You'd think, it being summer, that we'd not have so full a schedule, but lately we have been really busy!
Last weekend we spent mostly moving things, cleaning and organizing in the house. We moved the entertainment center and sectional couch to the basement playroom - and got a new TV, anticipating next February when our analog set was no longer going to pull a signal. It's a 32" flat panel. We also changed around the way the speaker system was set up, so now it sounds a lot better, too. When we moved the furniture to the basement, we donated the old (and gross) green couch and chair to the Salvation Army, and moved the treadmill to the other end of the playroom. This precipitated a need for wireless headphones, so that we can watch TV while walking the treadmill.
Okay. So since we replaced the itty-bitty TV with our whole "home theater" setup in the playroom, and completely got rid of any television access at all on the main floor, we are using our second satellite connection for a TV tuner on my computer. This way I can record DVDs of DVRed TV programs using my computer. This takes just about as long as it did on the DVD recorder, but doesn't have to be babysat all day, so it is less labor intensive.
In the living room, we put our rocking chair, which looks quite nice in there next to the fireplace. But there wasn't anything else, and our purpose in moving all the entertainment electronics to the basement was to reclaim our living room for more of a relaxing/entertaining guests sort of place. So we got a leather loveseat and chair, and a coffee table and small endtable to round out the furniture in the living room. I also found some lovely basket-type chests, one in which to put the music for the piano, my flute and the kids' handbells; and the other in which to put a few toys we're keeping for our younger friends and family.
There were sure a ton of toys in the playroom, and if we didn't move them, there wasn't going to be any room for the rest of the setup we wanted to do. Some of the toys went home with Megan when Scott came to pick her up on Saturday evening. (By the way, we sure enjoyed our weeklong visit with Megan, and she was sure good and fun to have around. She can come back anytime!) The games and some of the toys in bins stayed in the basement. The rest moved upstairs to the kids' rooms, into some really nice cloth bins - with labels! - in their closets. Everything's been gone through and organized and it has turned out very well.
So we're pretty much finished with our 2008 Summer Reorg. The only job that remains is getting all of our "actual" photos scanned and backed up on the computer so we can get rid of these piles of albums and boxes of photos. It's going to be a big job, but now that my book is done I think I'm up to it!
Last Friday night (the 20th), our neighborhood had its first gathering. It was fun to meet everybody and have a chance to chat. I wish Jim could have been there, and everybody else did too, but it was a good time. We had hamburgers and everybody brought something else to eat, and the kids all had a great time playing together.
Tuesday 24 June was our 13th wedding anniversary! We had a lovely, relaxing day with the kids and took them to Spices Asian Cafe for dinner. After they went to bed we watched Love Actually on TV (which is a really good movie, by the way). Happy anniversary to us!
Wednesday seemed like a really crazy and hectic day but really it couldn't have been - I was just trying to do to much in one day. Esme and I had a dentist appointment - Esme's teeth are just peachy and I have to have a filling replaced, possibly with a crown if there isn't enough tooth left to fill. I did laundry, which always seems to suck up the whole day, and I was also trying to get started with the DVD recording on my computer. This is really quite easy but as I had never used the software before I had to go through the learning process first.
Thursday 26 June was Megan's second birthday! Happy birthday, Megan! We hope she is enjoying the little kitchen and the Little People, and we know she is happy to have her mommy home again.
Yesterday we were really busy recreating! In the morning we all went to the beach at Holland State Park and it was SO nice. It wasn't too hot or cold, the water was freezing at first but easy to get used to, and the weather was perfect. The kids and I played in the sand and water all morning, and Jim took lots of pictures. After lunch we went to the cinema to see Wall-E and it was super good. A very sweet story and terrific animation as usual. Even the Pixar short at the beginning was good! Jessica came over to take care of the kids in the evening and Jim and I went to see Get Smart which was much better than the reviews painted it. Maybe they never saw the TV show and just didn't know it was supposed to be ridiculous.
Tonight we're going to a Whitecaps game with our friends the Fortunas. Here's hoping we win!