The Jennifer Blogs

If I were to capture myself in a photo right now, it might look something like this. Distant. Hollow. Sad.

I feel so far from everything I love this morning. I don't want that to take anything from the three other people who live in this condo or from the other amazing people I've met on this tropical island. But waking up on Thanksgiving morning realizing that everyone back home is scurrying about buying their potatoes and bread crumbs and cranberries while, in Singapore, I go about my business like it is any other day makes me a bit sad. It's already Thursday here. There was no Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. There is no smell of turkey roasting in the oven. The kids are doing school work. My husband is at work. It really is just any other day.

Thanks to my amazing friends on Facebook, I do have a few options for watching the parade. Two people posted links where I can catch the parade live. Of course, that's 9pm for me tonight. I'd rather watch it in the morning just like I did when I was growing up, but at least I get to watch it. Beggars can't be choosers.

It's funny how Thanksgiving feels more like a holiday as you get older. When I was a kid, Thanksgiving didn't feel much like a holiday except that I didn't have to go to school. It really seemed like an excuse to eat a lot of food, for my dad to watch football on TV, and for everyone to go to bed early. As an adult, it definitely feels like a holiday. The food isn't a big deal to me. I love turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy. Don't get me wrong. But I can eat those things any time of the year, really. I may not make lists and go around thanking everyone, but I do take the time to reflect on the things for which I am thankful.

Okay, so I kind of do make lists. I used to have the kids list 100 things they were thankful for on Thanksgiving. They struggle to come up with ten most of the time, so 100 is a real punishment. I really just want them to see how much they take for granted. We all do, really. It feels silly to list things like trees and birds and cereal. But the truth is, those are things we would miss if we didn't have them. (Trust me on the cereal thing!)

Living overseas really changes your perspective on a lot of things to. You learn to do without things you are used to having. You find that you miss the craziest things that you once took for granted (cereal). So go ahead and make that list. Even if it's a mental list, there are a lot of things to be thankful for. Right at the top of that list should be, "spending time with family and friends." They may drive you crazy. They may be kooky. But when you are away from the people you love during the holidays, you realize just how much you need those crazy, kooky people.

My List:
1. The Internet. Maybe I appear to be immature and spoiled for putting this first, but if it weren't for the Internet I would not be able to keep in touch with friends and family back in the US.
2. Being able to live overseas. I know I complain that I miss everyone (especially this time of year), but I do feel truly blessed to be living in a foreign country learning about other nations and cultures. Not everyone gets to experience this and I am thankful that I do have this opportunity.
3. iTunes. I love to be able to download TV shows and movies at the click of a button.
4. Growing up in a small town. I do love the city life, but there was something so special about growing up in Smalltown, USA (Medina, NY) that really paved the way for who I was to be.
5. Poodles. I love all dogs, but poodles have a special place in my heart.
6. Babies. I have never had one of my own, but babies are so precious and their smile and laughs do a soul so good!
7. Music. Growing up, I played violin. I also took piano lessons. I never fell in love with a musical instrument and don't really have a great singing voice, but I love listening to it and I love that everyone else in my family is so musically-inclined.
8. Being connected. I love how no matter what my question is, there's someone I can call. Working in radio allowed me to meet a lot of different types of people. Traveling abroad has also put some interesting people in my path. What are the chances it will snow in Louisiana this Christmas? I can call my friend James-Paul who is a meteorologist and ask him. My son can't figure out the function of x in this equation. I can call my friend Steve who is really good at math and ask him how to figure the answer. How do you make crepes? My friend Brooke is a foodie with an answer to every food-related question. How do I get rid of a scratch on my hardwood floor? That one's easy. I'll call my brother Charlie, who runs his own flooring company in SoCal. You get the idea.
9. Walt Disney World. I've been tons of times, but I'll never get sick of it. It truly is the Happiest Place on Earth.
10. My parents. They're the best mom and dad in the whole world. They made so many sacrifices for my brothers and me and I am forever grateful.
11. My kids. As I said at number six, I did not have "my own" children. But Jean-Luc & D'Ette are definitely MINE. They may not have my smile or my fair skin, but Jean-Luc definitely has my sense of humor and D'Ette has my propensity to overachieve. I get so frustrated at them, but homeschooling two teenagers and living within the confines of a small condo for two years can do that to a person. Regardless, I love them with my whole heart.
12. Air conditioning. It was definitely a necessity in Florida. I'd die without it in Singapore.
13. Meat. I could never be a vegetarian. I love the heck outta meat.
14. My flat iron. My stylist here in Singapore told me about GHD products. I love the new flat iron I ordered from them!
15. Pillows. I love a lot of pillows. I only sleep on one, but I love having them on my bed during the day to lean on or cuddle with.
16. My camera. I have a killer camera that my husband bought me for Mother's Day this year. It's my first ever digital SL-R and I have used it to take some pretty amazing shots. Traveling with a camera like this definitely makes life more fun.
17. My education. Growing up I wasn't sure what I wanted to be, but I always knew I'd go to college. I'm so thankful I have a college education.
18. COTH. Church of the Highlands no longer exists in Lakeland, FL, but I'll be forever grateful for the opportunity to help build and serve at that church with those people at that time.
19. Apples. It sounds silly to be grateful for apples, but I love everything about this fruit. The smell especially. When I was a kid, my mom used to go to an apple orchard in New York and pick apples every apple season. It was one of her favorite things to do. I loved when she'd come home with a huge basket full of apples almost every week. We never ran short on apples and the house always smelled like them. As a kid I could tell you the difference between Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Empire and all the others.
20. I type over 100wpm. I love that I can type so fast. It makes getting work done so much easier.
21. My voice coaches. There are two I've worked with and I'm thankful to both of them for the tips they've given me and the time they've given to help make me better at what I do.
22. My home studio. Not everyone can afford a home studio, but I've got a fairly top-of-the-line studio in the corner of my bedroom.
23. My husband. I don't know why I waited until number 23 to list him, but I think it has to do with the fact that there is so much to say about him. I'm thankful for the way he loves me. I'm thankful for his work ethic and willingness to deal with the crap he deals with so the kids and I can have the life we have. I'm thankful he can play guitar and gives so freely of himself to share music with others. I'm thankful for his skill set. He knows a lot about so many things and is really handy to have around here! And I love him.
24. Vacations. I sometimes forget I'm not on vacation every day. I do love to travel, but that's not the same thing as a vacation. To me, travel evokes the feeling of adventure and non-stop fun. Vacation sounds more relaxed and slow-n-easy. I love vacations.
25. Birthdays. I don't really love getting older, but I do love having birthdays.
26. Donuts. I can't eat them all the time or I'll be huge, but I do love a good donut. When we go back to Louisiana for Christmas, I'll be stopping at Meche's Donut King at least one morning for a glazed donut. In Florida, I'll go to Dunkin Donuts and get the same thing. I just love glazed donuts.
27. Public transportation. I am so thankful to live in a country where we have a subway, buses and taxis at our disposal.
28. I'm thankful I was born in America. I could have been born in any country in the world, but God saw to it that I was born in the United States of America. I don't think Americans realize how huge a blessing that truly is!
29. I'm thankful for my outgoing personality. If I didn't make friends easily, my life overseas would suck. Of course, if I didn't make friends easily, I'd probably never have told my husband to take this job. But I am grateful that I'm outgoing and make friends fairly easily.
30. LASIK. I had to get glasses when I was in elementary school. By middle school I had contacts, but I couldn't wear them and ended up having to go back to glasses. When I lived in Huntsville, AL, the radio station did a trade deal with a local eye doctor who gave me LASIK surgery for free in exchange for commercial testimonials.
31. Trees. Specifically the cool tree from the Philippines that sits near the tennis courts at my condo. It has the most beautiful flowers growing on it and I love to walk by and see the blossoms.
32. Facebook. I have reconnected with so many people thanks to social networking. It is so nice to catch up with my old friends and classmates. Some of these people I've been looking for for the past 20 years. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to live in a time when technology makes this possible.
33. My iPhone. It's the best phone I've ever owned. I love that I can take my email, facebook and twitter with me everywhere I go.
34. Mirrors. I don't like to look in them very often, but I am grateful we have them so I can see how crazy my hair looks in the morning and can fix it before leaving the house.
35. Acrylic nails. I haven't worn them in ages, but I chewed all my nails off recently (I have no idea why) and think another set of acrylic nails is in order, at least for a month or so til mine grow back.
36. Spas. I cannot tell you how thankful I am for massages, facials and pedicures.
37. Sunglasses. It's awfully bright out there! If I didn't have sunglasses it would be really difficult to go outside.
38. Colors. Imagine how boring our world would be if everything were grey.
39. Memories. It is so nice to have such great memories. I'm thankful God made us in such a way that our brains could retain information from days gone by. I smile when I look at old pictures or remember things from the past.
40. The Grove, or more specifically The Apple Grove in Medina, NY. I know it's not there anymore, but I am so thankful I had a place to go hang out with my friends when I was growing up in Medina. I loved dancing there and meeting up with my friends on the weekends. Every teenager in every town should have his own Apple Grove.
41. Publix. Yes, shopping there really is a pleasure.
42. Laurel Springs School. It's where my children take classes for their distance learning. It allows us to homeschool without having to do traditional homeschool.
43. Hair dye. Need I say more?
44. I'm thankful for delivery services. I've come to rely on delivery in Singapore. Without a personal vehicle there really is no other way to get some things home.
45. Expanding on the previous item, McDelivery, Starbucks Delivery, Subway Delivery, KFC Delivery, etc. How cool is it to live in a country where Starbucks and McDonalds deliver?!
46. Remote controls. Am I lazy or what? But seriously, it is a pain to have to get up and turn the TV volume down every time a commercial comes on that is SO MUCH LOUDER than the TV show you were watching. The remote makes that much easier.
47. Freezers. Can you imagine living during a time where you couldn't freeze your meat or ice cream?
48. Cereal. Yep, it's true. We have cereal over here, but I miss the good American cereal like Boo Berry.
49. Vonage. It allows me to have a US telephone number in Singapore.
50. Sling Box. Ours isn't working right now, but when it is working, it's fantastic! It allows us to watch American television.

Okay, there are 50. I could do more, but would you really read them anyway?

The nice thing about listing the fifty things I did list is that it helps me feel less sad than I did when I started this blog. I'm still homesick and miss so many people from back home. I miss the experiences that all my friends and family in the US are getting to live right now, but I am less sad than I was. You can make that number fifty-one.

I love Christmas cards. I love shopping for them. I love writing inside them. I love addressing the envelopes and putting on the festive Christmas stamps. I also love getting them in the mail and putting them on display.

This fascination with Christmas cards came back in 1999. I was a single girl and working on a morning show in Huntsville, Alabama. Our listeners sent us Christmas cards. They were always addressed to Dan, Jennifer & Jerral. The guys really didn't care that anyone sent us cards, so I took them home and put them in my apartment. Dan & his wife got cards from their friends delivered to their house. So did Jerral and his wife. I didn't get any, so the cards I got were the ones I had to share with my morning show partners.

I kept every card that was sent to me in 1999. In January, I packed them all up and put them in my Christmas box. Then before Christmas, 2000, I pulled them back out and I already had a great start for the 2000 holiday. I again kept every card that was sent to the morning show team so that I had twice as many by the time Christmas, 2000 was over.

The nice thing about working for a radio station during the holidays is that artists and record labels also send you really cool Christmas cards. I got cards from Toby Keith, Sawyer Brown, Kenny Rogers, etc. And Warner Brothers Records, Curb Records, etc also sent me cards. Those companies don't get stingy by any means, and they always sent the best cards.

A couple of years ago I sent out Christmas cards to all my friends and family that were caricature drawings of our family, including the dogs. Many friends told us that was the best card they received that year. I never had the prettiest garden in the neighborhood or the nicest yard, but I did send out the best Christmas card one year and that's good enough for me.

Finding Christmas cards in Asia has been a challenge. They don't really celebrate Christmas here. For most Asians, the holidays are celebrated by giving a red envelope filled with money. I don't think I can afford to do that to everyone on my Christmas card list. So this year I just found some cards that looked somewhat Asian-inspired and grabbed those. They aren't cheap here either. I brought home 40 Christmas cards this afternoon and paid S$76.00 for them. This afternoon I will handwrite a message inside each one of them, address them & mail them off to the US.

Truthfully, I'll probably get about ten done before I get bored or stiff from sitting in the same position and I'll have to give it up until tomorrow. But it'll be nice to get started.

I know. It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I mailed them out the day after Thanksgiving last year and there were some people who still didn't get them until after Christmas. Mail from Asia is slow.

In just one month I'll be sitting in seat 43A on Singapore Flight 62. I can't tell you how incredibly excited I am about this trip home!

I'm looking forward to the reunion in Louisiana, cooler temperatures and some amazing Cajun food!

Florida will also offer cooler temperatures (when you've lived on the equator, even Florida can feel chilly), great friends and cherished time with the family.

Singapore is a fairly western nation, so mostly everything we want is available -- for a price. There are still a lot of things that are not available here, though, and I'm looking forward particularly to the summer salad from Crispers, the chicken noodle soup from Panera Bread, fajitas from Tapatias, Diet Cherry Coke, a traditional American breakfast, Florida French toast from First Watch, anything from Cracker Barrel and a Strawberry Lime Aid from Sonic.

We may make a trip to Disney. If there's a shuttle launch while we're home, we may try to catch that. But it's not going to be about "doing things" while we're home as much as it is going to be about seeing people and spending time with those we miss. Probably over a meal.

This trip may also include a trip to New York. That's still up in the air, but if I go, it'll be great to see friends I haven't seen in 20 years or longer. I'd also love to make it up to see a new friend, Brig, who celebrates her birthday right around the same time I celebrate mine. New York used to seem so far away from Florida. Now that I'm living something like 10,000 miles from home, New York and Florida seem like neighbors and it would be a shame not to make the trip while I'm in the country.

We'll try to see everyone while we're home, but it always seems to be that we can't squeeze everything in. It's amazing how a month seems like SO. MUCH. TIME. until you have to try to squeeze everything you want to do into those 30 days and all of a sudden you're wondering why you only planned for one month!

I'm hoping this next month flies by, but that the month after that drags on. That would be ideal. But in reality, I'm sure these next four weeks will seem like eight and the following four will feel more like two.

Time to start making lists! Things to do, places to go, people to see! I can't wait!

38 Days, 15 Hours, 28 Minutes til Christmas. But who's counting?

Christmas is, without a doubt, my most favorite time of year! I have such great childhood memories of Christmas. Growing up in upstate New York meant snow on Christmas most years. I didn't appreciate it then, but it's hard to celebrate Christmas now without the flaky, white cold stuff.

Leading up to Christmas, there were always Christmas cookies. My grandma Nettnin always made sugar cookies for the grandkids to decorate. I remember circling around the kitchen table with my brother and cousins, each of us with all the necessary tools. Gram made sure we were outfitted with plenty of bowls of colored icing, sprinkles, cinnamon dots and anything else you might put on a cookie. My brother was always about throwing as much crap on a cookie as he could fit (better to later eat). I wanted mine to be works of art. My star cookies had perfectly symmetrical designs. Santa always had a red hat with a white stripe and a white pom pom. After we were done, Grandma would put the cookies in a tin lined with wax paper. That night we'd get to eat one with some hot chocolate. The next morning for breakfast? Cookies! Seriously. Christmas cookies for breakfast. Yum.

I loved Christmas caroling too. We never did that where I grew up, but the years we would go visit Gram in Florida, we'd go with our cousins to a specific neighborhood and ring the doorbells, sing a song, and be invited in for cookies and cocoa. I remember one year ringing a doorbell and singing, "Here Comes Santa Claus" the minute the door opened. The lady proclaimed, "We don't celebrate Christmas," and shut the door in our faces. I was stunned. Not celebrate Christmas? Surely there was some kind of mistake. I wanted to call DCF and report them for child abuse. What family withholds the joy of Christmas from a child? Later that night my mom explained that Jews don't celebrate Christmas.

Trimming the tree was never a huge deal at our house when I was a kid. Or, if it was, I don't remember it. But I've made a big deal of it since moving out of my parents' house. My first Christmas on my own I took great care to pick out the perfect Christmas tree. I bought coordinating ornaments and bows and other decorations. It went up the day after Thanksgiving and stayed up until around the 5th of January. I photographed it from every angle. I watered it every day. I was the perfect Christmas tree owner.

When I was a kid, my favorite Christmas present was a doll house Santa Claus brought me when I was about nine years old. I played with Barbies, but the Barbies were too tall to fit in this house, but luckily Santa had the foresight to buy me some smaller dolls to live in this mansion. The dolls were made of cornhusk, so they weren't as realistic as Barbie, Ken & Skipper, nor did they have cool wardrobes. But they fit in the house and that's what mattered.

One year my little brother Charlie was opening a gift from Santa and was shocked to find pajamas inside that beautifully wrapped package. Boy, was he shocked! He even proclaimed, "I didn't order these! Santa must have made a mistake!"

Looking back now I realize how odd it was that Santa brought us all kinds of gifts when we were kids. My parents gave us nothing. I have friends who say Santa brought them just one gift and all the rest were from their parents. Other friends had one gift from their parents and all the rest from Santa. Nearly every friend I've talked to about Santa Claus has a different story to tell about who supplied the gifts at their house.

My kids will likely never get to experience one of the best joys of Christmas I had as a child -- the Sears Wish Book. I would go through that thing from front cover to back cover every day, jotting down things I couldn't live without. Every day I would go through that catalog. I kind of claimed ownership of it. Mom would be looking for it and would have to ask me where to find it. I'd make her go in the kitchen while I'd go dig it out of the hiding place I had found for it. There was no way I was going to let anyone else actually have that precious book. It was M I N E. And I checked it every day in case while I wasn't looking, Mr. Sears added something to it and put it back in our hiding spot. I guess the closest thing my kids will ever get to experience to that almost religious experience is filling out an Amazon Wish List. (So not the same thing!)

So just a little over a month til the big day and this year I haven't even made out a list. Well, on paper anyway. I've got one in my head. (Santa: in case you've made your list, checked it twice and found out I'm nice), I'd love a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II camera lens, the Blue Dragonfly microphone, Romeo is Bleeding on DVD, some cool bookends or some Harajuku Lovers Perfume (Love, Angel or Baby since I already have Music). There is one thing I want more than all the rest, dear Santa, and that's to spend unlimited time with my very best friend in NY. Give me that and you can forget the rest.

This is the time of year my friends and family all send me those letters that allow me to look back with them on where they've been and what they've done in 2007. I've enjoyed reading them and am grateful to those of you who've shared with me. However, I'm not going to do it. 

For one thing, I have two children and with that comes a certain degree of memory loss. As a parent, I look forward to losing bits and pieces of my memory. It's far better to forget things than to remember all the crap they've put you through the past year. For another thing, I have two children and with that comes a certain … oh wait, I think I may have said that already.



Another reason is the only significant thing that really occurred this year was our move to a foreign country. How on else am I going to entertain you with the things that happened in January through September?



So instead, I present to you A LOOK AHEAD. Here's what we know will be happening in 2008. I'm sure there will be much more to add to this list, and maybe at the end of 2008 I'll have it all written down so that the stuff I've forgotten will be in print and I can send out one of those retrospective letters myself.



January:

1: New Year's Day. The Japanese will be celebrating the Year of the Mouse. Or maybe it's a Rat. It looks like a mouse.


8: We will be traveling from the US back to Japan after an extended holiday visit with friends and family. 


17: Marso is taking the day off work so we can all enjoy a tour of the sumo stables. We will also be allowed to watch the sumo wrestlers practice for about an hour.




February:

1: Jen turns 36. Mighty close to 40.



March:
We are supposed to be in Singapore by April. The operative word here is "by." That means we will need to be moving sometime in March. This will be a busy month for us as we search for the perfect place to live for the next two years of our lives. We'll be looking for a place with a gym and a pool. Singapore is HOT. 

I'm excited that some friends of ours from Louisiana – the Despinos – will probably be joining us for this adventure. Chad will likely be accepting a position with the company for the Singapore part of the project.




April:

23: Jean-Luc turns 15. I'll lose more memory.

By now we hope to have found a church in Singapore where we can serve in areas where God has gifted us. Ideally it will also have an excellent youth ministry so Jean-Luc and D'Ette can also get involved.

We will also have the kids enrolled in Tae Kwon Do and/or gymnastics in Singapore. There was no place to put them in Japan because none of the schools we found offered instruction in English.




May:

11: Marso and I will celebrate our eighth year of marriage. I'm going to ask for a puppy.


13: Marso turns 52. Mighty close to 40. (that's what we're telling him) If I didn't get a puppy for our anniversary, I will give Marso one for his birthday.




June:

13: The kids' last day of school




July:
We'd like to take a summer vacation. Maybe Australia.




August:

31: I will be so skinny you won't recognize me.




September:

2: Marso and I celebrate our eighth anniversary again. That's the beauty of going to the justice of the peace before the altar. You get two anniversaries!


8: The kids start their second year at Laurel Springs School.


28: D'Ette becomes a teenager. I will lose more memory, more money, and at this point Marso and I may be the dumbest we've ever been.




October:
We have friends who have promised to come see us in Singapore. This might be the best time of the year to come. Singapore is very tropical year-round, but it will probably be best to come during winter months, even though there's no such thing as "winter" in Singapore. Kind of like Florida.




November:
There's a lot to be thankful for, and it's on Thanksgiving Day every year that I make the kids write down a list of things for which they are thankful. Maybe in 2008 we will be beat out "Jacob Petro" on Jean-Luc's list. In 2007, Jacob was 10 while Marso, D'Ette and I didn't even make the Top 50.




December:

25: Our friends the Bigsbys will come to Singapore to use their timeshare and spend Christmas with us.

I love Christmas. Growing up in upstate NY meant there was always snow on Christmas. When I was a kid I didn't appreciate the snow and the cold weather like I do now. I guess you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.

That, and living in Florida for so many years has given me proper perspective. It's just not supposed to be 80 degrees on Christmas Day.



My favorite gift as a kid was the dollhouse Santa brought me when I was about 7 years old. It wasn't big enough for my Barbie dolls to live in, but I did have these neat little cornhusk dolls that fit in there perfectly. The Cornhusk Family.

My little brother Charlie loved his boy toys, but he also seemed to get great enjoyment out of my dollhouse. Mom told me that when I was gone to a friend's house or at school, Charlie would play with my dolls in my house all day long. Mom would realize the house was really quiet, so she'd go in search of the boy. There he was – in the middle of my floor – playing with my dollhouse and The Cornhusk Family.



The only problem with Charlie playing with my dollhouse was that he wasn't careful enough. I was much more cautious than he was with the handling of my fragile cornhusk dolls. (Okay, maybe not fragile, but certainly not as well made as the plastic Barbie dolls.) Every time I would let Charlie play with them, one of the Cornhusk family would end up beheaded. I'm not sure why I let him continue playing with them, but I did, and eventually I had a family of headless cornhusk dolls.



I eventually lost interest in the dollhouse when I had nobody to live in it. But, just because I stopped playing with it didn't mean I didn't still want it. It just sat there in the corner of my room, not being used. I guess Mom took that to mean it wasn't important to me.



Right before Christmas a few years later, Mom had a brilliant idea. She was going to get filthy rich off my dad. She was going to have him make dollhouses and she would sell them. I have no idea who she was going to sell them to or how she was going to sell them. But I did know how she was going to make them. She was going to put a pattern together so my dad could make them. Because she didn't have a pattern readily available, she took my dollhouse apart. She told me she would be very careful and that she would put it back together again.



So down came the walls. The floors were removed. The roof came off. Our dining room table had wood everywhere. Thing is, Mom wasn't sure which piece of wood went where. It all looked so much alike.



Mom never could figure out how to make a pattern, so Dad never built her any dollhouses to sell. Of course, that means Mom didn't get filthy rich in the Dollhouse Business. I never got my dollhouse put back together either. But we had a great fire that night.