Defending the Fatherland

Monday was "Defenders of the Fatherland Day" in Russia. I'm not sure what exactly it's meant to commemorate, something akin to Veteran's Day, but with a little bit of Father's Day thrown in I think. But why split hairs when it means a day off of work? We went to Rosinka in the morning to go skiing with Josie McGhie and Lisa Pieper. Notice Josie and I have matching coats, we both bought them in China on different trips. It makes it look like we're on a team when we ski together. I think I must be the anchorman because I'm always bringing up the rear.

Andrew came along too, the only husband bold enough to brave the racers that were using the beginning of the track.

Ella spent the morning at Josie's taking care of her new dog, Molly, a cockerspaniel/poodle mix who is very cute.

After so many frosty receptions from Sassy (Andrew's parents' poodle), she was thrilled to have a dog show her so much affection.

For the rest of the day Ella kept asking for "more Molly." Luckily Josie invited us up again today so Ella will get another fix.

Nice

A few weeks ago they finished "fixing" our wiring problems. They did this by running a large electrical cord from the front of the apartment (where the fuse box is) to the back, where the fire damage was. I naively thought that they might actually fix what broke, but naturally, our landlady opted to jerry rig a large extension cord instead. So now we have this nice gray wire running along our entire ceiling. And, they left the fire hole open, so we have a nice charred patch at the end of our hallway. Russian construction standards leave something to be desired.
The wire runs along the ceiling just below the crown molding.

All the way to our entryway and through the living room.

My Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday, and Andrew planned such a great day for me. We started with brunch with a group of our friends from downtown at a neighborhood diner (very kid friendly). Afterwards we left Ella with the sitter and Andrew and I drove out to a lovely park and went cross country skiing for about an hour. Then we rushed home and changed and met some friends for dinner at a steakhouse nearby (I always crave red meat when I'm pregnant). We stayed and visited for hours and had a really wonderful time. Andrew had to get up early on Saturday and Sunday for church meetings, but he still worked hard to ensure I had a great birthday, and it worked.

Cross country skiing at Izmailovsky Park. I know, I know, I look funny, but it's really hard to find maternity snow pants.
Ella thought it was her birthday. She helped me open my presents from Andrew; a chocolate bar and a really beautiful painting from our favorite gallery.

I thought to commemorate my 31st year I would blog 31 things that not everyone knows about me. The list follows:

1. In middle school and high school I worked as a dog groomer
2. My favorite movie is "What About Bob?"
3. when I was little I used to eat rock salt. Sometimes I would steal it right out of fake plant pots.
4. I've been to every continent except Antartica
5. My sister Alyson and I used to steal 1 lb boxes of See's candy from my mom's Christmas-gift-stash and eat the whole thing in our bed Sunday mornings before church.
6. My first kiss was a stage kiss for a play my junior year of high school.
7. My favorite calling in the church is Relief Society teacher.
8. I was once offered a job at the Humane Society euthanizing stray cats and dogs.
9. In seventh grade, I once got so engrossed in a book that I was reading that I prayed for the characters' safety and well-being. My sister overheard me and thought I was praying for our neighbor's horse, who had a rhyming name. She used to tease me about it, but it was a lot less lame than what I was actually doing, so I never corrected her.
10. I dated Ken Jennings.
11. I was once a guest caller on Car Talk.
12. The two best places I've ever visited are London and Beijing.
13. My favorite magazine is The Economist.
14. When I'm pregnant, I don't crave foods that much, but my taste in books and movies changes drastically, becoming roughly equivalent of those of a 13 year old girl.
15. My first car was a Daewoo Nexia that got stolen 6 weeks after we bought it. The Russian insurance company suspected we were involved and never compensated us.
16. My favorite standard work is the Old Testament.
17. I once had a boyfriend so cheap that I kept snacks in my purse whenever we went out because I never knew if a date would include dinner.
18. I once sent out fake wedding invitations to my friends and family for April Fool's Day.
19. My favorite poem is T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."
20. Once when my parents were gone, we ran out of dishwashing detergent so Alyson and I put regular dish soap in the dishwasher. An hour later we came downstairs and found that the whole kitchen filled up with suds, up to the tops of the counters.
21. I hate craft stores because all the unfinished projects stress me out and I never know what any of the stuff is for.
22. One time my sister MaryAnn and I played hide and seek with a babysitter. We found a really good hiding place and stayed there for hours. When we finally emerged, we found out that the babysitter had panicked and called the police.
23. My favorite book is "Anna Karenina."
24. I only set my alarm clock on Saturday nights.
25. My sisters and I used to jump off of our barn wearing full-skirted princess dresses, convinced that the skirts would act as parachutes and break our falls. They didn't.
26. I like to get manicures or pedicures primarily because it gives me an excuse to read the kind of fluffy magazines that I would never buy.
27. I once had a summer job milking our neighbor's goat morning and evening for $1 a day.
28. I like to watch tv with Ella because it's one of the few times that she gets really snuggly.
29. I like to eat candy corns or candy pumpkins with white cheddar cheese.
30. After watching "Psycho" for the first time my freshman year in college, I was so scared that for two weeks I made my roommate Wendy stand in the bathroom to talk to me whenever I took a shower.
31. I once flew to London for 36 hours just to see Ian McKellan in the RSC's "King Lear" with my college roommate, Carrie. It was tough going explaining the trip at customs (or to anyone else, for that matter).

New Calling, New Branch

A few weeks ago Andrew informed me that the mission president wanted to meet with us. I was pretty sure it meant a new calling, and I hoped it was for Andrew. I was curious as to what the calling might be, but I didn't have the usual feeling of mild trepidation-- it was the first time I knew that the calling couldn't be more challenging or time consuming than the calling he presently held. So we arranged babysitting and made a two hour trek out to the mission president's house in rush hour traffic after Andrew got off work. President Cranney extended the call to be the second counselor in the newly re-organized district presidency. The following Sunday the change was made, and last Sunday I returned to the international branch. It was so nice to be back with my friends and to understand everything said in the meetings and to be able to participate. Andrew had been branch president of the Rechnoi Branch, a Russian branch in the city, for 18 months, and Ella and I have been attending with him. We learned a lot from the experience, but I am grateful to finally be back in the international branch, which feels more like home to me.

Ella's Jobs

Ella is responsible for changing all her dollies' diapers whenever they are dirty. Some days they get dirty a lot. But she is pretty proficient.
I like this one because she's just put "creme" on the baby and is wiping her index finger off on the clean diaper, just like I do.

She doesn't mind taking time out of her busy prima ballerina schedule to attend to the dollies.

Happy What?

On Tuesday I look Ella swimming at the embassy with our friend Lindsey and her son Owen. Ella really likes swimming ("wewry fun") and had a great time playing with Owen ("Owie"), who is just about her speed. Afterwards we took the kids to dinner at the family restaurant there for one of Ella's favorite meals, pizza. She and Owen ran around the nearly empty restaurant for awhile then Ella came up to me and said, "poopies coming. Soft poopies." It's always nice to hear descriptions of a child's bodily functions during dinner. I took Ella out to the changing table to address this situation. She kept talking about her poopies, telling me over and over again that they were "happy poopies." I couldn't stop laughing. I guess she was happy enough to project her state of mind to everything else around her.

At the Park (cont)

Proud of her achievement, reaching the slide without falling.

She was particularly proud of her tummy slides.

She had the back slides down too.

I guess it's a good thing that she likes the snow, living where we live.

Hats, Boots, Coat, Lena

I don't take Ella outside to play very often. Mostly because it is really cold outside, there aren't very convenient places for me to sit my unwieldy, too-quick-to-tire-six month pregnant body down for its requisite break every seven minutes, and because it takes almost ten minutes to clothe Ella in all the layers she needs to stave off pnemonia (or worse, clucking tongues from Babushkas). Luckily, Ella doesn't suffer too much because her nanny, Elena, is far more willing to accomodate her wishes in this regard. So, three days a week Ella gets a lengthy outing outside to do her favorite things, sliding down slides and building tiny snowmen. A few days ago though, I started to rethink this arrangement when Ella and I were having a conversation about what she has to wear to go outside. Ella listed all her clothes, "coat, scarf, gloves, hat, sweater, snowpants, boots..." then she listed the other essential, "Lena". So I started to wonder if I was missing out in not taking her to the park once in awhile. So on Saturday I bundled both of us up and we visited the playground near our house. I made sure to take lots of pictures just in case it doesn't happen again. And because Ella was so happy and cute while we were there. She kept saying, "Ella happy, Ella happy" over and over again. Hard to argue with that.


Here's Ella preparing to make a very small snowman.
The snowman ended up being just a tad bigger than her attention span, but she showed it some affection anyway.

Now for the real fun-- the slide.

Ella is such a "big girl" now she doesn't need any help getting up the steps.

Or walking over the inclined arch to the slide, just remember to hold onto the high rail with both hands.

Mrs. Potato Head

Ella really likes playing with Mrs. Potato head. Her favorite is to put the tongue where the nose would go. This makes her laugh and say "Seely" over and over. Sometimes she gets the word for "Potato" and "Playdough" mixed up so it's hard to know which toy she wants.
Andrew takes the Potato seriously.

No, Seriously

Two weeks ago, I had a disasterous week in the kitchen. It started Sunday when I tried to make biscuits for dinner to go with our soup. Although I make them pretty often, I somehow managed to set the oven on fire with this batch. I turned my back on them for a few minutes and the next thing I knew, smoke was billowing out of the oven and flames were leaping about inside. The biscuits themselves were not burned per se, but they had a smokey, woodsy taste that made them virtually inedible (at least the the female members of the house). The next day I tried to whip up some quick lemon bars (also an easy standby at our house) for an fhe treat. This time I had, Ella, my 'big helper' helping, and found myself so distracted that I forgot to put the sugar in. I suspected something was wrong when they didn't rise in the oven. My suspicions were confirmed when I took a tremulous bite-- lemony eggy goo. 0 for 2. On Wednesday I attended my Indian cooking class and watched a master create recipes I had no hope of duplicating (she started by cracking a coconut and grating it herself). On the upside, I managed to buy a baby lemon squeezer that I know my sister who is recooperating from labor has been covetting since I told her about the one I bought last month at my class.

On Thursday, I hosted our enrichment's cooking interest group. How I got put in charge of such a group is really beyond me, given my cooking track record (especially since I was never notified that I was in charge of the group until a friend told me she saw my name at the top of the sign up sheet). I purposefully didn't cook anything on Tuesday or Wednesday just to make sure the kitchen wasn't smokey or incinerated when the group came over. Luckily other people prepared most of the food, so there were no mishaps. the following week it was business as usual when I tried the biscuits again. After a few bites I started to think something was wrong again (harder to detect without any telltale flames). I rechecked the recipe and realized that I had put in 4 tablespoons of baking soda instead of 4 teaspoons. That's three times the amount called for, and it definitely affected the taste. Andrew didn't even notice the lapse (he's accustomed to pretty marginal food) and ate through the whole batch, which is lucky because I got some indigestion from the few bites that I took of my first and couldn't touch any of the others. I wish I could blame my kitchen mishaps on the distracted state of mind I have when pregnant, or when a two-year-old is "helping" in the kitchen, but the truth is, it's not the first time I've lit an oven on fire. At least this time no buildings in midtown Manhattan were evacuated.

Big Helper

Ella is really into helping me cook. She likes to taste a lot of the ingredients as we go. She really liked the lemons. Now whenever I use lemons in a recipe she asks for the end so she can lick it. I guess it's not that surprising considering I used to drink lemon juice straight from the concentrated bottle in the fridge.
She especially likes anything that has to do with running water in the sink.

Unfortunately, when she 'helps' I lose my concentration and usually end up messing up a recipe, like last week when I was trying to make lemon bars and forgot to add the sugar.

Good Morning

"Honey, get up. There's a fire" were the panic-laced words that wrenched me out of sleep this morning. There was indeed a fire, an electrical fire just outside the bathroom. We couldn't reach it or see it very well, but it kept crackling and smoldering and flashing while Andrew sprayed water on it, and while I started to suspect that water wasn't the most effective means of combatting an electrical fire. So we flipped the breaker and called the 'SanTechnic" to come have a look. He was there before too long, grumbling that he'd been to our apartment before (true) and that in his professional opinion, whoever did the wiring for the apartment did a very shoddy job (his professional opinion and my lay opinion concur precisely). It is not the first problem we've had. In fact, three or four of the outlets and one of the lights in our apartment simply don't work. That's sort of a lot considering the apartment is only 90 square meters and that it was remodelled just five years ago. After looking at the charred soggy mess, he said it needed to dry out and he would come over tomorrow. Sadly, tomorrow isn't convenient for our landlady, so the problem won't really be addressed until Wednesday, and there's no guarantee that there will be a solution by then. In the meantime, we have just three lights that work and two outlets. Andrew jerryrigged a tangle of extension cords so that essential applicances such as the fridge (and obviously the computer) would have electricity for the next two days. But we have to rotate them so that the sockets don't get over-charged and we end up with no electricity. Ella is enjoying the extensive use of flashlights, but is tripping over all the cords just like me. It's pretty hard to think of three things I like about Russia today.

Our New Arrival

We welcomed a new addition to our family home this week. One that we have waited for for a very long time. One that I looked forward to with anticipation since getting married almost five years ago. We welcomed... a dryer. Dryers are shockingly uncommon and expensive here, so we have been going without for some time. Each week I painstakingly lay every article of wet clothing to be dried on a rack that folds out in my kitchen. It usually takes two days to dry all our clothes if I am being efficient, a few more days if I miss rotating a load because of an errand or if we have to dry bigger items like tablecloths or sheets. This takes up a lot of time and a lot of space in our kitchen. In all honesty, I'd gotten used to it, but when our friends, the Waibels, told us they were leaving Moscow and offered to give us their dryer, I was ecstatic. I even went so far as to wrest it from the greedy hands of a mutual friend who tried to secure the covetted device for himself. Saturday Timm Waibel and Andrew brought the dryer over and Timm even stayed to install it for us (good thing, that might have been a dealbreaker for us). I read the instruction manual that weekend (it's a condensation dryer, so it works differently than the typical ones you find in the US). On Monday, I tried it out. I did all of our laundry in just one day, without any hanging or racks.