A Return to the Blog

This blog first started after we arrived in Ukraine and set up house on the 14th storey of an apartment on the outskirts of Kiev. Since then, we added a cat, two children, moved apartments (up to the 19th floor) and have most lately purchased the title of "Home Owner". The home is a fixer upper - though not in the same category of our infamous mud hut. A friend suggested that I document the remodel adventure and I re-joined that what I really needed was a go-fund me page.  I decided to return to the blog, but have added those annoying ads to see if perhaps the adventures of Ukrainian building codes and interior design in a post soviet country could possibly be monetized. I've kept the blog name and it's history - while originally a pun on where we lived, the name evokes a tale in a long line of adventures.  Like Sheherazade, I will keep telling them until I have no more tales to tell. 

Salo

Now that we live right across from a market, I find I'm doing most of my shopping there.  Most often I am with the kids, and the vendors love it when I am and ask about them when they aren't.  They often give something to them, and I feel bad sometimes because I don't often buy things, or sometimes what they give is worth more than what I buy.  Take the fruit vendor who always give the kids a banana.  Or a peach.  Or a pound of plums.  And I bought 2 pounds of potatoes.  That means she just about broke even.

And then there is the salo lady - she sells pork products.  But we mostly eat chicken, or beef, and pork maybe once in three months.  She always gives the kids a big slice of salo.  it isn't expensive - but all she gets back from this relationship is the kids' enjoyment.  And do they ever enjoy it.  I had T out of the stroller recently and we were in the market and as soon as he saw the meet counter he got very excited and was pulling my hand to get me there faster.    He loves his salo.  The ukrainians say it isn't fat.  They say it is something different.  They swear it is healthy - but whenever I've seen it, I've always thought LARD.

Today though, something in my mind triggered and I thought SALT PORK.  It was a light bulb.  isn't it interesting how words can have so much weight?  You say salt pork, and you think I could use that to flavor soups or frying pans and you say LARD, and you think oh my arteries.  Here, the main salo that you buy doesn't have lean in it - but in the grocery store you can buy something that looks similar, with more lean - still not bacon - but something between the two.

As an american from the North West - Salt pork doesn't mean too much for me really - it is an old fashioned word found in historical novels.  I imagine people in the northwest buy it and use it - but it has never been on my radar.  In the south, I understand, it is still used and eaten.  Anyway it was quite the brain wave for me, 6 years in coming, to reach a better translation than the standard one of bacon, which we all know it isn't.

The Pochemushka

When you learn a foreign language, there are words that are just better than others - that capture things do ingeniously that you can't forget them.  And so it was that when our babysitter dumbed Saphira a pochemushka (почемушка), we were delighted - at least with the title if not fully with the actuality of the fact.  Почему  - pochemu - in Russian means "Why" and ushka is a diminutive, feminine ending (like in Babushka) and so the best translation of the term would be "the little why girl".  Not quite the same ring. While stories could be written about a pochemushka, the little why girl becomes an abstract entity.
And so we have a pochemushka.  So many "whys".  I think the problem is my strategy has always been to answer them to the best of my ability.  This defeated my Russian early on and my English is also giving under the barrage.  Last week, I was ready to wave my white flag by 10am.
I think this is where having other people around you who are also parents of young children is at its most valuable, (and is something that is harder for us to replicate as we interact with our Ukrainian friends mostly on the playground and so don't always see how some situations play out) because it can give you other ideas of how to deal with the issue at hand.  I had tried asking her to repeat my answers to her whys and soоo realized that for the most part, she wasn't listening.  The whys flow in an empty babble of sound that start before a full answer can even be given.
It was only when were were out with some friends and they turned the flurry of whys around on her . . . now why do you think that a cow couldn't take care of a person? The stream of whys stopped - not so much because she had an answer but because the start of thinking through the whys was actually presented before her.
But old habits are so hard to break and I often find myself explaining why this and that until I'm exhausted and frustrated.  I forget that I need to wait, and to ask back, to encourage her to look and observe and deduce.  That a wrong deduction isn't a set back, but is rather one variant closer to a right answer later.
I'm so thankful for the tools I get to steal from other parents, if only I could remember to use them more.

Shoe giveaways and little bit of luck

Well, 1 year post surgery and we are trying to figure out what to do with Saphira's footwear.  My sister gave us some winter boots last year, and they seemed to be wide enough, then we had some boots that crossed over from fall to spring that were Soft Star and then we  bought some cheap canvas shoes and sandals in the rinok for summer.  The Sandals are great - with three velcro straps they are completely adjustable and so are always wide enough.  The canvas shoes however - beside the fact that she ran them into the ground - she is now in tears if we try to slip them on.  Either she isn't used to how they feel after the sandal or the length/width ratio no longer works with her foot - though length wise it "feels" like there is room.  It is hard to figure out if something hurts or what the problem is with a 3 yr old.

And then there is Thaddaeus, a friend who has a boy Saphira's age gave us ALL his old clothes, including a lot of shoes. As Thaddaeus has normal feet - everything fits, but the interesting thing is that I noticed he walked/ran best in the Soft Star shoes that we had from Saphira (despite the fact that they were a bit big owing to being very wide and he has a narrow foot).  Now that I actually have "proof", I feel completely on-board about the barefoot shoes philosophy and foot development in children.  Though as active as Thaddaeus is, buying shoes that help him run faster might not be the best idea . . . .

Though I love the product,  I do cringe about the cost of the shoe (any shoe, not just soft stars) that may only last 3 to 6 months.  Also the fact that by the time I realize we've outgrown a shoe and we need it NOW - it's a bit hard to figure out a secure and timely way to get it over here.  Even with the help of the super friendly and accommodating elves, I always find ordering a bit stressful as I worry about if it will make it and how it will fit (and how long) as we can't return anything (Normal USA people can - but really pretty impossible from 5,000 miles away.)  Now we are facing the need for fall shoes for both the kids and I'm waffeling - do I do Soft Star?  Do we try to find something in the UK for Saphira's 1 year appointment??  What to do?

In the mean time,  if an opportunity comes up to save some pennies in in our budget - I say, go for it - and work out sizing and shipping when you come to it.  Currently, Inspired by Savannah is giving away a $25 gift certificate for Soft Star Shoes.  A mom to two girls, (age 3 and 2 - where does she find the time??) Robin reviews and gives away products that are aimed at children and their parents.

So here's hoping for a little bit of luck and a discounted future order from Soft Star!

Because you do not ask

My 3 year old, after a very joyful 20 minutes of morning, somehow stumbled into the dark side and decided to scream, wail, and gnash teeth for close to 45 minutes today.  Aside from the fact that she had probably woken up too early from yesterday's activities, the reason for the tantrum was unfounded.  She decided she couldn't pull on her trousers without help and rather than ask for help, she decided to cry, grunt, and throw a fit.  She knows how to put on her trousers; she knows how to ask for help; she was reminded throughout the tantrum that I would be very happy to help her if she would only ask.  She stubbornly refused.  Each reminder served to intensify her cries and her refusal that she couldn't do it.

The entire time I'm watching her I'm thinking of James 4:1-3 (NIV).

4 What causes fights and quarrels {tantrums} among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Why didn't I just help her?  Why did I "stubbornly" refuse to help? Sure, I knew what she wanted, but I also knew that 1) she knows how to ask properly and 2) she even knows how to put her clothes on herself.  I want her to ask because I think it shows practical humility - she isn't the center of the universe.  A request can be denied while an expectation or demand should normally be based on some fact or authority that implies its fulfillment or ability to be fulfilled.  I expect my daughter to ask me a question in a nice tone of voice and to say please because she has been taught to do this and has demonstrated that she is capable of it.  I also believe that the asking reflects an understanding that you need help, that you are not fully independent and all-powerful.

While my older, socialized, and civilized self no longer throws physical fits with kicking and screaming, I think that my emotional or spiritual tantrums and stubborn refusal to acknowledge my dependence are just as ugly to God  as my daughter's tantrum is to me.  As a parent, I see tons of things I could help my daughter with.  So many things that would make life simpler and easier, or that if I took care of now, it would not be a problem in 15 minutes time. I'm sure that God sees many more of those moments in my life.  Yet, he stands back and watches, serious and saddened, but letting me try to huff it all  by myself.  You do not have because you do not ask God.

And then, when I finally do ask, in an exhausted pile of frustration - I do not receive, because I ask with wrong motives, still not a request but a demand - barely an acknowledgement that God is standing there and "hey, why don't you make yourself useful and help!", not a request and not a recognition that he could do it all; that he could have done it all without any huff or effort on my part, but still a demand that He do something  for me -- not because I recognise his greatness, but because I find it inconvenient and impossible to accomplish the task on my own - not that I couldn't have done it, if the situation had been different of course.

I find, that teaching disciplining my daughter is very much more about teaching and disciplining myself as I seem to feel that this parenting bit gives me a better understanding of how our heavenly Father sees me and my arrogance and independence.

Pomegranates

There are times when living abroad is a chore.  Especially with the two kids, on really rough days I can't help but think it would all be easier if we were back home . . . wherever home actually is for the two of us.

There are other days, like today, when it is just such a joy to live abroad.  Today's joy was brought on by the simple pleasure of making this tasty dish.  We invited our Pastor and his family over and the last time they were over, ages and ages ago, we had a nice meal - but Alister was upset because it was something they could have made themselves.  So today I decided to have fun and try something new, and warned Alister ahead of time that if it didn't turn out, he was to blame for me not playing it safe :-) (I had told him, after all that my alternate career path would have been a culinary institute had I not gone the four-year- college route - so he should have known that telling me my dinner was boring could be a bit of a dangerous challenge).

The reason the pomegranate chicken gave me particular joy, was that I was able to find the key ingredient, pomegranate molasses, in the nuts and fruit section of the market by our house.  Some things are impossible to find here - corn syrup, peanut butter, rice crispie style cereal - and then sometimes you run across something that you think - wow - what is that doing here? And so, after reading through the recipe for Pomegranate chicken, I was buying nuts from my fruit and nut guy and I look over and  see what appears to be a bottle of Pomegranate molasses.  Now, I know Walla Walla has moved up in the world since I was a wee lass, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to find Pomegranate Molasses there or anywhere outside of Seattle.  And so with the greatest of ease, I was able to pull off a tasty and unusual meal.  I did make apple pie for desert - just in case it was all a bust - but it wasn't, we all enjoyed it.  I have just enough molasses left to make this other recipe - which I nixed for tonight because of the chili content.  If I had a had a bit more time I would have done a whole pomegranate theme and served these sprouts as a side and had panna cotta ala pomegranate for dessert.  Maybe when you come to dinner?

Cranberry Vodka cookies

This is not a food blog.  There will be no fancy pictures making you drool.  No step-by step instructions.  Just a recipe and the fact that these are so yummy I had to share.
In Ukraine, vodka is cheap.  You can buy a liter for $2.  Gin, Whiskey, Bailey's - WAY more expensive.
So when I decided to look for a recipe for an odd cocktail - I found this Cranberry Vodka Tonic.
I made it - and in all honesty, it is so so  BUT while I was making it and straining and smashing out all the cranberries through the sieve - I discovered that the cranberries still had lots of cranberry flavour and I thought it was a waste to throw them away.  I decided to whip up my mom's 5-Way Holiday cookies (which are good if you want 5 varieties - but not good if you plan to give all five varieties away.  I just double the Orange Pecan addition by 5 and make a huge batch of it)  And add the remains of the cranberry vodka sludge to it.  WOW!  The cookies were super moist, super vanilla-y, with a lovely tart flavour from the cranberries and a deepening in flavour from the addition of the vodka.
The only draw back is that the cookies will be gone LONG before the batch of vodka.  May just have to figure out how to make the cranberry sludge without the Cocktail mixer.
The sludge left from the recipe (originally 1 lb of cranberries) was enough to mix nicely with 1/2 a batch of the Holiday cookies.

Sleds as transport

Our first years here in Ukraine, I watched with amusement as every winter people pulled out their wooden sleds with metal runners and started trotting about the icy streets with their kids in tow.  Didn't they know that the plastic sleds are faster?  That with the disks or even the toboggan rolls you could really get some speed?  Why were they bundling up their children and pulling them along the unevenly icy/ slushy / and bare walks that make up a neighbourhood.  Tsk tsk.  You would think that in the northlands, they would know how to use a sled.

Now, with a toddler and a baby - I understand much better.  The sled is transport before it is рецреатионал (which I guess explains why thе аverage cost is about $50 for a sled on runners.)  I guess when Saphira was wee, we had a more mild winter, and with a baby, if you choose not to go out, you don't go out.  No Problem.  With a baby AND a toddler, if you don't go out - there will be no nap time, and on a very unfortunate day bed time may also be delayed to a point where it is no longer productive for you to do anything after the child is in bed and you merely wave the white flag of defeat and crawl into bed after them.

And let me be very clear.  You cannot push a stroller one handed through snow and slush two feet deep at a curb while holding onto your toddler's hand. Pushing it with two hands is also a stretch.  Picking it up, hefting it through the mush while scrambling for your footing and hoping your toddler made it up the curb by herself in one piece and isn't currently howling, complaining of cold and wet, or deciding that the slush in the middle of the road is the perfect material for making a snowman- yep, that's about right.  And if there are any purchases - you know, the ACTUAL reason you decided to go through the half hour ordeal putting on everyone's snow suits, hats, gloves, and scarves (with more tears playing loudly during the exercises as we take turns being overheated and while I shout  - DO NOT TAKE THAT HAT OFF AGAIN, We are leaving, really we are leaving now.  We are leaving . . ..)  And passing past the door keeper once again in tears (What must they think?) to arrive, hot, and exhausted with the tears freezing on cheeks in front of our building -hoping that we can buy bread, eggs, milk and anything else we need before the whine of discontent begins again.  Thank goodness we can get most things through grocery delivery.

So today we bought a sled.  I have not tried it, but Alister says that it flies.  I have not worked out the full logistics of baby and toddler on the sled, or toddler pushing said baby on sled, or mother still slipping and sliding with said baby in ERGO.  We will let the drama and complications work themselves out as they come - for now, we have a sled as transport

Dr. Pepper

Did you know that Dr. Pepper is fruit flavoured?

I discovered this for the first time this year in the UK while reading a can of Dr. P.
Dr. Pepper, like pumpkin pie and chocolate chip cookies is purely American and isn't really exported much.  This catapults it to luxury item status  when you are away from home.  In general, I don't really drink soda, but when It is available (like when I'm back home in the US) - I drink Dr. Pepper.  Oddly, rootbeer isn't readily available either and it used to be my favorite beverage when I was little - but now I go for Dr. Pepper.

Anyway - Dr. Pepper has appeared in MY local grocery store for $1.10 per can.  Wow. Not sure those 23 fruit flavors are really worth that.  Still, when a friend offered to buy some from the US Embassy store for us -for the amazing US price of  55 cents - I couldn't resist - esp knowing that it costs so much in a local store.

So this winter, it's not about eggnog and cider - we'll be cracking open our Dr.Peppers and saying Happy Holidays to all.

Done

So in early October I posted my to do list.

Here is how that went:

Apple Sauce - 15 liters made and canned solely because a friend came and helped and pushed through with the boiling and mashing while I ran after and fed kids.

Beet chips: after 3 batches in the dehydrator and two in the oven failing to produce a lovely terra chip crisp snack - I decided to stop messing around with beets until I REALLY have time to mess around with beets.  And am ready to eat multiple kilos of them since Alister and Saphira both declined my experiments.

Carrot chips - didn't happen - but I did make a lovely ginger carrot soup.

Apple chips - lots.  Thanks mom for buying me the apple slicer for my birthday! It was a hit with Saphira too.

I also did about 4 kilos of peppers that I chopped up and froze.  I never got to the tomatoes before the prices went up (out of season) so they can wait for another year or two before I attempt it.

Pears: two batches - also extra tasty and hope to do more of them next year

Watermelons (2)- figured while I was at it - Picture something the consistency and sweetness of a starburst - but totally natural.  I actually prefer the dehydrated version to the real melon and Saphira eats them like candy (esp since we don't give her candy . . . . ).  The only depressing thing about watermelons is that you spend 18 - 20 hours cutting and drying the thing and to show for it you have 1 pint - that's right - a 1 pint jar of watermelon pieces.

I also managed to do the apple chutney and the mince pie filling.  Both were a bit more time consuming than in the past since I didn't have a food processor.  The food processor was one of the furnishing with the other apartment and while we have money set aside for one, I just haven't gotten around to doin ghte research and buying one.  So this year, the mince piece might not be so evenly minced - but I still reckon they'll be tasty.

Cranberries - you can't find the dried ones here and so I am experimenting with a tray of them now - burst and sweetened they taste almost like  craisens - though I think in the future the easiest thing to do would be to pureee it and then chop finely for fruit bites rather than try to preserve the integrity of individual berries.

I did stock up on lots of meat - but have done no grinding.  After various inquiries we learned that we would need to buy an electric meat grinder as the manual ones aren't good quality here anymore and its hit or miss to get one to grind.  We decided the cost of a new appliance didn't balance out the cost of saving on meat by grinding it ourselves (and then having all the clean up too).

Broccoli and cauliflower - This finally did happen, but only because a friend came and helped twice- getting the veggies cleaned and blanched and the kids looked after.  Until she came I kept buying huge amount of of cauliflower at the market only to eat it frantically throughout the week.  There were two weeks where the only vegetable we ate was cauliflower.

Zuchini - Did several batches of these because Saphira can actually help with it and I figured it would be good for quickbreads and muffins

Pumpkin - Froze one but didn't quite get to it before it started to spoil on me, so lost about half of it.

Besides my friend coming and helping out several days, the only reason I was able to do much of what I did was because Alister took a 10 day teaching trip to Siberia.  Now, Alister is a great help with the kids, and I really don't know how single moms manage - but still, I didn't really have to cook or clean much while he was gone, which leaves you a surprising amount of time for big projects.

Water

I wrote awhile ago about buying water.  Well the Kyiv Post ran a series on Kyiv water and have clarified the rumors of why we don't drink the water. (links to all articles in the series at the bottom of the article).  The winner . . . It was the chlorine.

We also discovered that the water we used to buy had a very high bacteria content.  Oops, maybe should have mixed it with the high chlorine tap water :-)  Well - we didn't order it too often as we mostly walked to the kiosk  and either way we switched companies (not one if the tested ones) when we came back in order to get a higher flouride content every once in awhile.

For the most part though - we are fetching our water from a kiosk - I guess though we should pay more attention to the Dept of Health review in the window or run our own test - apparently a violation in drinking water quality only carries a $100 fine.

To Do

It's Fall and time to get the food preservation on to save money (but not time) for the year

Here's (my hope I get it done) list of how I'm preparing for winter:

Canning apple sauce
freeze peppers
Dehydrate beet chips
Dehydrate apple chips
Dehydrate carrot chips (guess who got a dehydrator!)
Make apple chutney
Make mince pie filling
Buy Beef at the Harvest market and make ground beef
Buy potatoes
Buy, blanch, and freeze broccoli and cauliflower
buy tomatoes and make and freeze/can pasta sauce

Finding that my time with the two kids  - even with  lower expectations - is seriously inhibited and that what I can accomplish on my lists is frustratingly meager.

Still - here's hoping.

Differing Tastes

All I can say is that we will be in serious trouble if we ever get a place that we have to furnish from scratch.

On our priority list for the apartment were dishes and curtains.  Curtains because we didn't want Saphira and Thaddaeus waking us with the sun and dishes - well - you've got to eat.

The most frustrating thing about the dishes is that here in Ukraine they have glass dishes by Luminarc that you buy by the piece or in a set - but the sets don't normally come with breakfast bowls or you have fine China. Luminarc are supposed to be the unbreakable glass - like corell - but they scratch and the patterns aren't always nice and you still pay a lot of money for something you (ok Alister and I) aren't really happy with.  No ceramic, no stoneware, no everyday china even.  It literally goes from Luminarc to fine china with gold trim that you can't put in the microwave and why do you really want to pay $20 a plate for that? So we ended up going with Ikea again.  We had gotten some Ikea plate when we first got married (Thanks Mr & Mrs B.!) but all the bowls and half of the plates had broken (they were glass and so we were already a bit prejudiced against the glass luminarc).  So this time we got a set of ceramic Dinera imported over the border at 60% mark-ups (and that still makes it cheaper than some of the Luminarc sets even!) The most frustrating thing is that I can go onto Target's website and find 20 dinnerware sets that I like and  at least there will surely be 6 of those that Alister would agree on too.

It's an open market people- someone please come sell inexpensive and pretty ceramic dishes in the former USSR!!!

Our next quest was curtains.  Every fabric I liked, Alister thought was ugly and cheap and I likewise thought that his choices fell into the cheap and ugly category as well.  We finally found one we agreed on for our bedroom, a two sided fabric - that again I liked the side that we designated as the "back" and he liked the side we designated as the "front" best.  Alister compromised on the fabric and I compromised on the side.  In the end, hanging up in our window.  He is really happy with it.  I like it too - so in the end I suppose we came out with a win-win.  The drapes for the kid's room/office were much less important to me - it is Alister's work space after all -  and the key is just to block the light so Saphira won't start yelling: "momma, papa - Me awake!"  We chose deep blue almost blackout drapes.  The room is light pink with a red and gold couch bed - so we needed a masculine color to pacify Thaddaeus and Alister :-)  It also ended up looking nicer than expected.  I think the key is that hanging, you see the fabric from a distance - but in the shop you see it close up on a card.  It makes a difference.

Up or Down?

To move up or down – that was the question.

Our 14^th story has come to a technical, if not a literal,  end.  We gave up our flat last December to move (temporarily) back to Northern Ireland.  Early September, we finally returned home to Kiev.  A strange feeling, coming home but  being homeless.  The flat was such a safe, happy place and we had some good times there – but a one bedroom apartment is small for parents with two children and wanting to host people in their home.  We knew when we left that we would need to give it up.

We could have chosen anywhere in the city, and a good many people wanted us to move north or west, but we wanted to stay put; in part because the region is incredibly convenient.  Supermarkets, markets, electronic markets – we could find almost everything we needed without having to veer too far out of our way. But the main reason we chose to stay is that we’ve made friends here in the region.

We didn't have too many choices owing to the new visa regulations that require some paperwork from the landlords: no one wanted crazy foreigners about!   In the end, it was down to the place we choose and a 4 room on the 8^th floor.  The four room was closer to the location that we wanted to be but was $200 more per month.  It was, in my opinion – not Alister’s – nicely decorated, maybe too nice.  She was willing to let us have the cat – but we worried just how much a scratch would cost to repair on a wall or something else.  While the 4 room gave Alister a definite office – the living room was small and didn’t feel like a great place for gathering and socializing.  We finally found a 2 bedroom apartment on the 19^th floor.  

We went with the 3 room because even though it is a room or a balcony short (I’m sure Alister will be constantly a bit frustrated with us interfering in his space as his office is also the kid's bedroom) it had this big room that can just be used for any and every type of gathering.  And while it is furnished, it is only furnished to a point and the landlord is willing to let us make our own mark on it.  Now it will be up to Alister and I to see if we can decide on a mark.

Big City vs. Small Town

Despite the bad rap - For toddlers, there are distinct advantages to raising a child in the city - or at least in the Kiev Micro Region where we lived.  Number one advantage - was that I didn't really need to look for a way to entertain her (except of cold and rainy days)  I just had to walk out of my apartment to one of the many playgrounds around our building and there would be at least 1 but sometimes as many as 20 other small children her age, all running around and stealing each other's toys. on the way to or from the park, I did grocery shopping and got her back in time for lunch and a nap.

We have been in a Alister's home town in Northern Ireland since February.  It was nice to miss the cold weather they had in Kiev - but some days it is pretty hard to find something to do.  In small towns where people are car dependent and where the weather is cool and rainy - you don't find people with small children flocking to the play parks.  True - There are playgroups - on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we make our way to the specified location and sit for two hours as the children play and get a snack - all for a pound!  Well worth it if the weather is rainy!  Sunday is Church and Family day and so that leaves Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday (and holidays when play group doesn't operate) to find something to occupy Saphira.

We walk a lot - and it is a good thing Saphira is a good walker and that our town has more to offer than the one I grew up in.  Often our walk looks like this:  Over to the post office to either put cards in the mailbox or say "hello" to it and then down the street to window shop in the two chemists and the Thrift store.  I then browse the short dated aisle of the grocery store and we continue walking down to the Animal Auction.  Monday is Sheep day and Tuesday is Cow day.  There is a public restroom there, and for some reason Saphira always likes to stop there for a potty break (once out of necessity - but after that she always says she has to go potty whenever we pass it - so we stop and she goes).  We watch the animals unload, listen to the impregnable chatter of the auctioneer (Saphira has started shouting out numbers - but so far the auctioneer hasn't taken her up on her bids) and sometimes if we are lucky we get to pet an animal.  Saphira REALLY likes visiting the auction house and brings up our animal encounters ferquently.

If the weather is dry, we go to a playground in the morning or afternoon, and normally we visit her grandparents in the afternoon after her nap as well.

Dentists

Dentists in the former Soviet Union don't have a positive reputation. From purchased diplomas to procedures designed to make you have to have more procedures - the general advice is that it is better to stay away from them if possible. You just are never quite sure who you can trust. So when my doctor at Dobrobut said I "had" to go to the Dentist to get a certificate saying that I had healthy teeth - I was wary. But I also figured - how much harm can a dentist do if you just go in for a cleaning?

I had also recently joined Groupon UA and they were advertising Ultrasonic Airflow cleaning. When one came up at a dentist in my area I decided to kill two birds with one stone.

Conclusion? I don't think that they can do damage with a cleaning, but I don't have enough dental vocabulary - WOW is that an area where I am REALLY lost. I did get that the dentist thinks I have a cavity - but as it is UNDER a place that was sealed by my dentist to prevent cavities - I'm skeptical and have decided that I'll wait and go to the UK dentist or my trusty US Dentist to have my sealants replaced and the cavity investigated. She also told me they were having a "sale" on fillings. That really confirmed the wait factor :-)

it was also the first time I had had an Ultrasonic airflow cleaning. I did NOT like the cleaning stuff used as it doesn't taste pleasant and burns a bit - but my teeth are clean, sparkly white - more sparkly than the last few cleanings I had (those were in the UK) and I was in and out in 15 minutes with that super clean feeling - so pretty impressive. Also impressive was the groupon price - 145 UAH or 18 dollars - of course this was a sale as it should have been 500 uah (62 usd) In the UK, my last cleanings were 25 gbp - or 32 USD. I think my last US cleaning - was around $80, but that was in 2007, so not to sure on how prices compare there anymore and how much this type of technological cleaning would cost.

china-lish

Sorry about the bad quality - but we use the box to store the train and I'm not ready to destroy it just to get it to fit on the scanner.

The perfect toasted sandwich

If I was a photographer foody, there would be a delectable picture here of a sandwich: brown and crispy, the cheese melting and spilling out of the sides, the plate lightly sprinkled with crumbs or maybe the nut and seed mix lining the crust. I am not a foody - nor a photographer - so you will have to trust me that fall and this cold pre-wintery weather is perfect for a toasted cheese sandwich with chutney.

Chutney was made for toasted cheese sandwiches. If you're using a super wonderful fragrant cheese, like stilton or blue - of course, you may want to pass on the chutney. but for anything blander - a mild chedder, american, gouda. Chutney makes that plain-jane sandwich pop. It makes an ordinary snack into a savory treat. I know all this because I had the great fortune of smearing a piece of toast with chutney while in the UK and eating it with cheese. Soon after this, I melted the cheese. The rest was WOW and I can't really ever go back to the way a toasted cheese sandwich tasted before - that crunch of oil, salt, and gooey cheese is just . . . .. flat.

Today is a cold day and I am sitting with a bowl of soup and a toasted sandwich - bemoaning the fact that I barely had the time to make applesauce this year, let alone chutney. Maybe in 2 or 4 years, I'll find the time to pursue "hobbies" again. Until then I will dream of chutney and enjoy it on our stints out of Ukraine.

If you do want to make your own chutney - an excellent recipe one can be found here. But even in the US, you can find chutney in a supermarket.

Diaper bags

I've been looking at diaper bags on-line recently. The price and style ranges are mind numbing - and for exactly that reason I am loath to buy anything without seeing it in person and really pawing through all the pockets. Video reviews are helpful . . . . but still. I've also decided that the absolute perfect diaper bag has yet to be manufactured for me. I'm hoping that maybe a company when doing product research will randomly stumble upon my post and design my bag - and of course give it to me for free :-) But this is crazy talk. Still, I'm going to link like mad in the random hope it might happen.

My bag would be lightweight like the Fluerville re-run Hanna. It would also be similarly sized to the Hana as well as the Skip Hop Studio and sadly discontinued City Chic. After much measuring and estimating - my ideal bag would be 16 x 10-12 x 6. This sized bag is wide enough to access everything, not too deep to lose everything, and not longer than the bars of my stroller. It would not be overly bulky, but would allow me to carry the essentials for lets say 2 kids and myself with the stroller basket having kid toys in it.

My perfect bag doesn't have insulated compartments. I don't reheat things for Saphira, and fortunately we didn't have to bother with bottles, but frankly I don't want the weight.

In appearance, I also like the Hana in that it is nondescript. It doesn't look too much like a bag, or too much like a fancy purse. Still, I love the idea of the purse bag - the going out to dinner and having a nice bag that is your diaper bag and purse - just like the well organized and super heavy Amymichelle bags.

My bag would come with stroller clips/ties, have good organization pockets, and have a wee clip that could be fastened to your belt loop, or an Ergo strap, to keep it anchored, but not have to switch to a backpack mode as that just looks stupid. If I wanted a backpack, I'd get a backpack. This clip is vital. If you have a bag on your shoulder and you bend forward, the bag flies forward. It doesn't matter the size of the bag, small or large gravity pulls it forward. And if you happen to have a small child in the path of the flying bag . . . . . . Well lets just say I can't imagine why such a clip hasn't been invented yet.

My bag would cost $30, $40 max and would still be quality enough to hold up to sand, crumbs, water, and being banged around. One reason I don't want to buy a bag online is that despite what seem to be very positive designs of the Hana and Studio bags - there also seem to be a goodly number of reviewers who had problem with quality - and well, I can't really return it can I? The cheaper bags, the k-mart, wal-mart variety may work - my ideal may even be out there - but they don't really have reviewers and video bag tours do they? This would be my only bag. I've never liked switching things from bag to bag - the only time I might want something else is when we fly - and then I will just want something Big (cram that 10k in!) - so it would need to be functional and sturdy for everyday use.

I thought about a messenger style bag - it would be handy for Alister to be willing to carry a bag, but when I thought realistically about how often he would need to carry the bag, and if the bag was small and compact, he wouldn't need to carry it anyway. I'm also unconvinced about the organization of the messenger bag. I think I'd really like to see it. Plus, I just want to feel a bit more feminine so an elegant bag is more up my line.

So for now, I found a really cheap bag at the rinok and am making some hack changes to see if I can make it do some of the things I want. Granted, it is a bit smaller than my ideal, but I only have one kid and think I can make it work. Trial run this Sunday - which is the ultimate test since I have to be prepared for a 9:30 - 3pm absence from the house and from any amenities. We'll see.

Double Dog Dare You

Back on the playground as a mom, I sometimes feel that not much has changed. The kids are running around, flocking to whatever looks interesting, and doing what they see the other kids do. Eventually they'll get older and while they might not immediately do what the other kids do, they will be urged along and dared to do the same or even greater fits of daring. But what I didn't expect is that to some degree, the mothers are still repeating the same pattern themselves. We talk; we chat; we sidle over to the group that seems to be having the most interesting conversation. We find out who is eating what, buying what where, and doing what to counter some behaviour - then we go out and do the same. We make suggestions, receive suggestions and find ourselves under motherly peer-pressure to perform. I double dog dare you.

One mother always come to the playground with her crocheting. She has crocheted three sunbonnets and when last I saw her she was halfway through a child's dress. She also manages to make jewelry. (I wish I could manage to have the dishes washed each night). She is amazing. I mentioned to her that I also crochet and soon found myself in possession of multiple crochet patterns, a book of crochet stitches, and links to an on-line crochet forum.

Now, I do know how to crochet - but I haven't been truly taught. My Aunt Helene taught me how to crochet a basic rag rug and a loopy doily. She taught me without the use of terms or books and the only term I knew was a Chain stitch. Fifteen years later, I made friends with various grannies in Croatia and they made doilies and tablecloths and all sorts of lovely, lovely stuff. They resurrected my past learning and taught me to look at a doily and make a copy. That winter, I spent lots of time huddled under a blanket making little doily copies. Finally, I attempted my first pattern. The pattern was in German. The women spoke Croatian. We looked at the signs and symbols and I managed to get far enough to ask them what to do when I hit a hard spot. I left Croatia in 2005 and in 2008 I finally finished that 10x10 doily. I've since made three baby blankets, 1 rag rug, and a pair of mary jane baby booties. I still can't read a pattern and I still don't know the English, German, or Croatian terms. Without YouTube, I would be lost. Now, I suddenly have a pile of Russian patterns. It's like handing a sheet of music to someone who can only play by ear.

I made some copies of the crochet book patterns and dutifully looked at the websites and magazines. When I returned the book, I told her I made copies and then wondered to myself why?, when will I find time to do it? Most days I feel over booked with Saphira, ministry secretarial duties, church, house, Seminary accounting, editing, the baby book I'm trying to put together, and the long overdue book I'm trying to get together for our nieces and nephews. Still, a few days later, walking home with Saphira I suddenly remembered a little skirt that some friends at church gave to Saphira and which has only been worn once for lack of a shirt that coordinates. I was walking past the market and suddenly charged into it and headed straight to the yarn stall. How many skeins do I need to make a shirt, I asked? And soon found myself in possession of 200 grams of fine cotton yarn and no idea what I was doing.

Too many days of internet research later and this is my goal. We'll soon see if I manage to finish something before winter, before she grows out of it, or how much mischief accepting a double dog dare will get me into.