A Whole Heap O' Randomness - and My First Giveaway!!!!!

Oh, the days are flying by, and not.  I've been on the go much more than usual, and yet have not much of humor or significance to report. 

HOWEVER,  I'll try to cobble together a bit of what's going on here and in the meantime, am soliciting advice on all sorts of things! 

First of all, if any of my readers here in Germany know of a good place to find end tables, and a dining room buffet or china cabinet or server, and room-sized rugs, please call me.  Better yet, come get me and take me there, because Sir is just about worn out with taking me to the grocery store and back.  I fear it's time to  stop being Mammaw ChickenHeart and morph into the Little Old Lady From Pasadena.  Yep, I'm going car-shopping.  One thing you can be sure of is that I will not be purchasing this:

Do you know what Citroen means in French?  Oui oui - it means "LEMON."  We parked behind this car the other day and I fully expected Inspector Clouseau to emerge from the building and enter it.  The doors are about as thick as a sheet of aluminum foil.

Now what I'd really like to do every day is stay home and drink this hot chocolate with plenty of whipped cream and read books, but My Girl tells me I need to get a life, so car-shopping it is.

The Army term for a car bought for just a pittance overseas, driven while you're there and then sold to the next soldier as you leave, is "hoopdy."  There's a parking lot on post called the Lemon Lot, and soldiers park their hoopdys there and sell them to each other.  We've seen everything from Mini Coopers to Monster Trucks there over the past few months.  I'll keep you posted.

Thanks to some very sweet new friends, I've been having some social life - last week the local chaplains' wives group went out to a lovely Italian restaurant.  We rode the Strassebahn (trolley) downtown, ate and rode back to the chapel, just a couple of blocks from my building.  The next night, Sir's unit had a fall festival at a winery, to which I took the following:

 Thank you, Pioneer Woman, for returning the layered salad to my life.  It was so good I made another one for the Clergy Appreciation luncheon yesterday - a very fun group of women did a beautiful buffet for all the army ministry teams here in Heidelberg.  One talented wife decorated the church basement like a fall magazine spread, all out of things she had in her house!  How I miss the Hobby Lobby and Michaels and Home Goods!!!!!

Oh, and Saturday night we were invited to the pretty home of another Chaplain B and his family - they grilled steaks, had these amazing potatoes and a salad straight from heaven.  Most fun of all was the fellowship with this wonderful couple and their beautiful almost-grown kids.  I look forward to more girl-fun with G, who wants to take me out to practice driving....she is wooing me from my fears with promises of showing me a fabulous Italian grocery store.

I've been invited to go on a "girls' field trip" Saturday to Ramstein, home of the Big PX in the Sky and a real live Macaroni Grill.  Oh, American food, how I miss you!  I look forward to lots of laughs and fun that day for sure.  God is so faithful to provide His people to love and support us wherever we go.   As easy as it is for me to hibernate, I'm so thankful He is not letting me get away with it.

And speaking of God, a few weeks ago a girl who writes a hilarious blog I love to read told about a book written by her pastor.  I ordered two copies, one for me and one to give to My Girl for Christmas.  I'm pretty sure she's too busy to read this blog, so I'm not going to keep it a secret from the rest of you.  Read it!  Read it! 



In fact, I think this would be the perfect opportunity for The Portable Nest's very first Giveaway!    Leave a comment below, and I will choose a number at random from the entries.  You'll win a brand new copy of Radical.  Good luck!

Oh, and as I mentioned above, I'm seeking advice on lots of things:

I MUST cover the seats on my dining room chairs.  I would like to fly my friend P over here to help me, but she's already flying to San Antonio so I'm going to have to do it myself.  Any advice on HOW, and also on where to find (by mail/website) a good neutral fabric to cover 4 chairs.  How much fabric will I need?  They are regular queen anne dining chairs nearly identical to the ones in our inlet house, for those of you who have been there.  Suggestions?  Leave a comment below and it counts as your entry for the giveaway too!

Thanksgiving menu:  Sir and I are inviting a LOT of people here for Thanksgiving. We hope to make it a festive and happy time for quite a few folks who are usually alone for the holidays.   It will be interesting, because there will be no football for background because of the time difference.  The Macy's parade, if we get it, will be at suppertime here!  Anyway, I'm looking for recipes, especially those which I can make ahead.  I'll be working out of a tiny kitchen and need to do as much in advance as possible.  Suggestions?  Leave a comment below and it also counts as your entry for the giveaway too!

In addition to recipes, I'm going to need to beg, borrow or steal (okay, buy) some folding chairs and tables.  Anyone who has good and inexpensive sources for these and knows who will ship to APO, let me know!

AND, right now we are using $6 folding TV trays for our living room end tables.  I hope to replace them at least with those round accent tables that can be covered with a skirt and topper.  Budget friends, any suggestions on where I can purchase all of the above?  I don't have a sewing machine here and so far have not met anyone who has one I can borrow, plus finding fabric is not easy, so I'd prefer to find something cute and reasonable.  OH, how I miss Home Goods, Marshalls, TJMaxx, Dillards, Belk, WalMart, Target and my MOM!  Suggestions?  Leave a comment below and it, too, will count as your entry for the giveaway!

Oh, sorry - you're yawning!  I'll do better tomorrow.