Our Hero!

Marlena, our hero! She "saved" our lives this morning!!

I plugged my roaster oven into a too-small transformer and blew the transformer. Melted the insides.

Marlena smelled the toxic fumes and immediately alerted everyone and tried to make sure everyone was out of the house (even though we were all safe LOL!!). We have some friends in the guest room and Marlena was just bound and determined that she "save" them too.

Although we were in no danger since we were handling the situation, we're so proud of our little girl for instinctively protecting us!

DVD Wish List

We have a ton of DVDs!! But some of our collections are incomplete and some we just don't have, and I always forget which ones I want/need when I am out shopping. So I made a list and thought I'd share it with you!

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Seasons 4, 5, 7, 8, 9
Deadwood - Seasons 2, 3
The Fugitive (1963 tv series) - Seasons 2, 3, 4
Have Gun Will Travel (1957 tv series) - Seasons 4, 5, 6
Nip/Tuck - Seasons 5, 6
Northern Exposure - Seasons 3, 4, 5, 6
Reno 911! - Seasons 4, 5
Taxi - Seasons 1, 3, 4, 5
The Waltons - Seasons 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabahn

Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull

Mission Impossible (with Tom Cruise)
Mission Impossible III

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Ever After
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Love Letter (a Hallmark movie)
Billy Elliot
The Devil's Arithmetic
Nell
Sommersby
The Emerald Forest
Very Bad Things
The African Queen
The Full Monty
Life is Beautiful (In Italian with English subtitles)
White Christmas
Mama Mia!

I just finished our latest DVD inventory and although we have a lot, the ones above we still want to add! Living in Korea, with Korean television, the DVDs do get quite a bit of use.

Insadong

We spent a day in Insadong, one of our favorite areas of Seoul. Insadong is the art and antiques district and has so much to see!

This photo shows the contrast of Seoul, with the traditional homes and high-rises blending together.





















Some grafitti on the bathroom wall!

















Another shot of a traditional Korean building, in the heart of Insadong.
















This gallery is very nice, and on the very top is one of our favorite restaurants (no photo of the restaurant, sorry!)

















This sign for a tea room made us giggle "Sound of Korean Lute Without Chords" - is that like the sound of one hand clapping? How very Zen!
















Yes, Starbucks is EVERYWHERE!!















A little bamboo oasis in the heart of Insadong.
















This photo below is not in Insadong, but is one street over from our house. I just wanted to show you a typical street in Songtan. Yes, it is a driving street and no, it is not one way! Drivers here tend to be pretty considerate about deciding who gets first dibs at going down the street.

Seosan, South Korea

Recently we took a day trip to the seaside village of Seosan, on the East Sea (known outside of Korea as the Sea of Japan).

Pictured here are some natural wetlands in Seosan.


And here are the plans for the development to take over the wetlands. *sigh* (sorry the photo is sideways!)

Here, Marlena contemplates the sea.



This woman was shucking oysters and clams with a traditional tool, a simple wooden stick with a pointed metal pin attached.
Marlena discovers sea grass!

Fishing boats off the pier.

For my friend Brianna, a castle we saw while driving to Seosan!

Yes, I Am Boring

I know I've been bad about posting - or good about NOT posting!!

Truth is, there just isn't much to blog about. I've been sticking pretty close to home, being boring. I get up, drink coffee, play some Scrabble on my cell phone, do dishes and laundry and all that June Cleaver stuff, take the dog out to pee, play on the computer.

The weather here is finally nice. Or at least as far as my definition as nice is. Autumn, little chilly, no more humidity. Leaves are falling. Usually they fall faster if you have just swept up the ones that have fallen. LOL!!

Snuffles has some leave for the next several days so we plan on doing some traveling around the country. Short trips here and there. We've booked Marlena at the boarding kennels for three days this coming week, and four days the week after.

No definite plans as of yet. We will head east and north (but not to North Korea!). Since we both need our tourist passports updated, our travel will be limited to in-country. It's hard to plan a trip since any tourist information about South Korea revolves around Seoul.

I look forward to seeing the sea and the mountains, and hopefully some of the more traditional Korea. To get away from the hi-rise apartments and sky scrapers of Seoul. We hope to find a traditional Korean guest house for at least one night, rather than staying at a tourist hotel.

I spent part of Saturday helping out the base Girl Scout troop. The girls were working on their Quilting Badges by making quilts for the local orphanage. They did a great job! I was paired with a young lady who has never sewn before at all and she did so well. I've invited her to come and sew with me anytime she wants.

With Thanksgiving coming, I'm looking forward to seeing some old friends and meeting some new ones. I have a couple of friends who's husbands are stationed here so they will be coming to visit during the holidays, and I can't wait! A new friend of mine is looking forward to cooking her first Thanksgiving dinner here at my house; I'm delighted to let her do the work and of course I'll help out when she wants. I've invited various people to come for Thanksgiving dinner but not yet sure how many will come.

I've got some good friends up at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul now, too, and it's always a treat to pop up there and meet them for lunch.

Little bit of this, Little bit of that

Hello again!

• Went to see Mama Mia! last night - what a great movie!! Snuffles, of course, refused to go when I told him it was based on the music of ABBA. I can't wait to buy it when it comes out on DVD, and the soundtrack!
• It's been years since I last had a new pair of glasses and mine are so trashed that there is no point in cleaning them anymore. While I was out and about downtown today, I decided it was time for a new pair! I went into Sun Optical and received a free eye exam and had my new glasses in about an hour and a half! The price for the glasses wasn't much cheaper than in the States but it's nice to be able to see again. That cross-hatch effect of the scratches may be kicky in some modern art but not when you just want to see!
• My main goal downtown today was to take a quilt to be quilted! Yes, I finished a quilt!! Pieced front, pieced back and binding. I'm so proud. Too bad it's a seriously garish quilt LOL! It's a Halloween theme in bright orange and purple. I've actually grown accustomed to it but it still seems to terrify Snuffles when he sees it laid out on the bed. The quilt shop provides the batting and puts it all together; it will be done in two weeks for a total cost of . . . $45! Forty-five bucks for a twin sized quilt!! I know that's a great price and I am very pleased. I was hoping it would be done before the spouse's meeting next week. The spouse group is just starting out and I had planned on offering it as a raffle item to kick off fund-raising if raising funds is part of our plan. I'll still offer, if appropriate, but it would have been nice to have the finished product with me.
• Right now, Marlena is chasing around a snack-sized bag of Korean bugles (the corn horn-shaped snack) and is digging her nose in so far that she then spends a couple minutes trying to extract her head from the bag, while crawling backwards. Goofy dog.
• Speaking of Marlena, she's had a set back this week. We've got another week to go before she is "cured" but two days ago she encountered another dog and went absolutely bonkers barking and jumping at it. So for the last two days, she's been coughing almost non-stop. The vet prescribed some more steroids, so let's hope this gets rid of it once and for all. She has an appointment next Friday (the 26th) and while they are not due to check the heartworm for another three months again, I think I will request that they do a chest x-ray just to confirm that she is in the clear.
• I'm on the books to take my driving test for my Korean driving license next week! Watch out, Korea - I'll be on your roads!! It will be a welcome relief for Snuffles, I am sure; he will no longer have to be my chauffeur at all times. I just know how much he enjoys going out to the fabric warehouse LOL!!
  

Now for the big news: My son has proposed to his girlfriend and she accepted! Such mixed emotions - I am so happy for them and proud of him for being so completely grown up but at the same time, where did my baby go?!? I made so many mistakes with him, mistakes where I could have done so much better. I feel like I've let him down on a lot of things and I wish I could do it over and do it better. Do all moms feel like this? I have never loved anyone as much as I love my son. He has thrived despite me and no one could be prouder than I am of all he has accomplished.

Katie, his girlfr . . .oops! fiancee!!! is such a nice girl too. It's truly a pleasure to see them together and how well they interact with each other. They are a good balance to each other and this in iteself is a strong foundation to a good marriage.

Chusok

Merry Chusok to all!

This weekend marks the three-day Korean holiday of Chusok. To compare the holiday in importance and festivity, this is the Korean holiday most similar to Christmas in the United States. I mean this in terms of the holiday atmosphere.

Last week we made a quick trip to E-Mart (the Korean version of WalMart) to do a little shopping. The store was filled with lovely women in beautiful traditional hanbok:Each of these lovely ladies was showcasing different gift packages to give for Chusok. Similar to the American Hickory Farms packages or other gift baskets, there were packages of instant coffee, packages of Spam with Olive Oil, fruits, mushrooms and traditional cookies.

For Chusok, families will all travel to the home of the oldest relative to celebrate. This is a holiday for honoring ancestors and spending time together as a family. The city of Seoul will be virtually deserted, as most older Koreans live in the small villages outside of the big city. Most businesses will be closed for the duration.

It is said to avoid traveling during Chusok. While it may normally take an hour to get to Seoul from Songtan, over Chusok it can take five, six or eight hours!

Update on Marlena

Yay! She's home from her overnight stay at the vet clinic. While she was good and brave, she didn't have much fun with Specialist Crawford and the other vet tech because they just wanted her to stay calm and relaxed, so no playing!!

She received her 2nd and 3rd heartworm shots, and got a packet of heartworm pills to start on. The vet said that they figured out the trick with her - the first shot she got last month, she wriggled when they injected her and it caused a subcutaneous lump of fluid to form. They figured out that if her feet aren't on the ground, she won't wiggle! So two techs held her up while a third gave her the shots this time.

When I went to pick her up, the vet said she was doing great. We decided to go ahead and give her the rabies vaccine and distemper shot today too; she's good on the rabies now for a year, but will receive a booster shot of the distemper next month. And she is to come back for follow-up on the heartworm in four months. Also, next month she will get her Bordatella vaccine (to be done every six months) which is a preventative against kennel cough. This is given in anticipation of her having to stay at a boarding kennel or her playing with large groups of dogs.

She's such a good girl! and she was so delighted to see me come pick her up. While she was gone, I washed her sheepskin bed thing and her two towels in her crate, and bought her a nubby squeaky donut toy and a pink rhinestone heart charm to hang on her collar. So now she is sporting some serious bling - her pearl necklace, her heart charm, her microchip ID tag and her rabies tag. Such a spoiled little princess!

This and That

Things have been hectic so let me try to fill you in a bit!

• Household Goods (HHG) arrived - all of our stuff! It's been quite the orchestration trying to organize and coordinate fitting everything in and finding places for all of it. Like putting 10 lbs of flour in a 5 lb sack!
• Marlena - doing well. Took her in to the vet today but they had a scheduling conflict. The vet needed to attend a conference. So she did not get her last shots for the heartworm today, but she did get her microchip! Poor girl, that really hurt when they did it. But she was brave and well behaved. Tomorrow morning we will drop her off at 8 AM for her heartworm shots and she will be having a sleep-over at the vets. When they do the final shots, she has to be on 24 hour watch so two of the vet techs will be switching on and off overnight to monitor her, and the vet will then be available to be on call should anything happen.
• Car - we have our car (not sure if I confirmed that earlier). I don't have my license yet, though, but I plan to remedy that in the next week or so. Until then, Snuffles is my chauffeur and he has been quite patient and accommodating about that.
• Fabric - OMG!! Mr. Kahn's Happy Quilter Warehouse - it is NOT just a myth, it is real!! About five minutes from my house by car. A literal warehouse brimming with bolts and bolts and BOLTS of fabric. Not flat bolts either - the real McCoy, the ones off the loom!! Big huge round bolts of fabric. And the price? $5.00 for TWO yards!!! It's all the good stuff too! I spent 85,000 won (roughly $85 American).For $85, I got 36 yards of fabric. That's $2 a yard!! Remember, I said it was $5 for two yards; well, for every 10 2-yard packs you buy, you get one free!!Brand names? I have Lakehouse Dry Goods, Clothworks, MBT, Alexander Henry, Maywood Studio, Wilmington Prints, Blank Textiles, Andover, Moda, Benartex, and Makower UK!!!
• I have to add, my wonderful fabulous husband took me down to a furniture store last week and had me pick out a glass door cabinet to hold all my fabric! Absolutely lovely!
• Our other big purchase recently was our hand-made, double-knotted 6' x 6' rug made in Pakistan! OMG so gorgeous! The one rug shop was going out of business and the rug was originally priced at $2000 and I talked him down to $600!

Some detail of the rug:


I'm still chugging away at language class and Snuffles is still working hard.

I am a SPECIAL kind of stupid!

or "How I Know that I am Really At Home Now"

My family will appreciate this second title. I am definitely home here in Korea now because I had my first trip to the Emergency Room today!!

Being the good little housewife I am, I have been working on unpacking boxes and trying to get everything in order (another blog to come about the moving in of the House Hold Goods) and I even managed to do some dishes.
Now, as you can see from the drawing above, I have the dish drainer facing the wrong way, because the silverware holder is on the outside edge of the counter. And it tilts. And I washed a VERY sharp knife and set it in there to dry.

I went about puttering around, putting things away in the kitchen and turned to walk to the other counter when I . . . (and here is where the special stupid comes in) . . . walked INTO the VERY sharp knife! Yes, I impaled myself on the *&#%@* knife!!

Bear in mind, this isn't the first time I've done such a thing either!! Several years ago I had a paring knife in the dish drainer and brought the side of my wrist down right on top of it!!

I'm hot and sweaty and grungy from doing the boxes, and I am dressed but no bra. I immediately ran my arm under the tap water (let's hope it was pure enough!) and grabbed a paper towel and applied pressure. Then I went to the medicine cabinet to grab an ace bandage and I wrapped it around my arm to hold the paper towel in place, so I could put on a bra!! Didn't want to scare the natives and the hospital staff.

I shut off the hot water, latched Marlena into her crate and grabbed my purse and out the door. I got to the street corner and fished out my phone so I could call for a base taxi to pick me up, when my neighbor (whom I had just met this same morning) called hello to me and asked what I was up to. I said I was on my way to the ER (explained the whole special stupid to her) and was calling a taxi. She told me that her husband was just heading out the door to work on base (he is a contractor) and that he would take me. What a wonderful neighbor!!!

The physician at the ER determined that I did not need stitches, so the assistant put a couple steri-strips on and sent me up to immunizations to get a long overdue tetnus shot. I have to say, I think the assistant was fairly new to the whole job because she put the steri strips on as if they were bandaids, instead of using them to pull the wound together and hold it tightly. I think I'll live though LOL!!

The cut is about a half an inch long and looks like I gouged out my skin. When I got home, I examined the knife to determine how far in it had gone and from what I can tell, I impaled a good full inch of knife into my tender flesh. I have no tingling or loss of feeling or sensation though, so I'm sure that it will be fine.

I wanted to have it checked out though because the last time I self-impaled, I didn't have it checked and it probably needed a stitch that time. Plus, I haven't had a tetnus shot in about 15 years so all in all, it was a wise move to go visit my ER.

Now I am off to turn the dish drainer around!! No more self-inflicted physical idiocy if I can help it!!

I can't wait to tell Snuffles about my adventure today, and to warn him that he may be questioned. I realized that as I said that I walked into a knife, that it sounded like the lamest I fell down the stairs / tripped and hit the door knob with my eye excuse ever!! Hopefully they understood that it was what happened and there is no question about spousal abuse, but who knows? He has an alibi, I promise he didn't do it!!!

A Miracle?!

Woo hoo! This is the second day in a row that we have not had to turn on the air conditioner in the living room!! A sign of good weather to come! It's been fairly warm, but the humidity is notably lower. Autumn will actually arrive, I do believe! I was starting to think it was just a myth.

Tomorrow I go "back to school". I start my Korean language lessons! Tuesdays and Thursdays in August, for an hour each day. I hope that I can learn at least a little - it would make it easier to get around. I am so excited; I went to the BX and bought a spiral bound notebook and a pack of mechanical pencils. Yay me!

We put down a deposit on our "new" car today. The dealer has promised to replace the frayed fan belt and get the radio working again, as well as doing any necessary repairs if needed after inspection on base. Now I just need to get my driver's license and be brave and venture out on the roads. I feel confident though. Korean drivers pretty much drive the way I do!! Be afraid!

Working Hard!

It's a nice day today! Sunny, temp not too hot, and very little humidity. Even a nice light breeze.

So in anticipation of our stuff arriving from the States, Snuffles and I worked on getting the shed ready for storage items. What a lot of work!!

First we had to haul out the Korean cabinet we had salvaged. That wasn't too bad since we had put it in there only a couple of weeks ago.

The big hurdle was the "built-in" shelf of miscellaneous bits of wood. That took a good hour to dismantle. Lots of big nails, nasty cobwebs, rough wood. No way to just pull it out because it was built to fit and nailed into the cement walls to boot! We sweated and grunted and sweated and grunted and finally SUCCESS!! There is no chance of putting it back together but that's alright. We'll get some good sturdy metal or plastic shelves to put in there instead.

Then we swept the piles of dirt that had accumulated over goodness knows how many years, and swept down the walls covered in cobwebs. Not cute dainty "Irish Lace" cobwebs but dark, thick, dirty, greasy nasty cobwebs. *shudder*

Next we got out the hose and sprayed everything down with the strongest stream possible. Dumped some Pine-Sol on the floor and scrubbed. And scrubbed. And scrubbed. Then we did several rinses with more water. Each batch of water also required us to push it out the door with the big push broom since there is no drain in the floor.

Now we are letting the room dry completely and towards the end of this week we will paint the interior. Ceiling, walls and floor! Then we will have a nice clean shed to use for storage. There just isn't enough room in the house to accommodate some things, like tubs of seasonal clothing and holiday decorations.

You know, we should have called Mike Rowe! This was definitely a Dirty Job!

About a Great Lunch and Finding A Car

Snuffles got back from Japan late last night and it's good to have him home!

Today we went out for a short walk down the street to Sunny's Auto Sales and found a nice car! A 1996 Hyundai Avante Touring, which is basically a compact station wagon. Low mileage, good price. We'll go back on Monday to make the purchase and by Tuesday it will be ours! Keep your fingers crossed.

This is what the car looks like, but the one we will be buying is white. I think that's a better color choice during the hot summer months!


Then we decided to go for some lunch. Chang Pwuck, a Thai restaurant, recently moved and relocated inside the Young Chon Hotel so we stopped in to try it out. Fabulous! Since it is Saturday, they had a buffet with so many yummy choices and everything was delicious. 30,000 won for the two of us (roughly $30 USD).

Here is a website with a review: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=140&article=41578&archive=true

Neglectful, I know

I just keep waiting for something exciting and big to happen worth blogging about but then I remember that I am so fascinating that even the most mundane details of my life will thrill you all LOL!!

Snuffles has been gone to Japan all week so Marlena and I have been holding down the fort here at home.

She started coughing this week, which is bad. It means that the worms are getting into her lungs. So she is on complete bedrest. No walks PERIOD. Poor girl. She thinks she's being punished, I'm sure. We went to see the new doctor today and she prescribed some steroids for Marlena to help with the respiratory issues. She also gave me the okay to give Marlena some baby benadryl to help keep her calm. Miss D is so darn peppy!! She wants to run and jump and walk for hours but we just can't let her right now. We shall see if Benadyrl makes her sleepy or if it peps her up.

I also talked with the lady that coordinates the animals for adoption on base, about the cats in the attic. She has some humane traps for me and she and I will be working together to get the cats rescued and out of the attic.

Snuffles and I saw The Dark Knight at the base theater on Sunday before he left. GOOD MOVIE. I went last night and watched Get Smart and that was a fun movie!!

Did you know, on a military base, before the movie starts they play the national anthem? And here at Osan, they play the Korean national anthem as well! Everyone stands and is very respectful. The prices are quite good too. Maximum $4.50 for a ticket (depending on the show, and it's projected popularity, prices vary), and a refillable drink and a medium sized popcorn can be had for $6.25.

I signed up for my Korean language classes! Yay!! When I went to the community center to pay for the classes ($50 for one month, 8 classes), the guy at the desk - an AMERICAN AIRMAN - asked if I was signing up for the ESL class!?!?! LOL! At any rate, every Tuesday and Thursday in August I will spend an hour a day learning to speak Korean. Wish me luck!!

Poor Marlena!

Oh my sweet baby!!

She went to the doctor today to start the heart worm treatment. They did the chest x-ray first and she behaved very well, of course.

Then they shooed me away for a few hours and administered the first of three heart worm shots. From 10:00 AM - 1:30 PM, they kept her for observation.

Apparently she wiggled when they injected her so she is very swollen at the injection site. They said she behaved very well and didn't make a sound but omg . . . when I picked her up she wouldn't even make eye contact with me and she was drooling (vet said it was from stress).

She is so miserable and sore and I feel horrible Frown

They told me to keep an eye on her - watch for coughing, seizures, extreme swelling of the injection site, vomiting. If she is still very sore after a week, call them. She'll go back in a month for the final two shots.

In the meantime she is not to get excited at all. Apparently once the heart worm poison begins to work, as the adult heart worms die off, they can dislodge from the heart and get into the lungs and that can kill her.

She's to be kept calm and confined and only short necessary (bathroom) walks, for a whole month. I'm so glad we have her stroller!

I just feel so bad that my baby girl is unhappy and in pain and there isn't much I can do about it.

Some Photos

Just a few things I've photographed lately.

Who wants to go out and play?!?!


The chest that me and Snuffles found in the trash pile!


Close up of some of the art on the doors:


Marlena's Styling Ride:

Daily Life

So, you wonder, what IS it like to live in Korea? What kind of things do you do daily that are different from living in the States?

Glad you asked!!

Let's start with trash. No Hefty or Glad bags here in Songtan. There are two types of trash bags to purchase: the large white ones and the small red ones. The large white ones are sorted and used for regular trash, aluminum, tin, glass and plastic. Don't mix them! Songtan recycles!

The small red bags are for food waste. All food waste. No dumping that last piece of pizza into the white trash bag - it all goes into the small red bags.

Trash pick up is easy. There is none! Well, at least not door to door. There are areas in each dong (remember that word? Yes, it means neighborhood! Good memory!) where you take the trash bags. Sunday through Friday nights, between 9:00 PM and 4:00 AM. The local trash spot for us is just around the corner so it is very convenient. And it is far enough not to be a problem of trash or smell just outside of our own house!

To further cut down on bugs and critters in the house, I wash out all the containers before they go into the white bags and I store the red bags in the refrigerator until they are taken outside.

So that is how we deal with garbage here in Songtan, Pyeongtaek, South Korea!!

More tomorrow on plumbing!

Just for Bella

Having been chastised thoroughly for not blogging often enough by Bella, I decided to pop in today!


Rainy day here in Korea which is nice for Snuffles and I but not so nice for Marlena. She absolutely despises, loathes and abhors rain. Getting her to go potty is frustrating on a day like today.

We had big plans to clean out the shed so we can paint it but the rain makes it difficult as we have to move the chest and some shelving out of there first, and we don't want them to get all wet.

Also thanks to the rain, the kitties in the attic are having a fun romping indoor day today. Sounds like a party up there!!

I've been neglectful in posting

Mea culpa!!

I've been keeping busy and really not a whole lot of interesting things going on. Well at least not to me.

First of all, Marlena. Such a sweet sweet girl!! I got her into the vet's on base last Friday and found out that she is "very positive" for heart worm. Problem is right now the current vet is outprocessing and they are awaiting the new vet's arrival. We were told to keep her quiet and calm and no more walks until she is all better.

Poor girl! She loves her walks. She absolutely adores going down town, tail wagging the whole time.

The good news is that yesterday the vet assistant called me and we are all set up to take her in on Monday for a chest xray and to begin the treatment. We want her to have the xray first to determine the severity of damage. We are willing to do whatever it takes to make her well but if her disease is too far advanced and the treatments will do no good, we don't want to put her through the whole ordeal.

And how loved is this little girl? OMG spoiled ROTTEN!! I went out for about three hours yesterday walking all over Songtan looking for a particular pet store to buy her a . . . stroller. Yes, you read that right!! I paid 80,000 won (about $80) for a doggie stroller so that we can take Marlena out for "walks". And I got her a pearl necklace too (fake pearls; she looks so elegant in them!). She seems to like the stroller - when we return home from an outing she will continue to sit in it for a while. I think she knows that it shows how much we love her.

Other than that, I spent all day Monday waiting for the air conditioner repair guys to come. The a/c unit in our bedroom is supposed to drain outside but instead drains inside. On the nightstand. They finally came late in the afternoon and got it all fixed so that it now works correctly. So nice to go to sleep without hearing drip! drip! drip! right beside our heads.

I met up with an online friend, Katy, that lives just a couple blocks away from me. Very nice girl and she has two of the cutest kittens in the world!

We went dumpster diving last night. Someone discarded a bunch of furniture so we went and snagged a gorgeous (albeit damaged) chest. We are going to use it for storage in the shed but OMG, the incredible beauty of the piece! Each door shows a different scene of outdoor Korea with inlaid wood and I believe ivory!! Not to mention a fabulous border all around the top and around each door made of inlaid mother of pearl. Ultimately, when we no longer need the chest for storage, I will remove the doors and keep them as art. Or sell them for big money on E-bay!! I need to figure out how to determine if it IS ivory on the doors.

It's still fairly warm here and quite humid. Although I am accustomed to being drenched in sweat all the time, I still find it quite annoying. Today, however, is pretty nice. It's been raining all afternoon so the temperature has dropped to about 80 degrees.

We've been making good use of the new gas grill we bought. It sure beats heating up the kitchen.

I'm starting to get antsy for my sewing machine and fabric. I can't imagine how we'll fit everything in here when the rest of our stuff comes but I will be glad to have my "toys" back in my possession.

Marlena Dietrich!

We've expanded the family by one new member - Marlena Dietrich, an adorable dachshund! We found her on the Animal Rescue in Korea site; her previous owner had kept her on a one-meter long rope with no food or water and was planning to take her to the meat mill.

Thank God for Ryan and other animal lovers who found and rescued her!!

She's between two and four years old and such a sweet little girl. We took the subway up to Seoul today to meet her and it was instant love. Such a trooper; she rode the subway for an hour and half to get home and didn't complain once. When we arrived at Songtan Station, we took her outside and let her out of her crate to stretch her short little legs for a bit before grabbing a taxi to home. I went back inside the train station to get a bottle of water and she just cried and cried to see me walking away!! But she was very happy to see me when I came back out.

She's really settled in with us even though it's only been a few hours. Took a nice long walk downtown tonight and she absolutely loved it.

Here she is!