I think nearly every present Ju got this year has wheels on it. Next year, we need to find a different theme. The real problem with this is that you never find those cool "alternative" toys, thinks like I used to buy in Natural Wonders and museum gift shops as a kid - things based in science and art and not prone to become "just another toy." Every day I think of things I really miss about the States. Why can we have an Impressions 5?

My friends have all moved on from college. I know we did. I think about it sometimes, how far we have come since we left good ol' MSU or even CHS so many years before. I keep finding people online I had lost. It's the nice thing about the internet.

Take my friend Rachanee, for example. She was a such a character in the dorms - I remember chatting with her on ICQ every morning, even though we lived right next door to each other - we were that ridiculous. She is now a singer/song writer indi artist. The quintessential girl with guitar that I always wanted to be, but did not have the discipline to learn guitar. On some level I am jealous, but mostly I am just impressed and proud to know her.

Just want I wanted for Xmas - a cold. I can't believe I have gone almost the whole semester without catching almost anything! I guess I should count my blessings since I spent virtually the first two years strait of being a preschool teacher being sick with one thing or another. I chalk this one up to elevate stress levels due to the construction in my room over the holiday vacation and the pressure of having to empty the whole thing of all toys and materials by Friday (while still teaching 15 three year olds from 7-12 and running DI in the afternoons) and the strange actions of the PTA this morning, when they just popped in the middle of work period and started removing old toys and furniture because they were going to "replace" it with "new materials" in "January" (want to believe them? Try reading my rant about the school printer which we just got a new one TODAY). After kind of politely telling them to come back later when I had some time to devote to their cleaning, I went to the superintendent and called our coordinator who is on maternity leave and found out that the PTA did not tell anyone what they were doing and did not have this "authorization" or whatever they seemed to think they had. They were unapologetic about the mess they created and now I am missing furniture in my room which I need.

I hate my oven.

It goes without saying that this is the country of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and my stove certainly enters into that idea. Most people drive things into ground here, or at least if they don't want them anymore, they don't end up at a goodwill somewhere to waste away as junk, but rather are happily taken by someone who has nothing or very little and is happy to get whatever you are giving out. Most technology is so expensive here that using something until it's useless is the only option.

Case in point, my stove. I think it's older than me. It most certainly is the same one my husband grew up with, now covered with rust, lit with matches, with the wire frame that supports our cooking pots threatening to break through the rust spots at any moment and spill soup everywhere. The oven only has two settings; 1 and 2. No one is sure what the temperature of either of them is, not that it matters since the door doesn't shut all the way. I tie it up with string to a large peg to try to keep the gap down to a couple of centimeters instead of a gaping five or more waiting for Ju's wandering hand to find it. And while were at it, lets not forget to mention that everything burns in the front and is underdone in the back if you don't rotate your food every half and hour or so because the flame only burns in the front.

Last night, I attempted to make pumpkin chocolate cookies, which according to the recipe should only take 15-20 minutes to cook. After over an hour in the oven, I finally managed to get 6 cookies reasonably cooked enough to remove them from the pan. I gave up after midnight, when I managed to burn one side of the tray and get the tinfoil stuck in the cookie trying to get it off.

I have never attempted to bake alone before - I always had some support; my mom, then Teddi in college, then Lisa in gradschool, and then Sheila in Brasil for a while. I'd like to say that I did okay for my first time out on my own in the great world of baking, but the oven kind of ruined the experience for me.

Maybe I'll write Santa for a new stove.

If it's not kids, it's cats! After having several nights of Ju waking up and getting scared of things in the dark like stuffed animals and shadows, I finally was determined to get a good nights sleep, when low and behold, I am woken up at 4AM by none other than Ona-key who decided that she absolutely MUST be fed THIS INSTANT and told me this continuously for 5 minutes before I actually acknowledged that I heard her meowing in my ear and got up. I am dead on my feet. Or butt actually, since I am sitting down. I think I'll go sleep now.