Color Me.... Italian
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
  Computer Clean Up
Tony says it's my fault the laptop's memory is almost completely used up... and I mean completely. The last time we tried to run defrag it didn't even have enough open memory to do it. So, I'm cleaning up the files, deleting some, moving a lot over to the external hard drive... and guess what folders are taking the longest? Not mine.... nope, Tony's. This folder I'm working on is taking 15 minutes to move over... geez... So there.

This past week was good. Last Thursday I went out with friends to a couple of malls in Syracuse. That was a lot of fun. I didn't buy a lot though, which my friend G was teasing me about. But I'm still converting prices in my head. For example, if a shirt is 19.99 euro, I think in my head, "well, would I really pay 25+ dollars for this shirt? probably not....." so I don't get it. After shopping, we went out to eat, so that was fun.

Friday, I went out with a few mom's from the Mom's Club for a farewell dinner to one of the girls. That was fun as well, and I definately owed Tony for taking care of Carlee two nights in a row! lol... but it was nice to get out.

Saturday morning, we went to the Caltigerone market with our friends G and K. That was a blast. I wish I had taken my camera. I need to get a smaller one to take out though, there's too many people in a small area, it makes me nervous to have my camera out there. I was so excited when we got to the fresh food part. The fresh fruit is awesome, and the prices are SOOOO much cheaper than on base. One kilo of peaches is 1 euro, same for pears and apples. A kilo is 2.2 pounds!! That's almost half of what I would pay on base, if I bought fruit there, which I don't. Sometimes, the prices go up even more. I remember one week, when pineapples on base were 7.70 each. Geez!

We also heard from Tony's family. His grandma is getting better thank goodness. And should be released from the hospital. We were so relieved to hear that.

The file's done... more later.
 
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
  just an update
On Saturday, Tony went to a dog shelter in Nicholosi. It's run by three Italians out of their own pockets. The shelter wasn't making it, so the MWR has taken over the costs, and volunteers are helping with the work. Tony said that the dogs didn't even know what the toy was when he gave it to them, or treats either. Can you imagine? Poor puppies.

I was supposed to go with, but Carlee still wasn't feeling good, so we stayed behind. I went to a friend's garage sale and bought lots of stuff... lol. Some outside play toys for Carlee, a slide and a picnic table. An almost new food processor for $25! I've been wanting one forever. Some clothes, shoes, and toys for Carlee. And then we just hung out with them until lunch. Later that night, I went with them to an Italian grocery store called SMA. It was interesting. You can't touch the fruit here. You have to wear latex gloves that they provide. Anyways so that was fun.

Tony recently called home and we found out that his Grandma is in the hospital. We're praying for her and hoping to hear something good. It's hard being so far away. We hoped and prayed that nothing bad would happen back home while we're over here... sigh...
 
Thursday, September 14, 2006
  poor baby
The past few days have been ... well, tiring. I guess that's a good word for it. Carlee's got a cold. Well, really pretty much just a really stuffy/runny nose and a slight fever. No coughing, no other pain that I can tell. And she's really clingy and whiney when she gets sick. Fun Fun. Last night I could not get her to sleep until some ungodly hour... Today, she refused to take a nap. I'm just now getting a few minutes of peace, since we're watching Finding Nemo again (for the 12,692,583rd time.) So, this of course meant we didn't go anywhere on Tuesday like we had wanted. And, since she's sick now, I can't go to any of the Mom's club stuff until she gets well. So, I'm probably going to be stuck in the house. I hope she gets over this quick... Anywho... blah.
 
Monday, September 11, 2006
  We Remember
 
Sunday, September 10, 2006
  A beautiful guesture... and some ramblings
I called Tony at work a few hours ago and he told me something that instantly brought tears to my eyes. Every morning, Tony and his coworkers car pool to Niscemi, which is a good 30-40 minute drive from housing. Once they get to town, they usually always stop at a certain bar to order caffe. (Our boys sure do know what Italian habits to pick up right away, don't they? lol) Anyway, so they always do that on their way to work. Well, the last time the guys went, the Italians told them that they wanted to fly an American flag on Monday, and asked if they could borrow one. Geez. I'm fighting tears right now, as I think about it. Some Americans have already forgotten, and yet, there are Italians who want to show tribute and remembrance. I wish I could stop by tomorrow and tell them thankyou, but Tony will have the car all day and will be on the main base. Maybe we'll take a drive out there anyway. I think it would be nice.

So, it's 8:30 pm. I already got Carlee down to sleep, and I'm just blog surfing. I found a lot of new blogs if you're interested in reading more about life in Italy. I'm definately going to start reading them!
That's a few of them. Too cool. I'm enjoying reading them, and relating to some of their posts already! :) Let's see... other things on my mind at the moment... Tuesday, we're hoping to get out and do a little traveling... we're thinking either Palermo (the capital) or Syracusa (which to see everything each of these cities has to offer would take a few trips!) I've also decided that if I am going to learn Italian it's going to take a lot of extra effort on my part. Tony's lucky because he works with Italians, and some of the other American guys already know a lot of Italian, so he's picking up quite a bit at work. I, on the other hand, am stuck in Mineo housing, which is little America smack dab in the middle of crop land. So, I have nowhere to practice, unless I go talk to the Italian firefighters across the street. Then they'd be like, "why are you talking to us? Where is your husband?!?" LOL... ah well, I do want to learn some with my friend L, but I always feel like I might be imposing if I asked to come over to learn Italian. Anyway, so, I figure, as I try to teach Carlee new words that I might as well learn them in Italian. Baby steps sure, but hopefully it would help. I'm going to start posting them, in case maybe family and friends might like to learn a few words too, and plus because it IS my blog after all. lol :D

So today's words are:
Fun Fun. Geez. I should be studying for my online classes. lol... I've taken two quizzes in my macroeconomics class already, got 90 on one and 100 on the other. Business doesn't require any quizzes. Well, I guess I have blogged enough today... you think? lol... off to study...
 
  Italy's Pedestrian Video
I found this video at American Girl in Italy, it's so true. *notice the red light at the end* Enjoy!
 
  Girls night out... and Villa Romana del Casale
Today is another duty day, Carlee's napping, but at least it gives me a chance to tell everyone what we've been up to for the past few days.

On Friday night, I went out with 3 girlfriends and we had a blast! We were originally supposed to go to Cesare Cremonini's concert in Palagonia. First we headed to Mineo (10 mins from housing) for dinner. One restaraunt was closed for vacation and the other didn't open until 8:30 pm (the norm here.) So, we headed off for Palagonia (20ish mins away) to try to find something to eat there before we headed to the concert. After driving around, and stopping at one "ristorante" which only served paninis even though the sign said "ristorante," we finally found a agritourisma (sp) which had such a beautiful atmosphere and enjoyed dinner... that is until the waiter, while talking to L, (she's Italian so she always does the talking lol) told us that the concert was cancelled!

So, we ate in disbelief for the rest of the meal. Afterwards, we went ahead and drove down to where the concert was supposed to be, and sure enough the only activity going on was a soccer game... Frustrated, we decided to go to a place L had heard about in Caltigerone (40 mins away?). So we drove and drove and drove, until finally finding the place. It was a lounge with an Indian atmosphere. I kept looking around expecting to see hookas on the tables LOL...

We had a few drinks and enjoyed eachothers company and I enjoyed people watching the Italians in their turf. They are not stingy with the alcohol here! geez... I first ordered a vodka and orange juice, L had a rum and coke, which was too strong for her to enjoy, so I traded with her. I had a buzz on that drink by the time I was half done with it. It was huge and strong! At least 2-3 times as big as the drinks they serve in the states. They made our drinks look like the size of tea cups. LOL... after finishing that, the girls convinced me to take my first ever shot of tequilla. GEEZ... that hit me more than I expected haha... I had a blast.

Anyway, so the next morning (Saturday) Tony and I were going out with my friend Emy and her family. We went to a town called Piazza Armerina, which I had never heard of until she told me about it. We saw the Villa Romana del Casale. It was so beautiful and amazing. It's a castle from ancient Roman times, and the floors are completely mosaic. It's amazing. I was so mad that I forgot my camera! But Emy said they would send us their pics. Here are some online pics of the mosaics from the town's website. Here is another site that has a lot of pictures too, including this one:
Frommers' Sicily 2nd edition says,
"This magnificent villa is one of the largest dwellings of its kind to have survived from the days of the Romans. Its 40 rooms are "carpteted" with 122,063 sq. ft. of some of the greatest, most magnificent mosaics in western Europe.

It is obvious that a wealthy patrician built this mansion, and some scholars have even suggested that it was the hunting lodge of Maximanus, the "co-emperor" of Diocletian. The exact date of the villa's construction is hard to ascertain, however-perhaps the end of the 3rd century A.D. or the beginning of the 4th century."

It was so awesome to be able to see something that has existed for thousands of years, and to walk where ancient Romans have walked. And the detail in the mosaics is just breathtaking. Each tile is the size one or two pencil erasers. I can't even begin to imagine how long it took to do each huge room. Geez... it was just awesome. I had so much fun, and it was a perfect day to go. It was cloudy, so it wasn't too hot. Carlee was awesome. She only fussed once and that was it. I was happy about that. lol... but it's beautiful. I would definately go back again.
 
  Etna pics
Here you can see the new green lifts, and to the right of them, there are old burnt ones that were destroyed in 2003 (i think?) when the volcano erupted and lava came all the way down to the souveneir shops! There is lava rock on either side of the road! They go all the way to the top.

This is the small(?) inactive (i hope) crater thing that I want to hike next time we got out. It's not really small, I don't know if you can see the tiny people hiking it or not... lol, but it's small compared to the volcano.
This isn't the top of mount etna, I forgot to take pictures of that while we were walking around the souvenier shops, so I took this on the way back to the car.
I can't wait to go back. And our friend told us that snowboarding there in the winter is really fun, so I'm looking foward to trying that. It will be my second time trying... lol... that should be fun.
 
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
  ugh
Blogger is getting really annoying... I have no idea why that last post posted 3 times... grrr.... well, below the three posts, there is a new post about our past weekend.

*never mind... it finally let me delete them.... blah
 
  We Can't Believe it...
Steve Irwin died?! :(

That sucks so much. Call us dorks, but we loved him. Man, he was so crazy! but you had a sense when watching him that he knew exactly what he was doing. I honestly believe he did. Now, I'm not all PETA save the crocs kind of thing, but I did respect how much he loved doing what he did, and what differences he was trying to make. He exuded excitement when he worked, didn't he? Man... this sucks. I know I said that already, but seriously. And a lot of the articles I've been reading have been saying his death didn't suit him, he deserved something more exciting... Whatever. Dudes, are you serious? I think this was exactly what was meant to happen. He was killed by a usually harmless stingray. If he had died while capturing a croc, people would have criticized him saying, "Well, what do you expect? He's insane. It was only a matter of time." No, I think he never died with a croc or a poisonous snake because he really did know what he was doing, he really had a connection to all those animals. It took a freak accident with a normal usually peaceful stingray to kill him, which to me shows it really was his time to go, unfortunately. This was a really nice article here. RIP Crocodile Hunter... I hope his family is doing okay, as much as possible anyway. Geez... I couldn't even imagine... :(
 
  crazy weekend
This past weekend was quite the adventure... well, not the whole weekend, but Monday in particular. Well, okay, so the weekend was normal, the holiday was not. Saturday was Tony's and my run to the base and do all of our errands day. Tony got his stitches taken out (which took forever), and got his hair cut, while I shopped around at the NEX and waited for him to come get me... and waited and waited... Finally after about three+ hours of shopping I was going insane with boredom and thankfully I finally ran into him. "I've been looking for you for the past hour!" he said. lol... The store is so small I don't see how he could have missed me for a whole hour. Anyway, so we finished there, and went to do grocery shopping next door, and headed home. Sunday we spent lounging around the house... so the weekend was pretty normal.

We had originally planned on going to a town near Mt. Etna called Milo for a wine festival on Sunday afternoon into the night. Our friends we were going with decided it would be better to go on Monday. So, thus starts Monday's adventure. Four families were going. Four cars would be on the road. Any number freaks out there want to calculate the probability of something going wrong? Well, we didn't... We piled into the cars, and played follow the leader with the leader being the only family who knew where we were going... (is the probability number going higher yet?)

Driving here is crazy.... I've said that before. There are people who speed insanely down a curvy highway... and then there are people who have cars that don't go over 30 and still drive on the same highway. So, if none of us passed any cars, we would have taken hours to get to Milo. So, each of us had to wait until it was safe to pass cars, meaning Car#1 eventually got way ahead of everyone, especially Car#4. So, it was a race to catch up... Car#4 at one point ended up a couple of miles behind and took a wrong exit, but thankfully caught up.

Anyway, eventually we got through Catania, through the tolls, regrouped and headed up the mountain to Milo. We wound through narrow cobble looking streets, with people's front doors literally on the curb. Finally, we came to a parking lot of sorts, filled with vendor booths, with all kinds of signs about wine.... but there were no people. The place was dead. Turns out they decided to take the day off.... everyone. So... quick! change of plans! We decided to head up to Mt. Etna since it was so close.

So, we follow same Car#1, we wound up and around and up and around the mountain. It was beautiful. There were actually wild foresty type trees that weren't olive trees! It was breathtaking to see the coastline from that high up. And as I was looking around, suddenly I noticed something. A liquid was gushing out of the car in front of us (which was originally Car#4,) leaving a steady stream of whatever it was. I told Tony who said it was probably just the air condition. I told him I didn't think so, it was way too much fluid, and it was smoking.

We tried to call their cellphone, but there was no coverage. Tried to wave at them, tried to flash our brights at them... nothing. Finally, after about five or so minutes of failed attempts to get their attention, Tony pulled up beside them and I hurridly spelled out O.I.L. with some kind of makeshift sign language. They pulled over. Turns out it was transmission fluid, and all of it had gushed out. There was nothing left, and we were two miles from the top of Mt. Etna. We tried to decide what to do. They had company with them, so it was going to be a tight squeeze in the other 3 cars, especially considering there were 6 kids, 4 of which used carseats. But we didn't want to leave without letting their company at least see the volcano, plus even if they called a tow truck, it wouldn't get there for over an hour at least.

So we crammed into the three cars. We even had a guy in our trunk... .lol thank goodness we have an SUV. Since none of us were dressed for hiking up the volcano, that was out of the question. So, what was left for us to do? Eat at a restaruant located in the middle of tourist town, and visit the souvenier shops. We were going to ride up the lifts that take you up to the top, but the price was 25 Euro per person, so we said forget it. I did find a magnet for my collection though for only 3 Euro (the sell on base for 6+!!!) I was happy about that. After walking around a bit, and after family of Car#4 couldn't get ahold of the tow company, we decided to leave. He coasted the car down the entire mountain side. Brave... Parked it, and we all crammed back into the 3 cars. Poor guy rode in our trunk the entire way home (which took an hour extra since Car#1 lead us through narrow roads (at one point we had to pull the side mirrors in) and roads on the cliff side with parts of the road caved in. OMG!) So that was quite exciting and scary. But we finally made it home.

Tony and I want to go back to try to hike to the top. I also want to go hike on a small crater that's near all the businesses. Anyway, we all made it home safely, and while I feel horrible that our friends' car quit working, I'm so glad that it happened when all of us were there with them. And at least we could make the best out of it. Here are the very few pictures that we took... (ugh... I'll have to add pictures later, Bloggers being funny)
 
Friday, September 01, 2006
  Here it is
Here's Tony's Birthday WishList!
woohoo!

*obviously, if you buy somthing, you don't have to buy it from Amazon. If you find it cheaper somewhere else, that's cool, just send it priority k? So, it will get here faster. :)
 
  what a night...
Well, I was going to try to get up early this morning in order to go to the Mom's club workout... that was until little miss Carlee decided to wake up at midnight screaming in agony... sigh... I got up, gave her some more tylenol (it had worn off at exactly 4 hours... grr) and more orajel. Rocked her back to sleep, or so I thought, tried to put her down in the crib... and as if there was a switch, she started up again. I tried to leave and close the door behind me, I thought that maybe once she saw I was gone she could calm down. Nope. She started screaming bloody murder. After two of those screams, my instincts took over and I went back in and picked her up.

So, I took her into bed with me, trying to rock her to sleep. She would get into a light sleep, then jerk herself awake to make sure I was still there. Then I would try to get her back to sleep, and her foot kept moving, she would NOT let herself fall asleep! After almost 2 hours of trying to get her to sleep in my bed, I finally said, No, the tylenol must be working, you're going to sleep. Rocked her in the rocking chair and then put her in her bed. Fifteen minutes later she woke up again, but I let her cry it out, and five minutes later she was asleep. Goodness! This teething business is not fun.

Anyway, so this morning's plan to workout was ruined since there was no way I was going to be able to get up early enough to get Carlee and myself ready. Oh well. Yesterday was fun. In the morning, I went to my first Mom's Club "Caffeine Kicker"... even though I don't drink coffee, I went just to hang out with everyone and to let Carlee play with the kids. Though, none of the other moms with one years olds went, so she was too small to play with the bigger kids, and too big to play with the babies. But I think she had fun anyway. Mommy did. haha.

I got quite a bit done yesterday. I studied, took Carlee to the park, I worked on my cross stitching project some more, and then I worked on this:
I used the monkey on Carlee's bathroom shower curtain as a pattern and put some of my forgotten scrapbook paper to use. I'm hoping to make at least 6, some palm trees, and bananas to put up on the wall in her bathroom. I like how it came out, he's cute.

This weekend is a 3 day weekend! woohoo! On Sunday, we're going to Mount Etna with some friends. I'm excited, I can't wait. We had wanted to try to go to Palermo too, maybe on Saturday, but that'd be a lot of driving for the weekend! who knows...

Happy September 1! *Geez! I can't believe it's September already!!!
Oh, Tony's "Almost Quarter of a Century" birthday is this month! haha. I've been bugging him. I made him make a wishlist on Amazon so that I could send it to all the family. I'll do that today probably, or I'll just post it here, well, probably both. :)
 
I'm just a girl... trying to be a good wife.. trying to be a good mom... trying to finish my degree... trying to adjust to living overseas for the first time... and always looking for new hobbies. :D

Name:
Location: Sicily, Italy
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