Hello, I am from Spare Oom.

In front of our hotel there is a large wood. 

With a path running right through it.

Being the adventurous children that we are, my siblings and I decided to bundle up and see just where the path led.

I found a lamp-post in the wood.  And then I thought I saw Mr. Tumnus.  But it turned out to be just my brother in a scarf with an umbrella.

~RM

Caribou? Yup, Two-Footed German Caribou.

First of all, before I begin my un-holiday-spirit-like rant, I hope you all enjoyed the year of 2010 and are having a great New Year.  That said ...
Holiday buses should run on holidays!!  I mean, some people (say, my family?) actually get out on New Years day, do not have a car, need food, want to get out of a tiny hotel room and stuff like that.  My dad looked up the Hohenfels holiday bus schedule this morning so that we could ride around base and pick up a few necessities.  So we all got bundled up to trek down to the bus stop.  The bus did not come.  And then I allowed myself to get roped into walking across the base to the shoppette that may or may not be open.  In the snow.  I don't know what I was thinking, I was not wearing walking shoes.  Those boots were purely ornamental.  Well, we got to the shoppette which was open and I did not die.  I came close to, but I did not die.
Now, in case you were wondering, there is a connection to my near death experience and the title of this post.  All along our extremely strenuous forced march there were several different animal tracks in the snow.  Some that looked like a rabbit's, some like a cat's, others that we weren't so sure about.  I identified them as caribou tracks using my tremendously educated knowledge of the outdoors.  My dad pointed out that there are no caribou in Germany and I countered with the all purpose: How do you know?  Maybe the caribou had grown tired of where ever they were from and migrated to Germany?  Then one of my family members tried to debunk my theory by asking why the tracks looked like they belonged to a two-footed animal.  And yet again I gracefully defended my position through a lengthy explanation of how the caribou mutated into bipeds when they migrated to Germany.  That stopped their critical remarks.
Then we saw the deer.  I watched my theory crumble before my eyes.  And we were only half-way to the shoppette ...
~RM

Bendy Straw vs. Spoon...Life is SO Complicated...

Case for Bendy Straw --

Pros: They are awesome and they bend

Cons:  They require very strong jaw muscles in order to end up with any shake in your mouth...

Case for Spoon --

Pros:  Holds a whole mouthful of shake and is easy to use

Cons:  Cool factor of about -2 and does not bend...

-- Before and after pictures of our Skyscraper at Winsteads.

~RM

One of the Many Things That is Wrong with Me

I decided to change the background of my blog since I was getting kinda tired of the old one.  No big deal right?  It wouldn't be if I would just find a background and be done with it ... Instead, I choose one, apply it, and then come back the next day and change it again because it was 'too bright and distracting' or 'too dull and colorless' or 'I don't know, I just don't like it.'  I find it very hard to make up my mind on certain things (now, whether I want a piece of chocolate right now or not is not one of those things).  So, this post's purpose was to apologize for driving you all insane with my blog being a different color each time you visit.  Bear with me.  Hopefully my mind will make it's self up in the near future ...

~RM

It's Funny the Changes that Take Place Within the Human Brain at 4 o'clock in the Morning

A word from the not-so-wise-who-had-to-figure-this-out-the-hard-way:  "Staying up till some ridiculous hour in the morning at a sleep-over, while it may seem a good idea at first, is most definitely, undeniably, without a doubt, absolutely, not a good idea."  Last Friday night was spent with two of my very good friends for our last slumber-party madness before I move.  We had pizza, soda, the Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice, chocolate, an air mattress and lots of stuff to talk about.  The evening was bound to be great.  Note: When using a slightly deflated air mattress, do not sit on the edge as this may result in falling backwards in a very ungraceful manner.  At around 5:30 pm we promised each other that we would stay up till at least 4 am, and we did.  At least two of us did...one of us fell asleep for a little bit until our giggling woke her up, I'm not naming names....   Common sense and brain-cells tend to turn off at around mid-night.  Quite a few times someone would crack a joke that was not all that amusing, but in our befuddled state anything was sidesplitting.  And, even more often were those times when someone was trying to say one thing but was not able to perfectly form the words so her statement resulted in gales of laughter.  Of course the next day no one can remember the conversation surrounding the comment.  The outcome is a quote like this, "That's how you shave a camel."  Don't ask, I don't even remember who said it.

Despite the fact that Saturday afternoon was spent unconscious on the steadily deflating air mattress and that my sleeping habits have been out of wack all week, I would not have missed that slumber party for anything.

~RM

~RM

Kindness Never Fails

A retelling of an Aesop's fable assigned for writing class. 

With his little red cape billowing in the soft breeze, Noah galloped around his yard on his invisible steed.  The Sun watched with growing amusement as the little boy donned his cooking-pan helmet, uttered a fierce war cry, and charged his imaginary foe.  Chuckling at Noah's childish antics, the Wind, who was gently pushing clouds here and there across the sky, smiled ruefully.  "He reminds me of the Element Olympics we used to hold!" exclaimed the Sun,  "What fun those were!"  Unintentionally, the Sun had toughed a sore spot, the Wind was overly competitive and reveled in putting others to shame with a show of his might.  But he had never won the Element Olympics because of his anger issues.
"May I make a suggestion?  I suggest that we have a contest, you and I," the Wind went on slyly, "to discover who is the strongest."  "Enticing idea, I assure you, but how will this be accomplished?"  Pleased, the Wind proposed that they compete to see who could make Noah remove his cape. Because of the Wind's proposition, the two elements cast lots to decide who would go first, where they would hold the competition, and when the contest would begin.  The Wind was chosen.  The place was here and the time was now.
Preparing himself to blow his hardest, the Wind huffed and puffed and touched his toes.  When he was sufficiently warmed up, the Wind began to blow so violently that Noah, who was completely perplexed as to where this wind came from, skidded across the yard.  But even though the Wind blew as hard as he was able, he did not succeed because Noah only gripped his cape tighter to keep it from flying away.  Haggardly, the Wind conceded to the Sun, grumbling darkly about the contest being impossible.  The Sun had a different strategy.  Pushing his sunbeams to their fullest extent, the Sun grew warmer and warmer until Noah slumped down under and tree and removed his cape.

~RM