Boss Arrives Today From Thailand

The younger brother of "Big" is arriving this evening from Thailand. While he is called "Boss" that, like "Big", is for the convienience of us non-Thais who can't pronounce their names. Dave will be picking him up at the Cincinnati Airport in Kentucky tonight. His brother is excited about his arrival. Boss is visiting for a couple of months to settle in before he comes for school next year. Our in home International Community is growing. I'll post a photo tomorrow for you all to see.

My Hairy Children

Sassy and Oliver

Sun At Last

I went to work today to help Kori look after Cledi as her husband Gene was on duty at the hospital. The sun was shining and the sky was blue, a georgeous day after all the cold weather we have been having. There is still plenty of snow lying around but it was warm enough to take Cledi out for a walk in her wheelchair.
We headed off to the park and spent about two hours just walking around and talking to other people who were on the same mission as we were, to soak up some sun. I noticed a couple of small trees had new buds, which would seem a little early, and I spotted a few daffodils poking their first leaves through. The snow was melting fast and water was lying round on the grassy areas. Spring is just around the corner. The ponds in the park are still covered with ice though, so I think the daffodils are rushing things a little.
Cledi loved the adventure and laughed and kicked the whole time.

Dedicated Shoppers

For all you dedicated sale crawlers out there, Elder Beerman has some great yellow spot sales on right now. I'm going to go and browse the ladies apparel and makeup before work this afternoon. Its a good time to buy for next winter.

Recipe Of The Day - Get Them To Eat Brussel Sprouts Bake

I know a lot of you enjoy a good recipe and cooking like I do so I'm going to share a few of my favs with you. Actually I'm working on setting up a website where you can print of the "Best Of My Best" and try them for yourself. However, that's taking a little time as I am not an expert at websites and am slow to get it up and running. So.....I decided to share the occassional "goodie" here. This brussel sprouts bake has them all coming back for more.

Get Them To Eat Brussel Sprouts Bake
1 pkt (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1/2 pound (250g) sliced fresh mushrooms
1 medium onion chopped
2 tbsp butter
20oz (600g) brussel sprouts. Frozen ones thawed and drained are good.
3/4 c shredded cheddar cheese

1. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and sour cream until smooth; set aside.
2. In a large skillet or pan saute mushrooms and onion in butter until tender. Stir in brussel sprouts. Remove from heat. Stir in cream cheese mixture.
3. Spoon into a greased shallow baking dish.
4. Cover and bake at 350F (176C) for 25-30 mins or until bubbly.
5. Uncover; sprinkle with cheddar cheese.
6. Bake 5 mins longer or until cheese is melted.

Family member comment. "I don't really like brussel sprouts, but I could get to like them like this."

Team Wins Sportmanship Award

Congratulations Spring Valley Academy boys basketball  for winning the sportsmanship award at the recent tournament at Andrews University in Michigan.

 

In House Dictionary - Face Problems

While sitting around the Herdman kitchen table a group of teenagers were heard moaning about their various facial maladies of pimples, rashes and the disadvantages of teenage skin. A person who shall remain nameless lamented "I hate this anus I get on my face".

Just In Case You Wondered.

What is a malapropism?

Main Entry: mal·a·prop·ism

Pronunciation: \ˈma-lə-ˌprä-ˌpi-zəm\

Function: noun

Etymology: Mrs. Malaprop, character noted for her misuse of words in R. B. Sheridan's comedy The Rivals (1775)

Date: 1849

1 : the usually unintentionally humorous misuse or distortion of a word or phrase; especially : the use of a word sounding somewhat like the one intended but ludicrously wrong in the context

In House Dictionary

I wish I had a dollar for every funny malapropism I have heard in our house over the years and they still keep coming. I thought you might enjoy some of them as much as we do.

When talking about babies recently someone was heard to make a comment about the "Umbiblical Cord". Other family members were heard shrieking loudly with mirth.

Cathy Travels To Far Away Places.

Cathy recently began working for Robbins And Myers which is a Company that makes pumps for energy, industrial, chemical and pharmaceutical markets in 14 different countries. While Cathy is not into pump making, her job is internal auditing. Below are a few paragraphs on her most recent trip to South America.

"I recently made a trip to the warmer areas of the world and visited Brazil and Venezuela for work. I first visited Brazil and it was my first trip to South America. I enjoyed the time there and loved the people. I spent most of my time in Taubate, a city about 1.5 hours outside of Sao Paulo. The best thing that I discovered is that McDonalds in Brazil serves Banana Pie!

Banana Pie

Taubate

The trip to Venezuela provided a much needed break from the snow in Dayton. It was a quick trip and I spent time in Caracas and Maracaibo. The challenging part of working in Venezuela was the rolling blackouts enacted by the government to conserve energy. In Maracaibo, our plant's blackout time was 3p-5p and then we discovered our hotel's blackout time was 5p-7p.

Lake Maracaibo

Caracas from the office window.

Unfortunately, the trip home was delayed by snow in Atlanta. It was an unusual sight to see that much snow from the hotel room in Atlanta!

Atlanta Snow

I am really looking forward to my upcoming trips to Canada and Scotland."

Happy Birthday

Gabriel recently celebrated his 21st Birthday and yesterday Rebecca turned 19. Our extended family and a group of friends celebrated with us last night at Bravo's Italian Restaurant. The food was great and we all enjoyed the evening out.

Big Goes To Andrews University On A Basketball Tournament

This last weekend Big went with the Spring Valley Academy basket ball teams to Andrews University for a High School Basketball tournament. While they weren't particularly successful on the basketball court they had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the weekend. He arrived home very tired.

Sick Van Goes To Hospital

Dave has had off and on trouble with the big van this week and put a new fuel filter on it a few days ago. He thought he had solved the problem but she still refuses to start at times so this morning the ambulance came and carried her away to the car hospital. We are hoping this is not a major problem as sharing vechicles does not work well with our current work schedules and school times for the kids.

And Yet Again

This has been the snowiest winter since I moved to the USA. We are expecting another 6-9 inches of snow through to tomorrow night. Now that's not as much as Washington DC has had or Baltimore but its a nice pile when you have to shovel the driveway.

Rebecca And The Fetal Pig

This week in my biology lab, we started disecting a fetal pig. We were required to identify all the major structures of the alimentary canal/digestive system, and all major internal organs and glands. My disection went great with no mistakes. Others however cut too deep and ended up puncturing either the stomach or the large intestines which resulted with green slimy goop all over the place :)

Frangipanis In The Bathtub

A couple of years ago Dave bought me two tiny frangipani plants to remind me of home. Well....they have thrived in the Ohio summers but need to be protected in the winter time. This winter they have moved into my bathtub which they love but I miss. The fun part is they have been flowering all winter adding a lovely fragrance to the bathroom. The cats, particularly Oliver, seems to be fascinated with them and often lies in the tub under the tropical foliage.

I'm wondering what I will do with them next winter as they grow so fast in the summer that they will soon be too big to move and put in the tub.

Note the snow out the window.

New Family Members

A week ago Fen from China transfered to a school in New York but we have two new additions. Intouch Anupunswang (commonly known as "Big") from Thailand joined our family a couple of weeks ago and this week Yeonji Choi from Korea moved in to join the gang. Welcome to the family Big and Yeonji. Currently among the six members of the household we have people born in 5 different countries. USA, New Zealand, Romania, Thailand and Korea.

Snowing Again

Gabriel and Big working on keeping that driveway clear again. Thomas gets excused as he sprained his ankle yesterday and is hopping around using crutches.

Rebecca's Pre Med Classes

Rebecca is currently enrolled at Kettering College Of Medical Arts, doing the Pre Med Classes. Every now and then she likes to send us interesting photos of things they are doing.

"Here are some pictures of my Biology class I am currently taking. The lab was on invertebrates and the pictures of the heart was a lab we were doing to study all the different kinds of tissues in the body. That was an example of a cow heart we used to examine cardiac tissue and its structure."

This is a LIVE tarantula

The Day After

I went to work this morning for a few hours and really enjoyed the beautiful snowy scenery. I took a walk and snapped a few shots for you all to see.

Big from Thailand goes snow tramping with Gabriel and gets cold feet. Our hero carries him to safety.

Winter Blizzard

The Old Man from the North has been at it again and sent an Artic Blast across the North West. We have had two days of snow and a lazy day today at home. Although the boys wouldn't call it lazy, having had to clear our driveway and the neighbours driveway as well. You can see from the photo that digging out was the priority for most of our street this morning.

The Gang Goes Bowling
This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago when we took the gang bowling. Great fun was had and one or two people learnt a few skills they hadn't had before.

L to R Back row. Adirah, Rebecca, Gabriel, Thomas, Big. L to R Front Row. Brianna, Fen.

Adirah does the graceful swan bowl and Big approves.

The Sideways Race Video.

When Dave took this he held his phone sideways so you will all have to lie down for optimal viewing. I would have turned it round but don't know how.

It does however give you an idea of the speed the kids reach on these little toboggans they use for sliding down the hill. Lie down and relax before pressing go. :-)

Midnight In The Graveyard.

On Saturday night after two hours of vigorous Laser Tag at Crosspoint Center the teenagers in the Herdman house went moonlight sledding in the local graveyard where a long hill provides considerable thrill for those brave enough give it a go. With the temperature at -2F or -20C and the hill considerably slick (that's slippery in down under terminology) some hair raising rides were had by those determined to dodge the headstones and occassional tree.

Our friend "Big" from Thailand had his first ever sled ride and and is now an experienced toboggan rider and Fen from China was able to out ride them all with her new boots. Sherree was even brave enough to try the hill but was a little nervous about the high speeds in the dark.

We went home at 12.15am so this blog spot must be using Pacific time as we are now into Sunday morning.

Artic Blast

This has been a cold week all over the US and we have had some snow. Today we are getting 4 to 6 inches and the kids are out of school. Gabriel and Thomas have the job of clearing the driveway with snow shovels. Gabriel has also been keeping the driveway clear for the eldery couple next door. Neighbourhood kids have been enjoying the opportunity to play in the street.