Evidently you just have to do this.

If you are a tourist at the Taj you are required to take campy pics like these.

The Taj Mahal

It is so beautiful. Made of the whitest marble. It is washed clean whenever it rains.

Where the Shoes Are.

There are a lot of people in India who don't wear shoes. We think it is because all the shoes are at the Central Footwear Training Institute, where maybe they are being trained to be worn, or trained for a new occupation. We drove by it every day on the way to the trade show.

The Last Waltz

We watched this documentary last night and it was awesome.

The Jubilee Line?

This week is Spring Break for all the kiddies in and around Tulsa. Unfortunately the early part of the week was plagued with heavy rains and a babysitter that couldn't drive. But, this week is also the week wii became a wii family. Finally. After months of waiting patiently, we got our wii this wiik. Special thanks to Amanda Lee Dixon in Denver where evidently there were two left during the Easter Special at Target. I don't know what she had to do to get it but evidently she saw the madness. We haven't had the opportunity since most stores in Tulsa hang signs on the outside saying "Sorry out of wiis". So, no people knocking each other out here to get their hands on the last one. It is installed and they've already been bowling and been to Super Mario's Galaxy. Yay team. Christmas already!

So, anyhow, regarding the title, as you know last summer we took the boyos to London. I bought a jigsaw puzzle of London's tube system to do in the winter months when the trip was all but forgotten. We worked it not too long ago and glued it together so we could hang it up. Now Brent quizzes us at dinner. What color is Jubilee? What color is Picadilly? What's the one that begins with a C and ends with an e and is a first grade word? What is the name of the purple line? It's pretty cute. We do not know the answers.

Most Boring Blog Ever

Hi, this is the most boring blog ever. I know. I have been waiting for Amanda to send me India pics so I could post them. Waiting in vain evidently......So, my camera got stolen out of my suitcase, discovered when we arrived in India. So....I wasn't responsible for any pics on this trip.
Anyhow I love that today is Friday and the weekend is spread before me with nothing to do. Vendors and employees are paid, husband is traveling, kids are with Mom, Mom is staying in because she is sick so I'm free and easy this weekend. I see Taco bueno and Masterpiece theater in my future.

Goa

I've got pics but can't download! Frustrating. Three machines and counting on this trip. Whoop Whoop. Amanda and I are staying in a resort in Goa which is in the southwest and are loving every Kingfisher of it! We took a 12 hour train ride to get here and with 7 assorted bags that's no easy feat. No news from Mom in trivundrum so assume its all good.

Southern India

Hiya, Sitting at an Internet cafe in Ponducherry which is 3 hours south of Chennai on the South East coast of India. Amanda and I are here together in this town that is influenced by the French who colonized it. The architecture is a mixture of European colonial and Indian decay. Overall the effect is wonderful and we are staying at a fab guest house with mosquito nettting, brightly colored quilts and the most peaceful balcony.

We left mom in Chennai and she should be at the end of day two of her stay at the Ayervedic spa, Ideal. We meet up with her again in New Delhi next week but gave her our mobile number just in case she has got to get out before that. They will be sitting very still and staying out of traffic so I think she will love it. I have my girls with me and I warned them before we came that India is a lovely intoxicating yet difficult place. I think they agree now. We have each had the experiences now with the solicitous Indians who wish to please but who in reality cannot understand a word you are saying. However, being here with Mom and Amanda has made it far much more fun for me and has enabled me to see it with a more generous spirit. At least I'm trying.

This shirt is getting too small.

Mom did you ever take pictures of us in clothes we were outgrowing because you loved us in them so much. I made B stand still for this. He was not impressed.

Kung Hey Fat Choy

It's the year of the Rat.

My Boys

Further Adventures in Mispronunciations with the 13 Year Old Kid

Does this kid have sex on the brain or something?

Last night I asked J if he was being obstinant about some such thing. (The answer is yes in case you were wondering) and N said he had heard the word obstinant somewhere before. Let him think. Oh Yeah, in his sex ed video.

Ummmmm. I explained that I think he was thinking of the word "abstinant" and he said yes. Since he gives us openings like this like daily (Katie can attest to this since she was there for B singing "Wait don't touch me there, that's my private square" which is a jazzy little school bus ditty about R-A-P-E they sing on N's bus.) I wonder whether I 'm supposed to take these openings and talk to him about sex. Every time. Its exhausting. I don't know what to say about it. I asked if he knew what abstinant meant and explained it in the most generic terms possible. I swear its a minefield in the early teen age years.

So, now I'm just waiting for when he is talking about an orgasm instead of an oraganism or a virgin instead of a surgeon. I think it's only a matter of time.

Happy New Year!

To all my readers (Ha ha) I hope you had a good holiday and are home or coming home safe and sound from your travels.

2008 promises to be exciting with the big India trip coming up in February and two other shows this year!

J, the boys and I spent part of New Year's day playing Pictionary. Yay, B's easel finally came in handy! It was really fun, until it wasn't anymore.

But our Christmas isn't quite over yet. We won't be able to put the holiday to bed until we get our hands on a Wii. N's girlfriend got one. Actually got one. Her parents pre-ordered it. Smart. The boys have been wonderfully patient about the fact that they haven't actually gotten their big gift yet. I am happy, because I am afraid that the Wii is going to change our little family dynamic forever. I will want to play Monopoly or Chess or the piano and they will just want to Wii. So, I am treasuring our Wii less moments. Is that wrong? The skateboard and digital camera have gone over really well and of course the heely's and the whack a mole and ipod dock, etc. We managed to come out without too much "stuff" to show so I think we were a success on that front.

The midnight train to Anshan

Just a hello to all. We took the overnight train to Anshan and it was lovely. I had a top berth and I met a man from Perth who was coming to Anshan tomeet his future bride's family.

It is cold outside but blue skies so far. Cold outside but boiling hot inside.

Things are well. Hope all is well where you are.

Love, Megan

Harris, Harris', Harris's

Can some one help me? It always happens around the holidays when I want to sign cards from the Harris's. I don't know if it should be from the Harris' or Harris's, so I just sign everything 'from the Harris family'.

N has a girlfriend

Her name is Taylor, or as we call her at our house, Tay tay. N and tay tay made arrangements to kiss on the bus last week but unfortunately the kids haven't had school since the note was passed. N is anxious. Dying to kiss her. He told me he thinks maybe Tay will be his wife. And we like any good parent/stepparent/brother are making fun of him mercilously. Maybe we should stop. He talks with his mouth full so I told him to make sure he didn't do that if he was eating with Tay tay and her fam. J and B now use every opportunity to act like food is coming out of their mouth. "I wuv you Tay tay." Is it fun? Hell Yeah. Is it damaging to a 13 year old psyche? I don't know.

K and I talked about "being in the box" when we were young. K doesn't remember it. I do. I remember Dad saying "It's your night in the box, Megan." I think it's N's day in the box.

B had his piano lesson today finally. Talk about logistical planning! I got in trouble from the Mom for not running it past her first. I apologized and said I was too gung ho. It's true. I just know that boy needs music lessons of some kind. It was worth it though. He loved it. His teacher gave him some bar paper and told him to write a song. So, he did. Not half bad for the first time out either.

In other Harris/Cramer news, evidently Stephanie's hair is falling out and she is going bald. She told the boys it was because of their fighting. And also because of medication for Rheumetoid Arthritis. I think though its a broken arrow thing. There are lots of ladies with very thin hair. I saw them today at Wal-Mart while ringing bells in the freezing cold. Lots o ladies with combovers. The boys said this during dinner last night and it was something about the pizza and the subject but I felt like vomiting. I told the boys they are making my hair fall out too.

So, power came back on at the office on Friday at 5:00 p.m. Just in time for the weekend. Maybe next week we can resume business as normal.

I'm off to China for the week before Christmas. Have a happy holiday!

What the Hell?

Okay, so firstly, KT and I had a gorgeous time in Wilmington this weekend. Weather was incredible, Hank was loveable and the company was great. I was waiting to post until I had the pic. of KT and I at the cocktail party. However, wWho knows when I will have that. I haven't even seen it yet. Boo.

So, basically, Weekend was fab. and then all cosmic hell broke loose. Got to the airport on Sun to fly to Atlanta and they told me my flight had been rescheduled until Mon due to winter weather in Tulsa. So, I called my scout contacts to see if we should call off monday's pack meeting. Now, looking back this was at about 4:00 p.m. Tulsa time and the weather didn't hit until after 10 p.m. so they must have thought I was crazy. The VM I received was like "uhhhh yeah, the kids have school on Monday. It's Monday for cripes sake" They should have listened to me, the teller of the future, because low and behold on Monday there was no school. Or power or much of anything.

So, got the flight to Atlanta on Mon. Flight to Tulsa was supposedly all good to go. You have to understand how balmy Wilmington and Atlanta were. in the 70s and sunny so the juxtoposition of winter weather bad enough to shut Tulsa down for days and days was kind of weird.

Anyhow, flight was cancelled to Tulsa and they rebooked me for Tues night, but even that wasn't guaranteed. So, I did what any good daughter of Sue McKee does, I rented a car and drove from Atlanta to Tulsa without a map. Listened to a lot of country music. Drank a lot of pop and plugged my cell phone in truck stops from Georgia to Oklahoma to get a little charge.

Made it home on Tues. a.m. and entered into the shock of seeing the city under siege from winter storms. The devestation in Owasso is quite awesome. It is hard to take it in. I think maybe I'm supposed to cry because it makes our house look less like a home and more like a war zone. But, then still reeling from the weather I found the house open and the evidence that someone had broken in. Blech.................So, the silver lining I guess is that I got a breaker inner who was interested in cash only and change and foreign currency. And we don't keep a lot of cash on hand. So, basically, it will cost me more to fix the damage to my front door than the little bastard got away with. I would have paid him 40 buck and some yuan just to stay out of the house. Okay. I guess we can just deal with it.

J gets home tonight and I can't wait. Mom has power, Yay and Mom got us hooked up with a generator so maybe we can work tomorrow. The neat thing seems to be that even if we aren't working, things are still moving forward on a lot of our stuff so we as a company haven't ground to a halt. Just, we as an office have ground to a halt. But, payroll is done with some fancy footwork and thanks to Panera bread and maybe all is kind of well in the moment.

Inefficient Use of Resources

I heard something on NPR today about how divorce causes an inefficient use of resources and I couldn't agree more. First you just need more of everything so the consuming that is taking place is about twice as much as would if your family lived in one house. Including natural resource consuming. More water, gas, electricity, etc. Then of course if you have the kids the consuming gets even worse with the things they have to have at mom and at dads. The playstations and IPod Docks. To top it all off there is like quadruple the amount of wrapping paper, etc. due to all the gifts from the parents, grandparents, stepgrandparents, etc.

I thought it was interesting because its something that I've thought about often.

Long Live the Crock Pot!!!

Yes, the crock pot is so useful in a household where everybody works. I love it. Especially in a meat eating family which I confess to be a part of.

By the by, I bought Polenta in a tube at Reasors last night. Does anybody love Polenta like I do?

Erotic Dinner

I had to write this. N thanked me on Saturday night for the "Erotic Dinner" I fixed. Hmmmm. I promise I didn't feed him chocolate covered oysters or anything. We had the pork loin that was cooked in a fruity concoction that tasted really good. I think he was surprised he liked it.