Alarms, Sirens and Lights...oh my

Early this morning at 4 AM our security lights go on all around the house and our alarm is sounding off. Does anyone wake up but me? No! How they cannot hear this blaring noise is beyond me. I wake up Ben and he says "what?" The Alarm is going off! Get up! Is something on fire? How do we turn it off? Did someone come into our house? Were all my standard questions in a 10 sec period! I am thinking Police are coming to our house, should I get dressed? Should Ben? Are my kids up? I go into their room, fast asleep. We start walking around the house, no fire, all doors and windows are closed. Ben finds the alarm box and turns it off. No ADT calling to make sure we are ok.

So we go back to bed. 5 min later the fans turn off and I can hear beeps from downstairs from computers turning off. Power outage. I grab my iPhone and turn on the flashlight app. Ben and I get back up and see that all the power is gone from the neighborhood. We can hear other homes alarms and police sirens.

So weird that no one got out of their house to see what all the commotion was at our house. They were all fast asleep I am sure.

I love Paris in the Spring time!

Last weekend of "Celebrate Kara's Birthday Month" and I am off to Paris with four of my girlfriends. But wait, would it be blog worthy if I actually got to Paris with no problems? NO!! So the story begins.
We started planning this trip months ago...well at least talking about it. What we were going to do, see...but never where we were going to stay. So I took the bull by the horns and got us a great apt, just a 16 min walk to the Eiffel Tower. About a month out I start to look at flights for the 5 of us, not bad in pricing, all under 160 euro. After sending out the email about times and prices I get a email back from one of the ladies and she tells me that she is afraid to fly, and that she is going to drive. Well I do not want to drive for 5 hours if I can fly for 1! Love you all, but I am not going in a car if I do not have to. So Tricia tells me that her husband will use his frequent flyer miles and get us tickets. Great Birthday Present!
Its a week before we leave and the other 3 ladies still have not decided if they are taking a train or driving. I can't handle it, I like to be organized, know what I am doing before I even know what I am doing.
So it is now the morning of the trip. Its about 7:20 AM and I am getting everything ready for my 7:30 taxi pick up. I see on my iPhone that I have a message from Jenn. I call her and she tells me that Natalie's leg is swollen, maybe a blood clot, and that Leslie ate something the night before and had an allergic reaction. So now poor little Jenn is not sure what to do.
I get in the cab and I am thinking well Leslie will take some benadryl and be fine and go with Jenn. Natalie I have no idea what is going on with her but she is not coming for sure.
So Trisha and I meet at the airport and get on a plane and arrive in Paris at 10 AM. We have messages that Jenn is getting Leslie and they are driving. But then the next message is that Leslie does not want to chance it and Jenn is all on her own again. Tricia and I get on our iPhones and start looking at flights for Jenn to get her butt here to Paris. We find flights for 250 and she will be here by 3 pm, with enough time to be here for our 6 PM time for the Eiffel Tower trip. So really I do not know what is going on, but I find out later that Jenn was going to take the train by herself, but did not have her passport, then two ladies from school drive her to the airport to get her on a plane, but its too late and too expensive for a ticket.

So what does this all mean? Tricia and I are in Paris all by ourselves.
I am adding another rule to traveling with women. If you are traveling with me, always, always do what I do, do what I say, stay with me! I will get you to where you need to go one way or another. Don't ask questions, don't ask "why?", just do what I say.

Tricia and I had a great time. The first day was so sunny we went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa. Not too many people on a Friday so we were able to get up nice and close.

It got so warm that we went into Esprit to try on clothes since we brought blue jeans and sweaters (cold and rainy in Germany). Tricia bought a skirt, I just rolled up my jeans and wore my tank top. Problem solved!

We went to the top of the Eiffel tower that night. Such a great day, the sky was clear and we could see for miles. We had met a family earlier that day while having lunch and overheard them talking about going to the Eiffel tower. Tricia told them that we had 3 extra tickets since our friends did not make it. So they paid for the tickets and went to the tower with us. Very nice.

This picture is the family we met treating us to dinner..which was a crepe and a coke light. He told us there are different menus when you go to a cafe. When you sit outside in front the prices are different than if you were to sit inside. My coke was 7 euro! Inside it was 2.50! Then when he ordered wine he told the waiter in french "not the table wine, the good wine behind the counter" Tricia said it was one of the best red wines she has had. He told us that tourists do not know about the pricing or that they are getting the cheaper wine for the same price as a good wine. He had lived in Paris before moving to the states after college, so it was great to get his in site on the city.

Tricia and I had walked so much the first day that I awoke in the middle of the night with a terrible cramp in my calf!

The next morning limping around the apartment I told Tricia, more water less diet coke today!

Today was Notre Dame, Chocolate tour, Sacré Coeur, and Moulin-Rouge. I swear Tricia was wearing the soles off my sneakers! I went to a souvenir shop after Notre Dame, and there were Japanese people everywhere in this store. The store owners were even Japanese, and yelling Japanese to everyone. After living in Japan for over 3 years I start yelling out Sumimasen!! To try and get their attention. I told Tricia I am an American in France speaking Japanese to buy something. How does that work?

We went on a fabulous chocolate tour of the city. Adam our tour guide showed us

La Maison Du Chocolate
Jean-Charles Rochoux
Poilaine Bakery
Pierre Hermé Macaroons
A Pastry Store
Pierre Marcolini Chocolatier
Patrick Roger Chocolatier

I do not think we could have had one more piece of chocolate after that 2 1/2 hour tour. I will never look at a normal American piece of chocolate the same. I have been tainted for life! Seriously look any of these up! They are to die for, cannot even explain to you what it was like to bite into the first eclair! First cold truffle. Yum!!!
It was a great trip, with a great friend. What a great birthday month! 40 rocks!!

Baden Baden

Ben took me away for the weekend to Bühlerhöhe Schlosshotel. It was wonderful, so pretty, way up high in the Black Forest.

www.buehlerhoehe.de

We are going there for my 40th birthday, since you should know by now that May is my birthday celebration month!

The first day of my spa package is Sugar/Salt peeling, Milk and Honey Bath, followed by a Indian Oil Massage.

I am so used to being naked that I did not bring a bathing suit with me. Ben cannot figure me out, he asks me what am I going to do? I told him "Go Naked!" Well the people with children at the pool probably did not want to see that, so I had to go buy a bathing suit.

The bathing suits at this place were all over $250! Could not figure out what was so great about these bathing suits that they could charge this price, and then I see the label, La Perla! I would never pay this much for a bathing suit! Ever! This costs more than my wedding dress! (I rented) So I guess if you are desperate...you get it. I will have to wear this thing for the next 5 years to get my money's worth out of it.

So I go to my first apt and she tells me to take off my bathing suit top. I think there is no way I am getting anything on this bathing suit, I am taking off the top and bottom! So she gives me this paper underwear to stick on. Why? We are in Germany! So I put it on, she scrubs me down and then tells me to take a shower. I take off the paper underwear to take the shower, and when I come out she tells me to put on a new paper underwear for the bath. Again I think, Why do I want to wear underwear while taking a bath? So I don't. I get out of the bathtub and a lady standing there tells me to put on the paper underwear for the next apt. If they do not want to see my privates, then stop coming in when I am drying off and putting on my robe! So I put on the stupid paper underwear again to go for the oil massage. Really? Europe, land of the naked? Paper underwear? Come on.

Ben had a 90 min massage I bet they did not make him wear paper underwear!

Next day was a facial, and thank goodness it was nothing like a previous blog where I had talked about how painful that facial was. Ben had one also for the first time, he quite enjoyed it. Our pores were clean! And she plucked all the quality facial hairs that were growing out of my chin...that I obviously did not see, nor did any of my friends or husband. That should be a unsaid bond between all women. If you see a hair that should not be there, then tell the woman casually with the "point and pluck" sign language gesture.

Great relaxing weekend!

Turning 40!

May is a good month to turn 40. I have been planning my 40th birthday since I was 35. I saw a picture of Demi Moore and I said "I want to look like her when I am 40". (she was 42 when I was 35) So I think I did a pretty good job on that one..except the really long hair, millions of dollars and a really young husband...other than that, I nailed it!

So at 35 I told my husband that I wanted to take a girls vacation when I turned 40. The girls would be 6 and 9 by then, and easily manageable for him. I told my girlfriends at that time, no having babies, no breast feeding, you have to be free in 5 years time. Don't tell me I did not give you advance notice on this trip!

So when I turned 39 I was in CT, and I knew it was going to be a tough sell on getting my friends from CT, OH, CO, AZ all to fly to Germany to celebrate my birthday. But I gave them a year to figure out what they could do. So as it got closer to my big day I decided that I better go to the states to make it easier for them to come and party with me. What city would be a good meeting place? VEGAS BABY!!

So with frequent flyer miles I was able to get a business class ticket for 80 000 miles. Bargain! I told my friends I was going, who was coming?

My dear friend Gina said she was on board! That's all I needed, one good co pilot and she was the one.

My good friends here in Germany are going to take me to Paris at the end of the month, so that will be another blog. 40 is good people.

Day 1, 1st hour in Airport

I get to the airport 3 hours before my flight and go to the business lounge. After about an hour this loud Irish man is complaining that he has a 7 hour layover, that CNN is boring on the TV, and why can't he get a good beer! Someone from Delta comes over to talk to him, to try and get him to be a little more quiet. I keep saying to myself..."please, please do not be on my flight! I know he will get unruly on the plane and we will have to make an emergency landing, and he will be arrested. I just know it!"

He calms down but then gets a little loud again and starts to walk around. Two Delta guys come out to go handle him, but they cannot find him. They are walking around trying to find this man. This place is not that big, it is not like he turned into a Leprechaun and disappeared under a cushion! He has just left the building people.

Hour 2 in Airport

Getting bored and one too many diet cokes I check out the bathroom.

Check this toilet out! Have to love the Japanese. I am sure a woman created this toilet as you can see by the way the water can "massage" you with different pressures. ; )

Hours 3-11

Finally I am on the plane. Ready to relax for 8 hours and fly to NY with no kids, and no husband. Just me. No one else to worry about, I am giddy with excitement. When the flight attendant comes around with the ice cream and topping for dessert I tell her to put it all on top! Yum! All for me!

One of the ladies who kept handing out water finally gave me a 1.5 liter bottle since I was going through the little ones so fast. Of course with all that water drinking, you have to go to the bathroom a lot! So now the f.a. comes to me and says "we should have just giving you a seat in the toilet and knocked on it to see if you wanted anything", loved her! She was like, 70!

Flight to Vegas from NY Hours 14-18

Sat beside a guy named Chris who was 45, single and had is own law firm (he also was quite proud of his Rolex watch with diamonds and that he got the new iPad..that I showed him how to use). He was a character. Do not know why we got so chatty, maybe it was because he was drinking, and I will talk to anyone. He was going to Vegas for his 1/2 brothers bachelors party. I told him I was going to shop! He told me "your idea and my idea of Vegas are very different". Chris told me he rented a yellow Ferrari to take his brother golfing. I told him he will not be able to fit two sets of golf clubs in that car. He told me he never thought of it. Oh course not, you are a man. I told him he will have to hire a cab to take the clubs and follow him! He told me I could ride in the car if I went topless. I told him thanks for the offer, but I will pass. I did tell him that I would be at the topless pool Sunday at 10 AM. Do you think he showed up? So much more to say about this man, but that really could be a book!

Been up for 24 Hours Straight

Get off the plane and I can see Gina waiting by one of the luggage claim areas. We hug, we bond, we get our rental car and head off to In and Out for a hamburger. Nothing like french fries after being up now for 26 hours!

Vegas in a Nut Shell

I swear no one has told the youth of Vegas that they do not have to wear skin tight clothes that barley cover their bums. This is obviously geared toward the girls. There were prom parties going on and these 17, 18 year old girls had on 4 inch heals with a dress (and I use that turn loosely...dress) that leaves no imagination to the mind. Gina and I pass another couple our age and I look at them and say "my daughter would never be wearing that!", and he looks and us and says "I was just telling my wife we would never move here because of the way the kids dress" What are the parents teaching these young girls. This is what you have to wear to get a boy, and then once you get they boy give him what is left under the dress? Sad

Saw Carrot Top in Nordstroms. That man has had too much plastic surgery on his face, and steroids? Come on! His arms and shoulders are huge! He walked in like he was just gettitng up at 3 pm and totally stoned, hung over, or maybe his face just looks like that. Yuck!

Saw Cirque Du Soleil-LOVE (the Beatles songs) very good!

Saw Penn & Teller-Magicians that are a little crazy. Also very good (My sister came on the last day and I saw this with her)

So basically shopped 80% of the time, ate when we had time, and walked our feet off! Love Gina for coming and doing this trip with me. She is a trouper to watch me try on clothes and to shop through lunch so that I can buy everything I need. She did not buy one thing the whole trip! Unreal!!

Kara And Gina Vegas 2010!

LICE!!

What is lice? I mean I have heard of lice, and I think of people with greasy dirty hair with lice. We move to Germany and the first thing I am told on the first day of school is "be prepared to get lice" The international school here is known for head lice. They tell me not to be alarmed and that lice likes clean hair, not dirty. So moms here are actually telling me not to wash my kids hair as often as I did in the states. Put product in their hair, put tea tree oil behind the ears, check your kids every week. and invest in a good metal comb to get the lice and eggs out. Where I am living? Why are the Germans having such a problem? I never saw this in any of my kids schools in the states.

Letters go home at least once a month to tell parents that there has been an outbreak of lice in the class and to check your kids before sending them back to school. So 8 months go by and I think we are doing good.

Well....Friday I am outside putting a clip in Emilee's hair and I see something running around in her hair. I tell her she cannot go to school and she starts to cry (she is only in Kindergarten, she still likes school). As we wait for the bus for Kayla I take a closer look at Emilee's hair and I see a few other things crawling around. NASTY!!

So I go to the Apotheka (pharmacy) and tell them what has happened to my little 6 year old, and the pharmacist tells me the German schools have this a lot. Nice!

So we go home and shampoo her hair and leave on the Läuse Shampoo (lice) for 30 min. I shake out her head after in the tub and I swear 15 fall out of her head. So we do the whole thing over.

So I do a little research and find that head lice can survive 30 days on 'human' head. A female will lay up to 3-5 eggs per day. It take 7-10 days for the eggs to hatch and another 7-10 days for the louse to mature and lay their own eggs!

How long has this crap been in her head! Poor thing, such thick curly hair on her head, we are never going to get it all off. Shaving might be our last resort!

So after 3 days of checking, cutting, peeling off the eggs I think she is ready for school today. So I wake up and look at her hair and find more eggs! I have no clue who gave all this too her, but I am so not impressed.

I had Kayla check my head today and we found 2 eggs! I wait for Ben to come home and he finds one more. I do the treatment and hopefully I got it early. My friend Natalie will check my head tomorrow.

Lice sucks! This sucks! I spend 3 hours a day looking for and taking eggs out of Emilee's hair. There has to be a better way!

Update...Natalie and Jen found 14 on me! So obviously I went home and treated myself. Emilee told me that she never wants to live in Germany again!! Poor thing!

the egg the full size mother!

Traveling with Women 101

To Have a Successful Trip with Women

1. Someone has to be in charge

2. If you get lost always have a meeting place.

3. Get every ones cell phone number and program them in your phone.

4. Make Spa appointments (or any other apt) in advance

5. Research the area to know what to see and do.

6. Have a plan

7. Have a sense of humor

Now in this story the names have been changed to protect the the really nice ladies I met.

I think my 7 steps to a successful trip is crucial for any woman traveling with friends or with people that you do not know. So out of the seven I think they got...1!!

I go to the airport by myself and check in and sit at the terminal. Waiting for my friend who invited me to show up with her friends...we will call my friend "Cheryl", I start to get nervous. No one is there 5 min to boarding. I call her and she tells me that they are buying magazines. So at least I know they are coming.

We get to Budapest and check into the Corinthia, a very nice hotel. After unpacking we regroup in the lobby to figure out what to do first. Now before the trip someone emailed all the cell phone numbers so that we would have them for the trip. Do you think they programed their phones? No! So me, the only one that does not know any of them pulls out my printed sheet of all the phone numbers so that they can start to program their phones.

Then the six of them cannot decide on what to do first, where to go. So after a 1/2 hour we have a plan. Then we have to wait another 20 min for "Alissa" who always seemed to be 20 min late for everything. So we decide to go to the Fisherman's Bastion

The seven towers symbolize the seven tribes of the Magyars that settled in Hungary.

Parliament Building is one of the oldest legislative buildings in Europe.

So OK we see one thing, and I could see the Parliament Building from this view. So I guess two birds with one stone.

After this cold windy trip we buy a few souvenirs from a nice man that would not stop talking about his daughter. So after 20 min talking to him we finally were able to escape his store.

Then it was off for drinks and to warm up. For an hour the ladies talk about how they partied in High School. I was so bored listening to these ladies in their 40's recap their youth that I start to text "my friends" the not so fun time I was having! I look over at the table and Cheryl was doing the same thing...texting back home...thank goodness we are thinking the same thing.

So after the stories of their youth we go off to try and find Labirintus. Of course no one knows where this place is and we spend 20 min walking in a big circle. http://www.labirintus.com/en

We do eventually find the place. We grab lanterns and walk through the dark tunnels.

The next day was no more organized than the first. I told the ladies about the flea markets at dinner the night before, something that I had researched before I got to Budapest. So four of us head out to do this. The market is the biggest garage sale, find all your old crap market I have seen. Cheryl negotiates on a antique gnome. I quality item for 8 euro that I know will end up on the Antique Road Show for $100!

So after our bargaining we go back to the hotel to freshen up. Things are not happening, plans are not made, people are late...if you say you will be ready at 12:30 that does not mean 12:50!

We head off to a shopping district to go for lunch and do some shopping

When dinner comes around we all plan to meet in the lobby at 5:30 for cocktails before dinner. We all sit in the bar and look at the drink menu. Ladies are freaking out at the prices of drinks in the hotel. They now want to go to another place to order drinks. But this takes another 30 min to decide this...then of course we still have to wait for Alissa to get to the lounge for us to decide where to go! Cheryl lost it! She told the ladies I am taking a cab to the restaurant, you can walk there, I am going! I obviously go with her in the cab. Finally someone taking charge! We get to the restaurant and it is a hole! They do not have soda as a beverage in this place! Alissa got this great recommendation from the "spa". We both looked at each other and said "we are not eating here". That is when I said "screw the roaming charges I am finding a place to eat, I am taking charge of the rest of the night!" I find a review in the New York Post about Osteria, a great Italian restaurant. http://www.osteria.hu/index.php?lang=en My friend Cheryl asks if I know where it is. I told her no, I am going to hail a cab, ask him, and tell him to take us there. So I walk out to the main street and grab a cab. The place was wonderful and the meal and service was great. Finally a good night! Cheryl and I recap the last few days and we are ready to come home.

Last day was spa appointments so how can you go wrong with that!

So like I said in the beginning 7 steps to a successful trip, live them, learn them, love them!

Toasty's!!

Grant it some of the food in Germany can be questionable. You look at things and think "they can't really eat that". The fact that they will mix raw meat and eggs and put it on bread and eat it almost made me loose it. My mom freaks out when you eat cookie dough with the raw egg in that! Imagine what she would do with this information!

You get lunch meet shaped like a bear. Veggies cut up and stuck into some kind of clear jello type mold. I always have my iPhone with me so that I can use the translator app. Find out what I am buying before I eat it. Now not all grocery stores have the best reception. So I have to type in the word and then walk to the middle of the store so that it can translate. Try doing that 3 times just to make sure you have found butter!

So yesterday I see in the freezer section something called TOASTY. It looks like, maybe a pop tart? Crunchy toast? I do not really see the chicken on the front box when I buy it...go figure.

So this morning I show the kids this new great box! Lets try it! Well as it toasts it starts to smell like chicken nuggets. So I go back to the box thinking what is this? So I translate

Der Geflügelsnack Zum Toasten

Zartes, fein zerkleinertes

Hähnchenbrustfilet

in Toastform zusammengefügt,

extra kross paniert und gebraten

And that means....

Poultry Snack For Toasting

Delicate, finely chopped

Chicken

together in the form of toast,

Extra crispy breaded and fried

Awesome! My kids are having chicken nuggets for breakfast! And of course you know they are going to love it! Seeing them dip their flat nuggets into ketchup for breakfast would make any mom proud.

There was a great tip on the back of the box though. How to make a Toasty Sandwich! great chicken nuggets in bread, what can be better!