random musings

1.  Mac turns 10 on Tuesday and this depresses me.  How has a decade passed since he was born?

2.  Mac had his birthday party at the local laser tag place on Friday afternoon.  Eleven boys around the age of 10 is a lot of energy.  I was pooped and I didn't even play.  Photos coming later.

3.  I made a carrot cake this weekend to freeze for Thanksgiving.  You know my luck with baking at this altitude so I decided to do it early in case I needed a Plan B.  Mac also requested layers instead of a sheet cake, which I believe has something to do with more frosting coverage. At this altitude, I got 3 layers instead of 2, so it's a tall cake (or at least taller than a sheet cake).  I had bought canned cream cheese frosting (in case the cake turned out horrible), but the layers came out so nicely that I decided I couldn't ruin this cake with canned frosting.  So I went all out and used American butter from the commissary (instead of Colombian butter from the grocery store) because American butter really does make it taste better.  The cake is now frosted and in the freezer.  I have named it the Leaning Tower of Carrot Cake because it has a distinct tilt, but I think it's going to be yummy.

4.  Jimmy and I attended the Marine Ball a couple weeks ago.  I wore the same dress as I did two years ago  (and yes, somebody pointed that out to me at the ball) because I love this dress more than any other formal dress I've ever owned or worn.  It's comfortable and I feel like a queen in it.  I also got my hair and makeup done and that was really special.  A photo at home and then at dinner:

5.  Every woman of a certain age should own Spanx.  I am a woman over that certain age but I do not own Spanx.  I will remedy that situation when I am next in the US and have access to Spanx.  To make do for the Marine Ball, I put on a pair of control-top pantyhose and cut off the feet.  The control-top part worked out great, but the legs rode up higher and higher as the evening went on.  By the time we got home, the leg parts that had been around my ankles when we started out were now up around my thighs.

6.  Going back to October now, Mac chose to go as a werewolf for Halloween.  He was insistent about the costume that we had to buy as soon as he saw it online.  So I ordered it and had it shipped to my mom's house so they could either return it or bring it back with them after their trip home in October.  Mac didn't want to return it when he had the chance, but nearly as soon as he returned to Bogota, he announced that he was having second thoughts.  Sorry, werewolf boy, that ship sailed when you got on the plane headed south.  So he put the costume on for a photo at home on the day that they were celebrating Halloween at school.  By the time he got to the embassy that same afternoon for the embassy's Halloween festivities, he didn't even have the mask or the shirt with the furry chest.  He went from werewolf boy to hairy arm/hand boy at the embassy and then again at a party the next day.

7.  Jimmy and I have not dressed up for Halloween in years, namely because we've not had a reason to dress up.  Well this year, we had invitations to three different parties, all of which required costumes.  Jimmy was gifted clothing that looks like Juan Valdez, the coffee guy.  Juan Valdez's dress is typical (or stereotypical) of male paisas, who are from the area around Medellin, Colombia.  Well if he was going as a male paisa, I needed to go as a female paisa.  Female paisas are stereotypical big-chested, big-bottomed, long-haired, tight-clothed, high-heeled, overly made-up ladies.  Sort of like the Colombian version of the Jersey Shore.  We called ourselves Don Julio and Cristina (the first party) and Don Julio and Ana Maria (the second and third parties).

So this is bad lighting and a frontal view so you can't see my padded underwear (which you can buy at any store here - they're that common!), but you'll get the gist of Cristina (this was week one), the paisa.

Again, a bad photo from a Blackberry camera, but you get the idea... Jimmy won Most Original and Funniest Costume Prizes at the third party we attended.  I think it was the mustache and unibrow that pushed him over the competition!!

8.  I also needed Spanx for this costume.  I do not wear leggings without sufficient coverage (like down to my knees).  But my Colombian coworker/friend who took me shopping for this get-up said that there could be no coverage.  I wasted another pair of control-top pantyhose by cutting off the feet.  The money that I wasted in pantyhose that I ruined over three consecutive weeks would probably equal whatever Spanx costs.

9.  A message from Mac's teacher the other day:
"We were discussing goals and I was giving the example of wanting to be the world's best ping pong player by the time I am 40. One of my boys chipped in with - Aren't you already 40? As I was picking my jaw up from the floor and preparing myself to speak, this little voice said "Of course she's not and don't you know you don't ever ask a lady her age!" Bless that boy of yours!"

I asked Mac about it later and he said "I remembered your telling me you never ask a lady her age when we were in Bariloche." We were in Bariloche, Argentina in the summer of 2008 so he's been listening to me for longer than I thought!!  Bless that boy and his sweet manners.

I hope as we start this most meaningful of holiday weeks - Thanksgiving - that all of our blessings are abundant and that we take time to appreciate each and every one of them.