Kirsten Stationary

I am about to say something very judgmental.
I don't like the stick figured "family" stickers people put on their car windows. You know what I'm talking about. The little stick figures of "Mom" "Dad" and the 2.5 children and the family dog plastered on the back window of a minivan.
If you are a person who has this on your car, I'm sorry. I just find it annoying for many reasons. One, no one cares. Really. No gives a hoot that you have two boys and a dog. Two, you drive a minivan. Clearly you are not a person out living a wild single life. I don't think you need to broadcast that to all the other drivers on the road.

Once Josh teased me about my dislike and contempt of these stickers by telling me I was jealous because my "family" sticker would have only cats. In actuality, I would rock the cat stickers with pride. They do make cat stickers, for the record.

I have found in the past two years that I have been bombarded with the questions of if I have children, or when I am going to have children. My standard answer is I only have furry, four-legged cat children. Most people still press on with, "Oh yes, for now. But when will you have real children?" Who says cats aren't real? Asshole. And who said it was your business to know anything about my reproductive plans? (Once again, for the record, we are NOT at any point in the near future even considering the idea of having babies. Period).

I recently had a patient who asked about my child-bearing status, and when I responded with my standard "furry four-legged cat children" answer, the patient told me, "That is weird." I let a very long, awkward silence pass before I said, "Yes. Yes it is." I suppose I have finally gotten used to being asked repeatedly about having kids, although I'm still not sure if it happens because I'm married, my age, or because I'm surrounded by military families. I think my getting used to this has also strengthened my comfort in my "status" of being a cat "mom." That being said...

I recently went to a My ThirtyOne party (think Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, Tupperwear, ect). Normally I shy away from these types of things as I don't necessarily like to be pressured into buying something, and I try to avoid buying things I don't need. But. A good friend of mine was hosting this party, and I thought it would be a way to meet more people. The party was fun, and the company (by the way) does sell some great stuff. One of the things I ordered was personalized stationary. There is all sorts of ways you can personalize it, and I found it funny to play on the family stick figure sticker situation. So. Hopefully someday soon you can get a letter on the Lehman Family stationary.

Where did the time go?

Only one blog post in all of February is a little pathetic.But, it happened for two reasons. One, we don't have internet at our new house. I could explain it and go into a huge complaining rant about how I hate the German internet company... But I will just say we don't have internet, and it looks as if we won't have any until April. Yes, April. So. Until then my internet time is limited to work and when I go to the library on base. In addition to no internet, we have been busy trying to unpack, organize, and generally get situated in the new house. Because of that there really isn't anything too exciting to report. Most weekends have been spent shifting things around, digging through boxes, and trying to find a place for things. It's a long process. I almost feel like it's easier when our stuff is all packed (as in moving over-seas style) versus just half "move across town" packed... I guess with things being half unpacked it makes for lots of stuff being strung out all over.

I can't believe February is here and gone. One day we are doing a crazy mess of a marathon move... suddenly it's my birthday, then Valentine's day... then our anniversary... and now it's suddenly March and I feel like I only blinked and the month was over. 

I was planning to post some new pictures of the house... but things are still pretty messy. But. The cats are loving the stairs at the new house. They run and up down them a lot getting their kitty exercise. There is a little nook at the top of the stairs where Vega likes to sit. I knew as soon as we saw the house that this would be "her" spot, so I put one of her kitty pillows there. Usually this is where I find her.

We also recently updated our bedroom a bit. When we moved into this new house we weren't able to get our boxspring up the stairs - it was too low and narrow. So currently we are sleeping on two mattresses which sit on the floor. It's the proper height, but it does look a little odd. I was wanting to figure out something for a headboard. Obviously we couldn't exactly get a bed frame since we had no boxspring... but I wanted something to make our bed look a bit more polished. I was looking on Pinterest and found all sorts of ideas of ways to "create"  a headboard. I liked the idea of making your own headboard, but I knew with moving and other things going on there was no way I would have the time, energy, or materials to make one. So. I "created" my own type of headboard (or illusion/idea of one) thanks to Ikea. Right after we moved into the house we made a huge Ikea trip, which was wonderfully successful. Yay for decorating!

Yes that is Mister Puck posing on the bed. The goal is to decorate/use the shelves... but at the moment they are empty minus an alarm clock. I am, however, in love with my new curtains.

In addition to all the unpacking we dog-sat for our friends and now new neighbors (one of the perks of our new house is how close we are to them). The cats did NOT like having the dogs in the house. While the dogs were at the house we didn't see the cats as they were hiding. The dogs, Max and Milly, were entertaining to say the least. Max is quite active and spent a lot of his time investigating and then stealing/playing with cat toys. Then there is Milly. Milly is a little runt who has an underbite. Maybe it's the dental background, but I found her underbite to be hilarious since her teeth and tongue were always sticking out. Milly is also just generally... special. She is very sweet and spent most of her time cuddling with us... but you get the impression that the lights are on but nobody is home. Milly became well known at my work as I couldn't help but share her "special" antics.

This picture pretty much sums up Max and Milly - Max was trying to lick my face and Milly looks on from the background....

But. Now that we are somewhat moved in, we are gearing up for more travel and more trips. The sun is shining and spring is (possibly) coming to Germany. It's time for us to get out there and do things. We are planning a trip for this weekend - although we aren't sure on the destination or the details  yet, ha ha ha. But we are going somewhere. I am headed back to the states to visit my family and attend a wedding at the end of March. But when I return we have more big travel plans ahead... and I am excited. So despite not having internet I hope March has most posts... and more interesting ones at that....

The Last Minute Move

This post is a bit late in coming. We've been having a few problems getting internet going at the new house. Luckily our phone is working so I can still call back stateside to talk to family, but without the internet I have felt very out of the loop and out of touch. But the good news is we are in our house. What an adventure it was to get there.

In my head I had pictured this wonderful organized move where things would go smoothly (giggle giggle. Silly me, thinking that). As the day came closer for us to move, things began to slowly fall apart. I had been packing and sorting through things, but I still had a fair amount of things to go through. However, I had been neglecting my school work, and I couldn't neglect it any longer. So a few days before the move I had to take time for school, which kind of put me behind in packing. When it came time to move there was still plenty of things sitting loose around the house not in a box. We had planned to borrow a truck from a friend of a friend to move our larger furniture. A few days before our planned move the person with the truck backed out of helping us. We asked around looking for another truck to borrow with no luck. Then we looked into renting a truck. The one moving type truck which is available through the base was not available the whole weekend. We then started looking at different rental places off base. We found nothing. We were planning on moving on Saturday. However, as of Friday morning we still had no vehicle to move with. On Friday afternoon a friend and I were driving around doing errands and trying one last ditch attempt to find a truck to rent. At 4:30 at the last place we went to - we found a van to rent. The catch was we had to take it right then and it had to be returned by 8 a.m. the next morning. Gulp. I called Josh and told him this was about our only option if we were going to move as scheduled. He said he'd be able to round up a helper or two at the last minute. So we got the van, drove it back to our house. We started the move around 5:30 and didn't stop until midnight. The organized moved I had hoped for turned into a chaotic panic where we were just throwing as much stuff into the van to try and get things done as fast as possible. If it was something which Josh and I felt we could move on our own with our cars we left it to deal with later. On Friday night we climbed into bed around 1 am in the new house. Exhausted, but in our new house.

Since then we've been unpacking, trying to organize and get things into their proper place. We still have things left at the old house. This weekend we were busy trying to gather up more of the "little stuff" at the old house to move over. As of Sunday evening there isn't too much left at the old house - maybe one or two more carloads. Then all we have left is getting the old place clean.

I am so happy with this new house. Everything is newer, cleaner, brighter. The cats have been happily running up and down the stairs. Our old house didn't have stairs - and then have been making up for lost time getting plenty of exercise. We recently made a big Ikea shopping run to get things for the house - a new entertainment center, some shelves for our bedroom, curtains. For the first time ever our living room actually looks put together and homey. I fully plan to post pictures of the new house with out furniture in it once our internet situation gets sorted out.

Our move went nothing like I had hoped (or planned). They never do. But. We are in the new house, the new house is wonderful, and we're all safe and happy. So really it was a success.

March 2018

It is official. Our extension got approved. We still have a year to finish up our first tour, then we've got four more years on top of that. Meaning we won't move from Germany until 2018. Gulp.

I got the "official" email from Josh when I was at work today. I did a happy dance. I am happy and excited since this is what we wanted. However, seeing in bold print "March 2018" is a bit daunting and overwhelming. Our time here so far has flown by, and I'm sure the next few years will continue to do so. I just hope I am still this happy and excited four years from now... This news does come with a bit of mixed emotions, nonetheless I am still excited.

Let's continue this German adventure!

The Move Begins

This weekend marks the beginning of our move. We are fortunate to have landlords who are quite understanding and flexible. Although we don't "officially" move or live there until February 1st, we already have the keys to the new house. Last weekend (when we were signing papers and I was snapping pictures) we were able to take some things to the house to store in the garage. A few walls in the house were being painted to "freshen it up" a touch. However, the painting should be complete by now and we have the green light to start moving in "whenever." This weekend Josh and I are trying to move as much stuff as we can to the new place. It will mainly be things which are easy to move or are already set up for storage (such as extra luggage, plastic bins of Christmas decorations, ect). Next weekend will be the big move of furniture. Or, as I've been calling it, the "official" move. Fingers crossed and positive thoughts about getting this done quickly and without problems.

This has made me think a lot about moving. For someone my age I feel like I've moved a fair amount. A lot of my moves have been from one apartment to another or an apartment to my house... but practice makes perfect. When the military moves us we are fortunate enough to have a moving company which packs all of our stuff for us. However, since Josh and I are switching houses, we have to pack our stuff ourselves. We've both been taking time here and there to pack up some of our stuff into boxes. Again, not my first time doing this. Which leads me to my next point. Here are a few things I'll share with you.

First, have a method or some thoughts to your packing. Only put like items together in a box. For example, only put dishes together, or only kitchen items in a box. Don't mix kitchen with bedroom. It will make for an un-packing nightmare and it makes it harder to remember where you put things.

Second, clearly label your boxes. Say what room it is for, and then write the top three big items in the box (Example: Kitchen, kitchenaid, food processor, mixing bowls).

Here are the two biggest things to abide by, and this can apply to any move whether you are the person doing the packing or someone else is doing it for you. First, when  you get to the new house put the boxes is the room where they belong. For example, put all your kitchen boxes in or near the kitchen, bedroom furniture in the respective bedrooms, ect. I know it seems like a better idea to keep things out of the rooms so you have some space to work/it isn't as cluttered, but it will save you time because you won't have to reposition or move boxes later. Another reason to put the boxes in the room where they go  is my second point - if the box is sitting there staring you in the face, you will unpack it. Simple enough. If you put your boxes down in your basement or another "central area" it will take you years to unpack it or go through it. I speak from example. Currently all of my stuff is unpacked. But, in previous moves I have left certain things boxed up as a method of storage because I wasn't sure where to put something, or what I was going to do with it. Some things you do store (such as Christmas items, things you rarely use, ect). But. In all honesty, if it stays in that box for very long, it is obviously something you don't use very often. Do you really need it? On my last move (from Montana to Germany) I had a few boxes of things I had not unpacked when I moved from my apartment to my house. I had lived in my house for almost two years. If I hadn't felt the need to use anything in that box for two years... well, how important was it really? Those items didn't make the overseas move. Too often we hang onto items for the sentimental reasons. Getting rid of the item doesn't change your memories or how you feel about that item or the events surrounding it. But there really isn't a point to hanging on to certain things. Obviously, there are exceptions to this rule, but I find that thinking of things in this way helps me to get rid of clutter and generally have less "stuff." Just a thought and a tip to think about.

Cheers to our move - may it be as smooth as possible!

New House

This afternoon we went to do some more paperwork for our new house. We met with the landlord, signed some papers, and of course spent far too much time afterwards hanging out drinking beer. I had promised multiple people to take some pictures to show the new house. This seemed to be the easiest way to show it off. Anywhere (except the stairs) where it looks like carpet is actually a covering while the inside is painted. Under it is hardwood floors. Now bare with me as I narrate our house... 

 The front of the new house. There is a little yard in front with a tree - we plan to put a bird feeder here for the kitties. 

 This is right as you walk in the front door. Stairs to go upstairs - or head down the hallway. The door by the stairs leads to the basement. The tiny door Josh is blocking is to a little WC. If you round the corner you will see the living room/dining room.

 The living room. It is actually really big, but it was hard to try and it all into one photo.

 The living room is to the right. This is thedining room (which doesn't look so open right now) which is to the left. It is open between the two rooms. Where you see the gal in the white jacket is the door to the kitchen. The kitchen is smaller width wise than my current kitchen, but it has tons of cupboards and a dishwasher. I am excited.

 Now we have moved upstairs. This is the main bathroom with a shower, tub, and such.

 Right next to the bathroom is the master bedroom. It doesn't look like much now, but it is quite large.

 This is another bedroom. It is quite small, and I'm planning on making it into one giant closet. Seriously. A giant clothes room/closet since the shrunks we get (pictured above) take up a lot of room.

 Another bedroom. This will be the guest bedroom. So to recap - the second floor has a bathroom, master bedroom, guest bedroom, and small bedroom I will make a closet.

 This is the top floor of the house - it is one giant room. We aren't 100% what we are going to do with it - most likely have it be a multifunctional room... workout equipment, craft things...

 ...as well as an office (in the wood area - it's bigger than it looks).

 This is the basement. Not terribly pretty, but lots of storage space. In the room near this storage area is more storage and our washer/dryer. This area leads up to our "garage" - just like a normal garage only there isn't a door which a car could fit through.

 The backyard. I didn't feel like going out into the snow to take pictures.

 The view of the backyard through our patio door - this is in the dining room.

 This is the view of the front door entry-way.

There ya have it - the nickle tour. I am excited to re-post some pictures after we get our stuff moved inside and it looks like a "real" home.

Finn Bread

To start - no we haven't heard anything yet on our extension. Eh... par for the course. Told you will know one day and now just waiting. I am still doing pretty good at being patient.

Now onto Finn Bread. Finn bread is a bread my Grandma Betty always made. I discovered as an adult the reason it is called finn bread (by my family. I have no idea if it has an official name or not) is because my Grandma learned the recipe from her mother-in-law who was a Finnish immigrant. That's it. Finn bread which is the creation of a Finn. Okay.

My Grandma baked bread twice a week when my dad was growing up. My dad is the oldest of four, and this recipe makes four loaves of bread. I can only guess she had to make bread this often just to keep up with her growing kids. For my brother and I it was always a special treat to go to Grandma's house and have finn bread, as Grandma was the only one who made it. Finn bread is a dense cracked wheat bread which has a wonderful crust. We used to eat it with everything and used it for toast and sandwiches, but I do believe it is the perfect soup bread.

When I got older I asked my mom why she never made finn bread. She told me she had the recipe and had tried to make it, but it didn't turn out right. I accepted this answer for a few years... and then after my other Grandma passed away, I realized there were so many things I had wanted to know, to ask her, to learn... and I would never have the chance to. However, I still had the chance to learn about finn bread. If I didn't learn, the recipe would die when Grandma did. That year at Christmas I asked Grandma to go through step by step how she made her bread, and we wrote down a recipe. As you can imagine, my Grandma was one of those bakers who didn't really measure. Everything she did was by sight/feel, and she knew the steps by heart. So I had to slow her down a bit and make her measure things out, and we would have to add more of things here and there to make it "look right." It turns out the recipe my mom had gotten had all sorts of wrong measurements. No wonder her bread didn't turn out. After my lesson (and with the proper recipe) I was able to make finn bread many times after that. When my Grandma Betty passed away last year it made  me even more grateful that we had spent our time together in the kitchen.

Now Josh has been bugging asking me to make finn bread since I got to Germany. He's heard about it, but never had it. It has taken me awhile to agree to it. First, to make finn bread does take a bit of time devotion (let the bread raise, punch it down, let it raise, knead it, form loaves, let them raise...) and I basically have to get started in the morning on a day off to do it. Second, I was a bit intimidated by my small German oven. In the states I could bake two loaves at once, and I knew how my oven worked (it's quirks). Over here I'm still adjusting to the small oven, and I'm still learning the quirks. I just wasn't sure if it would make a difference if the last loaf had to sit out and "raise" for a considerably longer time than the other loaves, and I didn't want to try freezing the dough. The other obstacle I kept facing was finding the ingredients I needed. This recipe uses molasses, and I thought it would be easy to find on base, but it wasn't. It took me months of looking to find molasses on base. Or rather for the base to get it in stock. My mom was about to ship me some from the states when I found it. The other ingredient I struggled to find was cracked wheat. Not cracked wheat flour, the actual wheat. After searching and searching on base, I figured my last hope was to try and find it at a German grocery store. Josh and I were grocery shopping at our local German store last week when he remembered to look for cracked wheat. Low and behold, we found it. I finally had everything I needed.

Yesterday we woke up to about four inches of new snow. Not much by Montana standards, but it is the most snow we've had since we've been here. The base will rate the road conditions (a color system - green, amber, red, black. You can figure it out I'm sure) and based upon these road conditions determines if there is a "snow day." Yesterday was a snow day - schools were closed, and Josh didn't have to go into work. It was kind of weird having him home, and it sort of threw off my daily game plan. Instead of being productive and doing things I would normally do during the day, I sat around with him. It was nice, and relaxing... I just didn't get anything done. Except making finn bread. We were up early, we had nothing to do, and the house was cold. I had everything I needed so... what the hell. Let's make some bread.

 Here is my tiny oven - a friend of mine refers to it as the "Barbie oven." Hopefully my stock pot on top could give you a bit of a size frame of reference.

 The best thing I bought at a Christmas market this year - kitty cat coffee cup. AND in Germany they already had my name - spelled correctly and everything! No special request needed.

 Welcome to my life. The giant box next to my beautiful mixer is a transformer - which changes the electrical current so I can use my US 110 volt appliances. Many people offered to "watch" my Kitchenaid for me when I moved overseas. HA! In your dreams. Look at me now.

 Done raising - ready to go in the oven.

I was surprised to discover I could fit both loaves in there. Please do not judge my dirty oven door. 

All in all it was a success, and it took less time than I thought it would. I did not take any pictures of the after products (because I was busy sampling, and keeping Josh from eating an entire loaf of bread), but I promise they turned out beautiful. Success!!