PMS

One of the Sandlin women is going through PMS today, and it’s NOT Mama. One of their grandmothers (we’ve yet to decide which one to call Baba Yaga) always said girls were born with it and let it out a little at a time. Lena was very pouty today. This morning especially. Nothing would please her. She’d ask to be held, and then whine to get down, then stand in the corner and pout. Granted it was about 115 F degrees (the F is NOT for my favorite word, but for Fahrenheit, but feel free to use either here. I’m sure I did!) OK so it was only about 85 but man the sun is strong here. The morning session is only 90 minutes, and they go by pretty quickly. Bribe the kids with food for awhile and play a little rough and tumble and before you know it, the 90 min is up. So most of this morning was Lena standing in a corner pouting.








It was the afternoon session that we realized she was probably feeling sick. Her forehead was a little hot, but then again, it WAS 115 F degrees. But they both have had very yucky noses the last few days and she was just out of sorts. So this afternoon, she climbed up in Mama’s lap and I sang to her for awhile, until Papa brought out the yogurt. Suddenly all the ailments were gone and she was feeling better.





While Dub on the other hand, was SOOOOO happy this afternoon. We went to get him from outside where his group was playing, and lo and behold the stockings of the day:





NO STOCKINGS!!! It’s a miracle. We actually got to see his fat pudgy little feet for the first time. Maybe he tee-teed in all his others and they were still in the wash. (or should I say on the line- they don’t uses dryers here- just lay the wet clothes out on the row of hedges.) Actually, he has not had an accident in about 4 days. We think we figured out how to make him “garshok.” If you try to undress him while he’s standing up, he screams bloody murder. But if you toss him on the ground, tickle a little, and pull his clothes off, he’s on the pot before he realizes what you’ve done! Then give him a little reading material (Gee- can you get him a phone hook up and a reading lamp for his potty???) and he is good to go.





Today Kev finally got a haircut. I begged him not to, but Ronald (as in McDonald) said he was going with our without my permission. It actually looks pretty good. Except the guy blew it dry. Very 80s. But it was VERY expensive. He paid 700 tenge including the tip. Outrageous! And I am expected to pay that tomorrow for my manicure and pedicure. Plus I’ll have to add another 100 tenge for a tip. This will bring the total for a mani-pedi + tip to a total of $6.15 USD. Wow. At that price, I may go get a pedicure every day. Even Lena is scared of my feet now!

We tried to explain Seinfeld to Vera today. Not sure how it translated. But since we brought the first 3 seasons (yes, I know season 4 came out while we’ve been here- I expect it sitting on my TV when I get home) with us, we’ll try to ensconce her in Seinfeld, not unlike George being ensconced in velvet. She loves Benny Hill but has never heard of Monty Python. And you know what they always say “No one ever expects the Spanish Inquisition.” We also brought the Holy Grail, so we’ll loan it to her see how that goes over. She may think our sense of humor is very odd. Shocking!

Well, off to bed and watch 24. Tomorrow, being a day off, we’ll fill you in on a little of the excellent (?) food here and the angel-style driving.

Thanks for the updates and the prayers.
And congrats to our niece Jessica (who grad-i-ated from our alma-mater HHS today- you know- 20 years AFTER we grad-i-ated) Way to go Jessica!

Love,
Angel and Kevin and
Lena‘nDub