Thursday/Friday

First of all, what is with this weather!?!?! I don't know what it's been like lately where you are, but it's being a tricky bitch here. After celebrating 3 glorious days of 70+ and sunny, it dropped to about 60 yesterday and rained all day. Today it is barely 45. And on Tuesday it is supposed to SNOW! Ahhhhh.... =( At least while it was nice, I was able to get some color on my face and I no longer look like I might be dying. I know that have pale face is so much better fpr you, and I'll probably be all wrinkly by 50, but it beats the alternative at present. The permanant dark circles under my eyes and sometime mottled look to my forehead and cheeks give me the appearence of someone who is very ill. Not at all attractive and somewhat worrisome to some people.

So Thursday was another beautiful day. The kids and I went to the playground for a while and when they got bored of riding the slide and spinning and the merry-go-round we went down to the Rhine to feel the water and see the  ducks. The water is still absolutely freezing, so I took a bunch of pictures and sat in the sun. I'm trying to upload some of the best pictures onto here because my photos on Facebook are only viewable by my friends, but it isn't working. If I don't get it figured out and you want to see them, email me (amplatte@hotmail.com) and I'll send you a few. 

On the way home we stopped at Migros and got some ice cream. I was surprised by how relatively inexpensive it was (by Swiss standards anyway) to buy it at the market, rather than from a cafe'. I bought a fudge bar, a drumstick and a "magnum" (chocolate dipped vanilla ice cream) and it was only $3.20 To buy ice cream at one of the streetside cafe's, it's usually $4 EACH. So happy I found an inexpensive alternative because the kids do love their ice cream and I can use it as an amazing behavior modifier (i.e. stop yelling, put the toys away and eat your lunch like a nice boy and we can go get ice cream) Do I bribe these children to get what I want? Oh, only all the time. =)

The only dark spot on Thursday was that my dumb ass wore flip flops on our 2-3 mile journey and I came home with massive blisters on the soles of my feet. Plus, it made my hips/thighs burn and I spent most of yesterday limping around. Yikes! Next time, I need to remember to slip on the Nikes before tooling around town.

In the category of silly/exciting news, the Coop grocery store downtown now carries Dr. Pepper in 500mL bottles. (about the equivalent of one can) I haven't really drank pop since the Migros down the street stopped carrying Pepsi and I'll try not to make it a habit again, but Dr. Pepper is my absolute favorite! I was on cloud 9, laying in the sun and drinking one Wednesday afternoon.

In her coolest move yet, Stephanie gave me a gorgeous necklace as an Easter gift. =)  So the night of the Chinese fondue, she pulled out her newest stuff to show the neighbor and I came across a neckalce I really liked. I've found pieces I liked before, but this was the first one I actually wanted to buy. (I rarely buy jewelry because I almost never wear it.) Stephanie set it aside, but then rather than deducting the cost from my salary, she gave it to me! Called it an Easter gift! It's a long string of pearls with a large heart pendant. I showed it to Brandi and she said it was "tacky" but she also sends me puctures of guys with chronic gay-face and tells me they are hot. So her judgement doesn't count for much in my book. Sorry, B!
And, speaking of my sister, we finally have an official ticket for her! She will arrive on the 18th and leave on the 28th. I'm so excited for her to come! I even have one of those obnoxious Facebook countdowns going (52 days, 3 hours and 46 minutes until her plane lands!)

In the meantime, I haven't heard from Erin in a while, so I'm not sure when I'll see her, but I am heading up to Wurzburg, Germany, next weekend to hang out with Korrin for Easter. I have a 4-day weekend and the urge to get the H out of Switz for a bit. Plus, she hasn't started classes again yet, so it works out perfectly. We can drink beer and paint eggs and wax poetic about Gaylord. LoL

Finally, in somewhat disheartening news, I am getting sick. I think it will end up being a springtime sinus infection based on the pressure yesterday and the burn today. Plus, the left side of my nose keeps dripping like I just sniffed a line off the bathroom counter. Oops, illegal drug reference, sorry! Seriously though, it makes me so upset! I am the most miserable sick person EVER! And, I wanted to watch Michigan State basketball last night but my nose running was driving me crazy, so I went to bed even before the 230AM tip off. Boo. At least they won and play again tomorrow at 8PM.

Okay, I'm off to Migros to get some vitamin C (I took the last of my stash this morning) and then I am predicting an afternoon nap. Laterrrr

(Surprise) Party && Then Some

Because I finished German classes (YAY), Stephnanie threw me a bit of a party last night. She and I, along with her sister, her sister's boyfriend and a neighbor couple had a Chinese fondue dinner last night-so much fun! I've only ever had cheese/chocolate fondue, where you dip things in and then eat it and this was so different....and very delicious. Basically, in the fondue pot there is boiling beef stock and you stick bits of meat in to cook. While they were cooking, we ate boiled potatoes, hearts of palm, asparagus spears, pickled sweet onions, baby cucumbers and pineapple balls. And Stephanie's sister made several different sauces to dip everything in. There was curry sauce, garlic sauce (my favorite), cocktail sauce, "white" sauce and a sauce made from the pepper Stephanie brought back from S. Africa. Everything was so good and I haven't eated that much in a looong time. I was still sore when I woke up. Gross. Plus, I had a real nice buzz going, as Stephanie poured me a glass of white wine, a glass of prozeco (like champagne), and three (or was it four?) glasses of red wine during dinner.

With that unusually large amount of alcohol in me (well, unusual for Switzerland) I was able to give a decent performance of my learned German, as well as hold an entire conversation in Spanish with Alex (Nicole's boyfriend). Nicole laughed and said she had never seen me drink this much and I was during into a Beneker. I was like, "No, I'm just being Alyssa." I then had to explain to her that I was uncomfortable drinking copious amounts in front of them in the beginning. I was afraid they'd be like, "Oh my God, did we really bring this total lush over to care for the children?" Stephanie said she wouldn't have judged me like that at all, but that she could understand where I was coming from, wanting to make a good impression.

Yesterday and today the weather was BEAUTIFUL with temperatures topping out at around 70 degrees today and very sunny! Since I had today off, I spent the afternoon reading "Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass" and sunbathing along the Rhine. I even got a bit of a sun burn on my cheeks. Aww...how great!

I went for another run tonight and went farther/faster than I have in a while. I nearly died. I'm not very good with distance and I explained the route it wouldn't make sense to you, put let me put it this way: Stephanie was impressed. She was like, "You went that far, that fast? Wow!" And then I collapsed onto a chair and spent the next 20 trying to get my heart rate down enough for me take a shower without passing out. I got several compliments and encouragement after I last talked about my athletic endeavors, so let me be straight with you....I am doing this for purely cosmetic reasons. True I don't want to get diabetes/heart disease/cancer/dead, but I mostly want to wear a swimsuit and have a flat stomach. Plus, I am closer to 200 now than 100 and that is just fucking gross. (pardon my language) Being 5'7", I should weigh somewhere around 143lbs. and I am FAR beyond that. Like 10+ lbs beyond that. Ugh. So yeah, time to bust ass. Time's a-wastin and I need to get a move on.

So now I ask all of you a favor. Help me stay on track and reach my (undisclosed) target weight before I get back to 'Merica. Just send me a messgae asking if I ran today, reminding me to stay out of the chocolate, etc. I know this blog is supposed to be about the kids and whatever, but i'm about to take this to a whole new level. I don't blame you if you want to jump ship. So that's that.

Finally, I want to share with all of you the biggest compliment I have gotten yet. I friend recently started her own blog after following mine for a while. She said I inspired her. I've never thought of myself as an inspiring, or able to inspire others and her telling me that put a huge smile on my face. So, thanks Hillary! I can't wait to read what you have to say!

This Is Why My Monday Was Better Than Yours....

So I woke up at 8AM, drank some apple juice, pulled on a hoodie and got the kiddles of to playgroup. When we arrived, first Hot Playgroup Dad (HPD) told me good morning and winked. (Hot Dads might be better than hot "cubs") Then, the sweet little toddler gave me a big hug. She is adorable, barely 2 and super bubbly. She always talks to me (in garbled half-German--I just smile and reply "se gut" which means "is good" or "very good" or something) This wasa the first time she hugged me though, and my heart almost melted. Walked home and went back to bed for 2 hours.

Got up at 11 and skipped off to playgroup-IN A T SHIRT! Kiddles were in a decent mood and carried their own lunch boxes without whining. They actually ran, I never once had to say, "Let's go guys. I want to get home sometime today". I jumped online for half an hour to read about all the haps in 'Merica. Made lunch, which included TATER TOTS (who doesn't love tots?) and the kids ate with minimal whining.

Sent the kiddles outside and did a little housework. (Took out the trash, ran the dishwasher and even threw in a load of laundry. Then I sat outside, blasted my iTunes for the whole neighborhood to jam to and painted my finger/toe nails. Then I laid in the sun and closed my eyes for about an hour while the kiddles ran around picking me flowers. (Because it was a work day after all.)

When it got too breezy to lay comfortably in a t shirt, I jumped online and did some Facebook stalking and worked on my Farmville farm for a bit. The kids came in and drove matchbox cars up and down my legs while I read a book. Then Abuela (Stephanie's mom) came over.
The kids and I had sammichs and I caught up with Abuela who just got back from 2 1/2 weeks in Thailand. (BTW, Thailand is officially on my list of places to visit. Somewhere between Austraila and South America) The kids were so excited to see her that they forgot they to complain about dinner. (An otherwise daily occurance) Stephanie came home and I shared a bottle of wine with her and Abuela.

After Abuela left, the kids and I watched a half hour of Veggie Tales I put them to bed and took a 30 minutes scalding hot shower. Now I plan to read my blogroll (the list of blogs I "subscribe" to), maybe watch a movie and go to bed early because I stayed up too late last night watching the Michigan State basketball game. But not before I cross my fingers that tomorrow is as awesome as today was.
And what was your Monday like?

Athlete Barbie Blows Chunks

So I ended up running yesterday and today and it wasn't as terrible as I remembered. Even if I did throw up.

Yesterday, after the kids left, it was time to get moving. I changed clothes, ate a sammich (much more delicious than a sandwich), stretrched and was ready to go. Then, I look out the window and it was raining. So I sat back down, watched Precious (well, the first 45 minutes-that was more than enough for me), skyped the fam for over an hour and then set out again. I didn't go fast, but I made it pretty far...I lasted about a mile and a half. I know this doesn't seem far to a serious runner, but considering I could barely make it 1/2 a mile when I was 16, I'd say this is a vast improvement.

This morning I decided to go again. The clouds looked a little omninous, but accuweather said I had a few hours. I decided to try to go a little farther today; running out to this trail that leads to some farm fields and then back up into my neighborhood. I made it almost halfway through the fields before I doubled over and blew chunks. Sick nasty. And, as I'm hunched over, puking up my "Special Flakes", it began raining. Perfect. Some days, I seriously hate being me. I wiped my face on the back of my arm and sprinted all the way home and into the shower.

Now, I know a lot of  girls who are fitness nuts ( and a couple girls who may be borderline Ana) and they all use these pictures of super-skinny girls as motivation. Like their gonna fast til they are dizzy and run miles upon miles and one day they will look like Heidi Klum. I know that this will never be me, and it's so not why I'm "working on my fitness". I could run from here to China and I still wouldn't be 35-24-34. It's just genetics. And, I like food too much. I'd get to the Swiss/Austrian border and have to stop for a sandwich. LOL No, I go the other way. I have a picture of Kirstie Alley circa "Fat Actress" and say to myself, "I DO NOT want to look like this one day."  And when I get tired of running, or when I really want another cookie I imagine myself with multiple stomach rolls, 4 chins and excess back fat. Suddenly I can run faster and that cookie doesn't look so good anymore.

I said a few days ago that I refused to watch thenew Alice in Wonderland. Well, I take it back. There's a website we overseas folk use to watch US programs called Channel 131. I mostly use it to watch Grey's Anatomy and shows from ABC Family, but I've watched a few movies on it too. Friday night I logged on to watch the latest Grey's episode, which they didn't have. (Is Grey's on hiatus?) So I perused movies instead. And Alice was one of the newly listed, so I decided to give it a shot. I am certainly glad I did not pay to see it, but I was worth watching. I mean, it was FREE, I got to watch it IN BED and IN ENGLISH, so you can't really top that, right? It certainly was not the Alice in Wonderland that I remember; it was more Alice in Wonderland + Through the Looking Glass, spun into some weird sequel. At least Burton & Depp did not slaughter it the way they did Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.
So, last post I told you to check out Mike Posner...I kind of want to rescind that now. I mean, his music is good, but it wasn't just that one song that sampled from the Fray. All his music is like that. He puts "his spin" on Beyonce's "Halo", John Mayer's "I Don't Trust Myself", Jeremiah's "Birthday Sex" and a few other songs. Cool I guess, but it's not entirely original.

Speaking of things cool and original, I shared the story I'm writing with one of many friends named Emily. (and I do know many Emilys) She says what I have so far is good and I should finish it. When it's done, I'll post it up here and share it with all of you.
Anyway, I'm going to take a nap now....I'm sure I'll be back in a day or two. =)

Alyssa is Angry (Plus, Stats & New Music)

Somedays I seriously hate Facebook. Like I wish it were a person so I could slap it across the face.

Back in December, my Facebook account "crashed"...while all my information remained (and still remains) online, I was unable to log in and access anything. I sent Facebook 12 different emails (all of which went unanswered) and finally started a new account. It took days to re-add all my friends and I still have not recovered all the pictures. So I thought the old account was dead-just taking up space on the internet. Then I woke up this morning to 8 different friends telling me that the old account was contacting them, trying to send them a virus through a link. Grrr.... So I just spent the last 2 hours messaging every single one of my 600+ friends, asking them to delete "old me".

"How does one do that?" you may ask. Well first I made a handwritten list of all my friends. )Luckily, I have many friends of the same name). Then I sent out 33 messages with 20 receivers each. All with the same message copied & pasted. What a pain.

The only cool thing is, now I have some really neat statistics. I'm kind of a dork about statistics. Not like, free throws made in a season or percentage of Christians who are bigots. Just silly stuff. Like names. And so, here are the Top 5 names from my friends list. (Male & Female)

Male

Matt(hew)  11
Justin 10
Andrew 9

Eric/Erik 7
Chris(topher) 6

Ryan 6

Female

Jessica 11

Emily 10

Stephanie 8

Jennifer 7

Katie 7

Also, Alex, Chris, Jordan & Taylor were names that showed up for both guys and girls. Very interesting, I know.

And, clearly, I am incredibly bored this afternoon. The kiddles are outside, running aroun and pretending there are dinosaurs living in the backyard. So cute. When I was their age, I played a game where my friend and I pretended there were haunted dead body parts buried in the sand. One of us were the dead and the other, a paelentologist (sp?). Once you dug up the dead, it would chase you around and try to tag you. (Dead Hand in the Sand was the official name) Yeah. I was a weird kid. Not much has really changed though. HA.

Not much is really planned for this weekend. I always have this fantasy of jumping on a train and just...disappearing. I seriously do not have the guts for this though. Instead, I'll probably sleep (a lot), do some grocery shopping (I am such a domestic), and try to outrun my shadow. Now that it's finally nice out, I need to burn off the chocolate pounds before the pool opens and it's time to sun worship. Plus, I have this far-fetched idea of losing 20 lbs. before I come home. We shall see....

So, other than Facebook being a little bitch, there isn't much else to say. I'm just kind of addicted to writing in this again. So, I type a bunch of nonsense that nobody but me cares about and then I feel some release. OH! And to the person who asked about my writing on formspring, I've started writing again...are you interested in reading? I kind of like this stuff and I just might share. =)

Happy Weekend My Friends!!!!

Oh, and PS, ya'll really need to check out Mike Posner. He's from Sterling Heights, MI and sings my official new favorite song, Mirror's Edge. Here's a link: Mirror's Edge . He also sings some pretty chill songs about being a stoner and sings another great song, Still Not Over You, that samples from The Fray. Here's the link to that: Still Not Over You . That one hits kind of close to home for me. =-/ Not that I had a boyfriend in 2000 & I was in 8th grade, not 7th. And I certainly was NOT his first. Buuuut, there is someone who calls me everytime he breaks up with his girlfriend. LoL Miss you, Muddles....

*Done With Deutch*

Yay!! After 25 weeks, German lessons are finally over! I wish I could say that I left class last night and am now fully fluent, but that is certainly farrrrr from the case. Even if I had actually paid attention and put an effort into it, I'd still barely be able to make it past formalities. Whatever, this phrase here is all I really need:

"Guten Tag, ich bin Alyssa. Ich komme aus den U-S-A und spreche Englisch. Sprechen Sie Englisch?"
"Good day, I am Alyssa. I come from the USA and speak English. Do you speak English?"

If they respond "nein" I say "danke" and walk away. If they speak English, then we carry on.

Before class, I had to pick up a letter showing that I attended class and how many hours I was there so Stephanie can mail it to the au pair agency. There were 44 class hours in total and I was expecting to have like, 30 hours because of the weeks I was in America and the 3 classes I missed because of illness. I only had 24. Apparently, those days when the teacher gave us homework and told us to work on it for the last 30-45 minutes of class and I just left early, she marked me absent. Bullshit. Ah well, whatever. I would much rather work on the dreaded Deutch from the comfort of my bed in my PJs, rather than in a hot classroom with the Albainian staring at me like I was a piece of meat and the mother/daugther duo from Kosovo obviously talking about me.

Speaking of the creep-ass Albanian, the last lesson ended without incident from him. Ever since the night I flipped out on him and told him he had ZERO chance with me, he's pretty much avoided me, but last night he decided to give it one more go. He asked me to go get a glass of wine with him-I said no, I had to relieve the babysitter (Stephanie is skiing this week) and that was that. No grabbing my arm. No callin me "pretentious" or "the American bitch". He just walked away.

I'm still trying to recover from this weekend's lack of sleep. I know that I'm getting older because it is becoming harder to do. I was up til like 5AM Saturday (well, Sunday) and I forced myself out of bed at 10AM so I would sleep that night. I did, and I ended up sleeping almost all day Monday. Then, I couldn't sleep Monday night and despite sleeping last night, I am still dog tired. Plus, I stopped drinking pop, so I don't even have anything for a pick-me-up.

The kids have started stagnating with their English progression and I'm not sure what to do know. They have a pretty large vocabulary and now I'm trying to work on grammer/sentence structure and pronunciation with them, but it is very slow going. German sentences are opposite English ones, so they get mixed up often. Instead of  "Can I have a glass of water, please?" it's "Water please, can I have glass?" And they pronounce everything with some weird French-esque accent. Dog and dark sound exactly alike and "water" is pronounced "waller".

In addition to my usual day-to-day duties, I am becoming quite the little cook. I'm taking the usual ingredients (chicken breasts or patties, ground hamburger, sausage, pasta, rice, spaztl and various fresh and canned vegetables) and experimenting-creating new things. Or, at least trying new recipes. A new favorirte is Sheperd's Pie. Very delicious and great on a cold day, but a pain in the ass to make. Especially because some of the the ingredients the online recipes call for cannot be found in Switzerland (example: Worstishire sauce) so I have to substitute and hope everything turns out well. And....this dish takes nearly TWO HOURS to make, from the time I start peeling potatoes til I serve it up. It gives me something to do though, instead of just sitting on the couch in the morning, reading a book or surfing the web. (When Alessio is at kindergarten, Liano is sad and doesn't like to do much more than lay on the couch)

I had the CRAZIEST dream last night.....my friend Amanda and I were visiting Brandi at college. We were smoking and drinking at her table so she got angry. (We were smoking purple braids of grass and taking shots of pink, bubbly liquid.) Brandi got angry and left the room and then her neighbor showed up. (In reality, this guy plays hockey at SV. I Facebook stalked him the other night and told Brandi she should date him when she gets to SV. She said no.) Amanda and I were clearly infatuated and Brandi came back and got angry. Amanda and I sprouted pink & purple wings and then Brandi started throwing butter knives at us. We grabbed the guy and went outside. Brandi followed us and when she came out, all three of us were on the roof. Super weird, right? I wish I knew someone who interpreted dreams. I put out a request as my FB status, let's hope someone answers!!

And, I've saved the best news for last! Lady Gaga's Monsters Ball tour will be playing in Detroit Labor Day Weekend!!!!!!!!!! We don't have tickets yet, but I am definitely going! Not sure yet if it will be a reunion for Amanda, Hillary and I (Island friends)  or if Emily Wisniewski and I (Brandi's friend who is one of my "little sisters") will go. Either way, it's sure to be amazing as Gaga is seriously the coolest! =)

SVSU Cardinals ACHA Div. 3 Champs!

CONGRATULATIONS

SAGINAW VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY

CARDINALS

ON YOUR

2ND

NATIONAL TITLE!!

Oh my goodness, SO exciting. The game was being broadcast online, so I put up the $6.99 required to tap into the game feed and stayed up nearly all night watching the Cardinals put away another (back-to-back) win in the Division 3 hockey finals. I missed the game last year because I was out in UT, and that made it 10x better that I got to watch this game. Especially considering there were only 3 of the original players I used to watch left on the team and they will all be graduating.

I'd give a blow-by-blow account of the game, but I doubt many of you care. Let me just say, it was an AWESOME defeat over Hope College (which, incidentally, is also a Mchigan school). Final score 6-3 and I finally made it to bed around 5AM, after watching the game & awards ceremony and skyping with a few of the people I still know at SV to talk about it. Needless to say, I am exhausted. But, it was well worth it! =)

Congrats again, Cardinals!!!!!!