I'm just going to come right out and say this -- I am SUPER LUCKY to have the friends I do. You all know that I just moved to another town in South Korea. And you probably know that I have three kids. And you may as well know that I don't speak Korean that well. And also, my husband is in the army. What you don't know is that my husband was gone the entire week before the move. (Which is when we found out we would actually be moving.) He was also gone the entire day of the move . And most of the rest of the week as well. I think it would be an understatement to say that this was a little stressful for me.   It would also be an understatement to say that I have AMAZING friends. One of my friends got up super early in the morning, made a breakfast to bring with her, got her children up (super early, remember?) and brought them all over to my apartment to be there while the movers finished packing things up because I had to be at my new location at the same time. Anoth

 WINNER, WINNER, WINNER!!!   Diane -- send me an email with your contact information to LilaLoa (at) ymail.com!!   I live in South Korea. I used to live in a very small town in South Korea that looked like this and this. This is the local shopping center. And then I moved to a town that looks like this and this. And they have actual malls and giant department stores. The store closest to me looks like this. (And my son is wearing a jacket in July because he is not used to air conditioning.) It's really exciting to live in a place where I can purchase things. So, although I spent most of the last two weeks unpacking and finding things in my house... It took me exactly 2 days before I could justify going shopping. Which, for the record, was just enough time to find my bed and some unwrinkled clothing. I'm going to take you on a little grocery store tour. And you have no choice but to come with me because its my blog. I mean, I guess you could just click over to facebo

  I don't have any kind of normal-person special skills. I can't run a mile in 5 minutes or paint a picture of a mountain that actually looks like a mountain. I've tried to learn to knit, twice. And failed, twice. I try to keep things scheduled on my calendar so I can stay all organized and on top of things, but I keep losing my calendar. I don't have meal plans. I don't clean my children's rooms or even my house with any kind of regularity. I get someone else to do my taxes and honestly, I don't even know HOW to change the oil in my car. But you know what I'm really good at? Moving. I've had all sorts of practice in my life and I've got it down to an art. I don't even start getting ready until 48 hours before the big event. And I usually have everything unpacked and in place 48 hours after. USUALLY .  I was so ready for this move. I posted right before the move, and had a post waiting for the week after. It was going to be seamless. No on

Remember that super funny joke from last week about my oven being broken? Still true. It's the electronic spark thing that isn't working. I really wanted to make a certain set of cookies last week that I had been planning, dreaming, sketching, and basically decorating in my sleep this entire summer. I thought that if the gas was working, I could maybe just light the oven myself. You know, with a tiny lighter that I would have to get right next to the gas to be able to use. It seemed like a perfect plan. I took out the oven racks. I took off the metal shield. I looked at the gas distributor and the lighter in my hand - a hand, might I add , that I am particularly fond of...and I gave up. Also, the electric transformer box for my microwave blew a fuse. My only options for replacing it is to speak Korean. Or buy a new transformer box in the next town over. Neither of which is likely to happen. Because...and here's my big secret reveal...I am moving. Okay, it's not that

Remember that super funny joke I told you last week where I said I wasn't going to leave you hanging on the whole " making molds and making cookie s" thing and that I would be RIGHT BACK to tell you the rest of it? That was hilarious. Best joke of my life. Even better than the joke I told my husband about how I'm going to fill my kids' days with super fun and exciting learning activities that engage their minds and inspire them to reach their full potential as amazing little human beings of amazingness ...and then I let them watch Korean cartoons before breakfast. It was also better than the joke where my oven broke. And better than the joke where I told myself I'm going to go to sleep early. And not read cookie blogs and cookie facebook posts into the wee hours of the morning. (Although, that one really was funny. Ha ha ha. I still laugh just thinking about it.) Wow. When you put them all together like that...it kind of makes me realize that I am