When Vision and Reality Collide

October is such a wonderful month, isn't it? Beautiful red, orange and gold leaves glitter in the foggy morning, cinnamon and pumpkin goodness-as well as popcorn balls, caramel apples and apple strudels-assault the senses and favorite Fall-themed movies finally exit the cupboard.

That's the vision.

Our reality now consists of an October birthday party for the one girl of five children. Girl parties can zap the life right out of a previously joyful month.
Boys: "Hey, it's your birthday, let's go bowling."
Boys: "Hey, how about three paintball parties in a row?"
Boys: "Oh look, I bought a cake- Happy Birthday Son."

Girls: "If we start now, that gives us 10 months to plan and coordinate..."

Without the England-style disco-complete-with-lights-and-dj option gone, one can really find themselves at a loss for party ideas. October weather here is just bipolar enough not to plan outdoor parties, and filling our house with a bunch of 6-7 year-olds didn't really appeal to me. But we had to do something.

A Tea party seemed like the trick. How easy would that be? I talked the daughter into it (manipulation is my middle name).

So I went onto Pinterest.
Evil, evil Pinterest.

Did you know that there are some really ambitious party-throwers out there?

One idea in particular really caught my attention:

A Cupcake party.

The kids could make and decorate cupcakes! Yes!I can do that. Talked the daughter into a Cupcake party with a Tea party twist.

One Pinterest find was this: 

Taken from A Little Loveliness found HERE

Aren't these awesomesauce-nessly adorable?! 

I could do this too! In pinks and greens and turquoise! The girls would LOVE them. The parents would bow down to my craftiness. The nagging "Ahem, remember that you don't know how to sew?" came to mind, but in my Pinterest-fueled enthusiasm, was quickly brushed aside.

Cue the YouTube videos!
Search: "How to sew an apron when you have no idea how to sew" and come up with Tea Towel Apron demos. Tea Towel Aprons in 30 minutes. I can do that! "Ahem, remember that you don't know how to sew?" 

Off to do some fabric shopping...on a Portuguese island, where everyone speaks a different language than I do.
Still, I managed to bring home meters and meters of ribbon and fabric in beautiful colors; some color coordinated thread and some tea towels."Ahem, remember that you don't know how to sew?"

I envisioned ruffles. Lots of ruffles. 

Cue YouTube videos!
Search: "How to  make ruffles when you don't know how to sew".
Discover this really cool gadget, a gathering foot just for ruffles. Convince the husband that one day, in my future Apron-making stardom, that I may need that.

Out came the sewing machine. I read the manual so that I would know how to turn it on. I Began by cutting super expensive material...

measurements, shmeasurements- they're just ruffles....

More super expensive material was cut, this time in larger strips-and don't worry, the table was already looking bad from previous Air Force moves, so the new rotary cutter slashes will blend right in (note to self: must order a larger cutting pad "Ahem, remember that you don't know how to sew?" )

The husband never even questioned me. Bless him.


Here's the final product. Two weeks later (30-minute aprons my hindquarters).

Feeling empowered by my new-found craftiness, I went back on to Pinterest (evil, evil Pinterest) and found a cute idea for treats to "Boo" some people with.

I saw this:

Found at CrazedPhotoMom HERE

and thought, "That would make adorable cupcakes!"

That's after burning a few batches of cookies.
Martha Stewart's job security is looking better and better. Be glad if you weren't on our Halloween "Booo!" list this year, it wasn't pretty.

I may just stick to sewing. "AHEM!"

Forever Friends

A sad fact about The Grockle Family (still sticking with the British terminology), is that once we've got our sticky fingers of friendship wrapped around you, there is no escape. Like gum on the bottom of your shoe.

No getting rid of us.

Well there is, but don't expect ME to tell you how it's done.

If you don't believe what I'm saying, ask the poor couple we met just before leaving England- we're planning their next five holidays for them as we speak.

One family who knows this better than most is the Lopes Family. I wouldn't normally include names on this not-so-private blog, but Narciso is a Carpenter of very high quality and has a business here in Terceira- so a little publicity won't hurt.

The white house on the right of the photo was ours

We met Narciso and his beautiful daughter when we lived in this house, 13 years ago.


They knocked on our door and introduced themselves- well, she introduced them both since she was the only one who spoke English.
Through her, Narciso was able to tell us that he had done all the wood in the house we were renting.

Later, we learned that all of the wood in his house was crafted by him-EVERYTHING. Cabinetry, stairs and bannisters, beds, dressers, tables and chairs. Incredible.
He's done church doors around the island and if my old photos weren't so bad, I'd pull those out.... oh what the heck-

Here's a mix of old and new (translation: don't judge me for the poor quality available 13 years ago).

This is his shop. It would be hard to work with this view, wouldn't it?

In his shop he was working on this for a local church.

 

 

We decided that we needed a custom-made bed... with night stands...

and a step (since I wanted it high off the ground)... and while he was at it, a telephone table and some tapestry bars.

We gave him the measurements for American-sized furniture, told him how much clearance we wanted at the bottom and left the design to him...

church door

Now, I worried about my bed for a little bit, because I had seen some of his really intricate work and thought, "Holy cow, it's going to take me hours to dust my bed every week".   

BUT, he surprised me with a simple, elegant design. 

I was SO happy.

 

  

Baby A1 with Senora Lopes and daughter C

Senora Lopes, baby A1 and J1

Before staining...

and after.

 

telephone table. Check out the REALLY old answering machine (it used mini cassettes!)

We were so pleased, that we did something REALLY stupid.  

We told others about him and the orders started rolling in. He wasn't just "ours" anymore...

and let's be honest. A lot of Americans can be real jerks when they're living overseas- the DH has worked with plenty of people who get downright indignant that other cultures don't do the things the way they're accustomed to. So we were concerned that our friends would now suffer from the publicity. 

Neighbors had bedroom furniture made and these friends (seen above) commissioned an extra long dining table and chairs.

The Portuguese people on this island are not large in stature. They are smaller, so worktops are built at a shorter height and doors, gates, walls, fences are all built for an average 5.3 person. These American measurements must have felt like a joke to the poor  man.

After all of these years, we have kept in contact (apparently no bad experiences with other business have spoiled our friendship) and promised that one day we would make it back.

After arriving back on Terceira, I sent a message to A's daughter (who now lives on another island) to say we were going on a tour out where her parents lived and that we'd be looking for her Mom's shop (she does textiles). She phoned her mom and so, A opened up her shop HOURS early, hoping that she might see us...

The poor people we were traveling with were trying to look through her shop when everything came to a complete stop as she spotted the DH and squealed (I then threw myself across the counter, but it wouldn't do- she came out and got a proper hug).

13 years gone like it had never passed.

She hasn't changed a bit

BTW, I did eventually step back and let people look.

Dinner with the Lopes Familia

They've taken an English class since we were here last. "A" can say a few things, but Narciso has only mastered, "Yes, please"- but it's very good and we discovered it can be used in multiple scenarios and always gets a good laugh from all.

Some of Narciso's latest designs:

This is SO lightweight! I think he said this piece won a contest...

Coolest Nativity ever

He's like a big kid. Showing the kids how to spin the top

A and N Lopes, our forever friends

** If you're interested in anything you've seen in this post, email me and I can put you in contact. Custom-made designs don't come cheap and is paid in Euros, but SO worth every euro cent.**

His FB page can be found HERE

Or better yet, have you started considering traveling to Terceira for yourself yet?


Until next time,

Adeus!

Disarming a Dislocation Disorder

Wow,

what is it with (blog) construction workers? This blog went under construction nearly two months ago and there's no further progress than there was then. Can't get good help these days.

Let's not dwell on the "what isn't" and just move on to the "what is" for the sake of your eyes and my carpal tunnel, shall we?

So, the 2nd month anniversario of our residency on Terceira is about to commence and holy smokes, I can't believe how quick the time is passing!

There's always a bit of a 'dislocation disorder' that comes with every move, and unfortunately, this one has been extreme. Boo-hoo-leave-me-alone-I'm-eating-this-pound-sized-bag-of-M&Ms extreme.

I've considered divorce, adopting out my children, running away from home and permanently becoming a non-showering recluse. Anyone who knows me IRL, knows this is a symptom and not characteristic of...well, maybe the desire to run away is normal, but the rest- I kind of like showers and these people I am forever bound to.
Perhaps it was leaving such great friends and fabulous country, perhaps it's the fact that we'll just be recovering from the move when we'll get our next duty station information, I don't know, but it has sucked. The worst part is, I really do love it here, depression? I ain't got time for that.


 It helps to get out and experience the glorious circumstances in which we find ourselves here in the Açores. It's so incredibly beautiful and if you can manage to avoid the base and the people who live closest to it (who are a little jaded and fed up with the "American experience"), your arm might end up quite bruised from pinching yourself so often to make sure it's not just a dream.

We're landing! After a looooong journey, it's so good to see we've finally arrived.

I'm not the only one who has had enough of plane transfers

But then, there's the hot, crowded bus to take us from the plane to the terminal...

Our home until we get a home

The Açores experience high winds in the winter. This should be proof: concrete road signs. This little disaster-seeking bean is anxiously awaiting for the time when we can put him up against a chain link fence and the wind will hold him there.

Add caption

 I'm not thinking, "OMGosh I have cute kids and everyone should see pics of them. I'm showing that our walk to the swimming pool is still in view of the ocean. This is where you say, "oooooh, ahhhh".

One of the great things about being LDS is that we pretty much have a church anywhere we go. When we lived here before (when the goofy teen was only a 1 year old), our branch was Portuguese and American. Now they've divided into two branches- something I find quite sad).

We instantly got stuck in (I wonder if I'll ever drop my British colloquialisms?) and took Little Miss Ky out to our favourite swimming hole in Quatro Ribeiras while her brothers went to a Soccer (futbol!) camp on base.

This is a little trick I've learned over the years: Put a child (or three) in front of your thighs so you don't have to continue editing yourself out of photos. I do need the teens to cover the double chin though...

Incredible, isn't it?

 Horizontal

Vertical

still beautiful 

(anyone ever wonder how my iPhoto library has become so big? 

Now you know why).

That pool you see by the building is a salt-water pool. It comes in handy if you have little guys that you don't want swept out with the tide, or for days like today where the jelly fish are the ones taking advantage of the lava pools.

I'm betting the stairs and handrails of this swimming hole were installed quicker than I've revamped In the Gutter.

Because I have lost your trust with my sporadic posting of late, I will assure you that I have several posts queued up waiting for automatic publishing. My therapy. That, "count your blessings" kind of therapy that seems to always work.

Please check back in when you regain use of your eyes soon for two months worth of sightseeing photos (the equivalent of sitting in our living room and being subjected to our holiday slideshow, only with no popcorn).



Until then,

ADEUS!