Let the Sporadic Posting Continue!

The weather this week has ranged from unbearably hot to reasonably cool (it rained yesterday; so nice!).  We had a family over for dinner on Wednesday evening; we let their kids play on the Wii after dinner, and they returned home and promptly pooled their money to buy one of their own :)  It was nice to get to know all of them, and have some company for the evening.

Wednesday was a big day in our house; not only did we have the "dinner party," but our brand new washing machine was delivered!  We didn't hook it up until yesterday, and haven't used it yet (but plan to today), and I am quite excited to say goodbye to the days of twin-tubbing.  It's a combo washer/dryer, which means when it rains for days on end, we can still have clean clothes.  Exciting times!

Thursday was reasonably uneventful, despite a frozen pork fiasco that resulted in the disinfecting of the kitchen, but also in a tasty dinner.  Our volleyball team won a decisive victory in the evening, which was awesome.  We played well and had a lot of fun.  I'm pretty well used to the new rules now, and Jesse's game is steadily improving.  His cricket team did fairly well, too, so it was a winning night at the indoor sports center for J&J.

Yesterday, I hung around the house and got some much-needed cleaning done while Jesse ran a few errands.  A girl from church came over to hang out, and we ate leftovers (pot roast, canneloni, and sweet and sour pork) for dinner and watched Music & Lyrics, which she hadn't seen, and is a movie I greatly enjoy (one of a handful of movies I actually own, aside from Jesse's collection).  We followed that up with an episode of Numb3rs and then Law & Order before calling it a night.

Today has been a lazy day so far.  I've been playing Scramble and the Typing Speed application on facebook, and Jesse's playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii.  At some point, we'll start getting ready for the youth leadership conference, for which we leave very early Monday morning.  It's in the Blue Mountains, where I have not yet been, so I'm quite excited to visit there.  I'm also looking forward to getting some instruction on working with the youth, and hopeful it will reinvigorate Jesse, the two leaders, and me to better teach them.  Needless to say, I will be incommunicado beginning Monday, but let's face it; I haven't been that consistent with posts anyway, so perhaps no one will notice ;)

Running Around

Yesterday was a day for errands and visiting. We had to take the car to nearby Cessnock for its 20k tuneup, and wandered around the town while the work was being done. We found a little cafe where we ate a tasty breakfast, and then shopped at Target. Although it sells similar things to the Target in the US, it had far less selection. At any rate, we proceeded to the Reject Shop afterward, and between the two stores, found several things we'd been looking for.

After picking up the car, we stopped by and visited a couple of people from the church who live out that way. We didn't stay long, and then it was off for more shopping; Jesse needed new running shoes, and the sports store was having a sale. They also happened to sell a glow-in-the-dark cricket ball. So we didn't get all necessities :)

I was in desperate need of a nap, so we headed back to the house. I slept, while Jesse went on another visit. When I got up and got ready for volleyball, Jesse and I returned to church. He participated in the worship practice while I printed out the bulletins for this week. We headed to the indoor sports center for our volleyball game.

I neglected to post on that; it went reasonably well last week. Another guy stepped in to help out our team, so we didn't have to play with 3, and that was a big help. This week, we met our actual teammates, a very nice couple. It was a lot of fun to play with them, and while we were losing at the end of the first half by 7, we came back and only lost the game by 2! (They're timed games of 2 15-minute halves). We don't see the score throughout the game (something that used to infuriate me at volleyball camp), but I think it's just as well at this point. Jesse and I are both getting the hang of the rules and strategy, and it was good to get a bit of exercise. All in all, a good choice.

We stopped at Mustafa's for some kebabs for dinner (mmm!) and watched a little BSG before Jesse went to bed. Thanks to my nap, I found myself up reading for awhile after. The neighborhood dogs decided it was a great night to go nuts, so the sleep was fitful at best. Today is Friday, though, and a day off for us, at least until tonight. And thus (hopefully) ends our running around.