Sundays from Singapore: Back from the U.S.A

{Blogger is being lame about photos, not that I really had any for this post.}

11/30/2001

Well, we made it back to Singapore after a six weeks jaunt around the US. Big fun and much travel was had by all.

We spent more of our time in airports what with the new security measures than anywhere else. In the interest of stress reduction, I always got to the airport 2 1/2 hours before flight time... sometimes I needed the time, other times I didn't. Leaving Singapore, we had our checked luggage thoroughly searched, including any close pouches like makeup bags, then repacked by the security forces. The girls were a bit tweaked about having strange people handle the *unmentionables,* but at least we were being protected from exploding panties and detonating mascara in the cargo compartment!

At the various airports we passed through, new ways to make your traveling experience safer but more exasperating included everyone having to remove their shoes for x-raying in Phoenix, to hiking 1/4 mile to the next terminal to join a line of people just to gain access to your terminal at LAX. After playing my part in shuffling along the sidewalk in the blazing sun, I thought I had made it upon reaching the head of the line. Not so! Airline personnel came down the line handing out "Cut ahead of everyone else who has waited patiently" passes to anyone who has lived under a rock for the last two months and only allowed themselves 30 minutes to clear security. The good news in all of this is that I have finally been able to drop my share of the Gross National Product at the various shops and food vendors in the airport!

The girls and I bounced around the country visiting old neighborhoods and visiting with friends we haven't seen for a while. In between, we did our part to keep the restaurants and shopping venues in Arizona up and running. I was able to revitalize my summer (read: year-round) wardrobe with the dregs of the offerings at the department store. I scored big with $75 linen slacks marked down to $7.50! Don't people in Arizona know that summer will be back soon?? And don't they enjoy warm weather most of the year anyway??

Fat Burgers, real Mexican food, Cheesecake Factory, and, of course, Diet Coke from McDonald's played a major role in my vacation. Did you know that they sell Diet Coke with Lemon in the markets now?!? Yeehaw! Our appetites have shrunk, and we had a bit of trouble adjusting to the water there again, but that just meant that we could only eat part of our meal, and take the rest home for later. Poor Almost Grown, however, suffered with ongoing stomach trouble and actually couldn't eat any of her Corky's ribs from Memphis. Those of you who have had these know what a tragedy that was!

Spent a week in Las Vegas, visiting friends and checking out our house which has a sales contract on it. Now, you know my luck with things, and if anything weird, unusual, or downright tragic is going to happen somewhere, I will be right there. So couldn't you guess that after reluctantly agreeing to a 90 days escrow with the buyers, the loan documents went down with the World Trade Center? I was in town just about when the deal was supposed to close, and by then they hadn't even appraised the place or had it inspected. So, while I traipsed around the country, I compulsively handled every public pay phone in every airport trying to arrange repairs that I could have done myself with a screwdriver, and asking the worn-out question, "Are the docs there , yet?" Needless to say, the deal only closed minutes after we exhaustedly crawled off the plane in Singapore, one week late. And AT&T probably has reported to the authorities that I must be "on the lam" from somewhere because of all the pay phone calls from airports.

We visited with our good friends Rick and Debby at their mountain top acreage on rural Tennessee. We hadn't been to Memphis in many years and it was good to drive past the old house and eat some Southern cooking. At Rick and Debby's, the girls spent most of their time driving around the property on Debby's golf cart (Not Quite Grown) and a six-wheeler (Almost Grown.) Almost Grown gave up on the golf cart after she had to push the thing up and down several hills on the bak logging roads when it ran out of battery poop. I have a picture of her flopped across the seat in exhaustion while she snapped, "Quit it, Mom, it's not funny!" {Photo print lost in my messy storage.} I thought it was hysterical. Not Quite Grown ran the battery down 3 times in the 4 days we were there! Almost Grown prefers gas powered modes of transportation!

We attended the opening day of a fox hunt, and while we, and the hounds, never did see a fox, it was quite peaceful and pleasant to ride along perched on a hay wagon. Not Quite Grown didn't see anything of the countryside as she had her nose firmly planted in a Harry Potter book! Almost Grown, however, renewed her love of horses and every morning and afternoon, dutifully, no, willingly trekked down to Debby's barn and mucked out the stall and tended to Rick's horse Twister. I mean, in the cold, after dark, and everything! Now, do ya think she could muck out her room now and again? Personally, I think Rick and Debby have a bit of a Huck Finn thing going there!

We got to spend time with Grandma Toni, Auntie Christina and the cousins, and even got to visit with my cousin Anne at her new home in Arizona. But, like all good things, this had to end and we had to get back to Singapore and restart our life there. Surprisingly, even the girls were ready to go "home." I guess wherever your stuff resides is where you want to be after a trip.

So here we are, back in Singapore, trying to get it together for the holidays. We did manage to get a turkey on Thanksgiving... a Lit'l Butterball for the princely sum of about $18.OOUS. But it was eaten with gusto and I believe there are still some dried flaky pieces still lurking in the fridge today.

We have a Christmas tree we inherited from the Morgs when they left Singapore that is sitting in the living room. I got it some lights, but wouldn't you know, instead of using green wires, they used bright white! So the wiring shows like a front yard tree that's been TP'd and the lights flash on a varying cycle of speeds. It can get dizzying when half he tree is slowly blinking green and blue, and the other half is vibrating madly in red and yellow. I'm still trying to get it worked out.

I don't want a lot of ornaments that will take up room in storage, so I am making fabric fortune cookies. I only have about a dozen so far, since after you sew the little buggers, you coat them with stiffener (or watered down Elmer's glue for me) and shape them. I manage to get more glue on me than on the cookies and end up trying to flap the plastic wrap they dry on off of my fingers. Sigh! I am putting little fortunes or sayings in them, so if any of you want to contribute, I would love it. I have already run through the usual "Happiness is around the corner" and Stud Muffin's contribution of "When woman drives with her legs in the air, she has crack up." Help is desperately needed!

Well, time to start my day, it's raining (surprise), I have a cold, and there are "cookies" to make!

Love you.

Since I didn't get any chocolate...

I figure you guys didn't fall for my poor-pitiful-me post! Christina says I'm not to blog about her anymore if I don't show some of my previous collage work to prove I'm not as hopeless as I pretend.

I have two things to show, both projects were completely and unabashedly copied from this book because I don't actually have any drawing talent (or original ideas!)

The first fabric collage I ever did was this vest:


Front with lining fish applique showing.

Back.

Close-up of front right side. That's a moray eel coming out of his cave.

Close-up of front left side. HaHa. I made the turtle's limbs from zebra print fabric!

Feeling brave, I made this wall hanging of the four elements (water, air, earth, and fire) as a gift for Christina. She is a bit of an Earth Mother herself, so this seemed to be a perfect gift for her. She was kind enough to send me a photo of it to share.

Designed to hang with a corner up and rotated to view the other faces.

So there you have it. The only two fabric collages I have made (to date.) But, just in case you think I haven't been working on something, I refashioned one of my favorite tshirts! I have been following the Wardrobe Refashion blog for sometime, but am not ready to join up myself. No harm in pretending, though! So, I took a favorite shirt that I bought ages ago on vacation. Unfortunately, the largest size the shirt came in was a child's extra-large, and I am, ahem, larger than that. But I wore it *as is* for a while, until *the girls* were threatening to bust out of the shirt! Here is the before:

I just know this camera adds about 40 pounds! No sniggering!!


Since I had to photograph myself in the mirror, the words are backwards. This is a David & Goliath shirt with a little girl vacuuming and the words "Housework is evil. It must be stopped!" You see why I can't part with it! It's so me!

I cut the bottom and sleeves off of a red long sleeve tshirt I got at the Goodwill, just for this purpose and added them to the existing edges. I also got a men's tee that was the closest match to the blue of my shirt, and added about an inch to each side seam, to give the *girls* some more breathing room. This is the final result:



Even though I still will be arrested by the fashion police for wearing this, I'm quite pleased with the refashion! I'm not sure any of my clothes are safe from my scissors now.

I think I need a cup of coffee now, but really, I need the coffee so I can get out of the chair and get the coffee! Then I need a nap!

Your Personality Is Like Marijuana

You're laid back and easy going, so much so that taking a shower is often too much trouble for you! Nevertheless, you're quite popular, and many people enjoy your company. You're rarely turned down. You're prone to giggle fits, paranoia, and forgetting where you are exactly. At your best: You're relaxed, mellow, and without a care in the world. What people like about being around you: You're accepting, non-judgmental, and often quite insightful. What people dislike about being around you: You can be a little too spaced out and apathetic. How addicted people get to you: A lot, but they're having too much fun to notice.

What Drug Is Your Personality Like?

The Power of the Wind

I'm sure by now everyone has heard about our horrible night of tornadoes last night. We here are fine, but north of us in Jackson, TN (the closest *big* shopping area to me) they weren't so lucky. Union University is in Jackson and was hit very hard. I was up there this morning and took these pictures through my windshield.

Metal power poles carrying main power lines. The next pole to the left (out of the picture) is poised to fall at the hospital if they don't relieve the pressure from these two soon!

Power pole into an eye clinic. See how it bent at the base?

This one crushed a gas station.

Regions Bank building lost it's roof.

On the other side of the road, in front of Union University, the Bancorp building.

Another picture of the Bancorp building. The metal thing that looks like a ramp is (was) the canopy over the drive-up teller windows. This was a brand new building!


This use to be a stand of beautiful trees in front of the university.

Behind the munched car are remnants of the Union University dorms.

The university is closed off by the police as there are numerous power lines draped around the campus. Fourteen students were trapped in the dorms, the last one rescued at midnight. Nine students are hospitalized. A UPS truck was picked up and thrown from the street onto the campus, where it landed upside down.

I understand that worse damage occurred further in on the campus, but you can't get there from here.

Stud Muffin and I, plus two scared dogs, spent part of the night in our storm shelter. We actually slept there for about an hour waiting for a tornado warning to expire around midnight. It was quite comfortable actually considering it is a steel box with bunk beds made out of plywood. The dogs curled up together in one doggie bed and Sassy started snoring immediately. Wish I had the camera for that picture! Stud Muffin says I snored too, but I don't believe him.

You know, tornadoes almost never happen in February and this is the second year in a row that they have. The news reported that the Memphis area had more tornadic activity last night than it had in 200 years. But, not to worry! Our President says there is no global warming, so I'm sure this is the end of it! He is the President, after all!

I've been awarded..

this


by Penny at Sew Take A Hike. How cool is that?!?

So, now I get to pass this award along to a few fellow bloggers. Drum roll, please!

First up, is Barb of Celtic Spirit for always keeping it real, no matter what ugliness enters her life.

Next, The Barefoot Gardener reminds me everyday that I love my children and I also love that they are almost grown up!!

Lisa Lam of U-handbag is so inspirational and giving of her talents and expertise. She even helps other would-be business women with another blog of hers, Craft Boom.

And finally, Bari J who makes the most wonderful handbags, and frequently gives them and other goodies away to readers!

P.S. Happy Birthday, Stud Muffin!!

Sundays from Singapore: Attack of the Marble Staircase

9/27/2001

{Note: This message was written just after 9/11. I had a very hard time of it being so far from "home" and was very emotional for quite some time. Machine-gun toting guards were provided by the Singaporean government to stand in front of places like the American Club and the American School, which was very unnerving, to say the least.}

People have commented that I haven't written in a while and were wondering if I was still making observations about living in Singapore or had I become "one of them." Truthfully, life here is still as incomprehensible as ever, but the recent events in the US have admittedly left me speechless. I'm sure one of the taxi drivers told someone over the phone that he was carrying a carload of zombie-like Americans. Just kidding.

Quickly, we are all just fine here, but missing the US and everyone we know terribly. We have hit what we were warned was the inevitable skids, a time when the newness of an exotic location wears off and you miss all the things and people you took for granted back home.

Food is still a major problem, with the local food still unrecognizable and the ingredients for home cooking all tasting a bit "off." Who knew that ketchup could be so sweet or that sour cream had a distinctly lemon flavor and could be poured? I have sent my provisioner running to find American products I know how to use so that my stroganoff doesn't come out tasting like a dessert mousse with beef and mushroom chunks. With all the family favorite recipes turning out to be more of a culinary adventure than they can handle, ice cream and brownies have been elevated to an official food group. So instead of becoming svelte from all the walking, the "spread" continues. Sigh.

I bet you are wondering about the title of this message. Sounds like a Nancy Drew mystery, right? Actually, it refers to a dangerous and embarrassing tendency of the household staircase to assault climbers without warning. In this tale of suspense and horror, the afore mentioned stairs permit safe passage between floors on a daily basis, all the while on the lookout for the clueless one who forgets to remove their socks before ascending.

Slippery suckers!

The victims, so far, have been limited to my children, both of whom believed the greatest danger lay in descending the slippery, uncarpeted steps. Yesterday's attack was most sudden and alarming, with Almost Grown almost achieving the midway landing, before losing her footing and literally rolling down the stairs. My heart stopped as she landed with a splat in the living room as I desperately yanked at the recliner footrest handle. Through the confusion, Almost Grown managed to blurt out that she was okay. A survey of her injuries revealed two badly bruised knees and the humiliation of having reenacted the most classic of B movie falls. Not Quite Grown has also been victimized by the same perpetrator, but escaped without being catapulted out of the stairwell completely.

I'm sure that Nancy Drew would have seen justice done, but I had to content myself with giving the treads a vicious Swiffering as my revenge. Signs have been posted alerting the unsuspecting public to this nuisance and the instigation of a "No socks in the house" policy.

In other news, the girls and I are taking a Mandarin language class. We like the instructor very much, as she goes out of her way to explain why things are the way they are and does not ridicule us Westerners who have trouble with some of the sounds. Come to find out that Chinese people who speak what seems to be broken English are really just using Chinese sentence structure. For example, most of the time in Chinese, the words indicating "time" come at the beginning, and you don't use the verb "to be" before an adjective. So, instead of saying, "I was happy yesterday" you actually say, "yesterday, I happy."

The girls and I wrestle with the pronunciation of some of the consonants and combinations, such as "zh" (pronounced "jew") and the letter "c" which is pronounced "ts." Never in all my life have I seen so many z and x and q words. They also don't have any words for yes or no, only confirm or deny. I can't talk without those two!! We were given Xerox copies of what I suspect to be a child's placemat, with the letters and pictures of words that use those letters on it. After sounding out and explaining all of the pictures, we were assigned the task of formulating sentences for homework.

Given that we only had 5 verbs to use, our sentences will have little daily use. Almost Grown came up with "wo ting kuai le ci wei," which means "I hear a happy porcupine." I wrote the much more useable "wo bu chi yu mian" or "I don't eat fish noodles." Might actually try that out in public sometime. I don't know how often I can say "tamen de sheng da niu," they won a big cow. Not Quite Grown contributed "chi le ma?", have you eaten? and "ni ting gang qin ma?", you hear piano?

I am determined to learn as much as possible in the few class sessions there are. Around here, the price of things from a local vendor depends considerably on how "local" you are or can pretend to be. Shop often and wish them good fortune, is my motto. But I have broken the code on the reason Chinese people have such chiseled faces. It's hard to make these sounds and it makes your face hurt!

I hope everyone at home is safe and well. I am going now to whip up some "mei quo cai" or American food.

Love to all.

Lisa

Please send chocolate!!

This is why I am intimidated by and in awe of my sister Christina , all at the same time.

Yesterday, I put in quite a bit of time in my studio working on a long-in-progress project for Almost Grown. Okay, I had the stuff and was supposed to make these last year at this time. So sue me!

Dark grey hoodie with Delta Gamma letters appliqued on the front.

Close up of the silver rick rack, pain in the a$$ trim.

These are two sweatshirt hoodies with sorority letters appliqued on to be wore by "sisters." Since I had to draw the letters myself, then make the contrasting smaller size for the interior, blah, blah, blah, it took me some time and a lot of trial and error. Almost Grown had wanted the letters satin-stitched on with silver metallic thread, but my machine wasn't having any of it. Rick rack was the answer.

So, I spent a couple of days working on this project, and I get an email from my sis about her newest project, another quilt in her goddess line.

Thetis. See her lion's mane and leopard spots?

This is Thetis, a Greek goddess who, to avoid marriage, turns herself into water, fire, a lion or a leopard. I'm sure there are many women out there who wish they could have done the same thing! Thetis is the second goddess quilts that Christina has made, the first was Pele, Hawaiian goddess of fire.

Pele.

Pele has long ago been sold, but I wouldn't be surprised if Thetis didn't show up on Christina's Etsy shop.

So, if you can see why my work pales in comparison to her work, please send chocolate immediately. That's the only way that the little green monster of younger sister sibling rivalry will recede!