geographical hodgepodge. . .if that's even a phrase

i work with a large team of people. recently i began to take notice of how many different nationalities/cultures are represented at my work-place.

there is N. who is from Ethiopia

there is M. who is from Africa.

there is another M. who is from Iran.

there is K and her two sons who are Turkish but from Russia.

there is B and her one son who are also Turkish but from Russia.

there is also F who is from Turkey.

and then there is Y. who is from Egypt.

of these, each is in a different place in their role as immigrants in our country trying to learn the language.

M from Africa is fluent in French.

M from Iran speaks Farsi.

K and B speak Russian and Turkish.

And I actually am not quite sure what language Y speaks? So far we mainly nod at each other and smile but it goes a long way.

I am slowly trying to get to know each of my team members. The language barrier is rocky at times but the conversation is extremely rewarding. K from Russia for example is the mother of two grown boys and recently shared that she met her husband (of 23 years) on their wedding day. I am fascinated by this. There are so many questions I want to ask! K is shy though so the going is slow. In her former life back in Russia she lived in a rural area with chickens and cows and lots of space. Now she lives with her family in a little apartment close to my work place. I asked her what she likes most about the United States and she said that Americans treat her and her family well. I am not exactly sure what this means in comparison with how she has been treated formerly and I hope to learn more eventually.

Needless to say I am getting a whole new education in geography as well as in advanced hand motions as I communicate with and learn about my new team members. I am continually amazed by how much they love this crazy country and how often I take my birth place for granted. Sometimes is it good (and humbling) to see your surroundings through someone else's eyes.

All this to say, what an amazing country we live in. To realize that for so many people, to be in America is their life's dream actualized.

garden gnomes, i am a FAN!

my husband had a birthday very recently. being the sweet and wonderful wife that i am, we celebrated by going out to dinner on his birthday eve, having a family dinner on his actual birthday, and a date night on the day after. i figure, if you are going to celebrate why limit yourself to one day only. . .in fact if you can have a week-long celebration, i highly recommend going that route!

i am a big fan of presents. not so much receiving them (don't misunderstand me here, it's great to do so but that's not for this entry) but the actual shopping for them. the process of figuring out the perfect gift is something i really enjoy.

with it being football season and as i am part of a football-loving family, i decided to shop for football themed gifts. my husband's college team is UVA and his pro team is the REDSKINS.

so i found him a UVA fleece blanket for those cozy saturday game days. this seemed a safe bet as if thrown accross the room (we are talking about UVA here. . .) it has minimum potential for catastrophe.

with a little help (insert shout out here to LP/AP and TBatt) i also produced a UVA flag for our house. it remains in the bag as my husband refuses to fly it until they win so hopefully soon???

anyway, the best (BY FAR, i think) gift i found is a REDSKINS garden gnome! that's right. it's 18 inches of bearded gnome holding a staff in one hand and a football in the other. it's got the redsins cheif on it's pointy little hat and it just rocks! it is also wearing gold shoes and burgandy overalls. it currently resides upon our mantel in the company of hogskin (our redskins build-a-bear who is actually a monkey), all of our redskins and uva hats and various other peices of football memorabilia/collectables that will remain on the mantel until the end of football season.

so, now i need a name for our redskins garden gnome. . .any suggestions?!

a tribute to the undomestic goddess

If you see yourself in more than one of the following, welcome to my world!

1. It is not unusual for the smoke detector in your home to go off when you are whipping up something in the kitchen. . .

2. When friends pop in for a visit, they bring their own food. . .

3. The main time you clean your house is when you know you have company coming. . .

4. At some point in time, you have had a fire in your home due to poor fire-place management. . .
5. You require a leaf-blower to remove leaves from your porch or deck. . .

6. You occasionally sweep the debris from your floors either into a corner or underneath a rug and then "forget" to grab the dust pan and dispose of it properly. . .

7. It would be unwise to open any of your hall closets for safety reasons. . .

8. Recently you have had to use "traveling" toilet paper. This happens when you are down to only one role for the whole house so then have to go change it from bathroom to bathroom until reinforcements are purchased. . .

9. There is makeup in your bathroom you believe may have been purchased more than 5 years ago. . .

10. Instead of removing old nail polish, you fill in the gap at the nail bed and simply paint on another layer. . .