Morjes!

Welcome to my blog. I write about fitting in, sticking out, and missing the motherland as a serial foreigner.

There's a reason sleep deprivation is a form of torture

The girls have got some kind of sleep racket going, and it's wearing me down, fast. In many ways, this exemplifies how two kids can be harder than one. It's not necessarily any one thing that any single child does. It's all their antics combined that threatens to push me over the edge.

We've got bedtimes pretty well synchronized for Miriam and Magdalena. It's the waking up part that is kicking my butt. Magdalena wakes up ready for the day at about 6am. So I get up with her, feed her, and play with her until she realizes, about 90 minutes later, that she wasn't ready to get up after all. So I put her back to bed, and get back in bed myself...

...to be woken up by Miriam about five minutes later. And Magdalena snoozes away while I wish I could be snoozing right along with her.

The sleep deprivation is really getting to me. Here is an actual conversation I had with a cashier at Old Navy yesterday:

Old Navy Employee: Would you like the receipt with you or in the [pronounced with Midwestern accent] bag?
Me: In the bag. Where are you from?
ONE: Michigan. A lot of people tell me I talk like I'm from Wisconsin or somewhere.
Me: Yeah. What part of Michigan?
ONE: Near Detroit.
Me: My husband has been to Madison a few times and he says it's a really nice place.
ONE: [Blank stare, politely covered up by some common pleasantry.]

Of course, it was only after I left the store that I realized I had made a fool of myself. Because Detroit is in Michigan, and Madison is in Wisconsin, and they happen to be separated by about 500 miles and a Great Lake. I know that, I really do. I'm not like that neighbor girl of mine who moved in when we were both in fifth grade. I had heard she was from Milwaukie, so when I met her, I asked her if she was from Wisconsin. Her response? "What's Wisconsin?" Not where's Wisconsin. WHAT. I am not that girl, I promise!

I considered going back into Old Navy and telling the employee what I really meant to say. But then I realized I didn't really know what I meant to say. I was just trying to make chit-chat on Day 45 of systematic sleep deprivation.

*Sigh.*

Finally, some crimes we can laugh at

Another morning surprise