My mom is coming for a visit!!!!

In just a couple more days my mom will be here for a two week visit!!! Hurray!!!!! We are very excited at Chez' Owens and the cleaning frenzy has just begun. We had a quick family meeting last night so I could let them know all that they would be doing on Saturday...Grandma comes on Sunday. They were very happy to know they would be washing windows....heehee not! I had a bit of bargaining power cause of the cool new cell phones we bought for the oldest two. They do everything except tie your shoes for you. I should have lots of exciting posts to show you all when she arrives. I am going to take her to all the markets...ride a subway...and get her to eat pon-diggie! (the bugs!) I am off now to get some shopping done. I want a ton of food in the house so when she comes we can just relax, shop and have a good time. Have a wonderful day everyone!!!

What I look like...

It is always so interesting to me when people post pictures of themselves on their blogs. You read all about a persons life, their day to day happenings and you get your own mental picture in your head what you think they look like. Then one day you check their blog and there is a picture of them on there. Maybe with the kids or dog or on vacation...something. I am always surprised! Most times I'm not even close!! It got me to thinking that the 2 :) of you out there who read my blog faithfully may be courious as to what I look like. BE COURIOUS NO MORE.....da-da-da-da I have decided to post a picture of myself...................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................Yep that's me!! I know, I know..you are thinking "hey! She looks just like Angelina Jolie!" Yeah, I get that a lot. I have decided to take it as a compliment, I mean she has Brad Pitt for goodness sakes! Now you all know why I have so many kids at my house all the time... I am working on adopting ALL of them! Okay, who's gonna be brave enough to post a picture of themselves now that I have blazed a path???

NEXT!!!

For Carrie

Hi Carrie...I couldn't write back to you cause you signed in under annonymous and I don't have an email address for you. Is your son coming with his family or alone?? If he's coming with the family have his wife check out the blog...she can get a birds eye view of life here. If he's coming alone we can answer any questions he has...not sure if he'll like the blog :) men seem to have different questions. Let me know, we'd love to help!! Coming to a new country is a little overwhelming! I had a ton of questions about moving here.
hope to hear from ya soon!
dawn

update from Saint Dawn...

I took "The Son" to the store today to get an old phone we had turned on with minutes added. We were going to get it re-activated so that if there was ever another emergency I will be able to get in contact with all kids of mine. So we get to the store, hand the phone over to the lady, she looks it up online and says...get ready, "we cannot activate for ummmm maybe three weeks." Wha??? She explains to me, while I stand there confused, that since we haven't had the phone on in two months I must wait for another couple of weeks before they can activate the phone and give us a new number. This is a pre-paid phone. Yeah. I wasn't late on a bill I just didn't use the phone forever and it got put in a drawer. I kept trying to understand what she was saying cause that didn't make sense and gosh-darnit my son was in the middle of a bomb threat and HE...NEEEDS...A...PHONE...GET....HIM....ONE....NOW!!!!!! She again says " sorry you must come back in maybe three weeks." Maybe. I'm tickled again as I write this. Just makes no sense. Well by now I'm thinking my baby (yeah he's almost 18) needs a phone and I am not leaving here without one and the poor Korean lady is "looking worried about what the crazy American mom is going to do and why did I take this job anyway?!" The son is looking disappointed cause he has a date tonight and it would look really cool to nonchalantly check his phone for messages. I do the only thing I could do...hence the picture...

I buy him a brand-spankin-new-phone that takes pictures and makes neat noises when you press the buttons. TELL ME MY BABY CAN'T GET A PHONE!!!! Don't you people know he could be out there cold and hungry and lonely and sad and tired ect ect ect and not be able to get in touch with me so I can save him??!!! yeah, again, he's almost 18 and taller then the Capt. SIGH but he is sooo darned cute! As he was leaving for the movies he grins at me and says "call me!" heehee Again...so darned cute!!!

And the house was rockin!

As I walked up to our building after subbing today I heard some music. I'm thinking "please don't let that be my house." I get on the elevator (we live on the third floor) and the elevator is swaying to the beat..."please DON"T let that be my house!!" I get off of the elevator and I hear a ton of laughing and the floor was shaking, I swear! I'm still holding on to the faint hope that this is not coming from my house......WRONG! Here is the site that greated me when I came home.............. boo-bear and another teen....

MORE OF THEM!!!

AND ANOTHER ONE!!! ALL IN ONE SMALL ROOM!!!

My house was crawling with them. There was only a half day of school today and middle daughter came home with the whole crew so she could let them listen to some of her music on her I-Pod. I didn't get a picture of the two in the living room watching cartoons. I have now decided something about myself.

I...have...the...patience...of...a...saint. Yep, it's true. I am a saint. I have accepted this fact and am letting the world know. You may all call me Saint Dawn from now on and if you have a teen who has been over to my house this past week, well, you may bow as I pass by.
That is all.

I have many things to do as I am now a saint. I think there are people outside who are waiting to behold me. I must go now and meet my public and be all humble and stuff.

heeheeheehee

3 cups of coffee leaves me feeling a little silly!!

How do you get a handkerchief to dance??


Put a little boogy in it!

bwaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaahaaaahaaaahaaa

k..no more coffee for today!

update on "The boy"

The boy moved today!!! He and his dad got into a fight and the dad decided to ship him off to Germany to live with the mom. Middle daugther is crushed!!! She didn't even get to say goodbye. This morning she's hurting. It was hard to send her to school but she'll get to cry in front of her friends and be all dramatic about it all and will probably feel better sooner. Ahh youth.

update on the FREAKIN BOMB THREAT

Last night after all the craziness had died down I got the full scoop on what happened at school with the bomb. Some girl had written on the stall in the bathroom "bomb at 3". The Awesome! staff at the kiddos school takes every threat like this one seriously, even though they have at least three a year, and decided to evacuate. Middle daughter said the evacuation order went out and they moved THE WHOLE school across from my building. As the kids were eating candy and high fiving each other cause this was testing week and they were taking full advantage of any and all excitement my two oldest decided to find each other. After they did they decided to check on the boo-bear to make sure she was okay and not scared. Can I tell you I love these kids! When all three were accounted for then they had some fun. But they got together first and checked on the boo-bear. I say again, I LOVE THESE KIDS!!!
I have to go now...they have to leave for school in 20 minutes and boo-bear is walking up and down the hall. She is the hardest to get going in the morning. Some days the oldest two are ready to go out the door and she walks out of her bedroom with pj's still on and her hair not done. I of course, being super momma, take these days in stride and lovingly help her along on the path to get-focused-ment. NOT!!!! Excuse me while I go and yell at my brood.
bye everyone!!!

thre fabric store and a FREAKIN BOMB THREAT!

The day started out great. Walker Jen, Tanya and I all decided to go to the fabric store. We started out at Starbucks and had this little bit of goodness...Then we got "our shop on"!!! Here is one of my favorite ladies. She sells the $2 a yard cuts. Here is Walker Jen making a major fabric purchase and another one of my favorite ladies. Her little booth is like a small quilt store. Here are some of the quilts that she's done. No, they aren't for sale. I asked. :)
Is this cute or what???!Here is a close up. You can take the people and animals out of their cars. This is a tea pot wall hanging.And I'll bet you'll never get what this quilted contraption is....yep...a maxi pad! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha She told Walker Jen you just wash it and reuse. EWWWWWWWWW!
Here is a country girl bag holder.
This store was on the way to Starbucks and we found the matching underwear just hilarious. And read the sign...it says "The shopping which is happy do with LePee together". BwaaaaaaHaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Everybody needs a little Saturday Night Fever action in their day!
Back to my fabric mecca....to the right is one of my favorite booths. We find her first every time.
A shot of miles and miles of fabric....wipe the drool off people!!! :)
We left happy and broke. Little did we know what awaited us on base. We left the fabric store and went to go pick up Walker Jens son and Tanyas daughter. That's when it all went horribly wrong...read the next post......send chocolate!!!

A BOMB THREAT!!!!

Now for the bomb threat portion of the story. Walker Jen, Tanya and I try to get back on base. They each have a kiddo to pick up at the little people school. We turn the corner and there is a line of cars waiting to get on base. A bunch of people had gotten out of their cars and were on the cell phone. Hero Tanya jumps out of the van to see what's what and comes back to tell us there was a bomb threat at the school. Can you say P-A-N-I-C??!! I can't get my babies I can't get on base and then I find out that they are evacuating them to another area. Walker Jen lets me call the hubby who is away this week calmly working on his Masters Degree. We decide that we wives will not worry and panic alone so we share the joy. Yeah. The gate guards finally let us start to go on base and I hop out to run on foot. Jen hollars to get her little one if I see her first. I am on the job. My heart was beating so fast. I see this site as I start my run...

They are loading all the kids onto buses. Where are mine???
I find middle daugter and the son first. I talk to their teachers and get them signed out then I turn my attention to getting boo-bear. She is on one of the buses and getting ready to be shipped off to parts unknown. By now I have to tell you I am a little freaked and glad that I had the cool-shades on cause I may have had a tear or two...shh don't tell anyone. Boo-bears teacher sees me and tells me where she is and lets me have her. I tell middle daughter and the son to head home so I know that they are safe. Next I turn my attention to getting as many kiddos as I can from church and friends of the kids. We Owens-es are a big fan of the "leave no child behind" school of thought!! :)
I found all the best friends..had them all call their parents and speak to the teachers...thank the good Lord above for cell phones!...and then take them all home. Here are some of the shoes I now have in my hallway. :)
We ran to the corner store to get 5 pizzas...three bags of chips...a bag of ice...and oreos for Randall. Here is the whole gang. Yes, you do see babies in the photo. Two of the kids had to get their siblings out of Child Care cause it's right next to the school. Here is the whole gang. Fed. Safe. Happy.
So now I have a house full of kids hyped up on the fact that they are out of school, survived a bomb threat and they all have a bellyfull of pizza. I turned the corner and saw this site...... Sal and Chris beating the tar out of each other.

I am exhausted. There are a ton of military police walking around base here. The base is only about half a mile wide and half a mile long. They are checking out every square inch and I'm very thankful for it. A bomb threat. You just never know what you are going to wake up to here in Korea. I'm so glad this is over. A bomb threat!!!! I just can't believe it. I am so glad that I was able to get my kids and that they are here safe. I am so gonna need a nap today people!!!!

The flower market...

Went to the flower market with Walker Jen today. Oh my gosh!!! This place was awesome!! It is three floors of everything you need if you like flowers and arranging them. Since my mom is coming for a visit in like 11 days I needed to scope it out to see if she would like it. The answer is HECK YEAH!!! I took some pictures. This is what you see when you get off of the elevator..

They even had little water thingies...

This was a pottery nook..

Here is a bunch of fake fruit and vegetables...

This little section was full! of bowls and floating candles..

The next floor was filled!! with flowers..bunches and bunches of them

MORE!! It smelled soooo good in here.

I have no idea what kind of flowers these were but each one had a little plastic cup around the flower part. Kinda neat!

Even more!!

heeheehee PARTY!!!

Across the stree was a basket/ribbon store. Here is just a small corner stuffed to the ceiling with baskets..

Check out one of the ribbon displays. I decided that I want to learn to do ribbon embroidery here and got a bunch of spools. Each spool is around $2! Is this place Heaven or what??!

This was my treasure of the day. I got some yellow flowers, a new vase and some rocks that looked great and I needed to have them as soon as I saw Jen pick them up and buy some. Go on over and check out her blog to get her take on the day. She took a couple of pictures I didn't get. The one with the little ole' man on the moped is great!!! Just look over on the left where I list the blogs I read and find her...Walker Jen. Bye everyone!!

dinner time...

Let me start this story out by telling you what I made for dinner...no half steppin' here at Chez' Owens!! I made pork chops, mashed potatoes, rolls, green beans and strawberry jello. Okay. You're up to speed.
I finish making dinner and my son says that his friend is going to eat over. I check to make sure that there are enough pork chops to give the Capt when he gets home cause, hey, who wants to go through THAT! again. There were enough so I said okay. Theeeeen my little boo-bear asks if she can eat over at her friends house. I say sure cause after I feed the son and friend my middle daughter will be home from babysitting and THEN sometime after that I'll have a hungry and tired hubby coming in the door. I'm thinking one I don't have to feed, heck yeah! Go..go! After 20 minutes of the friend trying to get in touch with her mom we find out the mom is at the doc's again and she is locked out....again. SIGH!!! Now I am feeling a little put upon. I mean come on people!!! If you are going to a doctors appt don't lock you 9 year old out of the house...AND SHE IS 9 FOR GOODNESS SAKE! They can't be home alone any way! I gave a big sigh and went in the bedroom to see if she wanted to eat over...after checking to make sure that the Capts pork chop had not been devoured by son and company. As the boys leave.....giving each other monkey nuckles and yelling the whole way down the stairs like a herd of buffalo on major testosterone, I give the girls dinner. As I'm doing dishes the friend brings me her cut and says in the sweetest voice..."Thanks for dinner Mrs. Owens." Now they are in boo-bears room doing homework, cause I told them it had to be done. I can hear them talking quietly and laughing. Safe here with warm tummies and I gotta tell ya...I'm not feeling to put upon any more. My kids have a bunch of friends like this one. There is a boy who comes over here for lunch every day with our son cause his dad won't let him eat at home or give him any lunch money. Now this kid is a football player and pretty big to boot. He gets hungry. I make sure I keep plenty of ramen noodles on hand and lunch meat. There are 5 here every day for lunch. Most bring their own food, some don't . I just don't get it! You get blessed with a perfectly good kid and this is how you raise them. I just don't get it. It frustrates me to no end. I promise I'm not telling all of this to toot my own horn. I'm saying this cause if and when your kiddos bring that friend home...you know the one..... he eats your food, he sleeps over all the time, he goes with you when you do family things, he is always under-foot..that one. Give him/her a little of your time. Some of them really need it. :)
K- I'm off my soap box. I promise to post something funny tomorrow. I plan on stalking naked Korean guy and getting a picture. :)

We got us a sit-ee-a-tion here at Chez Owens that promises to be pretty entertaining for the next couple of weeks. See our Middle Daughter is in "like" and fighting hard to be able to date two years early. There is a rule that the daughters cannot upset the delicate balance of harmony we have with the Capt until she is 16. Yeah. Well consider the balance upset. She likes this boy and he really likes her. So much so that when she told him she would like to see him with short hair he went to the barber and got it cut. Yeah. He's a nice kid. I've had him in a couple of classes that I've had to sub for and he's funny, extremely charming and a cutie pie to boot. He asked her out even though every boy in school told him that middle daughter was the "untouchable" and that the Capt is pretty big. He may not be 6ft tall but he can bench 285. Yep...and he considers all boys Mongolians and he is the Great Wall of China. Sooooo you see what we are up against. Yep. Her being 14 and all she is sooooo wanting to be in love right now. Okay, now you've got the back story. Fast forward to last night. "The boy" has decided that he needs to meet the Capt, declare his undying affections. Um-huh. He is planning on coming over and having a little man to man. The poor thing could maybe bench 50 on a good day. I tried to soften the blow by talking to the Capt last night. Made some of his favorite chicken for a snack and tucked him in all nice and tight for bed. Then brought up the subject that "the boy" may be stopping by for a chat and he is TO---BE---NICE---OR----ELSE!

Before my very eyes my darling loving hubby puffed up to the size of the Stay-Puff-Marshmallow-Man on Ghostbusters. Bring him on he shouted!!!!! Big sigh from me. 20 minutes of me talking to him we are in agreement on one thing. The boy can come over and meet him. He will try to be nice. No he can not bring weights home from the gym and show said boy how strong he is and no he can not do one armed push ups while shining any guns. Good times. He did take middle daughter out yesterday and tell her that since she is such a good kid, and people she really really is...we've hit the jack-pot with these kids, that she can date when she is 15.....with supervised dates...in a group...and no, the Capt is not allowed to hide in bushes ready to leap out and maim any boys who tries to kiss her. :) Middle daughter has decided that "the boy" needs to go to church with her. Tonight he may go to teen group. Poor kid. Every time he gets close to her there is either big brother or older boys who are friends of the family who tell him that they will pound him if they don't see at least 4 inches of sunlight between them. :) Gotta admit..."the boy" is pretty brave!!!
Updates to follow........pray for me people!

weekly news...

I've been busy over on this side of the world. I got the sub call on Weds. 1st graders! Can you say...OH....MY...GOSH!!!!! It was the longest day ever! I even had one "angel" chuck his pencil at me! It was the first time I had to leave a bad report on a class that I subbed for. It was all boys except for these 4 little girls. What a day! Yesterday and today I am back in the land of the big people! High School! I had a good day yesterday. Today is Friday here and I have to sub again for High School. Should go by pretty fast.
On a quilty note...remember that flag wall hanging I made a couple of months ago?? Well I started making one for Walker Tiki. I got the top done, all the points matched beautifully. When I started to quilt it on the machine, horror of horrors, my back was all bunched up. I started picking it out last night. I was so disgusted by what I did that I put it away for awhile. I need to get it to her before the 4th of July!! Don't worry Walker Tiki...I'm gonna "get her done!!"
Alright, I gotta go and get the kiddos up and moving. Everyone have a wonderful weekend!!!
dawn

Blogger...........AUGH!!!!

Can someone out there tell me why why why when I post pictures all of the words go in a strait line on the side of them???????????? This is a new thing that blogger is doing and it's driving me crazy!!!!! Is anyone else out there having this problem???

Bylow's Going Away Party

Friday night we went to a going away function for one of the guys my hubby works with. It was a lot of fun!! We went out to dinner at a fancy-shmancy restaurant and then after we hit the Karaoke scene. The night started out with a trip to Walker Jen's house. We got them and then found a cab. On the way out of the gate to get said cab we encountered our first bit of fun!! There were these two ladies waiting for "victims" in their car. When we walked past they hopped out and one of them grabbed my hand in a death grip. They were all smiles and their English was pretty good. They wanted to invite themselves over to our houses and talk about some church they go to and practice English. Now you can't just let anyone on base. There are rules people!!! K, back to the story. I am trying to dislodge my hand while they are frantically trying to get as much info as they can out of us. They asked where I live...me being very (heehee) street savvy. I tell them a wrong base. Of course Walker Jen and Walker Rob...with the Capt all think I've made a mistake and helpfully correct me. :) Strike one for me! Then everyone gets smart! I tell them a wrong house number and before they will let me go they want a phone number...of course wrong as well. The Capt seemed pretty amused by the whole thing and stood there just in case I needed back up. I had to pry my hand away and then we all went down the street with the cab search back on. We find the cabby and he gets us to the place. Here is a shot of one of the rooms in the restaurant. You put your shoes by the door, step up and you are in a private room. We had two little girls who kept peeking at us...fascinated by the way cool Americans!!

Here is Walker Rob at the table. We were the first ones to arrive.

This is how we cooked our food. The waitress brought us a bunch of different types of meat and we cooked them on the grill. That little bowl in the top right is full of garlic cooking in a sauce.














This was really good! It was apples and tomatoes with pineapple in a sweet sauce. Of course I made sure this side dish was by me!














Prawns...yuuuummmmmmm!















This is what the meat and the mushrooms look like before you cook them. Notice the scissors. There are no knives, you get your meat cooked and then cut it into smaller pieces. Everyone just grabs it off of the grill after that.














Here is tar-tar. I didn't like this so much. The Capt and Walker Jen did. The translator that works with the guys came to dinner also. She made sure we were taken care of and ordered a bunch of stuff for us. We had sushi, sashimi, different meat, salads, all kinds of stuff. Dinner was really good!














After dinner we hit the Karaoke room! Read down below to see how that went.

Air Force ROTC Ball

Saturday night was the Air Force ROTC ball. Lauren got to go with Destiny. We had her dress made by a dress-maker here. It was a lot of fun for her to go to fittings...pick out the material...choose accessories...you know, all that girlie girl stuff. When you get a dress made here it's pretty simple. You go to a person you've heard is good. There are a bunch of magazines on a table, you pic which dress you want done and then you look at big fabric swatches on the wall. It's like a wall of drapes. This dressmaker had bins of ribbon and lace as add ons. Then she sets you up for fittings, you pay for half of the dress in Won and you're set. The hard part is picking a dress you know that the Capt will agree with. As these girls of ours get older he is daily reminded of what a little Mac-Daddy he was when we were dating and trying to keep mini-mac-daddys away. It's pretty funny for all of us girls in the house to watch! Here are some pics for the grandparents......


When did my baby get so grown up??















Her bestest-friend...

















Here they are...together and working it for the camera!



























Her daddy is having a hard time with his baby getting older...it two years she can date and then God help us all!!!

Workin' the shoes!!

Karaoke!!! Part II of our night out

Okay, here is part two of Bylow's going away. After dinner we all went to a Karaoke place. Oh...my...gosh! We had so much fun!! Everyone gets their own room so you don't have to get up and embarrass yourself in front of a bunch of strangers. There is a wall of tv's all bunched up together with the words to the songs on it. You get a big book of songs and a small hand held computer thingie to plug in the number of the song you want to sing. All of us were busy trying to find a song we could do and not bring the walls down. We only had two hours and the clock was ticking...who would be first...who is the bravest of the brave...da da da da....My Capt!!!!
Yep, he's on the table folks!! It was on after that! We were all grabbing the book and wanting to be next.

Go big daddy!!!












Next up...me and my man doing a little Olivia Newton John and John Travolta...I've got chills they're multiplyin..and I'm loosin' control....and my heart is set on you!!!















Are we cute or what??!!!















Here's the man of the night...Bylow!















Walker Rob and Bylow gettin' jiggy wit' it!!















Even the Col took one for the team....you go Sir!!!















Heeeeeeeeeeerrrrrreeee's Walker Rob and Walker Jen doin' the dance of love!!
Looking good girlfriend!






































My Capt again...Yep I swooned!




























Our men...

















Here is the whole gang at the end of the night...tired but happy. The babysitters were much appreciated! Hope everyone else out there had as good a weekend as I did!!