Flour Flour Everywhere, and not a bit to bake

. . . Or at least until recently. Sorry guys, no photo this time. I had a great idea for this post yesterday night, but I forgot to take the pictures. Here in Germany everyone sells flour, but yeast, baking soda, baking powder and cream of tartar are really difficult to find. One store had yeast (only), another had only baking soda. I finally found baking powder last Saturday (they didn't have baking soda - or yeast I think). I'm still looking for cream of tartar. I heard you can find it at a German pharmacy (where they sell monistat but not nursing pads). Strange place, Germany, sometimes. Anyway, until a few days ago I wondered why in the world sell all that flour when there's nothing to leaven it? Don't try to tell me that all the Germans bake their own flatbread, dumplings, and nothing else? (I think even dumplings take baking soda). And please don't tell me they're all eating tortillas. Even that takes baking powder. Anyway, having found yeast, we made pizza twice this week. Fresh mozzarella, prociutto, basil, sun-dried tomatoes, salami milano, roasted bell peppers (we had a couple of different kinds of pizza). . . it was great. We had Ingo and Margret over for dinner last night and showed them phase ten. They had a lot of fun. Speaking of phase 10 and other card games. We found a place that sells tons of toys (we saw a German phase 10 there). It's rather expensive, but there's no place like Wal-mart (or even Target) here. Remind me to tell you why Wal-Mart failed in Germany (yes, I said failed, . . . miserably). It's pretty cool.

Sleeping with his eyes open

Okay, he's not on his boppy this time, but he's been doing this slightly eerie trick of sleeping with his eyes open. Maybe he's trying to grow up to be a wizard. Well, the poor little tyke's cold has turned to a cough (me too). We've been getting good at going out anyway, though. I promise that I'll start taking pictures of Germany instead of Joe, but he's growing so fast. He'll be three months tomorrow (I'll see if I can't take some video). I've decided to get out of panic mode (forcefully) and start planning things like Christmas and Thanksgiving. That's so much less stressful (at this point in time) and so much more fun. I've still got some unhappy to dos (like moving again next week), but soon I'll put up cookie recipes and other fun stuff to prepare for Christmas. Until then, enjoy the creepy cute stare of a sleeping Joe.

Maybe I Could Yodel

Sometimes I just don't feel like getting up in the morning. Sometimes I just don't have the time/energy to publish my blog. Sometimes life's just hard to get going. Joe's had a cold this past week, and is having trouble not letting mommy sleep at night. He's also having trouble eating and breathing at the same time, necessitating the use of that bulbous blue snot sucker, which he hates. So this morning when George went out to breakfast I called him back and said, "take him! take him! Put him on his Boppy while you eat! Let me sleep!" I felt guilty later because it almost made him late to work, if not late to class. But, even though Joe's still feeling rather like this:

I feel like letting out a good ole cowboy yipee kai yai yay! Why? I just remembered! We signed for our new apartment yesterday. The only thing that's even more sure is when they put the key's into our hand and we sleep there. Not only that, but we also got paid today. Yay! I can finally balance the budget (almost). There's still a few things that we can get the government to give us (something called the Kindergeld for one: everyone gets paid for having a kid - about 150 Euros a month I think). Every little bit helps. It's nice to have things like that working.

Already Growing Out of Clothes

Thank you Sarah for the awesome sweater and jeans. He's just starting to grow out of his newborn clothes and into his cute cute 3-6 month clothes. He's only 2 and a half months, but he's such a long child it's hard to find clothes that feel tight around the waist and don't flood - both ankles and wrists. He's sure gaggling a lot with us now, and it's easier to have a smiling contest with him, but he's still content just to kick around. He hasn't rolled anywhere yet. It's probably a good thing too, or I'd worry about putting him on my computer desk while I work. I'm right next to him, but it'd make life harder than it already is trying to do stuff while he's awake.
Germany is getting colder every day. It still hasn't become bitter cold, but we bundle up before we go out. I'm excited to go out today. My friend Charlotte is going to pick me up so we can go look at some second hand furniture. It'll be so great. She raves about this place. She checks it every day and often finds these gorgeous antique tables, wardrobes, etc for dirt cheap. By the way, wardrobes are an essential here. All my childhood I thought they were just a relic of the past, but when you don't have built in closets, you gotta hang your clothes somewhere. I like it so much, I think I wouldn't mind a home later without built in closets – wardrobes can be so much prettier, and you can move it around the room just as you please. Just remember, never shut yourself into a wardrobe, always leave the door cracked. . .

My little Cutie

Well, I've been told that those who know us just can't get enough pictures of the little guy so I took some this morning. I like this one a lot. It just goes to show that what they can't do at night, they can do mid morning. I'm trying to get him to go down in his crib at night, but he just ends up staying awake longer. It'll take a while, but he'll learn. He makes such great cooing noises and smiles back at us now. He makes us so happy. . . I've been wanting to upload video lately, but I need a firewire cable. That means a walk to Promarkt, and I've got too many other things to do lately. I've almost solved the problem, but it might be a few more days until you guys see the fruit. Anyway, the weather is cold and often overcast with a little wind thrown in. I love it. I always enjoyed these "gloomy" days more than the hot and sweaty sunny ones. My favorite sky is a deep blue autumn one or a partly cloudy stormy one. I have to admit those Texas sunrises were gorgeous, but not quite worth the heat+humidity. Give me the dank and dreary fall days. That's for me.

The Packages Came!

You see a picture today because our packages came in the mail. Yay! Within them was the cable that allows me to upload images to my compy. Here you see George and Joe sleeping together. Aww! Cute! The kicker is that this is during the last half of the last session of conference. Naughty! (The afternoon sessions are 10pm to midnight here, so don't be too hard on them!)

Germany, thank you for not smoking

Ok, I've been waiting for a picture, but I think it's going to take too long to wait for the cable to hook my camera to my compy. . . . The title today doesn't really encapsulate my experience here at all. I'm just sitting here at my compy next to a window that should be open to prevent mildew but usually ends up closed because of a chain smoker who lives right belos us. It's rather annoying, not to mention it tends to scare away the five or six bunnies that like to come and munch on the lawn out back. The black forest is beautiful, and right outside our window. The 3rd of October is German unity day (when west Germany and east Germany reunited), and everything was closed so George and I went walking. We felt like Hansel and Gretel. We found one of those signs that shows you what flora and fauna are in the wilds you are walking in. Although the fauna listed were surprising (including foxes, eagles, and wild boars) the flora were even more so – and amusing. The sign listed 9 or 10 different kinds of mushrooms. Which tasted good, which tasted bad, and which killed you. Later we saw an older-than-us couple out walking with a bag strike off the path . . . mmmmmmmm