Embroidery

Thamel is full of awesome shops. They have some of the coolest stuff from hemp clothing to yak bone knives. One of the shops you can't miss are the embroidery shops. I have a special love for embroidery as I bought myself a pretty simple embroidery machine several years back.

I haven't done much with it lately cause it can be a pain in the butt. First, I have to turn it on. Then, I have the change the thread. And finally, I have to press start. Too much work.

An outfit I made for Heavah

I wondered how they could make such elaborate designs here in Kathmandu. I envisioned one of those machines they have at the mall kiosks where you can buy the 'I Love My Grandma' t-shirts.

Not so. Instead, they use this machine:

And instead of using those fancy computer cards I use to plug into my machine, they do everything freestyle. They must think I am weird cause I stand and watch them in awe. How do they have the patience? How can they do it so well? What, no 'Start' button?

And they want 4 bucks for this embroidered dragon on a t-shirt?

You couldn't pay me enough.

Signs of Aging

Here are the top 10 signs that my husband is getting old...um...er...I mean 'gracefully maturing':

10. He's given up on disciplining Sedona (who knows better). It's like an experiment, how will she fair compared to the disciplined older two? I guess it just takes too much work. "Here's a marker, go draw on the couch".

9. He is willing to work all hours of the day, and feels noble doing so. He actually likes going into work, and people actually listen to him.

8. He's thinking of voting Democrat in the next election, and believes in global warming.

7. He would rather splurge for a nice hotel over sleeping in a tent.

6. He has an entire collection of X-box games and a new X-box but has yet to play it. Instead, he would rather play with his birds or carve wood.

5. He no longer takes a nap on weekends. I swear my husband needed a nap until the age of 38. I wish my kids would be as committed to the nap as he was.

4. He loves handmade carpets more than he likes sports equipment.

3. He is actually committed to his calling, and worries about it.

2. He checks the stock market, thinks about investments, and talks about pensions. Who, Axel?

1. He was just sworn into this club:

No lie.

What are some of the signs that your husband is aging?

What We Eat

Here is a brief overview of what is part of our diet here in Nepal...

Milk

I think because of the Hindu 'Holy Cow' belief, they can't bare to round up a million cows and use them for their dairy. (We are talking about a country where the cows have the right away in city traffic, not the people). Therefore, there is a significant lack of dairy products here. I didn't realize how much I loved cheese and yogurt until I had no chance of really finding it.

Here is the milk that we use. It sits in our pantry for weeks until it is ready to be opened. I lived in Romania and Croatia and during that time, I never once opened a 'boxed milk'. Axel always tried to convince me that it wasn't so bad but I was headstrong and the gross factor was way too high in my books. Now, over 9 years later, I have given into using boxed, unrefridgerated milk on a daily basis. I am so converted that Axel found some fresh milk nearby and that I would not drink. In a bag, on ice? Nah, ah.

Yogurt

This is the only stuff I can find that remotely resembles real yogurt. Again, you buy this stuff unrefridgerated and you can even take it from a communal container. I splurge a little and buy the one that is in its own container. Cause I am a little snobby like that.

This isn't so bad if you blend up some mango, strawberries, or whatever is to your liking and mix it with this 'sweetened' stuff. It is not quite like my favourite Yoplait Thick and Creamy yogurt, but it will have to do.

Eggs

I knew our chickens would come in handy. Everyday, we get an egg out of our hen and, what do you know, it tastes the same as all other eggs I have eaten. It almost makes it worth waking at the butt crack of dawn from the loud rooster's cock-a-doodle-doo.

I said almost...

Fruit and Vegetables

If it is in season, you can find it. If not, it is like trying to find an English song on the radio. (It ain't going to happen). We have plenty of produce at our home but it is also fun to barter on the streets.

Mangos and lychees

Typical fruit vendor

Here is part of our garden. It is full force right now and gives us plenty of stuff for our typical stirfrys.

This is our squash that had latched on to our peach tree.

Dal

No real Nepali meal is complete without dal. It is the staple food here and our maid, Kopila, makes it every night. The kids love it, I enjoy it, and Axel hates it. It is a seed of some kind and I hear it is an excellent source of protein. Although Axel and I love Indian food we also both agree that it all just looks like various shades of poop. Dal is the yellow kind. However, if you close your eyes and try it, it is quite tasty.

MoMos

A close second to dal is the national Nepali food, The MoMo. If you take a Nepalese person to a restaurant, they want momos; if you invite them for dinner, they want momos; if you go to the grocery store to buy food, they buy momos. I admit, they are tasty but their obsession for the momo baffles me. They also have a way of telling if the momo is good or poorly made. I have yet to figure it out. I have had momos that cost 50 cents for a dozen, and I have had momos that cost $3 a dozen (which is expensive for Nepal). They taste the same, it is a momo.

The Nepalese people love the momo so much they have a momo mascot, you know, kind of like Ronald McDonald.

The momo man

I do enjoy my momo every now and then. They come in veg, chicken or buff (as in buffalo). Not a bad snack, just not every day, every meal, all the time--thank you.

Now that I have shared with you what is on the menu, do you still want to come over for dinner?

Home Depot

Speaking of Home Depot...

Axel and the guards are making the kids a bamboo playhouse with all the fix'ns. A real Home Depot would have come in handy. BUT we aren't that broken up over it cause we have our own substitute right here in Kathmandu.

I am just starting to learn this language, but I am pretty sure this sign says, 'Home Depot. You can do it, we can help'

The exact thing he was looking for

They even make home deliveries:

And if your kids are cute enough, they might just give them a ride:

And you thought we were deprived living in a third world country...

Making a House a Home

BEFORE

AFTER

Delaware has been on my mind lately. I think because fall is around the corner and there is no place more magical than the US east during that time of year. Delaware was the place where my first two babies were born and it was also the place where Axel and I really made a house a home. It will always hold a special place in my heart.

We lived in two rentals before we actually bought our home there. Finding a home to buy was agonizing and stressful. There were so few decent homes on the market (remember when it was a sellers market?). I spent many-a-nights wondering if we would have to live in a van down by the river.

BUT, after another day of depressing home tours, Axel gave me a blessing that said that I would find the home of my dreams. WHAT???? Now, my testimony is pretty rock solid, but this was equivalent to walking on water as far as I was concerned. The possibility of this happening was zero to none.

Not too long after the blessing, I received a phone call from our realtor that said he had a house that was in rough condition, but if we wanted to see it before it went on the market, we were free to do so. Axel and I walked in the house, went through two rooms and asked when we could make an offer.

The funny thing was, the house was ready to fall apart. There wasn't a corner of the home that needed some kind of work. The decor was painful to the eyes and there was a very strange feeling to the house. I can't explain it, nor can Axel, but we knew we had to buy the house immediately because the house itself was crying for us to buy it.

I am not one to give life to inanimate objects, but this house was different. It spoke to us in many ways and we knew we could bring it back to life. Strange, weird, and bizarre, I know...but totally true.

Axel and I always said that the house either had a million dollars in it, or a dead body. It was an ongoing joke the whole two years we lived there. Who knew our off-the-cuff joke would become a reality...(more on this later).

The first week we took possession, Axel worked on refinishing the beautiful hardwood floors. The electricity would often go out. To turn it on, he had to go down into the creepy basement and throw the switch. He would admit that being there--alone in the pitch dark--was somewhat like a horror movie, you know, blind, in a creepy haunted house with a lurking axe murderer ready to make his kill.

The day after the house was ready for use to move in, Axel left for a business trip to several countries in South America for two weeks. There I was, all alone with two babies, one 4 months, one 16 months and in the most hazardous environment for children possible. I would have probably been better off in a landfill than that house. I had no functional kitchen and again, I got used to living without heat, water, or electricity (who knew it was just a proving ground for my life in Nepal?).

Here is the kitchen I had to work with while Axel was gone:

I have never been more in awe of Axel in my entire life during those two years. There was nothing he wouldn't tackle. If it needed to be done, he grabbed a book from the library, spoke with an expert, and gave it a try. That is one of the things I LOVE about my husband he isn't intimidated in the least by any challenge.

During those two years I don't think there was a DIY project that Axel did not do, electrical, plumbing, tiles, framing, drywall, landscaping, flagstone, cabinets, floor refinishing, etc., etc. etc. He would wake up at five, work for two hours, put in a full days work at the office, and then put in another several hours at night. We only paid one man once to help with the electrical, he taught Axel what to do and Axel did the rest on his own. Home Depot became our second home. I remember that one of the first expressions Heavah ever said was "Home Depot? Not again!". The house was our life and we gave it all we had.

When the last flagstone was laid outside, we put the house on the market to go to Dubai. It was an extremely sad moment in my life. Luckily, we sold just before the real estate market nose dive and the house sold in less than 12 hours. We got exactly what we wanted for it, but no price could really compensate for all the amazing memories we had in that house.

Here are some BEFORES and AFTERS:

Kitchen BEFORE

Yep, we lived like this for far too long

Try to find all the safety hazards

Kitchen AFTER

Marble tile countertops

designed tile floor

Dining Room BEFORE

Ahh, wallpaper. I don't care how much people tell me it is back in style, after peeling all of this off, I will never succumb.

Dining Room AFTER

All new windows. Before we got new windows, I used the other ones as Halloween decor for the kids party. The windows had webs, spiders, etc. It was WAY creepier than anything artificial that I could have made.

Main Floor Bathroom BEFORE

There was a great hole in this bathroom floor that conveniently went into the basement.

Main Floor Bathroom AFTER

Laundry Room BEFORE

Laundry Room AFTER

Entryway BEFORE

Entryway AFTER

Living Room BEFORE

Living Room AFTER

Sewing Room BEFORE

Axel slept here that week he redid the the whole house full of hard wood floors. Each square inch three times over. Until of course a church member came over and said 'do it once more'. AGONY! But he was right. The fourth time was the charm.

Sewing Room AFTER

Heavah's Room BEFORE

Heavah's Room AFTER

Xavier's Room BEFORE

Xavier's Room AFTER

Master Bedroom BEFORE

Master Bedroom AFTER

Master Bath BEFORE

Mountain Dew and spackle: The breakfast of champions!

You think that moldy shower roof alone would have sent us running.

Master Bath AFTER

Upstairs Bathroom BEFORE

Upstairs Bathroom AFTER

You can see the broken tile and walls that had to be fixed. So much work, so little reward.

Going Down the stairs

Basement BEFORE pictures are lost. To be truthful, I am not too sure if we took any BEFORE pictures, there are just some visuals of this home we don't care to remember. Just envision the creepiest, freakiest, damp, scary, gross, dark basement you possibly can. Yeah, that was our basement.

Basement AFTER

Front & Back Yard BEFORE:

Front & Back Yard AFTER

There was a big concrete fire pit in the back with stone walls that took about a month to make. No pictures. Apparently we were too busy working on it.

T

Sadly, we have more pictures somewhere to better show Axel's flagstone work. I can't seem to find it amongst the mess.

As a last note (because this blog is not long enough) - The day we finally left this home I was bawling my eyes out. So many memories, so much work. It was difficult. That is when Axel said this:

"I think I can make you feel a bit better. When I went to Acme (grocery store) about 6 months ago a man stopped me and said, 'Hey, aren't you the guy who lives at blank,blank?' He then proceeded to tell me that several years back the man who lived in this home had murdered his wife and buried her in the basement. He then proceeded to describe our basement with eerie precision. They found the body and the man was sent to prison."

Immediately, the previous strange feelings of the home made sense. But that odd feeling was now gone. Instead, the house sang of thanks and happiness. It was now such a pleasant place to be.

Of course we couldn't have found the million dollars, but thankfully, we didn't find the dead body either. However, I felt like we had found a million dollars from the strength it brought our family and the happiness we experienced while living there. I will most likely live in many more homes to come. I am also sure they will be bigger and more comfortable than the home we lived in in Delaware. BUT, most likely, no home will bring me more satisfaction or more joy. It tested us, it strengthened us, and it taught us. What it mainly taught me was to never doubt God. It was, and forever will be, my dream home and of that I can't deny.