Random musings from Friday

Here's a glimpse of the thoughts and happenings in our house today:

I slept til 7:08. That's really late for me. I must have been tired.

We did school out in the courtyard today because I could see the kids were having allergies too. It takes a lot less time (only about 2 hours) to do it out there, because there are fewer distractions. We should do it out there every day.

One of the things I always missed about the States is the smell of grass. Another reason I love our complex - lots of grass that is being mowed today by real mowers! The smell is heavenly.

It feels like a Minnesota summer day! The kids complained the second we were out the door that they were cold. Really, it was about 75 and sunny, but cooler in the shade. I love this weather - the sun warms you, but not too much. Glorious.

My eyes hurt so much I don't want to blink. This is the aftermath of a horrible horrible allergy day yesterday. I broke down and took one Benadryl around noon just to take the edge off, which succeeded in doing so but also making me move like molasses. I finished myself off by taking two more at 5. From 5:30-6:30 I was happily symptom free and awake. Then I went into a coma.

Our kids have been spontaneously playing piano lately. Ethan in particular. He's memorized a few songs and has recently picked out the notes to "The Star Spangled Banner." This beats Yankee Doodle. I'm a little tired of that one. Megan got discouraged last night when she blanked in the middle of a piece, until I told her about the time I spaced completely in the middle of a piano recital. I started over and finished just fine. The lesson being, "See? You didn't mess up nearly as much as mommy did! And she's fine!"

I hear pounding in my backyard. This is the workers laying down bricks over what was previously our giant fish pond (a.k.a. sludge collector). They came two days ago with various tools, filled it in, tore down the sides, and are now providing us with a usable backyard. Yay!

I have to bake for a friend's wedding tomorrow, but I can't use my oven. I plugged it into a power strip the other day, and it melted the strip. That's one mighty powerful oven. A man is in there right now installing a new strip that can handle the heat. Hopefully he'll be done by noon so I can bake these carrot bars and gooey chocolate butter cookies (yes, those are as sinful as they sound).

Speaking of the kitchen, he's also fixing our oil sucker. I don't know what it's called in English, but in Chinese that's what it is. These are essential in Chinese kitchens if people are going to cook local dishes, because the high heat makes the oil evaporate in a big cloud. If you don't have a working oil sucker, the oil cloud will settle nicely onto your floors in a way that requires hand washing. We learned this the hard way, hence, the fix it man.

So that's what's happening in our house today. Life is good.