William, the creepy lonely guy

For those of you much more organized and on top of their lives than we are, you might have some grand plan to send us a Christmas card.  We'll be really happy to get it, and we'll say, "How cute..." or "Wow, they look like they're doing good..." or even an occasional "Man honey, I'm really glad my face doesn't look like that..." (ooooh, general populace burn!!!).  After this initial reaction, we will then have a wave of guilt for not sending Christmas cards of our own.  Then I'll wish my face did look like that.  The guilt will build up until we send one of those tacky yes-I-know-it's-February-but-I'm-a-total-failure Christmas cards, and we'll be all good for another year.

Now, one thing that could upset this whole cycle is if you send the card to our Ann Arbor address.  These will probably end up in the dumpster, and some creepy lonely guy named William will pick it up and prop it up on his nightstand and talk to your family every night as he cries himself to sleep.  He will have big plans to meet you and yours someday, and will conveniently have your address to help guide him in his pursuits.  To prevent the awkward "reunion" that must inevitably come, I would suggest that you not send Christmas cards to our Ann Arbor address.  We are moving.  We will be temporarily living with our family in Utah, so you can send them to our parents address and we'll eventually get it.   So both of you who read our blog and send us cards, take note.

This is William, the creepy guy who will get your Christmas card if you send it to our Ann Arbor address.

Tips

I'm sorting through the miles of papers I've saved from the last 5 years worth of Relief Society Activities and other conferences, and I keep seeing some great tips.  But....I've got to get rid of my papers!

So - I'll record a few good tips here to remember:
Nutrition:
Add flax seeds to yogurt (or a smoothie) for more Omega 3's
Have everyone help plan the menus for dinner at Family Home Evening on Mondays.  Even though everyone will have different tastes, make sure each person will have at least 1 thing on the table that they like (broccoli, rolls, etc.)
For good conversation at the dinner table:
1.Ask each night "What was the worst thing that happened today? and What was the best thing that happened today?"  You might also ask "What do you know now that you didn't know yesterday?"
2. Have a conversation jar with topics or questions to spur on discussion.
3. Teach a principle (love, thoughtfulness, forgiveness, etc)
Table Manners:
Teach your kids table manners by having a set of "bunny dishes" (special  dishes)  Only bring out those dishes when you have a "romantic dinner" and everyone gets to practice using their very best manners.
Financial:
You are entitled to One Free Credit Report from each credit reporting company per year.  (Advertised credit reports are NOT free)  Check once a year at Experian.com (TX), Transunion.com (PA) or Equifax.com (GA).
Spiritual:
Focus on having a soft heart.  Someone with a soft heart wants to understand, takes time to connect with people, is patient and peaceful.  Someone who has a hard heart is defensive, easily offended, wants to justify themselves and their actions, and are unable to be truly happy for others.

As Sands Through the Hour Glass.... :)

As the time approaches for us to say goodbye to our Northwood Community, I'm thinking of all the great memories I've had here.  When we first arrived, we were only 2 people.  Now we are 4!  I was expecting Timothy.  We were greeted by many ward members and neighbors to welcome us.

My calendar shows that when we arrived,  I was:
Tending at the church, attending a BBQ, babysitting Eva, babysitting Joshua, having midwife appointments every 2-4 weeks, getting glucose tested, setting up for Enrichment and "Super-Saturday" at the church, and walking at 8 am with another pregnant woman and a mom with her 1 year old.

Scott was playing Volleyball at the church on Wednesdays, we were both serving as ward missionaries, we attended a new ward member dinner at the Insititute, a welcome dinner at the bishops house, choir on Sunday afternoons, teaching a free English Class at the church with Ben Pence (I was the organizer, and Scott and Ben were the teachers) and were being hosted for dinner and hosting dinners to get to know people in the ward and neighborhood better, especially on Sundays.

These days, my schedule has been:
Running at 6:30 am with Sam and Janel, getting Timmy off to the bus, doing the Jillian Michaels workout video with Becky, cleaning and organizing while Aaron is at the sitters, or taking Aaron and Andrew to the Hands on Museum, getting the kids lunch, taking them to play or at the library or socializing outside with the other moms in the neighborhood, scraping a dinner together, cleaning up dinner, getting the boys to bed, and either working on projects at home or attending an evening activity.  Evening activities like baby showers, girls night out, global learning lectures at the Community Center, free events on campus, or doing laundry while watching hulu.

Some of my favorite places to take the boys have been the Matthai Botanical Garden (conservatory in winter), the library storytime, the Hands-On Museum, Greenfield Village and the Ford Museum, the U of M Natural History Museum, several Cidar Mills in the fall, and the Leslie science center.

We also took visits to the Toledo Zoo (to see Christmas Lights last week!), the Potter Park Zoo, the Detroit Children's Museum, Belle Island, Windsor, Dexter Cider Mill, Domino's Petting Farm, Huron Hills Metro Park, Kensington MetroPark, raspberry and blueberry picking, and many other great places!  There are lots of fun places to go here, and we will miss the friendly environment and great resources Ann Arbor has to offer!

Sundays this semester have been working in the nursery together, taking a Sunday nap, Skyping or telephoning family, and perhaps taking a little hike in the woods, or inviting someone over for dessert.

It's been a social, fun, busy, supportive, and fantastic environment.  We couldn't ask for better friends and neighbors here.  Scott's professor, Anthony Waas, has been so supportive, and was the means by which we were connected to the University in Aachen in the first place.  We feel very blessed to have met him back in 2005/2006, which started our journey here to Michigan as well.

Question Resolved!

I love Canada!
No - I haven't spent much time there at all, but after talking to my Canadian friend, I was informed that they have another rail system (the VIA train rather than Amtrak) which has a GREAT connection from Windsor to Toronto.  Only a 4.5 hour train ride, with a train connection right to the airport.  It's WAY faster than Amtrak, and actually reliable.

So, we will do a 4.5 hour train ride, a 50 minute train ride, an 8 hour flight, followed by a shuttle to the train station terminal, then a 2.5 hour train ride to Aachen.

Still no picnic - but we can have our cake (shorter travel) and eat it too (good price)!

Travel Question

I pose a travel question for you.
(This is a legitimate question....I do not know the answer.)

Which is better?
1. Traveling 16 hours by plane + 2.5 hours by train and paying $2000 more
or
2. Traveling 14 hours by train, 8 hours by plane, and 2.5 hours by train and paying $2000 less?


Keeping in mind that all of this travel is going to be lame anyway, because you will have 2 children with you.  :)

Then the next question is (in case flights change)....at what price does your answer change??

Putting all doubts to rest...

Sometimes, I think that after meeting me, people go back to their respective abodes and have the following conversation with their spouse/roommate/cat:

"So I think that guy's kind of weird.  I'm not sure, but it seems that he's a few bricks short of having any bricks at all."  

To which their spouse/roommate/cat replies:

"Why yes, I doubt his sanity too.  Meow."  

Well let me me put your doubts to rest once and for all.  I am quite strange.  There, I said it.  Now, let me illustrate the sobriety of this conclusion with an anecdote.   Back in February, KT got some totally weird movie from the library about "alternative housing".  It was a propaganda hippy-movie.  These guys were talking about our housing being unnatural and killing our Mother Earth, and that we shouldn't buy into the system of working all the time just to pay house payments for shelters which are an absolute abhorrence to nature herself.  

I wasn't necessarily convinced of their particular viewpoints, but then they suggested a course of corrective action: we all move to the woods and make houses out of mud.  The supreme "dudeness" inside of me (which I try to suppress most of the time) thought: "Mud house, whoa, that would be sweet."  These people were buying plots of land and building their own houses out of cob, which is a mix of straw, clay, and sand.  I had heard of this being done throughout history, but couldn't conceive why someone in this modern era would chose to ignore all of the technical housing developments over the past centuries and make a mud house.  However, my utter frugality laughed gleefully at the thought of getting away with no house payments. I imagined myself saving up for a few years, then quitting my job working for "the man" (like I actually work, but stay with me here) and escaping society in the woods.  I could sell dreamcatchers and dried corn on the side of the road whenever funds ran low, and life would be grand.  Just grand.  On top of that, my research deals with composite materials, and these earthen composite are the Adam and Eve of modern day advanced composites.

Well, when I get an idea in me, I want to put it into action ASAP.  I obviously don't own any land, and I don't plan on being anywhere long enough in the next few years to want to root down and build a house with my own blood, sweat, and tears.  Nor do I ever take myself seriously enough to believe that I would start a crazy plan like this and actually see it through.  I have to face it, I'll be workin for the man for a while.  

Well, I eventually decided to make a little bench in the woods.  I thought that this would be a very simple thing, my boys would get involved, I would enjoy the time in the woods, and I'd get a feel for whether mud could actually be a suitable building material.  I wanted to be as cheap as possible, and mostly use things that I found around the woods. It was march at this point, but I was pretty excited to start.  So, I picked my site and started digging a foundation (so that the freezing/thawing of the ground wouldn't shift my structure too much and cause cracking).  I dug down a couple feet into the  partially frozen ground with a little hand shovel and some sticks.  I collected rocks for a few weeks that I carried about 1/4 mile through the woods on my way home from school.  It probably wasn't the most efficient way, but I felt like I was growing my muskles at the same time, so I might as well.  Here is the finished foundation:

The next step was to check my soil for clay content.  You can actually put a sample into a jar of water, and shake it up.  It naturally settles into separated layers, which shows you how much sand/silt/clay is in your sample.  Mine was basically all clay, so I needed some sand.  I bought some straw ($5) and started making test samples with different ratios (which was kind of stupid, because I didn't end up measuring portions anyway).  

Then I just got to work.  It was super-slow going.  I brought bags with me to school, then filled them with clay from the river and carried them the 1/4 mile every day.  I took the clay to my house, mixed it with a drill and paddle mixer, added sand from the sandbox (settle down, there is so much sand in that thing that you can't even tell), and mixed it all up with some water.  I let the concoction sit overnight, then I added straw and mixed it by foot.  Surprisingly, the kids weren't really into stomping out in the mud.  Then I slopped it onto the foundation.  This is how far I had gotten by the time I left for NASA in May.  Not very far.  Carrying the dirt all over the place wasn't very effective.  Also, it rained a ton, which isn't very good for cobbing.  So I put a tarp on the whole thing, and taped the words "don't move" on it so that the neighborhood kids would leave it alone.  They didn't.

June and July was when I did most of the work.  The kids came down with me, and they just called it "playing with mud.  I got a lot of looks from neighbors as I walked across the sidewalk with mud up to my calves carrying two buckets full of mud with my two boys in tow.  I think they figured out that I was weird before I did.  When you are weird, you are always the last to know.  

Well, here's how it looked at the end of July.  Pretty ugly.  My neighbor's daughter Brooklyn said it looked like a poo-chair.   Strangely enough, my wife was still supportive.  

Then I put a layer of plaster, and the thing started to look decent.  As we were packing up the car to go to Germany, I went to say goodbye one last time.  Low and Behold, some kids had graffiti-ed my bench already.  This was easy to do with sticks, because the plaster was still drying.  I had to leave anyway, so I just let it go.  When I got back, both arms of the chair were knocked off, and someone had scratched "SEX" into the back of the chair.  Real mature.

But, this story has a happy ending.  Guess how easy it is to fix a mud bench?
I made new arms, another layer of plaster, and a lime wash: good as new.

Finally, in an attempt to get it ready for the harsh Michigan winter, I put boiled linseed oil on it ($8.00: the most expensive purchase for the bench).  I applied it with a rag, and it ended up wiping off a lot of the lime, making it look rather drippy and sad.  But, it seems pretty water-resistant.  When I come back to graduate in the spring, I'll be curious to see if it's still in one piece.

So the bottom line is this: I think I might be able to build a house.  Of course, I'd have to learn other key skills like plumbing, roofing, electrical wiring, etc., but other than that I have it covered.  So if you just get sick of workin for the man, give me a call.  It probably wouldn't take much convincing to get me out in the woods building a humble little mud house.  Don't worry, I could teach you how to make Dreamcatchers...

Nice pictures Scott took

 Porto, Portugal

Monschau, Germany

Matthai Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Peso da Ragua, Portugal 

Porto, Portugal

Porto, Portugal

Sleeping Bear Dunes, Michigan

Sleeping Bear Dunes, Michigan

Aachen, Germany

Happenings

First, we had a mouse episode.  We had a space around one of our pipes in our basement, and a little group of mice decided to move in on a nice cold day.  I grew up in a house bordering an empty field, so mice in the house is not an entirely unheard of concept.  However, KT had some serious issues.  Serious.  I thought the whole woman-jumping-up-on-a-table thing was just an anecdotal exaggeration, but I have now witnessed such actions.  She had the hole foam-filled, house sanitized, and 6 mousetraps set up within the hour.  Amazing.  

Anyway, these mice were obviously new to the whole people thing, so they weren't particularly stealthy or anything.  Just a bunch of country bumpkins trying to make it in the big city.  Within an hour or two of setting traps, we had one.  I caught this little guy the following morning.  It wasn't all that difficult, which was personally disappointing.  KT wouldn't allow me to send him to his maker, so I hiked out into the woods and let him go a considerable distance away.  We caught another later that same day, and haven't seen any signs of any more since, no matter how much the little ones wish it otherwise.

There's been a lot of Greenfield Village'n goin on with us, KT is trying to get her $'s worth out of her season pass.

Are we surprised that I stuck in a forest shot?  I'm really going to miss living next door to the woods.

Finally, I had to include this little shot of dinner with the two guys who carried me through the dark part of my life known as Prelim Preparation.  Nate (on the left) won the Baby Poll when Aaron was born, so we owed him a feature on the blog.  I know it's a little late, but congratulations on successfully guessing the birth time of my second son.  Very skillful of you.

Halloween came and went, and we still have all of our teeth.  We got a nice big bag of used costumes recently, and the kids have been enjoying it immensely.

Finally, we went to our friend Lisa's Festival of Lights party the other night, and a fireman made a cameo with his truck.  You know your party's pretty sweet when the fire department has to come!

As a side note (if anyone's still actually reading) we accepted a job in Aachen, Germany.  Kind of a significant side note, huh?  With a side note like that, you would expect much more substance in the rest of the post.  Sorry to disappoint.