We got the ok from our landlord to remove our fireplace – yay!!! We really liked having a “fireplace” but we weren’t allowed to use it and in the winter it lets in a huge draft so we had to cover it with a board, which was just ugly. And we have been eyeing that space thinking how nice it would be if it wasn’t taken up by something totally unuseful! The apartment below us at least had a big closet thing going into one side of it, but ours is just taking up space. So today David tackled the thing and won. We now have a gaping hole in our floor where the other chimney came up, and a gaping hole in our roof where it went out. We’ve covered up the floor, but the roof, well, let’s just say we’ll be sleeping with our bedroom door closed. I think it’s been boarded up or something, but I’m still a little wary of something getting in. Hopefully the carpenter will be here earlier in the week than later! Then we also got a *reluctant* agreement from our landlord to let us put some color on these walls!!! It’s all supposed to be “light”, and I think we found colors that we like pretty well, though some of them are not the absolute lightest, I think they will pass… and hopefully he just won’t visit =) it’s going to be such a huge improvement!!! We’ll show you a parade of pictures as it progresses…
(edit: WHOOPS, very embarrassing – I think the sickness went to my head and I combined “showed up” and “shone” or something…) And as a result we finally had a soccer game. It was pretty sad, though, as the other team had a little Tasmanian devil of a boy and it was made even more apparent that there are a few too many ditzy arm flappers on David’s team! :-D The girls on the other team were actually pretty serious about soccer and as a result our team lost 1-8 (or maybe it was 7, I forget) The people in charge had said at the beginning of the season that we weren’t going to play with goalies, so we had only played with them once in practice, but then at the game they decided to, so ALL the kids wanted to be goalies =) Go figure. They could have definitely used some practice with that!!! Oh well. Yesterday began the 30 day muslim prayer focus… Bryan and Karla did a really cool kick-off for it last night at our church! We really wanted to be there… we also were supposed to be at a farewell thing for us from the youth group – it was actually for Frank and we were just added on, though =) Unfortunately, we did not make it to either. You’ll recall that David has been under the weather for a while (if not, just read previous posts) and it finally caught up with me a week later… Saturday my throat was feeling pretty unhappy and I was exhausted, by Sunday morning I was blowing my nose more than I like, and by Sunday afternoon I was miserable!!! I was blowing my nose every two minutes and my whole head was hot and itchy… you know that feeling when your eyes are really hot and feel like they’re going to roll out of your head? If you don’t, you are lucky! Today I am still feeling pretty gross, though at least my head is not all hot, my eyes have been watering… (and of course my nose is running a marathon) argh.
I inherited “clacking” my teeth in my sleep from my mom… Jeffrey grinds his teeth really badly – when we used to go camping as a family in our little camper he and I had to share a bed, so his head was at one end and mine was at the other. I would kick him really hard to try to make him stop (or maybe that was my subconscious that kicked him really hard – but I did kick him) he sleeps pretty soundly, though, as does Nathaniel, who I think has some sort of a combination of clacking and grinding. Now, David doesn’t much like it when I kick him, so I usually just keep poking him. Sometimes if I am too much asleep I will kick him, but that doesn’t happen too often (though he might disagree :-) ) Anyway, I’ve discovered in the last two and a half years of sleeping with David that if he tries to breathe through his nose then he snores. If I can get him to keep his mouth open and use it then he’s fine. A lot of times I have to get him to roll over on his side and that helps. But sometimes he makes funny popping noises, how I don’t know? I was trying to explain it to him last night… this is when he told me that I clacked my teeth EVERY time I slept, but I know that this is not true – I do NOT do it when I am taking a nap!
Anyway, last night David dreamt that we were surrounded by lots of Charlie Brown people…?! And he wanted me to go do something with him but I wouldn’t because I was doing math problems. Haha, math problems!
Another soccer practice last night… one of the girls is so annoying, I think she doesn’t really want to play soccer, just pick on people or flirt with the boys. So she gets tired of playing the game pretty quickly and just stands there flapping her arms or something and every two seconds asks David what time it is or if she can go do this or that. At one point there was enough craziness going on that David called all the kids over (actually he blew his whistle to get them over) and he told them very seriously that he is taking his time out to come there and teach them soccer. If they do not want to learn then fine, he will not keep wasting his time. That sobered them up good :-) I think it was a good move on his part. One mom actually came and made one of the kids sit out cause he kept kicking another kid – she told him that David wasn’t there to baby-sit him. Amen. For the most part it is really fun, though. And quite funny. If this bores you then don’t worry, it’s only for a couple more weeks!
So on Friday night mom took us out for supper along with my grandmas and Nathaniel. We went to a restaurant that no matter how hard/how many times I try I just can’t seem to be impressed with… not mom’s fault – that was our best option at the time, cause at least that way David and I got a buffet :-)
anyway, so grandma Ruth thought that it was her idea and that she was paying, so she and mom argued about it in the car on the way there… mom apparently told David to make sure he got the bill, which I didn’t find out until later – that was her plan. While mom was at the buffet, grandma proceeded to call our waitress over and ask her to make sure that she, grandma, got the bill. So eventually the time came and the waitress brought the bill to grandma as had been arranged – poor waitress, a little scuffle ensued right before her eyes, barely before her hand was off the bill… mom won. A little more time went by as we were finishing up and grandma went to the bathroom and soon we all left. We were outside waiting and it was taking FOREVER, so I went back in to see if someone died or something. Turns out that grandma paid for the meal when she went to the bathroom, but she paid for the WRONG table!!! So, uh, yeah, they were trying to sort that out. Grandma won, though – I guess she’s had just a few more years experience with this, not to mention that my mom is really trusting. I felt better about that cause we don’t mooch off of her half as much as we do my mom :-) meanwhile grandma Polly had paid the tip and so she ran off because she was afraid that mom would try to give her money for that!!! Oh my…
is this all some sort of weird ritual to make sure that everyone knows that no one wants to mooch??? Is this fear of “owing” people and fear of making them mad by not “paying back” enough? Anyone else experience this, and if so, any takes on it? I feel like our generation (or at least our group of friends) doesn’t do this – I think we can graciously accept a gift and try to offer gifts here and there between one another without feeling like we are “owing” in an obligatory manner, but I’m hoping that we are all forgiving and not easily offended by one another, and indeed that if something like that does happen that we can just talk about it… what do you think, mom, have you ever thought about the root of this issue??? :-)
it rained again yesterday for the soccer game… argh. But David has been feeling unwell in the last couple of days, today it is a full-blown cold type of thing, my poor boy – I made him take a nice long nap this afternoon!!! He always says he’s not tired and that it’s a waste of time, but he managed to fall asleep in under two minutes and stayed that way for 2 ½ hours, so… I think his wife knows better :-) [ok, I felt the need to put a disclaimer at this last sentence - I only mean that I have to make him sleep sometimes, not that I really know better about anything!]
David had practice again last night and it reminded me of something one of the girls said in the first practice (remember, third graders) – I’m not sure how long she had her shin guards on, but at one point she took them off, saying “These shin guards are SO over, I hate them!” Two of the girls are rather prissy and, well, girly, while one is all tough/cool girl. It’s just entertaining to watch, partly, too, because David is so good with the team and just as a coach :-) I love to see him so smart in something I know nothing about, plus I’m not super fond of teaching! I’ve picked up a few soccer pointers myself – as if I’d ever play, haha, but if I have to I won’t feel quite so insanely helpless. Anyway, the point is, I love when he’s coaching!
Yesterday I managed to find a couple more free games for our pda. That will sure come in handy for something new to do during sermons – the same two card games get old after a while :-D (Don’t worry, I’m not a heathen, Elmer knows I play, and I listen really well that way)
