Luxury Beyond Words

I would like to ask for a moment of silence.  Behold the sight.  The most decadent of luxuries to ever enter my German home (well, that could be debatable).  What does this robot like space age looking machine do?  It produces ice cubes.  Those little nuggets of frozen water that cool your drink with a frosty deliciousness.  The same ones that everyone in America takes for granted.  After nearly four years abroad it is surprising the small things that you miss.  A couple weeks ago I dropped in on my friend Elysia to borrow some party supplies and she asked if I could stay for a drink.  Considering it was only 10am we stuck to coffee and diet Coke but the most magnificent thing occurred.  She served me my diet coke with ice.  I hardly notice it anymore that nowhere in Europe serves soft drinks on ice but I did notice how great it was on this particular day.  It was hard to imagine what life would be like if you could just reach into your freezer and grab some ice cubes or better yet (and TOTALLY unheard of) place your glass against the ice dispenser on the outside of the fridge door.  What if you could have ice without having to fill up ice trays with water, walk slowly across the kitchen and lower into a freezer drawer (whatever German thought that up was half smart) while dodging a child hurdling themselves at you with G force and then being able to gently shut said "drawer" without spilling water on everything else in the freezer?  Well y'all, all my dreams are about to come true.  While Deaner's dad was in town for Evans' birthday I happened to lament about this tragedy of European society.  And this is what showed up on my doorstep this afternoon.  Happy 32nd Birthday to ME!!  My very own Palm Springs Ice Machine.  This tiny guy can produce up to 30 pounds of ice a day!  If I decide I want to enjoy an icy diet Coke, I can have large ice cubes in 13 minutes.  If I'm really in a tight spot, I can have small ones in only 9 minutes!  A little piece of (American) heaven sitting right in my very own laundry room.  Thank you so much Old Dad and GrandMag!  I'm thinking of hosting an ice party for all our German neighbors to show them how great ice can be.  I should probably get to planning that because it will be snowing here before we know it.

I'm sorry to say that the arrival of my ice maker completely trumped my son's first day of school.  Let's just say this, I am hoping that I can only improve on our morning routine.  It didn't help that I was the only set of hands here to help and that I needed to be out the door by 7:45am.  Uhhh, that is hard.  I know all you out there with more than one child are probably thinking "pfff, try having two kids (or three or four)" because that is normally the response I get when I state that something is difficult for me.     However, I knew around 7:40a that there weren't going to be any "first day of school pictures".  This is what I managed.

And in the car watching The Lion King, eating breakfast and stuck in traffic.

Let's just say that I'll try a little bit harder on Friday when Daddy is home to at least hold him still for a picture.  Traffic was awful and I just knew we were going to be late.  I was a little miffed when this is what was holding me up at the back gate security check.

Ahhh well.  Evans survived his first day.  He was so excited running into the building until he realized that it led to a classroom.  He cried just like I knew he would but his teachers seemed great and he was not sobbing when I came to pick him up.  He was, however, scrubbing his eyes and standing by the door waiting for me.  His teachers said he was "very funny" which I suppose could be cause for concern but we shall see.  It's way past time for bed in Germany!