The Circle of Life

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So, today my girl found the first iPod I ever owned. It is green. I was given it in the airport on the way to look for a house here in Brazil about two years ago. The poor thing lasted less than a year. Last January 1st it met an untimely death when I jumped into the swimming pool to save a capsized baby. With my clothes on. With my iPod in my pocket. (blog entry here) It still works if it is plugged in, but can't hold a charge.

Not so good for a portable electronic device.

Well, I had to explain the whole thing again to my son (who was in the pool at the time and alerted me to the problem) and the girl (who was too cold to swim that day). I even got out the pictures to show them the rectangular shape that was very visible in my pocket. None of them remembered, but they asked if I could do it again. I said I didn't want to break another iPod. Or scare the baby.

Fast forward to today.

The heavens opened and the rain was falling in drops the size of a marble and the baby got out the umbrella. I was not in the mood to go walking in the rain like last week, since it would take forever to get them back in the house. So, I suggested we go swimming. Our pool is enclosed in a glass room and heated. There are a few spots in the roof where the glass doesn't quite meet, so we were even able to catch freezing (relatively) drops of rain falling from the glass ceiling.

Totally awesome.

We were playing merpeople (since we have a merman) and the baby was in her boat. The girl was about to jump off the side to me when I heard splashing behind me.

The baby had capsized again.

Wow! is it hard to run in the pool. Granted, it was only about 8 feet, but on slippy pool tiles in slow motion? For. Ever. I grabbed the baby's foot and pulled her over and righted her. She huffed for a while and wanted to sit with me on the side "and a towel." I sat with her until I was too cold and then sat her down. Less than a minute later, she was standing on the side of the pool asking if she could jump to me.

Quick recovery, I'd say.

So, a year and bit later, we had a replay of events, minus the electronic disaster.

Thus, the circle of life.

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Conversation with the girl...

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Daddy: Who loves you?

Girl: Mommy!

Daddy: Who else?

Girl: Daddy!

Daddy: Who loves you the most?

Girl: Jesus!

Not exactly the response he was looking for, but it works.

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My Piano (Part II)

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Well, here we are seven years later. I have done a few more small repairs, three or four keys here, an octave there, but even after moving to Florida and then Brazil (where the piano was tipped on its side to fit in the elevator, a short story for another day) I still had 51 delicious soybean elbows completely intact. This is well past the 10-30 year predicted lifespan of this piano. Well, then high E bit the dust and I was organist at church (and therefore had to practice a lot!), something had to be done.

My little helper.

And when I do something, I go all the way. I have been hearing a clicking when using some of the keys just below middle C, so I decided to take out the keys and clean underneath them. Now, before you get scared, know that I had done this multiple times with my parents piano because coins fit great between the keys and pencils fall neatly through the hole behind the music stand.

Well, there were more screws to undo on this compact piano and it didn’t feel quite so sturdy, but I got to the culprit: a nail file. And about a half century’s worth of dust and bug carcasses.

Eeewww!

I got out the vacuum and the dusting mitt and a wet cloth and cleaned those ivories and ebonies like they’ve never been cleaned before- even along the scummy edges.

That was refreshing.

Then I got to work on those pesky elbows. It took me two evenings to crunch away all 51 remaining soybean delicacies.

This is the "action" minus the soybean horsd'vours.



This is the elbow graveyard, the reusable drop wires and the new elbows.



Notice all the fallen keys. Not deemed important enough to replace until now.

So on Sunday I set myself up in the kitchen next to the stove and replaced all those little boogers.



Why the stove, you may ask?

Well, instead of having to screw those pesky little inexpensive beauties onto the drop wires, I heated up that little wire on my gas stove and pushed it into the new plastic elbow.



Total magic.

Then I crawled back under the piano and popped those sucker into their new homes.



And now I have a better-than-just-like-new piano.

Except for the two fabric stringy pieces that broke while I was repairing the elbows. These parts, I just found out, are called “bridle straps.” Apparently this helps the hammers fall back from the strings giving a crisp sound, along with about 40 other moving parts.

Notice the wood piece which is falling farther forward than the rest, and the broken fabric part hanging forward toward the left of the picture.

Well, before I even knew what they were called, I MacGuyvered my own version using pink string and an upholstery needle. Yes I did.

The little wood parts are pretty much in line now. I actually think I untied and redid this one after I took the picture to line it up better.

Now no one can steal my piano and say it is theirs because I know that there are two beautifully tied pink bows holding it together. So I really do have a better-than-just-like-new piano. It still sounds good even though I never did get it tuned.

Take that piano man!

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My Piano

 

This is my piano.
 

It is a spinet style made in the 50s. It is the fourth piece of furniture we bought for our house. We found it in the daily classifieds at my sweetie’s office just after the boy was born (about 7 years ago). It was just across the border in NJ and owned by a band director. It had been purchased new by their family 50 years earlier.

And the price was right!
 

We paid $400 plus $19.99 for renting the U-haul. It was in great shape (I’m a self-proclaimed expert) except for one broken key way down low. Only one key? How much could that cost? Soon there were five more broken keys, some in the middle of the piano. I figured that because of all the lifting and moving (four steps down to the truck and two steps up to our house) it needed to be tuned also, so I called a guy. This guy apparently tuned everyone’s piano, or at least everyone from church.

 

He took one look at the piano and said

it would cost $800 to repair the piano

before he could tune it.
 

Once I regained consciousness I asked why $800 to fix six keys. He said that back in the 50s there was this new-fangled kind of plastic made from soy beans. Everyone was using it in everything, including pianos. This plastic was shown (and here demonstrated) to crystallize and crack in the following 10 to 30 years. He said that he was surprised that it was in as good a condition that it was - three of these plastic parts had obviously already been replaced now that he mentioned it. He also said that I was lucky that only one part – on every key – was made out of this miracle plastic.

 

Notice those beautiful broken yellow soybean elbows?

And he would have to take out the “action” (sounding board?) so he could take it back to his workshop and replace the remaining 85 elbows (as those little menaces are called), oh, and it would take two months.

No thank you.
 

Why in the name of everything pure and good would I pay DOUBLE what I paid for my piano to get it fixed when it wasn’t really broken yet. But it was not over. I courteously told him what I paid for the piano and what he was suggesting was out of my price range. Could he just fix those six keys? No. He said that if he fixed these six keys now, he would be back in a month to repair another six keys. And then a month after that…you get the idea. It would be more work for him and cost me more in the long run. Well, being the

justboughtahousehadanewbabythenmommyquitworkingandalsoboughttwonewcars family, 















we were not really looking to invest in anything. We were trying to get by. 

Then could he just tune it?
 

He said he wouldn’t. I asked why. He said that he could not, in good conscience allow me to spend money on something that was less than playable. Come on! How often do you really use A-flat below middle C? And the others were in the way upper and lower octaves. He also said it would basically be blasphemy in the piano tuner’s world.

Fine! Get out of my house!
 

After a good cry, having another child,
finding out that we use Aflat quite a bit in the children’s songbook (and about two years), my sweetie gave me a little push. He said that instead of scrapping the piano or watching it slowly deteriorate, I should fix it myself.

WHAT?@?@@???

IT.
IS.

A.
PIANO!!

Not a flat tire or a loaf of bread or a quilt.
 

But he pushed me just enough to make me start looking. I found a website about the type of piano and the type of plastic. Yup, the guy was telling the truth. Those elbows had to go. And I was going to do it. I looked some more and found a little tutorial on where to order these little babies and how to simply (albeit unorthodoxly) install them. I ordered the parts and after staring at the little paper bag that the parts were shipped in (I kid you not) for a few days, I opened the front of the piano, cracked out the rest of the old soybean plastic elbow (who likes soybeans anyway?) and worked some magic.

 

New elbow and old elbow (already cracked out of the piano)

I had those six keys fixed in about an hour using my handy-dandy needle nosed pliers. Take that little greedy perfectionist piano man!!!

Who needs you and your tuning fork anyway??!@?
 

Piano: $400
U-Haul rental: $19.99
Set of new reliable nylon elbows: $44.18 including shipping.
Pride in myself and my money-saving abilities: priceless.

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Overheard from the girl

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When the baby was seen wearing her dress...

"I don't let Baby wear that dress ever!

Not on Saturday!
Not on Sunday!
Not on Moneyday!
Not on Googleday!
Not on legoday!
Never!"

When told to put her nightime diaper and jammies away...

"But, Mom, this diaper has a hundred bamillion peepees in it!"

When she decided to get dressed in the living room...

"DON'T LOOK AT MY NAKED@!!!"

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Brazilian Fried Chicken

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We went to lunch today with Daddy. We picked him up and went to the food court of the closest grocery store. The kids obviously wanted McDonald's but I was not sure what I would choose. One of my favorite panini places was there, but I wanted to branch out. I wandered around for a few minutes until I found a fried chicken place.

It looked so good, I just had to try it.

I left the kiddies (meow!) with daddy and went to get my food. I picked the "Kit Express A" (pronounced kitchee esspresse aahh) which was two pieces of chicken, two rice balls and either fries or polento. I picked polento. I had to wait about ten minutes (kids were done with their meals by the time I got back) but it was well worth it.

When Brazilians say fried chicken, they mean FRIED CHICKEN!

This chicken was delicious. The cooking method was the same as the fries. Put the breaded chicken into a wire basket and sink it into the vat of oil. MMMMMmmmmm. French fried chicken. If this is how a deep fried turkey is, then sign me up next year for the fried variety. It was sooooo delicious. Not so good health or weight-wise, but to make up for it I only ate a few of the polento. The water was good for me, though.

Now I'm pulling out the Wii Fit.

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Four slightly related stories.

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First. I took my sweetie to work yesterday. My car was dead and I needed to use his to get to my tennis lesson (another of the stories). We left at 6:25. Yikes. I hadn't woken up before nine since we got home. But it was ok. The roads were practically empty, which is the whole purpose of going that early. We got there, he got out, I scrootched (technical term) over and drove away. When I got about a block down the road, I saw a guy on the side of the road pointing at me and then over my head.

I had visions of the boogie man riding my car like teen wolf and then realized that wouldn't happen during the day.

I looked in my rearview mirror and saw nothing. Still, if he was telling me something was behind me, I wanted to see what it was. I did a scenic u-turn (the only kind possible in the land of one-way streets) and when I got back to the office, there was my sweetie standing on the sidewalk waiting for me. His badge was still in the car, and since he is ALWAYS the first one in the office he needed it. I didn't have my cell phone (who remembers that at 6am after five hours of sleep?) and my sweetie would have had to wait until I got home or someone else arrived a work.

Thank goodness for the observant kindness of this Brazilian stranger in a blue t-shirt.

Second. I <3> tennis. On the way home to church on Sunday we drove past the tennis courts and the door was closed. When we left, the land had been sold and it was not certain if they would still be open when we got back. I had rained so we thought that maybe if we drove back past after church the courts may be dry enough for them to be open.

I was so happy to see the doors open when we drove past again.

I ran inside and set up a lesson for my normal time on Tuesday. The owner let me know that they would be open through the end of July. Perfect for me and my schedule. So Tuesday comes along and I am so excited because I got new tennis shoes and clothes for Christmas from my mother-in-law. The shoes fit perfectly (apparently Prince shoes run wider) and my tennis outfits are smoking. I got there a bit late because of my car trouble (another of the stories) and was met by my coach who was happy to see me again. He noticed my new clothes and complimented me on how good I looked.

He actually asked me if I ran all the way to the US or just stopped eating.

So sweet. You can't make it up, or exaggerate since tennis clothes hide nothing. I did look good. But that's not all. I played well also. When I started hitting the ball again it felt so good and natural. I frequently do well only on one side. Like my forehand rocks but my backhand goes straight into the net. I was rocking both sides. I even did well on my serves. The only drawback was that it was nearly 90 degrees and the sun was almost directly overhead. I got rather overheated, but boy was it fun.

And my new white shoes have been lightly baptized in the orange clay.

Third. I miss new-best-friend-Serena. She and her family moved back to Utah just before Christmas. I thought it would be ok since I have more friends than just her here. Unfortunately, none of those people are back from their vacations yet. I have a habit of using my cell phone in the car. I get in my car and pick up my phone. In the US I would call my mom or a random friend just to keep in touch. Here I called Serena. I got in my car to go to tennis and I had no one to call. It made me sad. I was stuck in traffic today.

It was because there was a tree that fell across four lanes of traffic onto a car while pulling down power lines into the road.

I found this out because I was on the side of the road that was still moving, but we were down to one lane since the top of the tree was in one lane, the downed power lines were in another and I drove between them in the only lane still open. This is something that I REALLY wanted to call and tell someone about. That someone was Serena.

I caught myself singing along to a Backyardigans song in my car.

I had no kids with me. Serena had a good time teasing me about that. I laughed out loud and sang louder. I will adapt, but I haven't yet. I also haven't cried, but I will.

Fourth. We got back from our vacation and my car was dead. D. E. A. D. No lights. No lock or unlock. Nothing. We asked the Zelador to help charge the battery but he was busy dealing with plumbing issues. So, I jumped it with our other car. Yeah, I did it.

My sweetie stood back, fearing for his car and life.

He had complete faith in me, but not in himself. That's love right there. Anyway, it worked and I drove the car around for 20 minutes before parking it back in the garage. I was so proud of myself. Then came the question: Will it start again? It didn't. The interior lights came on and it clicked, but the lights were flickering and dim. Since it was late, we gave up and walked away. When I locked the car with the key fob, all the windows, except the driver's, went and then about halfway back up before all the movement stopped and the lights went out.

SPOOKY!

My sweetie's car had its windows down when he got done golfing on Saturday. Maybe that is a Brazilian car thing so you can get in Dukes of Hazzard style when the battery is dead. Anyway, my job for the next day was to fix my battery problem. I needed to research the battery, buy the battery and have it installed. In Portuguese. All I had to do was drive down the hill in our other car (since I took my sweetie to work) to the SUPERmarket, talk to the mechanic in their garage, buy a battery upstairs and have it installed.

I don't know what was wrong with me.

It was easy. But I was afraid to do it. I actually sat around until 1pm just fretting about it. I was frozen with anxiety. Do you ever get that way? Well I do. I get nothing done but fret and do stupid computer games, making it worse all the while. I called my sweetie to see if calling our 24 hour insurance emergency assistance was an option and he reminded me that I can do anything. It took a lot of convincing and some of his special charm. So I marched myself down to the Extra (ok, I drove) and went right up to a mechanic and told him my problem and he told me what kind of battery to get and how long it would take to fix it and how much it would cost to install it and what their hours were.

It was so easy.

So I got the battery and went home to get ready for tennis. Well, my special helper had noticed that I was having trouble and she called her son to come help. Just before I left for tennis Penha's son showed up and fifteen minutes later my battery was changed and I was on my way to tennis in my own car. It wasn't so bad once I just decided to do it. My sweetie is astounded that I had such a hard time doing this "simple thing" when I have no problem telling him that I can build a deck and put in flooring and redesign a kitchen with confidence. I pulled the language barrier excuse but he wasn't buying it since I do very well with Portuguese.

Sometimes we just get stuck and it takes a little push to get us out.

I'm glad he pushes me when I need it.
Other times, not so much.

Those are my four stories.

If you can figure out how they relate, you win.

The end.

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It's just not even fair!

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"Why is my life so sad? I never get to have fun."

So says the boy who has been out of school for a month and got almost everything he wanted for Christmas. (But he didn't even know he wanted Wall-E stuff before Christmas)

"Why do I always have to do everything?"

So says the boy who's only job is to put away his legos and pajamas.

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Life

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So, today we are pretty much back in the rhythm of life here, for a Saturday.

We got up around 9, I made pancakes and sent the big kids to play golf with daddy.

The baby and I needed something to do, so we went swimming. In our heated pool, not that we needed it, as the weather today was perfect. I did laps (about 15yds) for about half and hour while the baby floated around in her boat. It was fun.

We saw butterflies drinking out of the flowers outside the pool room. The poor butterflies kept flying into the glass. The baby thought that was hilarious.

We had a relaxing afternoon watching DIY Network while scrapbooking and my sweetie was reading.

I took a little trip to the grocery store and enjoyed watching my cute little baby girl snarf down a golf-ball sized brigadeiro. She was so proud of herself sitting up at the counter with her little napkin-lined basket and her ginormous chocolate sprinkled treat.

Oh and for dinner I picked up a roasted chicken and my sweeite made garlic-red-mashed potatoes. MMmmmm.

I am now finishing up my tomato salad (which I missed while in the US) before we dive into those brownie-mix brownies.

I am also listening (in addition to the football game, hmfh) to the birds do their twilight (not related to the book) spaz singing and random flying in our "backyard" park.

This is a great place to be.

It is good to be me.

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Obedience

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We have a little joke at our house. The answer to everything involves smacking bummies.

You are tired? Well, I have just the solution: a smack on the bummy.

You can't think of anything to do? I happen to have a smack on the bummy in my pocket.

You think you want to make bad choices? I've got your bummy smack right here.

And there is a rule. Mommy is the boss of smacking bummies, but if I stick my bummy out (quite common) a kid is allowed to smack it.

The baby likes to "shake her naked" and yell "Buuummmmmyyy!" a lot to try and provoke a bummy smack, especially after a trip to the potty, but before the clothes have been replaced.

The girl does awesome hip/bummy dances to her Barbie music.

The boy said to me today, he said, "mom, I would always obey if you told me to give bummy smacks." He was totally serious and I believe him.

If only life were as easy as a bummy smack...

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Dejavu

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This morning I woke up and thought that I was on vacation. Not that month-long thing that I took to the US (and from the blog, apparently), but on a real vacation at the beach.

Balboa Island, to be exact. This is a man-made island near Newport Beach, CA.

My sweetie's family vacationed there every summer for the two weeks after Independence Day as a tradition. That tradition is now gone, but I was able to experience the last eight years. I loved the smells, the sounds and the general feel of the island.

The air was thick. The people completely relaxed. And the homes were under constant construction.

This morning I found out that my neighbors above us are doing construction. Either that or they have hired at least two people to sit upstairs and pound hammers all day. I don't know what they are doing, but there are hammers involved.

I'm not complaining, I liked the feeling I had when I got up. And I liked that it lasted most of the day. Until it was too hot for the humidity to be comfortable.

It was relaxing and familiar.

I liked that about today.

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Merry Christmas 2008

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So, I grounded myself from blogging until I got my Christmas Card done. Now I am done.
And here it is...

Family Christmas Letter 2008

We are pleased to send holiday greetings to all of our friends and family during this summer season. In Brazil (remember, southern hemisphere) we are just entering summer, the beaches are getting crowded, the mosquitoes are multiplying rapidly, and we are wrapping up our 18th month in country. During this year we have become much more aware of Brazilian customs, culture and people through friends at school, work and church. Our Portuguese has improved dramatically (the girl even speaks accent free!) and we have had the chance to visit more of the country than we had during our hectic relocation last year.



We have now visited but 4 of the 26 states in Brazil and during those trips we were able to visit the state of Rio de Janeiro to see the Pao de Açucar, Corcovado (the Christ statue), Copacabana and Ipanema beaches in addition to the beautiful green hills that divide Rio. I even found a suitable hill to jump off of and try paragliding. We then were visited by my youngest brother and visited the state of Mato Grosso do Sul where we went on wildlife safaris in the Brazilian wetlands of the Pantanal. In addition, we went rappelling into a water filled cave, snorkeling in a warm water natural spring and rafting down a nearby river. Next the family took a trip to the state of Paraná to attend the open house for the Curitiba LDS Temple and then take a train ride through the mountains to the coastal town of Morretes. The deep forest was beautiful with the unique trees and giant ferns.



The winter (July) saw a visit from my parents. Grandma helped the girl and I celebrate our birthdays like princesses. We showed them the local sights, spent a day at the beach, played in the park with kites, explored the downtown market, and took a quick trip to Rio. In October we went to the Argentine border with my sweetie's parents to visit Foz do Iguaçu and tour inside the Itaipu dam. At the national park we were greeted with spectacular views of the waterfalls, a breathtaking view from above in a helicopter, a boat trip on the river which took us into the waterfalls, a cacophony of bird voices at the aviary, and a climbing/zip line adventure through the trees. With the kids we have had frequent trips to beaches in the state of Sao Paulo and recreational spots in and around the city of Sao Paulo. Finally we wrapped up 2008 visiting the US for the first time since we left in July of 2007. It has been nice being home for a bit after being gone for 18 months.

The baby celebrated her second birthday this year. She had a special birthday cake topped with her favorite brigadeiro sauce (thick, chocolate and fudgy) with colorful flower sprinkles. She has enjoyed her fairy wings, magic wand, ballerina tutu and high heel “lady shoes.” She moved from her crib to a big girl bed and has been handling that freedom quite responsibly. Her favorite way to postpone bedtime is to ask the question: “Mommy, mommy, mommy. Remember, remember we went to the beach?” or another recent activity. The baby has the distinction of being the only of our children to be potty trained before 3-years-old. She decided she was done with diapers and trained herself. Her favorite activities are play dough, going to the park and dancing and singing along with her various Barbie princess movies. To top off her year, the baby went to Disneyland, dressed as Snow White and danced with the real Snow White.



The girl had a Cinderella birthday party for her fourth birthday this year. She enjoyed her princess castle birthday sticker countdown calendar. Grandma (my mom) made her a princess cake, complete with sparkles and earrings. In February, the girl began attending a local Brazilian pre-school, complete with dinner and ballet class. When she returns from school it is always fun to hear what she ate at school. Occasionally she says that she ate “beans and rice and green chicken.” She has learned how to spell her name, spell pretend names and has many new friends. Her toys quite often are heard speaking Portuguese while she is playing. The girl made a trip to the ER after falling out of her bed and slicing open her chin, again. She frequently requests that we do projects, build couch forts and dance like princesses. Her new favorite activity is playing golf with her dad every Saturday morning.



The boy turned 6 in style with an R2D2 cake to share with his friends at school and a glowing light saber cake at home following his birthday countdown calendar and treasure hunt. He was a convincing clone trooper for Halloween, complete with a dart gun. He attended many fun birthday parties of school friends, class parties and played with friends at the playground after school. Currently in first grade, the boy has become an excellent reader and recently started writing and illustrating his own books. He is growing up fast, loosing teeth, being brave at the dentist and practicing to ride his bicycle. Recently, the boy asked "Mom, when are we going to move again?" We were concerned about what was wrong, hoping we could help him through what must be a difficult transition, but he elaborated: "I want to meet some new friends because whenever we move we meet new friends."



I am enjoying using my free time to scrapbook, explore Sao Paulo and have fun with friends. I enjoyed hang-gliding in Rio, rappelling and snorkeling in Bonito, watching the forest from the train in Curitiba and climbing through the trees in Iguasu. I watched snakes being fed, stood inches from a tarantula, caught a piranha and was snacked on by mosquitoes. I have improved my tennis skills through my weekly lessons on local clay courts. I even broke the strings on my racket for the first time. At church I have taught weekly English classes, served as chorister for the children and filled in as organist. Between speaking with Brazilian friends and taking private lessons, I have become quite proficient speaking Portuguese.



My sweetie has become a master travel planner and tour guide as we have gone on our many adventures. He investigated the eco-tourism in the west and we enjoyed a week of exciting, and unique experiences. He arranged for the family to ride on a historic train route and tour a new temple. He found tour packages for us to explore the waterfalls on the southern border of the country. My sweetie even put together a week of happiness, magic and wonder in southern California just before celebrating Christmas in Arizona. He has been teaching the finer points of the game of golf to the whole family on his Saturday morning outings to the driving range. He even got me to play a quick round with him. Work kept him at home this year, with only one trip to Puerto Rico. The family has really enjoyed having daddy at home.

We wish you all the best in the new year.

Me, my sweetie, the boy, the girl and the baby.



If you would like any of our specific contact information, leave a comment and I can send it to you.

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