It worked!

Thanks for harassing Nathan. Did ya notice how quickly he posted after someone besides his wife nagged him?

Now what are you going to do to get me to post again? What is going on with me?! I have been working like crazy lately and I am now trying to catch up with the rest of my life that I have put on hold. Just haven't even been in that blogging mode (you know- the one where I think all day about what I should post that night). Or maybe I just haven't had anything funny happen to me lately. Either way, I have been admonished and I will try to do better....promise.

Today Hazel said "Mom...is 'what in the world' a bad word?"

This is a testament to that fact that I am cleaning up my language and finding some healthy substitutes for the nasty words I usually yell in the car (i.e. STUPID MORON! RETARD! and my all-time favorite YOU FREAKING IDIOT!...I know, I know. I'm really bad....but obviously getting better). All I know is I now say "What in the WORLD?!?" a lot. Meredith laughs when she hears me say this because she thinks it is very redneck, so it's a good thing she isn't here.

Speaking of Meredith, I never posted anything about my visit to Georgia, and now I feel like it's pointless. I'm sure most of you have already looked at all of Meredith's cute pictures- she pretty much told the whole story. Well- minus the racy night of karaoke that I will never let down.....

So, you know that time I went to China??

Well, I went. I don't think any number of photos or words can ever truly explain my experience or the intricacies that define China. It was life-changing. Many people may experience a similar feeling when traveling abroad. This was my first experience leaving the US. The only thing I know for sure about my future is that this has taught me that it is vital to see other countries. I think it's so important for my children to see some of the world. I think the reason that people in other countries dislike Americans is because we have it so good, yet we still find so many reasons to complain. I keep trying to tell myself that I've only seen the "big city" side of China. I still have no idea. I feel I caught a glimpse of the vastness of our world. I think it's amazing that most people in China have never been to America. They only know the America they see on TV. They know the Paris Hiltons and the Brad Pitts and the George W Bush's of America. They see our politicians fighting and our music videos. I think we must seem like make-believe. Anyway, I'm going to try to give a brief idea of what I experienced in my 12 days in China. What I did not include is the company visits I got to participate in. We visited Microsoft Research Park, Ericsson, Lilly, China Construction Bank, The Shanghai Deep Water Port, and a couple Chinese companies. It was really cool to speak with these Chinese business people and get a glimpse of the corporate world in China. The following photos are selected in an effort to briefly outline what my activities entailed in order of appearance. I hope you enjoy. Let me know if I can answer questions or delve deeper on any subjects.

So, I flew to China. We flew over somewhere cold and white. I think it's Siberia.

One of our first places of significance was our visit to Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City.

It's not forbidden anymore....they even let Americans in. I didn't tell them I was from Georgia though.

We ate several of these "traditional" Chinese meals. My only problem with the term "traditional" is that these meals are huge, and rediculously expensive for what the Chinese have to spend. So, I guess it's like if you plop down all the crap we try to force-feed ourselves on Thanksgiving and tell someone its a "traditional American meal". The food was awesome though. Except the baby eels dried with salt. I thought they were little french fries and stuck a large clump in my mouth. They were later featured in a thick clear soup. I don't mind eel, but these baby ones still have their eyes, and are tough like clams. I think it just caught me off gaurd at one point, and for possibly the first time in my life, I lost my appetite.

The Great Wall...It's pretty amazing. And the Chinese people that try to sell you crap atop the Great Wall....MAN!!! They must get up everyday and say, "If I'm going to put forth the effort to climb all the way to the top of the wall today, then I'll be darned to heck if I'm gonna let one tourist get off the wall without buying one of my 'I climbed the wall' plaques!"

Here I am as high up as the Beijing Olympics billboard that they stuck shamelessly on the side of the mountain. The Chinese are really proud of the Olympics. Actually, the Shanghainese are really pissed that Beijing is getting the Olympics. So, they made up some big event their calling the World Expo that is happening in 2010. They even made this really bad mascot for it that looks a little like a blue Gumby with a toothpaste swirl on his head. You can probably check it out if you Google "Shanghai World Expo." But, you shouldn't look it up. I say we ban the Expo.... Selfish Shanghainese.

These two photos were taken from the Summer Palace, a few miles north of Beijing. This was the most beautiful place we saw in China (In my opinion). Its a sort of vacation spot for the Chinese Emperors during the 18th and 19th centuries. From the tops of the hills, you could see an amazing view of the Beijing skyline. There were boat rides on the lake, but the wind was too heavy and the water too choppy, so we didn't get to take a boat ride.

We saw a Beijing night show that was a two hour summary of a complete history of Beijing. Pretty cool. The top one is Gingis Khan. The bottom one is three ladies...maybe concubines. They kept their clothes on for the show though. It was PG......13. :)

I thought this photo was important to express how much hotter the flight attendants are on domestic China flights. They also served us a huge, hot meal on our 1 1/2 hour flight from Beijing to Shanghai. What now Southwest?!? I think they were brainwashing us with Chinese propaganda on the TV screens.

This lady is scooping silkworm cocoons out of near boiling water. These cocoons will be unravelled into silk thread to make blankets, pillows, blouses, teddys, thongs, sensual bull whips....that's all I can think of that's made of silk.

I wish I had a picture to show, but I also got to see an alternative use of the silk-worm cocoons...they grill them on a stick. The only people I saw eating them were stupid American tourists that had been dared to do it. The Chinese so have us figured out.

This guy rows a boat down the river. I don't know why.

This is a view within the Humble Administrators Garden in Suzhou, a few miles outside of Shanghai. It was the second most beautiful place we visited. Beautiful Stone formations and Pagodas overlooking peaceful ponds and plant life. While the scenery was fantastic, the public restrooms were the most depressing thing I'd ever seen. The toilets were holes in the cement that you squat over. There was no water connected so nothing had been flushed in days...maybe weeks. Not pleasant.
Shanghai has a lot of cracks on their sidewalks. Toddler cracks that is. These are the pants that Chinese kids wear while potty training. They just squat and go where they want.
Yep. That's Bin Laden. And it's a pic of him smiling with the World Trade Center burning behind him. Thank you to my brave peer, Jolean, for having our guide explain to the salesman that he was offending people from all over the world. He took it down and apologized... but probably put it right back up after we left.

Some quick honorable mentions:

I saw a Chinese kid vomit out of the window of an Audi.

I saw a Chinese guy get in a fight with a cab driver. No fists, just grabbing and pushing.

I saw old people doing Tai Chi in a park.

So, that's China in 500 words or less....maybe 1000.

Nathan's Slackerness

For those of you who are wondering why Nathan hasn't posted about his trip yet, feel free to send him a harassing email to the following address:

nbwilliams78@gmail.com

Thanks. :)

Tattle Tales

I have SO much updating to do! And Nathan promises that he will put some pictures up from his trip to China...as soon as he wakes up.

I am waiting for pictures to arrive so I can post about my lovely trip to Georgia. But I do want to share what Hazel told me about spending the morning with her Daddy today.

"Mommy- I kept calling Daddy and he just said to me 'Go watch T.V. on the couch!' because he thinks he is the boss of the whole house."

She did a pretty good imitation of his sleepy voice, too. She's a talented tattler.

Happy ending for a mindless twit...

Nathan and I got up this morning with seriously upset stomachs that just got worse throughout the day. I won't go into details, but I felt that it was an important addition to this story- especially considering the fact that we are both getting on airplanes tomorrow morning- one of which will be a 13 hr. flight (poor Nathan).

So I was getting ready to go clean a house, and I wanted my ipod. Owen had been seen with it last, so I asked him where it was and he said "I put it in your buggy at Kohl's last night."

It-shay.

So then I searched through my purse for my cell so I could call Kohl's. Guess what else I left there? MY PHONE! How in the world did I manage that?!

I was on my way to work and decided I needed to just drive straight to Kohl's and be there as soon as they opened. I walked in and they were apparently having a store meeting in the front of the store, meaning that I had to walk up to about 25 employees to admit my retardation. I'm sure I made quite an impression in my cleaning clothes, with a greased back ponytail, no make-up, and three days worth of hair on my legs.

So after cracking a few jokes to ease my embarassment, and standing in line for 20 minutes at customer service, I got my phone back!!!! Oh my gosh. I was so relieved. They said nobody had turned in an ipod, and at that point I didn't even care. My phone was worth so much more, so I was satisfied with just getting that back. But I thought I would just walk up to the front and check the carts...just in case. My ipod was sitting right on top of the first cart I looked at. I can't believe how lucky I was. What are the chances that they were both still there?!

And then I checked my messages and saw that the lady I was supposed to clean for was cancelling! Sure- that's $100 I could have taken on my trip, but it really was a blessing because I was able to come home and curl up in a fetal position for several hours until my nausea was a little less severe, then pack and clean the apartment...so it had a happy ending after all.

My Day (or so I was told)

My kids were so cute today. I just had to make them reenact this song. :) They are carrying in a new purse for me filled with sweets and some new books to read! Such a thoughtful gift. Too bad I will be exchanging the purse since I wasn't in need of a piece of carry-on luggage. I would prefer something that doesn't present the danger of me losing a kid inside of it. haha. But it's the thought...

And they even cooperated for a picture with their mommy. What angels. Do I look like a statue here or is it my imagination?

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends and family. Hope you each had a wonderful, pampered day!

Congraduations Gradulate!!!

I forgot my camera for my own husband's graduation. What a great wife I am! Luckily my brother and sis-in-law brought theirs, but I can't figure out any way to get the pics from shutterfly to my blog. There MUST be a way, but I am not smart enough to do it.
If you care to see pictures, you can look at them at http://www.familywill.shutterfly.com/

Graduations are, for the most part, boring to the point of tears (especially when you are 3 or 5).
However, maybe because I feel like I have been waiting for this day impatiently for the past 10 years, Nathan's ceremony was insanely festive and thrilling and stirring and inspiring...for the first 15 minutes. The bagpipes started playing and the faculty walked in, followed by the graduates. I sat up in my chair with anticipation and held the camera at attention- completely forgetting the fact that Nathan's last name starts with a W. Of course he was one of the last people through the entry, so we had lost a little of our steam by the time he made an appearance. Still, we managed to last through the whole thing and snap a few cute pictures and it's OVER!!!!! I mean, he still has his trip to China, but in my mind, he is a gradute and I will finally have a husband. Until he finds a job.

Congrats Nathan. I am SOOO proud of you for sticking with it and getting your master's and still taking care of your family along the way. Pretty impressive, son.