NYR 10-21-11 - my husband in the news

In case you missed my Facebook post, click here to see my adorable and super-smart husband's entre into the international news scene.

Jimmy's part of this interview was filmed several weeks ago after a lot of debate. Could he do it?; would the Ambassador and Washington, DC approve his doing the interview?; what about the very high, very real risk of negative spin?; etc. There was enormous potential for disaster since the story's original bent was to favor the family whose lives were destroyed by aerial eradication.

Once everybody signed off on it, Jimmy taped the interview via Skype. And then we waited with that awful, uneasy feeling that if they cut and splice it, they could make him say anything and look awful.

Needless to say, when the interview aired this week on CNN-International, we were all very, very pleased. And the higher-ups must have been pleased as well because nobody called him to tell him he was being kicked out of the country (which could have happened had he screwed up).

For a happy ending to this story, I am truly thankful.

NYR 10-10-11 - and reality sets in

This afternoon I came home to a very sad, very quiet, very empty house. Jimmy and Mac have been gone for 4 days and that was fine when I was away with friends to keep me occupied. But coming home to an empty house that's normally loud and occupied stinks. Realizing that I still have 5.5 days to go does not make it any better.

I may have had a mini-meltdown. Or it may have been a quite large meltdown.

The thing that makes this all stink even worse is that this separation is a trial run for the month-long training I'm going to have to go to in Washington, DC in a couple weeks. I'm pretty sure I will not survive a month on my own. Jimmy's one thing, but we've gotten used to long separations with his travel and Afghanistan schedule. Mac is a different beast altogether. The longest I've been away from him is 4 or 5 days. I honestly feel like the lifeblood has been sucked out of me.

Sigh.

For my boys having some long overdue boys-only time, I am truly thankful. I guess.

NYR 10-2-11 - homework

Let me start by telling you that I really hate homework. I used to love homework when I was in school, but I've done 12 years plus 4 college years' worth of homework. And I think that's enough.

Mac doesn't seem to have the same love of homework that I once had. He doesn't want to just buckle down and get it down. He's easily distracted and can come up with 72 things he'd rather be doing. All of this, of course, means that I feel like I have to sit there, breathing down his neck to keep him focused on the task at hand. Which, of course, makes me feel like I'm doing the homework myself. Which I hate because, you see, I already know the 8 times table and I don't care if I don't know anything about the Tudors (God bless the British and their history).

Because we knew (hoped!) that I was going to start work, a few weeks ago we instituted a rule where the weekly homework assignments (that come out on Friday and are due the following Friday) have to be pretty well executed over the weekend so the weekday afternoons aren't so chaotic and fraught with histrionics.

Jimmy also decided that Mac needed a desk of his own instead of doing his homework on the dining room table. So I cleaned out our multi-purpose room that held this ridiculous piece of exercise equipment that was primarily used for a coat rack and jungle gym for Mac and his visiting friends, the Wii tv, the filing cabinet, a desk that you couldn't see because it was covered in stuff that needed to go in the filing cabinet, a catch-all bookshelf and keyboard.

Now the room has the filing cabinet (because it's really ugly and that's the only good hiding spot in the house for it), the keyboard, the bookshelf which now has all Mac's art supplies on it, and the uncovered desk.

And I have to hand it to Jimmy - it is really nice for Mac to have a dedicated study area with all his supplies close at hand. He's still easily distracted, but at least he's not eating Doritos at the dining table while running around trying to find the colored pencils while trying to work on his learning log entry for the week.

For better study habits and such a smart husband, I am truly thankful.

a tricky mission

Last week, Jimmy participated in a very atypical and very dangerous mission. You can read the gist of it here but hearing him tell the story is better than reading this article. He got a very nice email from Mr. Radley yesterday that brought tears to my eyes to read. All's well that ends well.

P.S. Make sure you look at the 7-photo slideshow on the left. Some great photos!

NYR 6-2-11 - coming home (for Jimmy)

I got home from Cartagena about 6pm on Wednesday evening, while Jimmy left for an overnight trip for work around lunchtime on Wednesday. Lest you think we left Mac in charge of the house between his arrival after-school and my arrival after-trip, do not fret. Ruth was on the scene and assured me she'd keep it all under control.

Jimmy got home tonight about 6:15 from his trip and we were really glad he was home.

For being together as a family again (even after a short 2-day stint), I am truly thankful.

NYR 5-19-11 - directorships and parties

Jimmy recently found out that he's been named the director of his office for the next two years. It's a pretty big deal for a number of reasons and Mac and I are really proud of him (even though we know it means we're going to see less of him than in these last 9 months here).

Tonight we attended an official party at the Ambassador's house to bid farewell to the current director (who leaves next week) and to welcome Jimmy on as the new director.

Every event at this house is lovely - it's a beautiful house and it's always filled with huge flower arrangements and loads of servers walking around offering you drinks and food. In other words, I could get used to living there or maybe just being a houseguest because that wouldn't come with the pressures and headaches of the job that get you the house in the first place...

The party was wonderful. I'm not a mingler/party flitterer by nature - I'd much rather just find somebody I like and find interesting and talk to them - but I did the good wife thing and mingled and flitted as much as I could.

After 3 hours of high heels and a lot of Spanish, my back and head hurt, but I had fun.

For great parties and new jobs, I am truly thankful.

NYR 5-15-11 - lunch with a hot date two weeks in a row!

Mac had a playdate today so Jimmy and I enjoyed ANOTHER lunch by ourselves at a fun little restaurant, Abasto, in Usaquen. For "found" moments with Jimmy, I am truly thankful.

NYR 5-10-11 Jimmy's in Key West and I'm not

Once again, Jimmy gets to travel to warm, sunny locales, while Mac and I stay in Bogota, where thankfully it's not rained for a number of days. (You can read here for information on the serious flooding that Colombia has experienced for months and months).

Last night's Facebook post from Jimmy said the following:

"Made it to Key West (I know, poor me) and saw an amazing sunset and had a fabulous meal, but it all really didn't matter so much as that special person is missing..."

Pretty sweet, right?

For being remembered by somebody who's eating cheeseburgers in paradise, I'm truly thankful.

NYR 5-7-11 - a great lunch with a hot date

Mac had a birthday party this afternoon from 1-4pm, so Jimmy and I took advantage of this opportunity to eat at one of my favorite restaurants for lunch with the girls. 69 Oyster is a FABULOUS experience from start to finish and I was excited to introduce Jimmy to it.

Their tomato soup is divine - fresh tomatoes and lots of fresh basil and finished off with croutons and little chunks of mozzarella. We decided to share the soup so we could also share another appetizer of stacked grilled eggplant, grilled tomato and mozzarella slices. Truth be told, I was a little disappointed by this appetizer - I make a much better version of this, if I do say so myself.

For our entrees, we both ordered my absolutely most favorite thing there. This is honestly the best fish I've ever had in any restaurant anywhere in the world. It's a delicious piece of seared grouper that's served with this balsamic vinegar reduction that is honestly the best thing ever. 69 Oyster serves it with these french fries that are to die for and on top of a bed of sauteed zucchini ribbons. Topping the fish are these crunchy, fried green onion matchsticks. Finger-licking good, I tell you, from start to finish.

For a great lunch date with my hottie husband, I am truly thankful.

NYR 3-7-11 - on the occasion of our 13th wedding anniversary

Some days, I'm pretty sure I stepped into my mother's grown-up life.

How can I be almost 40 with an 8 year-old, celebrating my 13th wedding anniversary today when I still feel like a 20-something year-old?

Sometimes I feel like I have no idea how that happened, but I can tell you that it's gone by in the blink of an eye.

13 years?

POOF!

And it's been bigger and better and more fun than anything I could have ever imagined for my life.

For the charmed life that I live with my love and my son, I am so eternally and truly and profoundly grateful. Happy Anniversary, Babe!

NYR 2-26-11 - Jimmy's still in Alaska

For happy playdates and friends over for a relaxed dinner in my adult-starved world right now, I am truly thankful.

P.S. Jimmy is still in Alaska after extending his trip by another day. As he sold it to me, he's "only seen the inside of a military base in Anchorage and somebody in his Afghanistan military group lives in Wasilla and he offered him a room at his house and said they could sightsee and it would be a shame to pass up that offer after flying all that way to Alaska to only see a military base in Anchorage."

(And yes, that really was about his email came in. You could almost hear him not taking a breath as he spewed all that out.)

So Mac and I are flying solo one more night. That will bring this trip to a week total. It's been a VERY stressful, VERY emotional week for me and if I can be honest with you, it's ticked me off to have to deal with everything by myself and then to have to relay everything to Jimmy by email because I guess they don't have phones on that military base in Afghanistan.

I have been particularly grateful this week for the listening ears, kind words, and open homes of friends (and their mothers-in-law!) here in Bogota. They've made it all bearable.

Jimmy in the Alaskan wilderness

I've given Jimmy a lot of grief over the 6 months we've been here because he's gotten to travel to the US for work a number of times and while those trips are for work -(stick hand to forehead now, sigh heavily, and act like a martyr) - he's gotten to go to places like Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Key West.

The tables have turned on young James this week. The military group to which he was assigned for half of his year in Afghanistan invited him to give some lectures to the outgoing replacement troop or group or squad or unit or whatever it's called before they deploy to Afghanistan.

The draw for the trip to give the lectures? The unit is based in Alaska.

The drawback for the trip to give the lectures? The unit is based in Alaska and it's February.

Can you say "brrrrrrrr"?

We were hoping for a summer deployment because Mac and I were going to tag along for a little visit to Alaska.

But alas, Jimmy left yesterday for the trip. He had to fly from Bogota to Atlanta to Salt Lake City to Anchorage, a total of about 15 hours flying time before you add in the layovers. He was scheduled to land last night, Anchorage time, at something like 1:00am, which was about 2.5 hour ago.

Right now, the temperature in Anchorage is 6 degrees Fahrenheit (compared to 60 degrees in Bogota).

Double brrrrr.

The high today is supposed to reach 24 degrees, and tomorrow, the forecasted high is 29 degrees. That'll feel like a bonafide heat wave. A snow shower is predicted for Friday, which might be a nice treat before he takes back off for Bogota on Saturday morning.

Mac and I have asked that Jimmy bring back a live moose. We feel that will be sufficient proof that Jimmy really was in Alaska. In the absence of a live moose, we will take smoked salmon or a young bear cub. Your call, Babe, if you're reading this.

NYR 2-5-11

This morning Jimmy filled in on the Marines' team in a flag football tournament. Mac and I went along and we all had such a nice morning. The weather was perfect, Jimmy got to play football, Mac played in the dirt and woods with a bunch of children, and I got to visit with a friend. For nice mornings that don't involve the Nickelodeon network and rain, I am truly thankful!

feeling a little sorry for myself

1. Jimmy "had to go" to Key West for a conference this week. The weather right now in Key West according to weather.com: 82 degrees and Fair. The weather right now in Bogota according to weather.com: 55 degrees and Mostly Cloudy. It would be "mostly cloudy" right now because there can surely be no water left in the heavens after what has poured down on this city in the last 24 hours.

2. God is apparently busy making more rain to replace those empty heavens because weather.com calls for rain all day tomorrow here.

3. Jimmy's in Key West, and I am not.

4. The whole country is flooded and has created devastating losses for a lot of people who didn't have a lot to lose in the first place. I realize I'm being entirely trivial about this so please forgive this rant in the midst of such devastation for so many people: the truck with our shipment out of storage was enroute from the port in Cartagena today (for delivery at my apartment on Friday), but the floods messed up a bridge and the truck can't get through until the bridge is repaired. There is obviously no detour route, and the truck has gone back to Cartagena to wait in a dry storage area. Which means the serving stuff I need for Thanksgiving won't be here by Thanksgiving. Again, this is absolutely petty in the big scheme of things - and I do understand that - but if you knew how we'd been battling against stupid people in Washington, DC who aren't able to do their jobs which means this shipment is arriving more than 2 months after it should have been here, then you might feel just a teensy bit of sympathy for me.

5. I think I have whatever that disorder is when you don't see the sun and it's rainy all the time and you get depressed and feel sorry for yourself.

6. Jimmy's on his third trip to the US in 3 months (and has traveled within Colombia at least once every other week since August), and I've left Bogota one time to go to Cartagena for 3 days. I might also have cabin fever besides the disorder in #5.

7. There is interminable construction next door and it's making me crazy. I hear a saw all day long from 7:30am to 5:30pm.

8. I have an earache in my right ear. This, of course, is undiagnosed but it hurts. Add that to ailments in #5 and #6.

9. Did I mention it's been raining nonstop and it's sunny in Key West?

But there are good things that I need to concentrate on:

1. I've met a couple awesome women recently that I love being around.

2. Mac is loving school. He also had a playdate with a new (non-school) friend that went perfectly. They played for close to 6 hours with nary the first bit of bickering or cross words. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

3. I cooked all day yesterday in anticipation of friends visiting next week and Thanksgiving. My freezer now has 10 cups of cooked chicken ready for stuff like quesadillas and chicken pot pie; 20 cups of homemade tomato sauce; and 30 cups of chicken broth. I can obviously make as much cornbread dressing and gravy as I want to for Thanksgiving with all that broth. Oh, and I made two cheesecakes for the freezer. I feel like eating one right now by myself.

4. I didn't have Spanish today, which, sadly, makes me inordinately happy.

5. Mac's 8th birthday is on Saturday and he is infectiously excited.

6. We have friends coming to town next week and we are soooo excited. They'll be here for Thanksgiving and Mac's birthday party and we feel so blessed to have them here for both events.

I'm going to eat some chocolate. That won't make the rain disappear but it might make me feel better....

sweet, sweet vindication

As you know, I have suffered from an inability to breathe and play tennis at the same time here in Bogota. Jimmy's heard my bellyaching after every tennis class, and frankly, I just wasn't feeling the love from him on this one. A girl just wants a little sympathy sometimes and I was getting nada (except his stories of how he goes to the gym and runs 6 miles and lifts weights with no problem).

Since yesterday was a holiday for him, he went to my tennis class with me. The plan was that I'd take the first 30 minutes and he could take the next 30 minutes. Well I huffed and puffed and sucked wind for about 29 of my minutes and then it was Jimmy's turn.

He started out strong. He didn't appear winded or tired.

And then I saw him surreptitiously look at his watch to check the time.

A few minutes later, he looked at his watch again and this time, he tapped the side of his watch (as if it wasn't working and he needed to shake the battery back into action).

Oh my dear darling, the battery is working just fine.

That's called disbelief that time can actually stand still while you're running after a fuzzy yellow ball at 10,000 feet (the tennis instructor confirmed that at the tennis court where we play, we're about 1500 feet above Bogota's 8600 feet). It's really almost like an oxygen-deprivation hallucination. I'm well-acquainted with this hallucination because I have become the master at sneaking glances at my watch during the one-hour class and not seeing the numbers change at all even though I'm sure I've been playing for 4 hours.

By the end of his 30 minutes, Jimmy was breathing awfully hard and, at various stages, was doubled over trying to catch his breath.

I'm trying not to gloat, but that's not working so well for me.

Operation Birthday Surprise

Well, yesterday was Jimmy's monumental 40th birthday.

I have fretted over birthday parties and gifts because this is a big one, you know? I thought about having a party here but it seemed a little awkward and imposing to invite people we've only known for a couple months to a birthday party where they feel obliged to buy a present. Plus Jimmy has way less social interaction with people since he's at work all day and I am a lady o' leisure with time to spend with my gal pals, so it would have been a party with my friends and their husbands who we may or may not even really know.

So I thought to myself, "I need to import a friend for the birthday", and who else could I import but Jimmy's very best friend since early childhood, Stephen. This has been in the works for a couple weeks and I've been fraught with anxiety over every step of the way. Jimmy's been suspicious and has questioned everything after I told him a surprise was showing up on his birthday, which just made me more nervous.

The final leg of anxiety came about yesterday when I had to figure out how to keep us awake until the expected arrival time of 10:30pm. We're early-to-bed, early-to-rise kind of folks around here, so 10:30 is a stretch on a school night.

I told Jimmy yesterday morning over this yummy breakfastthat the surprise was being delivered to his office. He didn't have to be there to receive it, but somebody in his office could sign for it.

Around midday, Stephen and his wife Lisa (who decided to come after we had Stephen's ticket) called Jimmy from the Charlotte airport before they boarded the plane to wish him a happy birthday. Jimmy asked him if it was a "local call" because he fully expected Stephen to walk into his office right then. Stephen told him he was crazy and that he was in some sort of work training. Close call.

I called Jimmy a couple more times in the afternoon to see if the surprise had shown up, but miraculously it had not.

Then he called me to say he was leaving work a few minutes early. Well that meant I had a reason to call the alleged delivery company to change the delivery address from the embassy to our home address." Well then, wouldn't you know that I got an email from the "delivery company" after this perfect-for-an-American-Autumn-birthday dinner that said there had been a mistake and that the motorcycle delivery guy for the embassy's location was different from the one in our neighborhood and they weren't going to be able to meet to hand over the surprise so the surprise wasn't coming until tomorow. I pretended to be very upset and disappointed over this and because of my fine acting skills, Jimmy bought it.

(I did all this because I knew there was no way I could keep us up until 10:30 under any seemingly normal pretense. We are in bed by 9pm on weeknights so what in the world could I do to justify 10:30?? I decided it was better just to go to sleep and wake up when they got here.)

I hired a driver to pick up Stephen and Lisa and he was supposed to call me when they were 10 minutes away from the apartment. I knew the plane was supposed to land around 9pm and by the time they cleared customs and immigration and drove home, I thought the best case scenario would be a 10:15 arrival.

Jimmy and I were in bed reading (me) and watching tv (him) until I thought my eyelids would snap shut permanently. Finally at 10:00pm (which is ridiculously late for me), I went to use the bathroom and check email on my phone in case the driver emailed me with an update. I had made it very clear that this was a surprise and he was not to call the house phone under any circumstance. Well, as my luck would have it, he called me on my cell phone while I was using the bathroom to tell me that they were 18-20 minutes away.

I went back to the bedroom, and Jimmy, with a bewildered expression, asked who I was talking to in the bathroom (this is an abnormality as I never even bring my cell phone upstairs). So I used my most exasperated voice and told him that he had to get dressed because the stupid surprise was being delivered now, that only in Colombia would they think it acceptable to bother people at 10:30 at night for a delivery that was supposed to come during the day, blah, blah, blah. Again, it was another award-worthy performance if I do say so myself!

So we went downstairs and waited and here you have it in photos!





We're sharing a wonderful weekend before they return home on Sunday. More to come!

birthdays and tennis lessons

Today is Jimmy's 40th birthday. It's not everyday you celebrate a new decade of life, so we started with the means to shorten our remaining decades. I made a delicious breakfast of grits, eggs, bacon and biscuits. Of course, since everybody has to get out the door starting at 6:12am (Jimmy) followed by 6:19 (Mac), we shoveled the food in in record time to make sure nobody was late for their respective vans.

So after breakfast, I had my 2-hour Spanish class followed by my tennis class. I have to tell you that I think the full breakfast made a difference in my game. I checked to make sure I wasn't wearing my Wonder Woman underwear - and I wasn't - and I hit tennis balls better than I ever have in my life, so I think it was the eggs and bacon.

So here's what I'm thinking in terms of non-medical high-altitude sports training: if you eat a lot of high-cholesterol, unhealthy, fatty things, they multiply the oxygen cells (or molecules or whatever form oxygen comes in), thereby creating better muscle memory and tone and allowing you as the unathletic person to hone your skills better. Sounds pretty good, right?

Or it could be something as simple as eating more protein gives you more energy for longer. But I like the way that earlier paragraph sounds better.

Regardless, you're going to die earlier because your arteries are clogged with bacon grease, but your tennis game will be much, much improved.

Here's to happy 40th birthdays and better tennis games!

P.S. I'll keep you posted as things develop on this 40th birthday for young James. It's going to be a GREAT day!!

just so you know...

I don't want you to be worried sick about me, so I made it home safe and sound today. Mac and I had a very nice taxi driver this morning who agreed to call me in a reservation when we got to the sports club and he knew exactly where we were to tell the dispatcher. Mac's school van pulled in right behind us so I asked the driver if he had room for one extra passenger (me) on the way home. He said he did (and it turned out he had more than enough room because a lot of the kids had gone home with their parents or friends). I told the wonderful taxi driver not to worry, that I was going to ride home in the school van. He gave me his cell phone number and said to call him if I got in any sort of bind, that he would come get me. He got a nice fine tip for his courtesies.

Dia de la Raza was a lot of fun and eventually I'll post some photos and video. The Cha Cha Slide was a total hit and Mac had a ball (which you'll see in the video at some point). The food that I did eat was great - I had these two tostadas from the Mexican tent that were outstanding. And I also had two yummy homemade chocolate chip cookies from the USA tent because you have to support the home team, right?

And in other news of the day, Jimmy got promoted. Hurray! This means, in part, that our year apart wasn't as huge a sacrifice as it could have been. We're looking forward to celebrating this weekend with our best Brazilian friends Gisele and Flavio who hopefully will show up our doorstep at any moment. Their flight was supposed to land nearly 2.5 hours ago but they've yet to show!

I think it's going to be an exceptional weekend!

and he calls this work?

Jimmy left today for Miami for a couple days of work. He assures me that such trips are no fun whatsoever, but I know better. I give you my arguments, counselor:

1. View from respective bedrooms tonight:

a) the advertised view from his hotel room tonight

b) the current view off my balcony (a video here would do more justice so you could see and hear the pouring rain):

2. Afternoon activities

a)Jimmy's afternoon will be spent driving from Miami in a rental car probably with the windows down and the smell of sea and salt wafting about.

b) my afternoon will be spent with much wailing and gnashing of teeth because of the evil invention known as homework (which now includes practice for the violin which Mac chose to learn but has conveniently forgotten that it came with a requirement to practice. I told him that doing "stomp" and beating on garbage can lids would be much easier but did anybody listen to me? No, I'm just the mom so what do I know?)





3. Dinner on the run

a) Jimmy can eat wherever he wants, whenever he wants (within the confines of his meeting schedule, of course). He can order room service, go through a drive-through, or eat at a sit-down restaurant of his choosing.

b) I have to feed a finicky 7 year-old who would prefer that I be a short-order cook to meet his whims and fancies. Or if we do as I suggested this morning - go out to eat - we'll have to battle over our restaurant selection because we're probably not going to agree at all on a restaurant. In any event, we'll have to choose a restaurant that's open at 6pm so we can get back home quickly and showered and in bed by 7:15 in order to read until 7:30 when it's lights-out. Oh, and did I mention there's a monsoon going on outside so we'll have to walk in the rain.

4. After-dinner activities

a) Jimmy can crawl into a big king-size bed and flip through a million tv channels with the tv set at whatever volume he wants.

b) Because of the layout of our apartment, our lone tv is very near Mac's bedroom. If I want to watch tv after he goes to bed, I either have to wait for him to fall good and asleep so I can shut his door to block out noise or I have to watch the tv at such a low volume that I practically have to lip-read to understand what's going on.

We sent Jimmy with a Target shopping list so as long as he produces the goods on Wednesday, we'll forgive him for 1a, 2a, 3a, and 4a above (even though 1a is a tough sell for me on a cold, dreary, rainy day when my heels are cracking from lack of exposure to sunlight and sandals!).

Jimmy's very own personal tailor

One of the many benefits of living in Bogota is that you can have custom-made clothes made relatively inexpensively. Jimmy needed a couple more suits, so he bought fabric he liked at one of the seemingly hundreds of fabric stores around here and is having a tailor make them. Last night was the first and only fitting before the first suit is ready in a week. Clearly there's a long way to go between the first fitting and the final product!