The Cluttered American

We have a lot of stuff.  We have been unpacking and unpacking and unpacking.  My new philosophy is fewer things, higher quality.  Less stuff, more meaning.  I wish I had that philosophy for the last eight years.

It's almost embarrassing.  I see how little the average Egyptian needs to live.  Then I see how much support apparatus I require to maintain myself, and I'm almost ashamed.  Some of the stuff has spiritual meaning:  A copper tea pot that I saw on my parents' bookshelf in my earliest memories; a religious artifact Katie inherited from her grandmother.

A lot of it is just stuff: a million instruction manuals for electronics I've never used and didn't know we had; six remote control cars that have cumulatively been played with for about two hours.

Fewer things.  More meaning.

And some meandering tidbits--

The kids are done with summer camp.  Caleb summarized thus:  "They had instructions for everything.  Don't they know kids just want to play?"

Now they have swimming lessons every afternoon.  It is fun to see them learning all the real strokes and showing some initiative to practice.

I had the day off today and watched Real Steel with the kids this morning.  Make fun of me if you must, but I love that movie.

We have blackouts once or twice a week lasting one or two hours.  Tonight was a black out.  So we gathered on the couch and read The Call of the Wild with a flashlight.  Great book!  After suffocating under Ms. Rowling's labored, clause-filled sentences, Mr. London's economy of language is a breeze.

A Very, Very, Very Fine House and Welcome to My World, Kids

Giddy for the arrival of our final wave of stuff tomorrow morning--comfortable mattresses, a TV large enough for me to watch without wearing my glasses, iMac, books, and toys.

While my excitement for the mattresses, TV, and iMac is beyond words, I find myself wondering what the rest of it could even be.  We've figured out how to live without it, so part of me is afraid it will just be clutter.

In other news, though it is sadly on a very small screen, I am presently watching The Fellowship of the Ring with Caleb and Maddie.  I wore Katie down with my constant pestering and gained permission--more like a resignation.  This is our fifth viewing in two weeks.  It has been the dawning of a glorious new day.

And I get to answer awesome questions like "How come Frodo always runs toward the battle but then never actually battles?"

Over the course of about a month I gave them an oral retelling of the entire trilogy as a prelude to the movie.  So I also get lots of these:  "Dad, you said Galadriel's hair caught on fire, but really it just turned blue."

4th of July, Cairo Style

Turns out they have the 4th of July in Cairo!  Caleb was a bit confused at this discovery, however, since the date is not accompanied by any corresponding celebration.  "It's America's birthday, right?"  Correct.  "And friends have birthday parties, so why doesn't Egypt have a birthday party for America?"

I had the day off from work but the kids did not have the day off from summer camp (I mean, we could have kept them home but that would be crazy).  Our first wave of stuff had arrived the day prior so we reveled in the luxury of shower curtains and spoons that don't bend when you eat ice cream.  I had no idea the kids could scream in glee over bath mats.

Today we went to the Independence Day party sponsored by the Marines, as shown below:

Photos (Including Homage to Hart Family Classic)

We enjoyed Disney World so much this time around that we bought property there.  Disney World is literally our home in the United States.

I sometimes wonder if it is weird for Ariel, et al, to be featured in the blogs,  photo albums,  memory walls, etc, of perfect strangers.

In which the Idaho Falls cousins create monsters (IWIFCCM)

IWIFCCM continued

Madeline's WOWP birthday cake

All Hart boys age 35 and up should recognize this homage to a circa 1982 achievement in Polaroid wizardry.