Still Haven't Sent the Folks Presents? Shutterfly. Easy. I Love You.

I highly recommend some kind of internet albums that the folks at home can access.  Even if they don't see us in person every day, they can't miss your smiling static faces.  Facebook is a pretty easy one, but there are still some grandparents out there that just don't want to get "involved" with it.  Kodak was a name they knew and trusted and were able to type in the Google window without mistake.

I was so totally bummed when Kodak sold to Shutterfly this last year.  You see, I've had my photos on Kodak for at least 5 years now.  I know Kodak.  I don't know Shutterfly.  I was going to have to learn a whole new dagum system and well, I just don't have time for that.  The pain in the butt that Kodak was sometimes was shadowed by familiarity.  Amazing how I survive in this lifestyle when I buck to change to easily.

 Kodak Easyshare was never quite so easy for me, but the calendars were such big hits, that they have become a tradition.  So I had been putting off making our yearly photo calendar that we send to our family and friends.

So, just before Thanksgiving, I finally buckled myself down and opened up Shutterfly.  Oh my gosh.

It's easy.
It looks totally cool.

Did I say it's easy?

And they have a fabulous line up of photo gifts.  Plus, it's easy.

For the calendars, they have the layouts for multiple photos on a month set out for you to choose.  You click on it and your chosen pictures are sucked into the format- swoop!  AND you can pay for multiple calendars sent to multiple addresses in ONE order.  Imagine?!  No wonder Kodak sank.  What have I been doing all of these years?

No, "Sucker" is not tattooed on my forehead.


Maybe most of you already know about this.  But I just had to share my giddiness.  Now I have to sell it to the grandparents.  Maybe if I associate it with something they know and love.  Shutterfly, butterfly, I love you.

Holiday Travel With Kids: I Can't Believe You're Doing It. Here's A New and Improved Packing List to Help!

Happy happy.  Joy joy.
You are amazing.  Dedicated.  Giving.  And . . .

Crazy.


Ah, but you have to do it.  And then you don't have to cook, right?
So, you are going to brave the snow, the ice, the blizzards, and arrive.  Fingers-crossed, everything will go smoothly.  For what it's worth, I'm sending you good thoughts.


I wanted to remind you of some travel tips in this blog, to hopefully help simplify and smooth your journey:

Dealing with jet lag
Items to bring on your flight,
Frequent flyer numbers
Passport renewals
Traveling with a baby tips


In an earlier post, I tried to convince you to let your kids pack.  It really works and it's not only me.  I've had some positive feedback from some readers.  Really.  Try it.  Make your life easier.

I've made new and improved packing lists and finally figured out how to make it work so you can access them, customize them, and print them out easily.  Slowly and painfully, this techno-phobe is entering the 21st century.

Here is an example of another one of my beautiful, ridiculously time-consuming creations, but your free, click-of-a-button printable.  The copy didn't come out perfectly here, but you get the idea.  Click on the links to take you to the original sites for downloads.  You can change them to fit your needs.  See how much I still love you?

General Packing Checklist

Girl's Packing Checklist

Boy's Packing Checklist

Safe Travels!

Girl’s packing checklist:

Item	#	x	Item	#	x	Item	#	x
Pants			Bathi			Socks
coat			Short			Hat
Rain coat			Short-shirt			Glove
shoes			Longshirt			Scarf
Sandals			Underwear			brush
Dress shoes			PJ’s			paste

Time Management: Spouse Abroad Life Juggler and Day Planner

A big part of my job as an accompanying spouse the last 12 years was to be available to guests that visit us every year.  So far in the last three months, we've had four sets of visitors.  We are so very lucky that people make an effort to stay connected.  Please don't get me wrong.  I love, love, love guests.  But, now that I'd like to write more (i.e., the blog), my time isn't as flexible as it used to be.  Obviously, since this is my first post in (I don't know how many) weeks, I haven't quite figured out how to manage the situation.  I work at home.  People in the home.  No door on the office.   I know.  I just need to move my computer to a room with a door and make time.  Tell that to the hostess.

But it's more than just the guests.   I have realized that for the last ten years my job has been mostly reactionary: change a stinky diaper, wipe a runny nose, change wet sheets, feed hungry people, do the laundry when the hampers were full, show guests around town.  Very little about my day did I control.  For the most part it had to be that way.  There's only so much we can do to control when a child poops and pees, when they are hungry, when the floodgates open in the middle of the night, when guests can make the hellish trip overseas.  But the kids are older now.  Most of our guests have been there, done that.  There is less for me to react to.  So, of course, I've been finding stuff to react to.

I've tried to take control of my life.  I've had my share of depressing, continually growing to-do lists.  I could never finish the List.  Things would stay on the List for months; I'd become overwhelmed, then discouraged, then depressed.  Finally after decades of this, I ditched the "to-do" lists, reveling in my new found freedom.  But then I started forgetting stuff, lots of stuff.

So this spring I tried iCal.  Oh!  A time for everything!  I filled in laundry time, cooking time, prep time, transportation time, writing time, pick-my-nose time, you have it!  Looking at the filled-in calendar, I realized that I actually did work!  Imagine!

I trucked along for a few weeks, trying to adjust time frames for activities I hadn't realized sucked so much time out of my day (laundry).   But, I kept having to check the "schedule" to see if I was on track.  Most of the time I wasn't.  I still had to be reactionary.  Kids still threw up in places other than the toilet.  The garage still flooded.  I had to shift stuff.  I'd end the day totally missing stuff in the later time slots.  I started dreading opening up iCal every morning.  I began to hate iCal and it's "efficient" little time slots.  What was wrong with me that I couldn't follow a work schedule?  More guilt.  Discouragement.  Frustration.  I became distracted by a closet that needed to be purged, sick kids at home or having guests, until I felt so lost that I  
just  
stopped. (That would be about 3 weeks ago)

The pressure dissipated, but so did my self-worth.  I was feeling just plain empty.  I needed to write.  I needed to manage our house.  I needed to be a mom and a wife.  I needed to find a solution.

So, being the wonk that I am, I went into research mode.  I scoured the web for "work-at-home mom" info and time management advice and came across some pretty useful information.   This quote from homemakersdaily.com, "I want to live my life on purpose, not by default,"  grabbed me by the collar and shook some sense into me.

Much to my chagrin, I found that day planners are a favorite time management tool.  Although they look suspiciously similar to iCal, I thought I'd meld a few together and give them a try.  The ones I prefer are a bit more free-formed, directing me back on track to the most important elements that I want to accomplish each day without the hour increments.  What I have to remember is that some important things are MORE important than others.  I  must begin my day with the most, most  important thing or it gets bumped.  If I do that one really, really important thing, I have succeeded.

Homelifesimplified.com has a compilation of planners from various sites on the web.  My favorites in the compilation were, homemakersdaily.com, homelifesimplified.com, and lifes-a-journal.com.  Inspired by these, I made my own.  Now each evening before or that morning, I fill out a form.  Then, throughout the day, I highlight what I accomplish when I accomplish it (this makes me feel really good).  Most importantly, I forgive myself for not completing everything on the page.  It's a guide.  Life happens and superimposes itself onto my day.  The nerve of it!

Day Planner Simple     Day Planner Simple/Empty

Day Planner Color/Shapes     Day Planner Color/Shapes/Empty

Here are my beautiful, ridiculously time-consuming creations, but your free, click-of-a-button printables.  Click on the links to take you to the original site for downloads.  See how much I love you?

For No Other Reason Than to Laugh

“On the morning of our second day, we were strolling down the Champs-Elysées when a bird shit on his head. ‘Did you know a bird’s shit on your head?’ I asked a block or two later.
Instinctively Katz put a hand to his head, looked at it in horror – he was always something of a sissy where excrement was concerned; I once saw him running through Greenwood Park in Des Moines like the figure in Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ just because he had inadvertently probed some dog shit with the tip of his finger – and with only a mumbled ‘Wait here’ walked with ramrod stiffness in the direction of our hotel. When he reappeared twenty minutes later he smelled overpoweringly of Brut aftershave and his hair was plastered down like a third-rate Spanish gigolo’s, but he appeared to have regained his composure. ‘I’m ready now,’ he announced.

Almost immediately another bird shit on his head. Only this time it really shit. I don’t want to get too graphic, in case you’re snacking or anything, but if you can imagine a pot of yoghurt upended onto his scalp, I think you’ll get the picture. ‘Gosh, Steve, that was one sick bird,’ I observed helpfully.
Katz was literally speechless. Without a word he turned and walked stiffly back to the hotel, ignoring the turning heads of passers-by. He was gone for nearly an hour. When at last he returned, he was wearing a windcheater with the hood up. ‘Just don’t say a word,’ he warned me and strode past. He never really warmed to Paris after that.”

― Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe

10 Questions

Radiology, mammography and ultrasound technician Jeanne Walker on what she has learned during her 14 moves, living through a Bolivian blockade and why she would do it all over again

What do friends and family back home say about your choice of lifestyle?

Some friends are envious of the lifestyle, large houses, maids, parties, great travel opportunities but others ask about the effect on the children and their education.

What is the scariest thing you've experienced at a post?  

While we were in Bolivia there was a lot of political unrest. The local indigenous people wanted to overthrow the president and bring in their own leader. They blocked off all the roads in and out of La Paz, which sits in a bowl and so we were basically cut off from the rest of the world for a week. My husband was away on a trip, so it was just myself and the children and we were confined to our houses. We could hear gunfire and we were told that rioters were coming up our street. We couldn't go out to  shop for food so the few American neighbours we had all pooled their food together and we all ate together. The scary part was that we didn't know how long the blockade would go on for and whether our food and water would last us. In the end it was only a week but it was very scary at the time.

The loveliest?

The loveliest thing was when we were living in Cape Town. It was my birthday and my husband and I had both taken the day off to go golfing. The golf course was in a small town just outside Cape Town and it was right on the edge of the ocean. I was just about to tee off and Jeff shouted, ‘Jeanne, Jeanne, look!’ When I looked up there were two whales breaching out of the water just about a hundred yards away. It was a magical sight and I’ll never forget it.

What is one thing you have learned from each of the different cultures among which you have lived?

I don’t know about from each of the different cultures but I do know that I have learnt that people all over the world, whether they be Christian, Muslim, rich or poor, educated or illiterate, all want the best for their families. They want their children to have better lives, education and jobs than they have and they will work hard to try and make things better for their children no matter where in the world they might be from.

What is some advice you would give to someone just starting out or considering this lifestyle?

For somebody considering the lifestyle I would say that if the trailing spouse has to give up their career they should know how hard that might actually be. I think it is quite difficult for some spouses who have had fulfilling careers to give that up and possibly not be able to continue with their chosen career path in the future.

For somebody starting out I would say that you should consider this lifestyle as one big adventure. You never really know what country you’ll be living in next, what your house will be like, if you’ll be able to find a job, but you do know that there’ll be interesting places to go and people to meet. 

What do you do to get involved when you are at post?

I like to join clubs, International Women’s club, book club, choir. I like to volunteer to help local charities and I get involved with the school that my children attend. I join the PTA, or PTSA as it is here. That way I get to know other parents and to know some of the teachers that will be teaching my children.

What is the one thing you would have taken with you from each of the countries you've lived?

In Morocco our nanny Zaina, in Bolivia the magnificent views and the hiking trails, in Cape Town being close to the ocean, wineries and mountains all at once, in Uzbekistan the fabulous local staff work colleagues.

 What is one thing you miss the most from your home country?

My friends and their British sense of humour.

Would you do it all over again?

I think so…..I guess the grass is always greener….. My friends in England envy us living and travelling all over the world. I envy the fact that they can decorate their house as they wish with their own furniture. They can plan a garden and grow perennials. They meet friends every week that they have known since primary school. They get to visit relatives as often (or as little J) as they wish. They have good jobs and have worked their way to the top of their career fields without having to start at the bottom every 2 or 3 years. But would I choose this all over again, yes I certainly would!

 How many degrees of separation are there between you and the President Obama?

I guess 6 or less, right?

International Friends: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Spending the last 12 years in 5 different countries has spread out our friendship base.  We have friends and family all over the world, in every continent except one, Antarctica.  This has wonderful benefits.  Almost anywhere we travel we know someone, get insider tips and sometimes free places to stay.  It broadens our awareness of the world, especially our children's (remember The Olympics: Withdrawal and Identity Crisis?).  Today, with things like Facebook, Skype, email, and airplanes 1,000 miles is nothing but a mouse-click away.

On the contrary, something bad happens somewhere in the world everyday.  The more dispersed your friends are, the more likely something bad is going to happen to them.  Riots in Eygpt?  Our DC renter's from last year now live in Cairo.  War zones?  Almost 10% of our colleagues work in one. Earthquake in Canada?  Our good friend and dog sitter from our first post in Mexico lives there.  Hurricane in Cuba, DC, NYC?    Best friends from Guate are now in Cuba; DC is our homebase; and NYC, someone from everywhere lives there :).  Tsunami in Hawaii?  Got it covered.  My husband's college mates live there.  And so it goes.

Each day when the news blares its tragedies, we flip through our mental rolodex, searching for our connection.  When we find them, which we almost always do, we send an email, a message, a phone call, to see if they are all right.  We still haven't heard from our friends in Cuba.  If you, by chance read this, S & T, please let us know if you are okay.  If someone has by chance heard from them and can pass on the news, please do.

Our world is a whole lot smaller than most people's.  Global connections are not just virtual for us.  Although I love the "We are the World"- feel of it all, I sure wish the world was an inherently more peaceful place.  But it's not.  That's why most of us are out here, doing what we do, so "[other's] lives will be stronger and free."

To our friends in harm's way,
Hang in there and stay strong.  Please know we're thinking of you.

Jealousy about relocating? Really? What is wrong with me?

I can't believe it.  I think I'm jealous.  I hate moving.  With a passion.  But, there I was, driving home from the supermarket, bubbling with jealousy.  Before I headed home, I dropped off a young woman and her baby who just arrived to post yesterday.  As one of their family's sponsors, a friend and I stocked their kitchen, picked them up from the airport, and will show them and drive them around until their car arrives.  They just completed the hellacious journey from Texas to Belgrade with a baby.  They have been waiting for weeks to receive orders so they could come.  They have been living off of airfreight for a year and a suitcase for months.  All stuff I really, really, dislike.  But I'm jealous.  I am.  I'm jealous.

The day before yesterday we opened up their house.  All that is there is the government issued furniture and the bare-bones items (plates, sheets, towels, etc.) from the "Welcome Kit."  It's a beautiful apartment, part of what was once a grand old home, that's now been divided into several:  rounded fireplace, hard-wood floors, arched entrances.  As my footsteps echoed off the bare walls, I was transported back to my arrivals, the excitement, the relief, the hope.

You can picture it, can't you?  You are finally home, walking into this skeleton of a house, with generic furniture, and empty cabinets; you are home.  Discovery is around every corner; "Oh look!" a sun-porch behind the heavy curtains over by the couch, a peek outside and you discover a nice, green yard and a view of the neighbor's pool (hmmm, gotta get to know them!).  There's toilet paper in the bathroom and food in the fridge.  Someone made you dinner.  You feel so blessed, so lucky.  People are so nice.  A block away you discover a park, a pharmacy, a bakery.  Wow, this is your neighborhood.  This is your house.  Finally.  Not all of it is roses.  You make your eyes flit over the rough spots.  Every place has rough spots, some more than others.  This is your home now.  You feel some ownership to this place.


As much as the arrival at every post is the same, the differences are marked.  In Guatemala, my husband saved a moth that died in the laundry room until my son and I arrived.  It was as big as my hand.  The millipedes crawling up the walls were as long as my forearm.  National Geographic in my bedroom!  Awesome!  In Macedonia, we picked apricots and pomegranates from the overgrown and neglected garden (complete with a moldy armchair) outside the student dorms down the street.  We discovered a resident ground hog there.  We had lovely porches for every room of our house, but my neighbor's honing pigeons loved to perch on them, facing my neighbor's house; hence, a line of pigeon bums outside my kitchen windows and pigeon poop slathered all over the porches.  Ah, but who can complain.  It was funny.  The windows were grand, even if the view wasn't.  Again, we are so fortunate, so lucky.  So many of the people outside those windows heat their homes with wood-burning stoves if they are lucky.  Too many make homes out of whatever they can find.

The relief of coming home is immense, after months of living out of a suitcase, you get to put things in drawers.  Your drawers.  You don't have to worry about all of your stuff that you sifted through for months and then packed them in big crates to sail across the ocean.  It's a good thing it takes months for your stuff to arrive.  You need the breather.  You need the space.  Your space.

Home.  Discovery.  Gratitude.  Excitement.  These are the words that describe arriving at a new post for me.  They are wonderful feelings, and they are why I am jealous.  When I was showing our new friend the grocery store today, she marveled at the variety that was offered on the shelves (which maybe equals the selection at a 7/11), I nodded in agreement.

"We've got everything we need," I shrugged.

"We must live large here!"  she said with a smile.

Yes.  Yes, we do.

“Is there anything, apart from a really good chocolate cream pie and receiving a large unexpected cheque in the post, to beat finding yourself at large in a foreign city on a fair spring evening, loafing along unfamiliar streets in the long shadows of a lazy sunset, pausing to gaze in shop windows or at some church or lovely square or tranquil stretch of quayside, hesitating at street corners to decide whether that cheerful and homy restaurant you will remember fondly for years is likely to lie down this street or that one? I just love it. I could spend my life arriving each evening in a new city.” 

― Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe