Today is such a rainy day. Even Laika doesn’t want to leave the house. Every time we get to the bottom of the stairs and I throw the door open, she just looks up at me as if I’ve asked her to jump into a pit of hot lava. And then I’m forced to remind her that she’s the one that has to do her business outside and I’m the one that should be angry. At least she’s been calmer since Shawn decided to start her on a new diet. Throwing half a chicken down on the balcony and watching her chomp on it isn’t the most pleasant thing, but I feel like we’re already seeing some benefits. Most importantly, some calm time in the afternoon. There were days in the past she would literally be running circles around me while I stood screaming for her to please, for the love of god, just lay down. These were not good days. So the fact that she just went into the living room and laid herself down for a nap is pretty great.

I had a Ukrainian Life realization earlier this afternoon. I was working on cutting out a pattern for a summer dress, and our housekeeper came in and asked if it was from Burda. After I finally understood what she was saying (trust me, “Burda” with a Ukrainian accent is not easy to understand), I showed her the pattern envelope and said I bought it online. She looked confused and asked if the pattern pieces came out of the envelope as well. I suddenly realized that I have never seen individual sewing patterns here. So I asked her and she verified that the only patterns available are in Burda and one other magazine. How sad is that? To only have access to whatever patterns are printed in those two magazines each month? So then I pulled out my big box of patterns to show her how it works in America. She seemed to think our system was much better until I mentioned the difference in price. Burda magazine costs about $3 here and comes with about 30 patterns each month; my Amy Butler pattern was $11.95. Again life comes down to economics. But who can put a price on the memories I have of sitting in the fabric store thumbing through pattern books with my mom searching for my next great 4-H project? I’ll stick with the American way.

But there have also been the snuggly times (okay, these are pretty few and far between, but that just makes them more special); there’s the look on her face when she admits that she loves us; there’s the funny little snort that she makes when she is so frustrated with us, but we just giggle; and there’s her elusive tail wag that makes us shout “look at her tail!”

This is a video that I shot a few months ago and used some spiffy software to put together in montage format. It makes us giggle every time we watch it. Laika’s playing with her favorite toy - a stuffed sheep that we bought at a market the week after we got her and promptly named Wooley. He’s looking a little worn at this point, and we’re worried about what we’re going to do if he ever completely wears out because she is absolutely in love with him. Anyway, you’ll see that the video is very touching (the music and slow motion helps), but the really funny part is that in real time, she’s flinging him around by the neck as if she’s trying to kill him. This is how she shows her love, you see.

Yes, I’m probably a little too excited about this development. But just let me have the little things, okay? Somehow the fact that a coffee place has finally acknowledged that people might want to have coffee to go gives me hope that things are moving forward here. Slowly forward.

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Shawn and I spent the morning with these people (Ambassador Taylor, Mrs. Bush, President Bush, Doctor Taylor, and Secretary of State Rice if you’re having trouble with my darkish photo). Well, not exactly “spent the morning” - more like spent two and a half hours waiting and then spent 20 minutes of the morning. But it was pretty cool.

When it was my turn to meet the President, Shawn wanted me to ask if he was supporting Obama or Clinton, but I thought back to my etiquitte class and determined that it might not be…um, diplomatic. Instead, I was a little taken aback as he said, “Hey, how’re you doing?” Um. Good. Thanks. He seemed pretty laid back, which I guess isn’t too shocking. Shawn did note that he does the little shoulder shake when he laughs just like Jon Stewart’s impression of him.

So the visit is only a day and then they’re all off to the NATO Summit. I’ll be glad when it’s all over because Shawn has been working a crazy amount of overtime for the last few weeks. I cannot even begin to describe all the work that goes into an event like this. And all the details - it’s hard to even imagine. Shawn was pretty lucky, though, in that he got to do a fairly important job for the visit and work closely with Secretary Rice’s staff. So even though it’s been a lot of work, it seems like it’s been a good experience for him.

And a couple more photos from this morning: