I'm back...and better than ever.

You don't know what you've got until it's gone.

Amen to that.

Our new computer arrived via UPS this morning!! - and our man Tim had everything transferred and running smoothly tonight. Oh man - it is so nice.

So, a bit of an update is in order.

As a family we've finally worked our way through every viral and bacterial malady known to the CDC. Our grand finale was my attempt at the flu and pink eye at the same time (thanks Sully). We appreciated all the well wishes and concerned phone calls over the last month. I think we've fulfilled our illness quota for the next 5 years (and probably come pretty dang close to maxing our lifetime insurance limit). My mom was there when I needed her: picking kids up from school, putting dinner on for my family, folding laundry, the beautiful roses she cut and brought just to cheer me up (it worked). Thanks also to Mike's mom for the yummy soup and the nebulizer just when we needed it.

Three days into my Tamiflu regimen I felt well enough to take a day trip with my friend Kirsten to Heber to print our Christmas cards on a vintage letter press. Her brother and sister-in-law own the studio and press. I had a great time & the cards are pretty cool as well. Here's a picture of me at the press (scroll to the bottom).

Jessie performed with her class last week in A Mid-Summer Night's Dream as Hermia. They did an outstanding job, really. Here's a little clip with Jess - (in purple):

After the play Mike ran into his mission president and his wife (their grand kids apparently go to our school). That was crazy - it's been 15 years. They were so pleased to see Mike and talk to him. I snapped a picture.

As usual we have lots going on. I'm just glad I'm back in the game...and that I have a computer again.

Wha...???

I was sick for a while. Really sick. (I still sound like a toad.)

Our computer breathed it's last. Our new system hasn't arrived yet.

Result: I've been pretty much disconnected from the outside world.
This post comes to you courtesy of my mom...and her computer (which I stopped to use so I could find out just how much of life has passed me by over the last two weeks - you'd be surprised).
Still...there's something kind of nice about having no internet in your house for a while (once you get past the anxiety of missing important emails, having to wait to start all the Christmas shopping, going without convenient information, balancing the check-book, etc.)...
Anyway, I should be back in the land of the connected this week. Until then...if you need me... my phone still works. :)

Addendum

As a supplement to my last post, this documentary aired on PBS tonight - the influence of the Beatles on the opening of the USSR. Pretty cool.

...and the WALL came tumbling down

Our computer's been in it's death throws this week... but thanks to the skills of my bro-in-law, we've got it limping along until our new system is up. (Actually we're not technically related at all. He's married to my Russian "foster sister", Lena - which segues nicely into my post for today.)

Twenty years ago yesterday the Berlin Wall came down. I remember, as a 14 year old kid, thinking that the impossible had just happened...and it was only a matter of time before the Soviet Union dissolved. For anyone who grew up during the Cold War (who watched Red Dawn in horror as a child -- I know, it's laughable now) the fall of the Berlin Wall represented a gigantic change of paradigm.

I spent a summer in Russia not too many years after the collapse of the Soviet Union (where I met Lena) & saw some of the painful transition from a communist state. Later, in college I did my senior paper on the roll of western pop-culture in the demise of the Soviet Union/eastern bloc. It's a subject that has continued to fascinate me.

In commemoration, here are a few of my favorite books on the subject...for anyone remotely interested:

A very cool little children's book - one man's experience growing up in the Soviet bloc (and later defecting).

In my opinion, probably the best book written on the subject. I literally cried reading it.

Simple Food

My Mom's Chicken Eggs

My mother loves to keep a small brood of hens around her orchard - both for company and for the eggs. I think they have something like 6 chickens right now producing, as my Dad calculated, 15 dozen eggs a month. Subsequently, we receive a dozen here and there. I LOVE them.

Happy chickens ranging free around the orchard...the good life.

Halloween Highlights

As with any holiday in a large family, Halloween was pretty action-packed. Too much to show here on the blog (by the way, if someone could show me how to do a photo collage or slide-show in a post - that would be great). To begin with everyone was mostly over the plague which over-took us this week (in the end, everyone but Jessie, Mike and I fell victim). Tillman did an abbreviated trick-or-treat this year - just our circle - before he settled in, watching Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The other kids went full-throttle, the oldest two trying to set a record for pounds of candy accumulated in one night. As you might surmise, at the end of the evening there was a great divide between the "rich" and the "poor" (one child to the next) if you measure prosperity in candy. In the past we have let the kids eat some on Halloween night and then dumped it all into the communal candy bucket where everyone partakes equally until the candy gives out sometime around Christmas. They've complained in the past about this...but with some effort they usually see reason. This year the kids held a special emergency meeting in one of the upstairs bedrooms - and then came down with a whiteboard and note cards to lay out their "Candy Objections" (that was literally written on the white board). Each of the kids stood and read their grievances from their note card ("It should be our choice if we get a stomach ache." "We went out in the night to get our candy, we should be able to keep it." etc.) - followed by a vote: for the "Bucket" OR for the "Kids". We didn't know the kids could unionize like that. Mike and I felt a little rail-roaded...for about a minute. Then Mike started in about Democracy vs. Parent-ism, and calmly explained how parents had to be responsible for certain choices involving their children. Then he opened the floor to suggestions for compromise. In the end we resolved upon a new official

Halloween Candy Policy:

Introduction:

In order to provide for a more equal distribution of Halloween booty, and to ensure the health of each family member while protecting the rights of those members to enjoy their hard-earned holiday treats, we adopt these rules.

Article 1:

To preserve the rights of trick-or-treaters to enjoy their own candy, following the yearly acquisition of said candy each child shall choose 25 of their favorite items to be reserved in a bag for their own consumption. No trading or bartering shall be allowed after the initial selection process (also see Article 3).

Article 2:

To ensure greater equality of candy distribution, after the Favorites Selection, all remaining Halloween candy will be pooled into the Jack-o-lantern bucket to be shared equally.

Article 3:

For the protection of the health and well-being of family members all Halloween candy shall be consumed in moderation, by parental consent.

Halloween 2009

The crowd favorite at this year's Sullivan Halloween Bash: Casey, Helen & clan as Ghost Busters / ghosts (or Ghost Busters meets KKK)

Randy & Ralphie (if you don't get it, we'll have to talk)

Neighborhood kids... I especially love the sweet Optimus Prime (or as Noble called him "Awesomeness Prime")

Sully in the living room enjoying some Smarties