You Just Can't Please Some People...

...like Martina Navratilova, the 9-time Wimbledon champion.

In 1975, when she was 18, Martina defected from Communist Czechoslovakia to the USA.
Today, as an American citizen since 1981, Martina is speaking out against the George Bush regime! In fact, since 8 January 2008, Martina is enjoying her renewed Czech citizenship, reinstated 33 years after her defection.

Focusing on this flip-flopper, the UK newspaper, The Guardian offers this:
Side-by-side comparison of 1975's Czechoslovakia and today's USA.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/13/usa.georgebush

Of course, I write this all with tongue placed firmly in cheek. Besides being in a tennis league all her own, Martina is an incredible activist fighting for "animal rights, underprivileged children and gay/lesbian equality." (Wikipedia)

Well, we hope she'll be content someday...
-Jeff

Health and Taxes
Kids' health is good. Or at least, better than before.

It's Sunday night, a bit before 9:00 pm, both Ella and Mattias are finally asleep.
Seems like this weekend just flew past us.

Our weekend time best spent was on Skype, getting to see Owen. What a cute li'l guy the Flynns have. Of course, seeing Dave & Catharine was nice, too. But seeing a bigger Owen is a big reminder of how much we look forward to our summer visit.

Our weekend time worst spent was attempting taxes. Simply amazing; amazingly complex. A dozen different forms and schedules -and that's "just" the US taxes. Jeff isn't even attempting our Czech taxes himself.

Last but not least- both kids' health. Neither are 100%, but they are on the mend.
Ella is still the sniffly, sneezy, coughy, stuffy, achy head manic maniac. A x-ray last Friday confirmed no bronchitis for her.
Mattias' cold is about the same, but he's found his appetite again, two-fold. :)

We're looking forward to Jeff's mom visiting - in just 2 more wake-ups!!

Till then, love to all.

Senseless Money Spent on Military Hardware

I'm not talking about US military funding. If you're interested in that, glance through the charts here: Anup Shah, World Military Spending, GlobalIssues.org, Last updated: Saturday, March 01, 2008

No, instead, I'm talking this morning's headline -- the Czech military is investing in new technology for them and it's getting big laughs from the locals.

What was the headline? "Czech military to get its first submarine"
Read the article here: http://www.praguemonitor.com/en/293/czech_national_news/19912/

Luckily since Czech Republic has no coast line, there are no plans to dock it.
The 50+ year old relic is headed to a Military History Musuem.

Couple Sickies Here

At 2 months old, Mattias has his first cold.
He caught it, we think Friday evening. Sunday evening he started a bit of a fever (38.6/101.5), but back down to normal now.
Went to the doctor both Monday and yesterday (Tuesday) and will go back Thursday. No meds, of course for a 2 month old; just a lot of monitoring, day and night. May and Jeff take turns sleeping in the kids' room with the heater and vaporizer going at full steam (yes, pun intended). Poor little guy just has big troubles, coughing and snorting. The 15-20 minute stints of steamy time in the shower room help, but just for the short-term.

And as other parents with multiple kids have warned us about: when one kid's sick, they're all sick. Ella picked up Mattias' cold over the weekend. She, thankfully, isn't so bad. Only Saturday night she gave us a scare with some barking cough, but it only happened once or twice, so we're not thinking croup.
[Why on earth do kids' colds always get so much worse at night???]
The worst thing of Ella being sick (but not real sick) is restlessness. There's only so much play time you can have indoors before everyone needs a break. When sick/tired, this kid is a manic maniac. We cannot wait to demonstrate that to folks this summer. :)

Maylia and Jeff are healthy and fine (save for dealing with a snotty 2-month old and a manic maniac). Maybe this cold business is bad karma to us for idolizing Oreos...
Take care and love to all.

-Jeff

Desperate Times...Desperate Measures?

Jeff recently discovered this store: Culinaria.
Their speciality? Imported American and British goods! And... Jeff went crazy.


One box of Kraft Mac N Cheese (that's KD for Canucks!) ... 189 koruna
One box Aunt Jemima pancake mix ... 199 koruna
One bag of double-stuff Oreos .... 289 koruna
One box of Cheerios cereal ... 299 koruna
Being able to buy this stuff ... "Priceless"

How did Jeff go crazy buying just the 4 things?
Let's try that again, but converted to US dollars:

One box of Kraft Mac N Cheese ... $11.50
One box Aunt Jemima pancake mix ... $12.00
One bag of double-stuff Oreos .... $17.50
One box of Cheerios cereal ... $18.00

Yeah, $60.00* We won't be doing this too often. But man, oh man, these double-stuffed Oreos are goooooooood!!!! So, next time you're thinking of us, grab yourself a handful of your favorite treat (unless you're on a diet or something) and count your blessings.


* (976 koruna is $59.70 dollars today, but this link will keep up-to-date)