Frosty

It turns out I am still not willing to flash my headlights at another car if they're driving around without their own headlights on because I'm still somewhat convinced that it could be a gang initiation whereupon me flashing my headlights would cause them to shoot me.

Apologies to the dumbass driving along 495 without their lights on - I like to think I'm not the only coward avoiding getting your attention. I hope you didn't shoot any good samaritan that clued you in eventually.

Man, gangs were jerks in the 80s weren't they? But did this actually EVER happen to anyone? Was it just an urban myth? If I forget to turn on my headlights & someone flashes me do I have to kill them?

Anyway, I'm happy. I mean it.

Usually when I make such a sweeping claim of contentment in life, something gosh-awful smashes me & I'm not happy anymore. We're probably all going to get scurvy or narcolepsy now.

But I'm putting it out there regardless of what shit storm may get stirred up. I'm really loving my job (though it's been super slow thanks to the holidays - looking forward to being busier in the future), my kids are the best ever & my husband ain't half bad either.

I also love the holidays & decorating & buying presents & wrapping presents & Christmas music & cold weather & looking at Christmas lights. This time of year is just dandy!

Have I mentioned my wreath? My wreath makes me happy.

LOOK AT IT!

Isn't it GLORIOUS?? 

You need to get one too, don't you? 

Go check out Ever Blooming Originals & get one of Colette's amazing creations. 

I love my snowman!!

Elsewhere in my life, nothing is really going on. Our goal this weekend is to really dig into our house & get some more pictures up on the wall, some decisions made on paint colors, put the Christmas tree up, all the good stuff.

But hey, I do have a couple of corners that look great to me & I thought I would share them with you:

My bedside table. 

Lord love my Aunt Mary - that gorgeous table was hers & it just makes my day every day to look at it.

The little painting on the wall is from Marcel's parents' attic.

The little bowl is from some little awesome home shop we stumbled into in Tasmania (can't remember the town).

The picture is all of us at Disneyland with Mickey & Minnie.

The lamp & lampshade are Target. 

And my darling little cockatoo slippers were bought before I went into the hospital to have Evan. They ended up being way too squeaky on the hospital floor & I got dirty looks form the other mothers in our shared room so I retired them from hospital duty. Whatever, they're slippers that look like cockatoos & there is nothing unlovable about that.

And this is the entryway at the top of our stairs.

Yeah, it's busy & cluttered & looks better when it's not smothered in winter coats but I love it.

That gorgeous little cabinet is just from Target (online only for yellow) & I'm trying to find another place I could stick another one of them because it's a little piece of perfection. I'd like the teal next time, please.

The basket is maybe from Marshall's?

The awesome mirror is from Edie's Lab on etsy but I caught a demo model from a home show they had done so I got it half price. 

The big honeycomb vase is AWESOME & I actually ended up getting two from West Elm & I'll probably get more in more colors.

The little vase is even more awesome because up close it looks like a slightly crumpled paper bag. So cute! And a gift from my mother in law - love it!

We left most of our books behind when we moved from the Big Country so all that's left is in this cabinet. 

So there you go, a tiny little tour of two corners of our house. If we get anything put together this weekend, I shall take more pictures I promise. 

Have a happy Friday (or Saturday for those of you on the other side of the planet)(stay cool, by the way, I hear you're getting fried!)!

The Weight of the World

Went back to Weight Watchers yesterday for my first weigh-in on America's fair shores. America has not been kind to me. Actually, maybe it's been too kind to me.

I've gained 10 pounds since I stopped my meetings in Australia, which was the end of July or beginning of August. Impressive, yes?

This is not good news BUT I will say that I knew I would gain weight, thanks to the stress of the move and the reintroduction to some favorite old haunts and discovering new treats. In fact, I always said that I'd be happy as long as I didn't gain more than 10 pounds & since I managed to be right on 10 pounds I'm kinda okay.

I am a little mad at myself for starting the weigh-in process the week of Thanksgiving - a bit of a clown situation, bro. Ah well, at least it might make me eat a bit less destructively on the big day. Only 2 slices of pie instead of 5 & not just curl up on the couch with the entire dish of stuffing as usual, right?

Hoo boy, I'm in trouble.

So at this point, I am 19 pounds away from my goal weight. I can do this! I quit the gym since there is no hope of me getting there between work & trying to be halfway involved with my homefront, so I've got to find a way to be active without feeling like I'm being active.

Can I hire a personal trainer to wave my arms & legs around for me while I watch HGTV? Can I hire a nutritionist to swat my hand away every time I reach for the tortillas that I planned on using to make a cheese quesadilla? Does anyone else have an addiction to plain old cheese quesadillas?

So while I'm a little disappointed that the extra heft in my gut & tightness in my clothes isn't from my body swelling up with pride at the being the first body to successfully turn quesadillas into muscle, it could be worse.

I'll be in Tennessee for Thanksgiving weekend so I can't go weigh in anyway (no, I will not go weigh in while in Tennessee - how dare you suggest it) so I'll technically have an extra week to undo the damage I do over the holiday.

How long would I have to strap myself to a treadmill to undo a weekend of pie & stuffing? I think my game plan is pretty obvious - only eat my absolute favorites (the aforementioned pie & stuffing) plus veggies & not waste any points on things I like but don't LURVE. Success is going to be delicious enough to make up for all the collateral damage.

Okay, I'm getting sick of talking about my chubby ass.

I just ordered a wreath online. A WREATH. I think my transformation into a true mom is officially complete. We are decorating our damn house for Christmas. We were wimps for Halloween, assuming the new people (us) shouldn't be the first ones to decorate but then NO ONE else on our street did so we were stuck. One house around the corner went all out & we admired them so much & they happened to be one of the very few that came around trick or treating. They were as shocked as we were that no one else decorated - we vowed to ourselves then & there to follow in that family's footsteps & not to worry what the grinches of the neighborhood did or didn't do. We shall decorate.

I have visions of Marcel on the roof Clark Griswold'ing it up while other moms drive their mini-vans from near & far to admire my wreath. It will be glorious, g-l-o-r-i-o-u-s.

Speaking of glorious, Marcel & I went & saw Skyfall yesterday afternoon - it was fantastic. Just getting out without our lovely young dudes was fantastic & enjoying a movie too? Fan-bloody-tastic! There was a lot of buildup about this movie, lots of hype about it being the best Bond ever? Not so much. I've only seen the Daniel Craig 007's & I preferred Casino Royale to be honest but this one was pretty great.

I'm so glad that the Bond movies have kept using opening titles - I didn't even realize I miss credits & fancy graphics at the beginning of movies. Remember them? Good time, good times.

I don't have the energy to give any full review of the movie. If you like other Bond movies, you'll like this one & yes, there are some nice little winks at past 007's & some lovely eye candy in the form of Daniel Craig & his usual gaggle of ladies. I have only two complaints & they are my usual petty rants so here we go:

Why won't anyone give Javier Bardem a nice hairstyle? Lord knows he's a handsome man but the mop on his head was so distracting to me. I know he's the villain, whatever. There have been plenty of good looking bad guys in the world. Why not him?

Secondly & far less importantly, there is some flashlight use that is ridiculous. RIDICULOUS, I tell you. You see this person in the distance & the flashlight beam is all over the place. I ceased to process any more of the plot at that point, not being able to concentrate on any thought beyond "Put that flashlight down. What on earth are you doing with the flashlight? Holy crap, my toddlers could be steadier with a flashlight! Pleeeease stop waving the flashlight!" I assume the filmmakers wanted to build tension because you know someone is bound to see the flashlight but holy guacamole, baboons are more controlled than that.

Okay, rant over. See the movie, you'll like it & if you don't like it, then you'll at least like staring at Daniel Craig or the pretty ladies. And if you don't like them, then you are a robot & I can't suggest any viewing materials for you because I don't know what robots like.

I think I can't eat Sour Patch Kids anymore. I got a bit giddy about going to a movie & brought some with me because there is nothing better than Sour Patch Kids & popcorn. But my teeth still hurt. The sugar pushed me over some edge, now cold & hot are hurting my front left tooth too. Why me, why now? It's just not fair.

Okay, I should go now before I get too hyped up about not being able to get hyped up on Sour Patch Kids & I start waving a flashlight around all willy nilly. That's not good for anybody.

Fighting the Pickle People

Ben watches a lot of his shows on the iPad - we have Netflix account that he knows how to use better than I do so he cruises through all the options on Netflix Kids. He found one really cute show that must be a little bit above his age range because one episode was a little too scary for him. There were some people dressed up as "pickle people" that some kids thought were going to get them. So tonight we had to have a chat with him about how there is no such thing as pickle people & no pickle people were coming to get him. He pronounces it "peekle" so it's pretty darn adorable to hear him talk about them. Obviously must do a better job policing what he watches.

Work has been pretty darn wonderful. I'm really enjoying myself - I think the position suits me really well & I really adore my new coworkers, staff & freelancers alike. I'm so excited to have found such a great position at just the right time! I'm still doing a lot of learning so in the next couple of weeks I'll talk more about the job. I'm not trying to be deliberately cryptic, I just don't want to say that I do "blah" & then realize that actually I'll be doing a bit more "zoinks."

Hey, I looked nice today! Isn't that a stupid thing to say? But I dressed in a way that I would like to dress more often. I spent a few precious minutes trying to get a picture of myself using complicated iPhone angles & mirrors but I was always either making a stupid face or at some bizarre angle, then Evan showed up so I had to give up. We'll just go with this one:

Obviously I will never be a fashion blogger. Or a house blogger because I will never finish decorating this poor house - the time, it just gets away from us.

I will share with you the one corner I have pretty much completed that you might appreciate. It's my desk. Every time you read one of my fascinating little entries, you can picture me at this desk typing my little sausage fingers away, pouring my heart & soul into really crappy phrases & terrible stabs at humor.

Here we go ...

So the lovely little desk & chair were from my Great Aunt Mary, who died a couple of years ago. 

She was such a hoot so I'm glad to have so many things from her in our house. 

The amazing Venetian vase on the floor is something my grandparents got on their honeymoon (if I have my story straight) & I have loved it for as long as I can possibly remember. 

My beautiful grandmother always said I could have it someday & it's the only thing I've ever actually inherited in someone's will. 

I don't know if I've ever loved a material possession as much as I love that vase - it's so grand & precious & fragile & so unlike anything I'd ever actually buy myself, it just delights me.

Let's take a closer look at the crap I do buy myself.

That tiger print is another of my favorites! 

Bought it in a tacky frame at Value Village in Langley Park back in my college days. 

It cost 25 cents & has followed me around the world, been in every conceivable kind of frame. 

When I bought this orange frame (from ZGallerie), I tried several different pictures & prints but nothing was wow'ing me. 

Then I found my old trusty tiger & all was well.

I totally ripped my friend Nicole off with the peanut. 

She had one & I coveted it greatly, then finally found one for myself on etsy (TwoGuysVintage). 

If ever there was someone's style to steal, it is Nicole's!

FACT: Every pair of best friends needs a Beaches-esque photo booth photo of themselves! 

This is Dana & me at Ocean City, MD when we were 18 or 19 without a care in the world. 

One of my most favorite photos ever, ever, ever.

As we eventually decorate our house, you'll see more of the treasures unearthed in the Eisele family attic but we'll start with the shutters. 

I stole this little pair to hold the random mementos that don't fit in frames. 

I know the concept has been around forever, not trying to claim it as an original but it is genius & adorable & you ought to get some shutters too.

The mug from Anthropologie, the print from Marcel & my brains and the penguin from pattispolkadots (when will etsy let people use spaces in their shop names?).

Oh my word, the hand drawn palm tree from our sponsor child in Papua New Guinea that she titled "Me and my coconut tree." So smitten with our budding artiste.

If you haven't visited Little Things Studio, do yourself a favor & skedaddle on over there! 

Love Kate's designs, colors & the quotes she chooses.

This particular one is my current mantra: A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for.

William G. Shedd, I salute you!

DMX, I salute you too!

I know there's a few of these floating around the crafting world but I liked this one in all its delicate glory. 

the Tennessee Stitchery can hook you up with one of your very own.

Another awesome bit of wonderful-ness from Aunty Mary!

This metal sign hung from her husband's ancestor's dress shop in New York City back in the days when it was called New Amsterdam. 

I know, right?! 

So that's what I surround myself when I'm trying to write or just when I'm nosing around your profiles on Facebook or putting things in various online shopping carts & then emptying them because I really don't neeeed that stuff, then filling it all up again. It's what I do, it's who I be.

Have a beautiful Saturday night!

Did you vote for me?

I am finally staring work tomorrow. Yahoo! I am feeling pretty healthy tonight finally. Yesterday was baaaad, today was just bad but I didn't get to rest because Ben was sick all night last night, Marcel is now sick & Evan was really clingy/grouchy/weird. Did I mention that my poor dad got the bug from us too & has been suffering since last night too?

I am so sleepy & I have to get up quite early while I try to figure out how much time I actually need to get myself out the door on time for this new career thing. When I washed my face tonight, I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get all the mascara off of my face until it dawned on me that it was just the dark circles under my eyes. Oh my.

So what am I doing? Sitting on the damn couch in my American flag pyjama pants, watching CNN. Election night is like my Super Bowl. My boring, confusing, nauseating Super Bowl. Every time they drag James Carville to discuss "Flahrida," I smile. Every time John King starts playing with his fancy map, I ooh & ahh. Wolf Blitzer thrills my soul. I am a weirdo.

Anyway, Marcel still feels puny so he's in bed. Ben slept all day but is back in bed tonight - I doubt he's sleeping anytime soon but he's in bed & Evan is sleeping soundly for a little while longer so I'm celebrating Election Night all by my lonesome.

If you'd like to pretend you're watching with me (& why wouldn't you?), you can keep this picture up on your screen:

Hush your face, it's not easy to get a candid picture of myself! Please remember this is me post-face-scrubbing after battling gastro & taking care of sickies. This is the face I make every time they start on that overly detailed map that zooms in on every county in the country. 

Okay, I really am very sleepy so I'm logging off before I do anything silly like posting the ugly face picture I just texted to Marcel. 

Blech

So, guess where I am & what I did today! Was I at my job, working for the first time in 3+ years?
Of course not.

Cue that record scratching noise ...

I got a lovely bout of gastro. I'm in bed making a very sour face.

Our family has been miraculously healthy the past few months - some sniffles & mild colds but nothing major so we've been incredibly lucky. With the stress & exposure in packing, moving, travelling, settling in & changing climates, we expected health meltdowns - Marcel & I just stupidly made a remark about our kickass immune systems. Why do we get smug? It always comes back to haunt us.

Now, Evan was sick over the weekend. BUT we didn't spot it for what it was because we hit his head in a major way Saturday morning, which sometimes causes little ones to spew. So we spent the weekend closely observing him for signs of a concussion & other such fun.

Then last night I started feeling nauseous but thought it was fairly standard - I keep my stress in my stomach & between packing Ben off to a new daycare on the same day I start a new job, my stress levels have been on a roller-coaster. When I woke up at 5 bloody a.m. to rush to the bathroom, I was thinking maybe my stomach was stressing a little more than my brain.

It wasn't until I was laying flat out on the carpet outside of our downstairs bathroom - the ugly bathroom - that it finally dawned on me that I had seen my youngest little darlin' in the same flat-out position on the floor quite a bit over the last two days. Mother of the Year finally had an "A-ha, he's sick!" moment.

Now luckily little Evan is feeling much better. He got plenty of cuddling & extra care even when we thought he was just suffering a head injury so I guess we could be worse parents, right? Unfortunately, I've got the bug much worse than he did (wimpy baby's got nothing on me!) & haven't been able to keep my sips of fizzy drink down yet. Took a warm bath but it only seemed to make my aching joints angrier. I did get a good nap & am still taking shelter in my bed while Marcel has taken Evan to the zoo & to pick Benny up from his big adventure at the new school.

Just so you understand how truly pathetic I am, I took a picture of my lovely eyes. Well, just one eye. My brain wasn't functioning until about 30 minutes ago so I couldn't get my act together enough to take a picture of myself with both eyes closed? It was a disaster just figuring out one.

Those are broken capillaries, caused by the force of vomiting. DID YOU KNOW THIS COULD HAPPEN? I sure as heck didn't so I yelped out loud when I spied myself in the mirror before heading back to the internet to diagnose something for about the 5th time this weekend. Ah well, it only enhances the beauty of the dark rings below my eye & my darned freckles. And seriously, imagine this times two.

So anyway, I'm not at my awesome new job & I have to say that I am mightily disappointed. I was really honestly so excited about getting started. I had my clothes & things laid out so everything on my end would be smooth sailing. I can never count on the boys to sail smoothly with me so I like to prepare myself as much as possible.

Add to the not working the fact that my parents are up to visit us & now are sightseeing on their own so as to not cross our quarantine line & catch the devil themselves. I hope it's not too late for them! I'll die if they came up to keep us company & end up sick as dogs instead.

Oh! Speaking of dogs, Ben had one of those adorable moments that make me wish I was the kind of mom to send funny stories to Readers Digest. My mom (Grammy) was telling him yesterday that she would have liked to bring their dogs Saffron & Sunny up to our house with them & asked Ben if he would have liked that. He didn't miss a beat & just asked incredulously, "Would they come in a little car?" BWAHAHAHAHA - I can't erase the thought of a tiny car buzzing up the interstate with a fat black pug & a little chihuahua barking away inside. Priceless.

Okay, this blog has exhausted me. So sad. But I'm going to take advantage of the quiet & see if I can sleep a few more minutes so I can be cheery when Ben comes home with tales of excitement from his big day. Please keep your fingers crossed that the bug will skip him & Marcel!

Working Class Ash

So, I have news. Folks, I have gotten a job! Can you believe it - little old me, back in the working world? Crazy. I'll give you more information after I start next week but I am very happy about where I'll be working, who I'll be working with & what I'll be doing so I'm just 100% excited!

Welllll, maybe 99% excited.

The other 1% is pure terror. There's the awful fear that I'm going to show up & my brain, which I assumed will still be capable of logistical and production tasks, will turn out to have shriveled away. If someone asks me about the status of a program, will I shout "Great fires of London!" like Fireman Sam? Will my office small talk be peppered with choice anecdotes like "... & then the BLUE Wiggle FIRED the yellow Wiggle & replaced him with the OLD yellow Wiggle, now they're all retiring anyway ...?" I'm a different person than I used to be. I can't possibly be more boring than I was before but I'm definitely different!

Most importantly, there is the feeling that I think most moms face when they choose (or have) to go back to work - am I going to ruin my kids? Are they going to hate me? Am I being selfish?

AM I A BAD MOM?

I think I've made it quite clear over the years that I'm not the most qualified woman in the world to be a full-time mom - there have been periods of frustration, rage and everyone's favorite, depression. I will never be able to erase the mental picture of myself (brace yourselves for this story) breastfeeding a wailing newborn Evan while I was on the toilet with gosh-awful diarrhea, sobbing because the stomach pains were causing my raw c-section incision to throb to new and unholy levels of agony. On my worst days, I let that humiliating time serve as a reminder that I can survive anything. And yes, I plan to trot that lovely story out as often as needed to remind my new coworkers that I'm not a lady to be doubted. Diarrhea/breastfeeding/surgery pain/crying stories are the way to impress new colleagues, right?

So yes, I have had some rough times as a stay at home mom and any time a jackass refers to being a mother as "the hardest job you'll ever love" with a patronizing smirk, I will be the first to say "Um yeah, it actually is." That jackass probably won't be worthy of my heroic tale of poopin' & boobin' but he or she will get the royal stinkeye.

Have I ever mentioned that I actually LOVE being a mom, by the way? I realize I tend to use this blog as a catharsis for the hard, the miserable and (thankfully) the hilarious but I seriously am so utterly grateful that I was able to be with Benny & Evan as long as I have. They are the coolest kids around & we've had some amazing times together - watching them grow into little boys is the best thing in the world. And now I'm weepy again.

Fear not, they will be in capable hands. Ben is starting back to daycare on Monday - he'll be going full time at an Adventist school just down the street from where Marcel's mom is a Pastor so we're very excited to have gotten him in there. I hope he loves being full time as much as we think he will but if not, we'll be going back down to a few days a week instead.

Marcel will be home with Evan & freelancing a bit with his editing & graphics from his new, awesome home office. I'm actually so excited about the two of them spending more time together because a certain older brother usually prevents Evan from getting much alone time with good old Dada. Marcel is great with him as far as getting him down for naps, etc. so I think it will be a walk in the park for him.

Oh crap! I need helpful advice for one area - breast pumps! Yes, I'm still breastfeeding Evan. We talked about just weaning him now because he's darn well old enough (coming from the woman who nursed Ben until 19 months) & I think he'd be okay. I don't know if it's me being my emotional self who is a hippie when it comes to this area but I'm not really ready to wean him completely. This is going to sound completely backwards to most people but if I could wean his day feeds & keep feeding him at night for a few more weeks, I'd be happy. He's still sleeping with us from about midnight or so, which is SO much easier now that we have a king size bed by the way, but he doesn't drink too terribly much unless he's teething. Can you just wean day feeds like that or will my supply drop? I assume since you can wean night feeds & keep your supply up for just day feeds that it's totally possible to do the ridiculous opposite? I'll start by pumping milk for him to have while I'm gone so it's not a cold turkey situation then wind it down from there. Then when all the shakeup has settled down a bit & he's used to be being away all day, we'll start addressing the co-sleeping & night feeding. He'll probably be a champ but I'm not quite ready to let my last baby go!

And on the pumping note, does anyone have recommendations for good pumps? And because I don't plan on doing it for months & months, has anyone had good or bad experiences with rental places?

On that note, I am going to do a little bit of cleaning. My parents are driving up for a visit - YAY!! So it would be nice if our house looked a bit liveable & less like the tropical storm concentrated on our particular house. I shouldn't make jokes because I know how absolutely devastated New York & New Jersey are at the moment & it's heartbreaking. I've donated to the Red Cross & I hope you have too if you're able.

Have a lovely night & I can't wait to tell you more about my new job next week!

From the Other Side

Heavens to Betsy, I have missed you. Just so you know, I haven't changed a bit - I'm chomping away on a miniature LaraBar leftover from Boo at the Zoo Halloween festivities & am earnestly praying that eating that instead of the Twix I was eyeing will help the fact that my newly earned & celebrated smaller size jeans are way too snug now. I keep squeezing myself into them, mind you, putting their stretch capabilities to an unfair test. I joined a gym a couple of weeks ago & have gone once. Took a class, was so sore I actually cried a little when I had to get in & out of my car a few times (squats & lunges are the devil's handiwork!). Haven't been back but I hear it calling my name. And I somehow have to rewire my brain about eating again - it's like all the healthy food I was loving for so long is completely foreign. I literally can't think of what we used to eat all the time! I sense a return to Weight Watchers in my near future & quite honestly, I am happy about that. I miss the energy I had when I was eating well & I miss that awesome feeling of seeing the numbers (& sizes) going down, down, down.

So now that we've discussed the size of my ass, let me tell you that all is well over here. Hurricane or Tropical Storm or Whatever Sandy blew on through, shook up our trees & pelted us with rain but our area escaped with no drama. I am so thankful that we didn't get blown off the map so soon into our new American adventure!

I promise some pictures soon of our house. It's no palace, but it is pretty darn spectacular in my humble opinion. It was built in the 80s & that is very obvious in some areas so there is some work to be done but we're very happy to have a home that suits us so well. The boys have plenty of room to play, Marcel now has his own office & I am loving decorating this place from scratch!

The best part of our house, I have to say, is the gifts we're filling it with from our families in the form of hand-me-downs. I'm currently typing away at a little old desk from great-aunt Mary & we have paintings, knick knacks & furniture from parents, grandparents & attics. Mixing that stuff up with new stuff from IKEA, Target, West Elm & Etsy (we get so many deliveries that our UPS man recognized us on the street) is really making this place a lovely place to be. I promise I will share some of the transformation soon - I just want to get a little more progress made before I start putting out there for you to judge!

It's wonderful to be back in Washington, I do have to say. I am planning on a quick blog rundown about the place soon & I'm sure I'll end up with many entries on the topic. I'll also give you more information about the suburb where we live so you can get a better idea of our life these days.

But right now, my eyelids are getting heavy I should go to bed & get my beauty sleep. Some of us need more than others! Apologies that this little note wasn't very deep or exciting - I'll get back into the swing of things. I honestly feel like I'm finally snapping out of the fog these days. Moving overseas with two tiny ones is traumatic, I can't stress that enough. We have had some rough days that I'd rather forget but aside from a little post-traumatic stress disorder, I think we're going to be okay!

And if you have emailed or sent me a message on Facebook or by carrier pigeon & I haven't replied, I apologize with 110% of my sincere little heart!! I have read your notes - sometimes many times - & they absolutely make my day but then when I go to reply, I just go blank. I think I could just never figure out where to start.

Anyway, if you're in Australia please know that we miss you so much! Enjoy the sunshine for us as we're going into our second straight winter & give your nearest kangaroo a hug for me please.