An Invasion of a "STRANGER" Kind.... NEW THREAD IS UP!! Go Thee NOW!

[All7OfUs]

G'nite. Have great sleep and nice dreams.

 

[Pyrate_Pryncess]

peek-a-boo

 

[All7OfUs]

peek-a-boo

I see you.

 

[All7OfUs]

43rd Birthday Beware! You were an Enemy once much feared; but no more. I fought you tete-a-tete, mano y mano, hand to hand. In fact, I went so far as to take an altogether different tactic with you- I chose to embrace you! Yes, 43rd birthday, I chose to bring war on you by heaping extra attention, coddling, and tender loving care on you. Nothing like bringing an Enemy to its knees by killing it softly!

I think I can safely say that all of you do birthday battling once a year too. Yes, I thought so. Next time your Enemy comes around, let me suggest engaging it with the following battle plan:

1) Draft the right troops and LOTS of them! Looky what I found!

Rebekah's bloody battle with beet salad​

2) Have a plan and stick to it! I started shopping 3 days ahead to show 43rd Birthday I really meant business. Then, to really hammer it home, we started cooking in earnest the day before. By the time Birthday came to the battle field, the war was half over! For a successful campaign you must DELEGATE, DELEGATE, DELEGATE!!! Make lists and look at them thrice!!

3) Indulge the Enemy with plenty of elegance and pomp and circumstance. Make her look important, and tell her sweet little lies about her ravishing beauty.

4) Place cellulite-making Food Bombs all over the table, making the Enemy feel powerful and frightening!

On the meat platter is horse sausage (dark stuff), ham, chicken, bologne like stuff, and cheese.

The carrot salad is vinegar marianated fish with more than a little red pepper.

5) Wait for the dignitaries to arrive to give laud and honor to the victorious General.

But more on that, later! The stage is set. Let’s see how victory was won in more detail, next time.

 

[All7OfUs]

Now that the Enemy of 43rd Birthday is feeling rather puffed up with importance, looking like a million bucks and knowing it, and is heavy laden with weapons of mass destruction it’s time to drop the death bomb on her. It’s time to turn the tables, so to speak, and bring ultimate victory to the Birthday Girl General (that’s me!)

These are the weapons I fought with. Let’s face them together, one at a time.

1) Receiving guests with grace and charm.

Apparently, that means with your eyes shut

2) Keeping the conversation flowing nice and easy.

3) Keeping the food dishes full, the tea hot, and timing the courses comfortably. (notice the obligatory shot of people with their mouths full)

4) Listening to 10 blessings and acknowledging each one humbly.

5) Not showing utter disappointment when only ½ of the invited guests show up.

See all the empty space at the table?

Now let’s look at that in slow motion and Technicolor.

The first meal was set for 1:00 for our office colleagues. They understand foreigners well, and their anal need to keep to a schedule. Being a considerate bunch, they showed up at 1:30. I put on the armor of a smiling face and got them all seated (refer to Battle #1 above). It was GREAT- shorter than I thought it’d be, but I felt blessed and loved! All of them had other places to be, so there wasn’t a lot of lingering and chit chat.

Nevertheless, they all ate A LOT and devoured the spaghetti I made (refer to Battle #3 above). Each one said a quick toast on their way out (refer to Battle #4 above), and it was over by 3:30. The next party is set for 7:00. So what does a soldier do when there’s downtime on the battlefield for 3 ½ hours?? That’s up next….

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Looks like a great time was had by all! I can guess what's next - well when you are 50, this is what you do - TAKE A NAP!

 

[All7OfUs]

Psst. Tammie, you do that when you're 43 too.

I"m madly cooking up the next installment and will have it up in an hour or so.

 

[All7OfUs]

I was feeling pretty good about the outcome of the day so far by now. Party #1 had come and gone with more time to spare before the next party than a high school dropout. We cleaned the room once again, re-dished all the salads, laid out the vast spread of food and wondered: Could it be possible that there would be time for A NAP??????!!!!

Yes, there would be! A special birthday gift from the real General of Affairs! I laid down, and actually dozed off for an hour and a half. The ladies took a walk around the neighborhood, and before we knew it, it was 6:30 and time to get ready to repeat battles 1-5. Same thing. Different crowd.

This time we had invited our closest friends- those we do our “other” work with. Plus, I added one more couple who are the parents of one of our co-workers. I knew it’d be the last opportunity I’d have to really host them, and they’ve been so kind to us all these years. Remember that big wedding we went to about 6 months ago?? Yeah, them. It was time to return the hosting favor.

I had invited 15. 6 showed up. Yes, I was disappointed. But God knows who is supposed to be there, and I put on my brave face and moved forward. Needless to say the amount of leftovers was massive!!!!!!! Which ended up being a huge blessing to my helpers. They each took home a big Tupperware of meat/liver and potatoes, some salads and fresh fry bread for their families. So that was nice.

This crowd didn’t eat as much, but the conversation was “meaningful”. One of our best friends is a very gifted “bearer of Good News”, and the older couple enjoyed hearing his testimony of how his life was turned around for eternity. It’s nothing short of a miracle that a man can turn from alcohol and beating his wife to serving the Lord with a whole heart. However, as much as they enjoyed it, they are still very against it all. But, we can leave now knowing seeds were planted. It was something on our “closure list”- which sounds really bad, as they are definitely NOT just something to cross off. We genuinely love them, and would trust them in most anything.

After that we did a lot of this:



It is a very sweet song of blessing, asking God to be close to me and of how much I am loved by Him. I think there may have been a tear or two.

Even Mike and I sang a song for our guests, but we are soooooooooooo bad. I think the only good thing about it was Bek’s guitar playing.

Along with all these songs, there were MORE blessings and toasts. If there had been alcohol, we’d have been flying pretty high by now. But we were happy and content anyways, and everyone from this party ended up leaving around 9:45; just in time for the next sweet little gift given especially in honor of my complete and total Victory over 43rd Birthday. Well, I thought it was complete and total, but that’s up next…..

 

[All7OfUs]

Indeed, the day was not over yet. There was one more, grand gift in store for this Victorious Birthday Girl. As we walked out the door to see our friends to their car, the sky exploded with these!

The cool thing is that the last time we had fireworks, all my pix turned out really, really crappy. I was sad because I knew I’d not get another chance to practice before we headed to Disneyworld. This time I played with the settings a bit, fiddled with the zoom, and wasn’t shivering. If you’ll recall, the last time was on New Year’s Eve and it was COLD! This time, it was for Victory Day, (but you’re pretending it was for my birthday, right?) and much warmer. Non- freezing hands can capture fireworks MUCH better than shivering ones.

I remember thinking to myself, what a perfect ending to a perfectly delightful day, but it wasn’t meant to be finished quite yet. Some neighbors who had helped Mike pay taxes a year or so ago were also standing in the street watching. I knew now was just as good a time as any to offer the hospitality these people are so famous for. The food was already made, the househelp hadn’t gone home yet, so why not invite them in? It was one last battle to be fought before I could declare myself the Victor in the Battle of the Birthday. They ran home to lock their door, and grab a gift (I have some very nice new lotion now) and came back over. This time, we set up at the high table, heated up the meat and potatoes, and poured tea for 3rd time. (keep this in mind…) Here we are once again, enjoying the blessings that come to freely on one’s birthday.

Let's pretend that is a giant calf muscle built up by weeks of training for a 5K, alrighty?

Unfortunately, this woman turned out to be a bit on the rude side asking about our salary, Gulnara’s salary, and even implied that she was , “The American’s slave”!! Very sad.

Phew! It was finally over. Really over. Until about 1 AM. Which was the first of 5 (yes, I did actually count) times I had to get up in the night. Lots of tea= Lots of TeePee. It was NOT a restful night’s sleep, but I did get to enjoy sleeping until 11:30. So, until next year, I’ll accept my status of Victorious Birthday Battler. And revel in my 43ness!!

 

[Flossbolna]

Hi Liesa, what a wonderful post about your birthday! Your next one will be quite different with regard to surroundings, but I hope it will be filled with lots of good time with friends and family as well!

Fried bread sounds really good to me (especially now, I am just waiting for my lunch break to start)! Do you have any recipe for that?

 

[All7OfUs]

Oct.

You are a little younger than me, right?

May, '67. That makes me: Younger. But not by much. So, indeed we are kordaspiz. It's unique because we can use the informal speech tone with each other.

Oh no! I missed your birthday! But, its still Saturday here - does that count? Anyway, Happy Birthday Liesa!!!

It does count! And I'll take it!

Darn - I forgot you are a day ahead of us! Happy Birthday Liesa! So glad you had a wonderful party. Can't wait to hear about your surprise!

And Happy Mother's Day!

Thanks SO much, Tracy!! I had a wonderful BOTH!

Happy Birthday, Liesa.

Hey Kathy!! Thanks for my great big giant purple happy birthday wish!!!

 

[All7OfUs]

Hope you had a great B-Day. Nana Biscuit's Birthday is May 9th. The year she was born, which in fear of my life I shall not reveal, the 9th just happened to be Mothers Day like it is this year. I hope you were able to keep your plans for some snoozing. I'm headed that way soon...just got to get this brisket going for lunch tomorrow.

I had an awesome visit in hospice today. My Great Grandmother knew who I was. In her own way, she said goodbye, which was something I think we both needed. I don't think she really knew I was even there the last times I've tried. It was one of those "moments" that stays with you for a lifetime. I'll share the entire story soon, but I don't think I can really deal with it all just quite yet.

You guys are in my thoughts and prayers. Hopefully I can catch up on TR's soon.

My grandmother's birthday was May 9th as well. She would have been 90 yesterday. Either hers or my birthdays would often fall on Mother's Day, which is actually rather nice.

I'm SO glad you got that sweet gift from God with your GG this weekend. You needed it, and He knew it. So special! I am truly looking forward to such a cathartic story!

Happy Mother's day Liesa!

It is still Sunday there right?

You nailed it! Thanks so much! I guess I'll have to get over to your thread now, and see how you and Mel celebrated!

Happy Mother's Day Liesa!

Thanks once again, my friend! It's been a long weekend filled with all kinds of niceness!

Happy Birthday, Liesa - or: Herzliche Glückwünsche zum Geburtstag!



I am sorry that I am day late!! I was in Nuremberg once again (walked past Hotel Elch btw). I went there to celebrate my BFF's "Polterabend". Doesn't have very much to do with a "Poltergeist", which I think is a word that was adopted by the English language? Poltern is a verb which can be translated into to rumble. It generally means making noise. And Abend means evening. The Polterabend is a traditional party celebrated before a wedding (usually the evening before, but today often some weeks before the wedding). Since I will be my BFF's bridesmaid (the only one), I had to be there for this event of course. It generally is a party for everyone who knows the bride and groom, including colleagues and neighbours and such, so it is much larger than the wedding itself. All the guests bring some old china they no longer need and then the china gets smashed on the pavement and bride and groom then have to tidy it up with brooms. Broken china/pottery is supposed to bring luck to the couple.

Oh and I read something about the Blankistani president in the newspaper here, your region of the world gets quite a lot of coverage in the media at the moment...

That truly sounds like a hoot!! What a fun celebration to make merry with! It's funny to me that it's even bigger than the wedding itself!
I wonder if the word itself is something related to the Dutch word "Polder"?

Anyway, so glad you could make it back to you own home town once again for such a happy celebration. Speaking of which we got out the guide books (again) and picking out the things we must do. The top thing on Mikki's list is the St. Lorenz Church. She says it looks beautiful.

CAn you post a link to the article you read about our Pres. PM me? Is it because of the OSCE? Also, now that the long weekend is over, can you post one more time the link for your past president's speech from 1985(?) that was so moving. I"ll give reading it another shot.

 

[maroo]

wow! awesome post about the Birthday BASHES!

What an awesome spread of food!

And I didn't know Bek plays the guitar?

And Fireworks on your birthday! Awesome!

 

[All7OfUs]

Hey Liesa!!

Some frustrations have kept me at bay of late ... but ... no excuse for missing the birthday wishes ... so ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! ...

AND ... of course ... since we're on the topic of wishes ...

Happy Mother's Day

I hope when your head hits the pillow as this weekend closes ... that smiles envelope you from the wonderful memories that were discovered.

What a nice heartfelt wish, Rob! Thank you so much!

I have read about your recent frustrations on your thread. I'm so sorry that you feel like you were picked on (which in all likelihood you were). I have felt that way a couple times here, with this rule or that. I do know how frustrating it can be.

Liesa ... I just read through the Epcot journal. To say that envy comes into play would be the kind of gross understatement that I should feel ashamed of. It's amazing ... and I have SOOOOOO many questions. I'll ask them here - but - if that ginormous Word doc you referenced contains the answers - send it on through ) (disney.robb@gmail.com)

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
It's been 2 years of gathering info. and finding fun facts. I will find that doc and send it on, But also do my best to answer some of them here.That way others might learn a thing or two. I know I learn something new from TRs almost EVERY DAY!

1) What's with the drinking founts between Ftn & Mousegears?

Apparently, when you take a drink (or maybe I think even if you stand near them) they make sounds like someone's working inside them.

2) Can you tell me about the "Timeline of Discovery"?

Over just beyond the breezeway leading to FW West (the side with Figment, The Seas, and The Land) in a small courtyard there are pavement markers with tributes to those who've made great advancements in science or industry, technology or innovation.

3) I love creme brulee - what's special about Sunshine Seasons?

The UG says it's the best on property.

4) Miyuki?

She is a featured artist in the Japan Pavillion. She handcrafts candy sculptures using rice "goo". YOu just have to see it to believe it. It's NOTHING less than amazing. Seriously, if you see NOTHING else in WS, THIS is it! Go to this LINK for the times of all the WDW entertainment, including everything in EPCOT!! He updates it every week.

5) Mo' Rockin'?

The band that plays pretty good music in Morocco. I like it so much I downloaded some of their stuff. Back in the good old days that I could download from here.

6) El Cobre?

Ditto, but for Mexico. Your kids might not be into just standing around to hear the tunes, but I LOVE IT!

7) What's the scoop on Ratatouille's in the wine shop?

In the wine shop, a little Remy peeks out from a basket of grapes. A cute photo op.

8) Please tell me about the "tin toy museum" ... Ethan insists his livelihood as an adult will be as (and I quote), "A tin toy builder"

Inside- deeper in the Japan Pav. a WHOLE museum of tin toys- some VERY old. Just ask the CMs.

9) "stand at fountain, voices from shop" ... ummmm ... ????

I can't tell you exactly where this is yet, I'll be looking for it though! I guess if you stand at the fountain outside the Marakesh Restaurant in Morocco, and be still you can hear a conversation of a family who "lives upstairs". YOu can even hear dishes falling in their haste to prepare for a guest who has shown up unexpectedly.

10) "Zither lady"

Another MUST see in my opinion. She plays the most heavenly music inside the Hall of Prayer. We caught her playing as we waited for the "China Show". LOVELY!!! Guaranteed to put the worst tempered guest in a better mood!

11) You make a lot of references to hats & fountains?

Those are just a couple of my photo themes.

Lastly ... your picture prowess has left my tingly and gooseflesh laden

Are you looking for a knuckle sandwich??

 

[All7OfUs]

It sounds like a way of preparing the new couple for the impending doom of children in the their home!

We call the "place" in front of a kid at any table, extending an arm's length out in all directions, "The Destruction Zone".

Happy Mother's Day to all !!!

To you too, Rosie!! Hope yours was fabulous!!

 

[All7OfUs]

wow! awesome post about the Birthday BASHES!

What an awesome spread of food!

And I didn't know Bek plays the guitar?

And Fireworks on your birthday! Awesome!

Hey, hey, hey!!!

It was enough food for a platoon- seriously. I think I should look into catering when I get back.

She taught herself mostly, after taking a couple months worth of lessons just before we came back here this time.

I"m not joking when I tell you that these fireworks are BIGGER than at WDW. They literally shake our house when they explode over us. It's SO cool!

 

[glennbo123]

May, '67. That makes me: Younger. But not by much. So, indeed we are kordaspiz. It's unique because we can use the informal speech tone with each other.

Oh nuts, I've been so forward....all this time using the informal speech tone before verifying that we were kordaspiz.

Thanks for sharing all of your birthday festivities with us. It looked like a great day! Sorry that a few invitees didn't show up, but you obviously made the most of it.

 

[glennbo123]

Apparently, when you take a drink (or maybe I think even if you stand near them) they make sounds like someone's working inside them.

I'm not sure if this is what you were talking about, but it reminded me of this installment from Rentayenta's TR last year. link Her friend Keith posted this particular installment, and it is a hoot.

 

[All7OfUs]

Oh nuts, I've been so forward....all this time using the informal speech tone before verifying that we were kordaspiz.

Thanks for sharing all of your birthday festivities with us. It looked like a great day! Sorry that a few invitees didn't show up, but you obviously made the most of it.

You flirt you!

Now, from now on, always ask a lady's age first!

It ended up working out just fine. I really didn't let it bug me too much, just that I wouldn't have spent so much on food if I had known.

I'm not sure if this is what you were talking about, but it reminded me of this installment from Rentayenta's TR last year. link Her friend Keith posted this particular installment, and it is a hoot.

I remember reading THAT!!! So funny!!! That seriously is one of the funniest pictures I have ever seen!

 

[glennbo123]

Now, from now on, always ask a lady's age first!

That's backwards from the way I was taught. Next you'll be telling me to ask her weight too. (and salary, and housekeeper salary)