Man, what a couple of days

I love this outfit!

Anyway, I am in need of new childcare for my little one. I know that I will find good care, but it is not an easy task to accomplish. Center care is not an option. I can't afford what nanny's charge. Home daycare is what is left. I will find a good one for a reasonable amount of money.

Hope it happens quickly! Suz

WOW. It's been a long time!!

Funny, if you look at the last post which was written 2 years ago and never posted, you will laugh. The title was so ambitious and I wrote so little!

Becoming a mom will do that to you. One day you have a selfish life. The next day, you don't. Piper is now almost 2! We are living in Dumfries, VA, happy and healthy. I thought I'd start this up again and add info that some may find helpful... especially mom's of toddlers at this point!

Here is a website for healthy snack ideas for little ones! :)

http://www.familycorner.com/parenting/nutrition/healthy_snacks.shtml

Piper Lee, maternity leave, sleep deprivation...

I can't believe my last post was in April. HOLY COW. Piper is now one month old and bringing me lots of joy of course. She is a pistol and a dear. She loves her pacifier, baths before bed, and playing in her mirror.

Happy Easter!

I have been not so good at keeping up with downloading pix and keeping this updated. I have to use the excuses of moving to a foreign country, actually twice in 6 months, and general procrastination. I am updating my flickr site (photos) now and hope to be caught up in the near future (http://www.flickr.com/photos/susieclaire/). I'm just in from a week on Tenerife (one of the Canary Islands) which was relaxing and full of sunshine. Just what the doctor ordered. Now I am back in Stuttgart and the weather is fine! :) Did I mention that I love sunshine? I have decided that after this two year commitment is over, I will never live again in a place that gets so cold. EVER. You can mark my words on that one! My soul requires sunshine!

I hope you and yours have a wonderful Easter and I hope to hear from you in the near future!

Sincerely, Susie :)

Ok... so I forgot to post this on january 20th.. slacker!

President Obama takes the helm. Here’s to a new beginning! I am hopeful, as are so many of us, that our country is going to take a turn for the better with such a fresh, positive leader as our guide. That’s about as political as I get…
I have moved out of my house and am awaiting moving into my new apartment next week. For the past week, Jack and I have been staying with a friend, who has been so kind to open his apartment to us. We will move into a hotel on Thursday, where we will stay until next Wednesday…when we move into the new apartment downtown! I am thrilled to get settled in after too many months of living in a place that was temporary. I have had enough of moving to hold me over for quite some time!
I am planning a birthday party next month for my friends Torsten, Florian, and myself. Somehow, I end up making the closest friends with people whose birthdays are very close to mine! Torsten is a sweetheart of a German guy who lives and studies in Munich. I met him at Oktoberfest… he and his boyfriend visited me in November and we went to see the musical Wicked together (in German, I’m afraid). Florian is a younger German guy who I met when I was traveling in Australia year before last. He is studying law in Heidleberg and is from a town near where I live (Stuttgart). Which reminds me, I have a new mailing address. Just an FYI, it is considered a NYC address, so if you send me mail, a regular U.S. stamp will do! Here it is (only the zip code changed):

CMR 447 Box 196
APO AE 09020-196

My mom is doing super with her recovery. She is completely cancer free and starting a light exercise program. She is taking a master gardening course, which starts soon and she is very excited about (she could probably teach the class!). I am hoping that she will make the trip to visit after I get out of school in June. I also hope that Lisa makes it here since she never made it to Maui (tsk, tsk..)!
The weather is simply horrid. Anyone who was jealous of my living in Maui can now rest assured that I am freezing my butt off! Tomorrow the low is 28 degrees. It has snowed more times that I can count, and apparently is the COLDEST WINTER this area has seen in many years. Oh well, it is beautiful and thanks to my U.S. shopping spree, I have plenty of warm weather gear to take the edge off. Jack LOVES the cold weather and doesn’t seem a bit bothered by the snow and ice. I can’t say that I am quite as excited about the dreary weather. Thankfully, the job is going well, I’m meeting great people and experiencing new things so often that it’s not the focus of my life. Going to sign off for now. Once I find my camera, I will download pix and post them. I hope you are having a great start to the new year!

Peace, Susie

i am here...

hi!! i have not been very good at updating my blog at all. or adding pictures. i just have been too busy with sorting through boxes, organizing home and classroom (things from VA/Hawaii/new). It is just about as fun as it sounds, but feels good to be getting rid of stuff i don't need and organizing the stuff i do. i have been having some fun here and there. i'm playing indoor tennis near my school on a fun surface. it's like little bits of erasers. Looks kind of like clay but not slow like clay. anyway, i have met a few people to play with. so far the challenge has been to find someone on my level to play with. i have some headaches at work (paperwork, b.s. that comes with working for a federal govt agency) and home (a new house, work not completed, had to visit the military attorney) but i am keeping my head straight about it all for the most part. thankfully skype is keeping me in contact with my family and a few friends all over the world so my sanity is intact. today i am doing laundry (a much longer process than it needs to be, thanks to german energy conservation), and going on a hash run. i never knew about the hash house harriers until i moved here. apparently it is worldwide and hawaii hashing is pretty intense. it is basically a running club with a drinking problem. i stay away from drinking to much at these events though b/c 1)i can hardly keep up sober and 2)i have to drive home!!. i have been offered a ride today, but i'm not sure if i should take olaf up on it b/c that means no excuse to drink less! (i am such a lightweight.. especially regarding german beer!)

anyway, my mom goes in for surgery on tuesday and my thoughts are with her. i know that it will go well and she will be fine, but it is hard not being able to be there. please send her lots of good energy in Virginia.. not that she needs it!! she has the best attitude. MY MOM ROCKS.

I am going to Italy for Thanksgiving with my friend John from work (he is from there). I am looking forward to it. Jack even gets to go! I have one good friend at work who LOVES Jack and watches him for me when I travel usually. I am very lucky to have her. Her name is Heidi and she is also an excellent support for me. Kind, fun, happy, and has lived in Germany most of her life (this helps at restaurants...).

i will try to get pics up soon. i have so much to do that somehow it keeps taking the back burner. I miss my people and my maui sunshine. it is a tougher transition than i imagined. i will have to write a "the things that suck about germany" email sometime, but i'm just not in the mood to gripe right now.

Keep in touch and take care!! Love and miss you. :) Susie

Hump Day

Just in from dinner at a little French restaurant near post with Marlene and John (who else?). Today was rainy but not too cool. Tomorrow is going to be 80!! :) I had to buy a big umbrella the other day.. I haven't had an umbrella for over 3 years!

I posted pix of the house I will be renting on my flickr site : (http://www.flickr.com/photos/susieclaire/). I haven't been very good at taking pictures lately..I didn't even take many of Gavin and Katie when I was in VA. Much of what we have been doing is working, eating, looking for apartments, getting cellphones, etc. Haven't done much sightseeing yet. More pictures will come soon!!

John (my coworker who is my new best bud) found a sweet apartment in the city which is super for me. :) Now "we" have a big house right outside of town and a nice apartment in town. We are joking that we will put each other's names on our mailboxes. It's a good thing that he can cook because now my nice kitchen won't go to waste!

Jack is enjoying the dog park near the hotel. He is getting along nicely with all of the dogs, which of course I love. He will have a fenced in yard when we move in the house later this month. It is small, but fenced in, which is nice.

My students are learning the routine more and more each day. I am limited on supplies right now due to funding, but I will be able to put in an order on Friday for many things. I can't wait for my teaching materials to get here from Hawaii. I feel like I am not doing my job very well considering my limitations in that area.
I am having to practice some major patience...

Keep in touch when you can and thanks for taking the time to keep up with me...

Susie :)

Easy Like Sunday Morning

It's Sunday morning and I am enjoying some down time. I went with John and Marlene (my new friends) all around downtown Stuttgart yesterday looking at apartments. I am hoping I made the right decision to rent a house right outside of town (it's 9 miles from my school) after seeing some pretty incredible apartments right in the city yesterday. Actually, I met a immobilien (real estate agent) at a party last night and when he asked where I'll be living I had to stop him mid-sentence when he responded. It seems everyone thinks my little town is soooo far away. It's 9 miles!! Anyway, we went to my house and took pictures yesterday also. I will post them later today.

School is interesting. Everyone is super nice and my kids are super cute of course, but there is no funding until the end of september and i have been instructed not to communicate with the only other preschool teacher in the area. I was really frustrated Tuesday afternoon and poor mom got a tearful phone call about it. I am letting it go basically but I will say that it is hard!! I have a nice assistant (she was just subbing last week and we talked her into taking the position full time!) named Michelle who has 4 kids who attend our school (it's elementary and middle school). I think that will work out well.

I have tons of things to buy for my new house. I don't have a bed for starters. And I have to buy approximately 10 light fixtures. Thankfully there is an IKEA closeby. German houses typically don't have kitchens built in (you bring your own), but mine does. It is super modern and nice. As far as the light fixtures, apparently they are a very personal choice, so landlords have their tenants provide their own. Thankfully I can use a VAT form (a form that allows me to get 18 percent off.. we don't have to pay German taxes while we are here...) for most items (even a car!). Speaking of cars, mine will be here in late October most likely. Right now I am sharing a rental car with John and Marlene. We are together all of the time anyway, so it is saving us money.

Better get up and take Jack out. I look forward to having a yard when I move into my house later this month!!!

Peace,

:) Susie