House, Heat and Humor.

Yesterday we spent a bit of time at Jonathan's childhood home (here on the base). The individuals who have been living in it for several years just moved out so we stopped by to take a look (which gave Jonathan plenty of opportunity to reminisce and tell Karis and I lots of stories). Can you believe that the entire house is made out of mahogany? Back in the day it was super cheap and I think even cheaper to build a house with than brick! Close to where we are moving a cubic meter of mahogany sells for over $3,500.

Jonathan's dad planned and built the house himself back in 1970 ("somewhere in there" that is, Jonathan says)

An old favorite hiding spot of Jonathan's (back in the day) would probably be one of Karis' too if we lived in the house ("mommy I have idea...play hide and seek!" is becoming a daily request along with "I want to have a tea party").

I discovered a wonderful blog that is going to put some spice back into my life as far as the kitchen is concerned! Since we're in one of the hottest cities in Brazil (with NO a/c Mary...thanks for rubbing it in you have that to be thankful for. Ha! J/K we do have a window unite we crank up at night every once in a while to take the edge off)...uh, where was I? Oh yeah, so it is quite unusual for me to be happy about heating the oven up for lunch (our main meal of the day). Because of this I am always on the lookout for some new crock-pot recipes (if anybody has some good ones, pass 'em along, please!). Lately I've found success in making scalloped potatoes in the crock-pot and today I'm making a recipe from this blog that has sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese (although we can't get feta here and since it takes days to make I decided to try it with my home-made ricotta cheese...I know it'll taste a lot different but I'm hoping it will be good so I can add it to my incredibly small collection of recipes I make over and over and over again 'til we're all so sick of it we can't stand the thought of it anymore (I don't recommend getting into this habit). Here is the link if anyone is interested. http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

When Karis and I were in the process of our three song ritual the other night before I put her to bed she asked to sing a song called "Only a Boy Named David" she learned from her vovó (which is her grandma for anyone not well acquainted with Portuguese). I began singing it with her but neglected to do the motions since I was holding her. She corrected me quickly and said "No mommy, do the oceans. You need to do the oceans". Have I ever mentioned how funny I think my munchkin is?