Going Domestic

Year of Doing Nothing

So, it's another evening here on the outskirts of BKK, and instead of working on my knitting project or dragging and dropping family photos into My Publisher, my bottom is firmly planted on our sofa whilst American Idol is on the tv. Is 2010 my Year of Procrastination? 

I really need to kick this. I am about nine months behind on the photobook, and soon I will forget where all of those vacation snapshots were taken. I know why I am dragging my feet on this project, too. I edit the photos on my Macbook, then export then to a flash drive, then transfer them to the PC, correct the resolution in PSE, and then, finally, I can bring the photos into My Publisher. Tiring, much? Ideally, I'd do everything on the Mac, but the photobook software for Macs isn't as strong as the PC version. See, I have plenty of reasons to be slacking off ...

careful what you wish for

I'm not going to confirm or deny any possible locations for our next move, if we move, but I really don't feel ready to move back to Calgary this summer. Or next summer, and probably the summer thereafter. I am totally, totally, totally surprised that I feel this way, too.

We're finishing off our third year in Thailand, and it's about this time that Chris's company starts looking into where it's overseas staff can go next. If we don't move on this summer, we probably will within the next eighteen months. 

There would be some really fantastic things about going home - I can't argue that living around farmer's markets, the mountains, and the fabulous meatloaf sandwich at Spolumbo's would be a horrible thing. What I am uncomfortable with is that an assignment back to Calgary could be temporary. 

Temporary means that between Thailand and the next international assignment, I will have gone back to work and/or school, put Sadie in daycare, and the entire family will have settled back into our regular lives. We'd own cars, have a garden, season passes to the zoo ... I just can't say with certainty that I'd support leaving it behind, one more time. So, I hope that we don't have to decide just yet; I've thought of little else for the last few days and obsessions are heavy things. 

one small fabulous thing

After my workout this morning, I zipped into Villa Market to buy groceries for tonight's dinner (sausages with bell peppers and onions - yum). I had put the money I needed into the pocket of my gym shorts and left my wallet at home. As usual, I found a few unanticipated items to put in my shopping basket - frozen blueberries and small ziplock bags were in stock again! When my groceries were added up at the check-out counter, my total was two hundred baht more than I had with me. Flustered, I explained to the girl working the counter that I would have to put something back, but she shook her head, continued bagging my purchases and said, "It's okay, just come back before nine o'clock with two hundred baht."

So I did return as soon as I could with the money in hand. 

Usually, I feel really sheepish about the insane number of times that I go to the grocery store in the course of a week. I'm there easily five or six times, and sometimes, I am there more than once a day! But this morning, I was actually really happy that I am a very familiar face at the Villa Market.

happy-go-unlucky

Oh, things started out well today. My dear Chris has been working out with a trainer for the last six weeks or so, and I was granted an invitation to tag along to his session in the city this morning. It was hard work and my poor weak arms are going to be aching tomorrow, but I had a lot of fun at the session. It was only after Chris and I were grabbing a bite afterward that I realized the first unfortunate thing about today: my watch had stopped again. 

The warranty on my watch expired this past October, and in November, it stopped outright for the first time. A new battery brought it pack to life for a few weeks, but by the end of the of month it was paralysed again. I took it back to the service center and was told that it needed a cleaning, so I forked over the funds for that. It ticked away well enough, but it's latest act of defiance today is really bringing me down. Firstly, I think that I paid too much for a watch that only has a two-year warranty (something I will research more before buying another) and secondly, I am annoyed that I'm having this problem with a watch that is barely two years old! 

So, Chris and I (and my defunct piece of jewelry from Switzerland) finished lunch and headed back home to hang out with the kids, and about ten minutes away from our apartment, I have a startling revelation: I left my sneakers in the women's shower room at the fitness centre. Ugh. Trekking back into Bangkok to retrieve them would have eaten up the rest of the daylight hours (okay, exaggerating a bit, but it's a long drive), so I am hoping that they'll be in the Lost and Found on Monday. With a watch repair in my future, I'd rather not have to fund replacement footwear. 

obligatory reflective post for the new year

Is this new year the last of the current decade or the first in a new decade? I think that 2010 is the final one in this decade, but it's a topic that I have trouble pinning down. 

Whether or not the 'aughties are over, I've been pondering whether it's been my most action-packed decade. In this one, I landed my first real (and respectably-paying) job, and I really enjoyed it for the first couple of years. I was new to Calgary and loved the co-workers that I became friends with. In the 'aughties, I also acquired a husband and a mortgage (though it probably won't be paid off before the decade is over). I was down-sized (bitterly, but I should have bailed before that), and I guess that I'm sort of retired from my former field now, having last been paid for doing something in May of 2004. I corrected the failings of my home economics teachers and learned to both cook better and sew better. I will end this decade with two more children than I really ever imagined having since I stopped playing with dolls sometime in the 1980's. I've lived in three different cities in two different countries, and there's a chance that I'll be changing venues once more before the end of this year. 

I don't remember the eighties and nineties being so full of stuff. The only thing I had going on was school, though I did add a diploma and two degrees in the nineties. Maybe I'd have to look a little further back - in the seventies, I learned to walk and talk and use utensils. Those are big ones :) 

Attack of the Marshmallow People

cute little s'mores!
Originally uploaded by goingdomestic

Well, we made it to London, the kids are asleep, and my husband is at a Paul McCartney concert. I might as well delve into the backlog of photos I have. This one is of my favourite ornaments - little s'more people in festive attire. Chris and I found the first ones in Calgary when we were looking to buy an artificial tree back in 2005, and I, in particular, was smitten. They're so cute! The one in the middle of the photo is the newest in our collection - Sadie's "first Christmas" ornament.

I'll take "Why Women Love Vampires" for $200, Alex

I think that podcasts are the second coolest invention, after The Internet, in my lifetime thus far. I love podcasts. I listen to the CBC news, the Vinyl Cafe, podcasts about knitting, podcasts about parenting, but the new little gem I am enamoured with is this one: Stuff Mom Never Told You. The two hosts chat for about 20 minutes per podcast about topics that I might not learn about anywhere else, like whether or not bras serve any practical purpose, how eary or hard it is to fail a gender test, why women's clothing sizes are so darned random, and ought cheerleading be considered a sport. The podcasts are quite delightful, and make my regular-ish morning runs pass by a lot quicker.

$1.59

My orchids from the Flower Market
Originally uploaded by goingdomestic

These are some of the orchids that I bought at the 24-hour flower market in Bangkok, this past Tuesday. I paid 50 baht - about $1.59
Cdn - for a really big bunch. I don't even want to imagine what two big handfuls of orchid stems would cost me if I bought them in Canada ...

i'm the ignoramus, I guess

I firmly believe that living abroad is a little nicer with email around. It's actually been awhile since I've lived in the same area code as my friends and family anyways, so email is my primary method of keeping in touch. So, I was a little hurt last week when the messages from home stopped. And kind of worried about everyone. The weekend came and went, and no emails aside from Lands's End trying to tempt me with free shipping in the continental US, and the never ending encouragements from My Publisher that I can make a photo book for the new graduate in my life and get a second copy for free with their enclosed coupon code :)

This morning, I was still lying in bed, listening for sounds that my kiddo was awake, when it occurred to me that maybe I was actually the person doing the email ignoring. I had a message earlier last week saying that the new alumni email system at the University of Alberta was going live, and I'd have my alumni (forwarding-only) email address as my primary one, being forwarded to Gmail, for a couple of years. So, maybe my forwarding had been cut off ...

Um. Yeah. I had five days worth of messages waiting for me. I have a lot of replies to write.

everything is bigger in calgary

We received our 2008 Property Tax Assessment for the house we own in the mail yesterday. Oh, City of Calgary - you're such a bunch of dreamers!