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 ;)

first days of 2009

It's a new year!  We were some of the first to ring it in, with a fantastic fireworks show just a quick walk from our friends' house near Sydney.  No, we didn't brave the crowds in Sydney to look at the Harbour Bridge, but the fireworks display we saw was quite good.  Not to mention the company; we had a couple rounds of Cranium, during which my crowning achievements included recognizing a Nirvana song (after my husband didn't think I would) and remembering that 4 of a kind beats full house (thanks to an unfortunate incident in North Carolina summer 2005, during which I neglected to realize that if I had a full house, someone else might have four of a kind).  We used the Cranium game Jesse and I got for our wedding; it's "Cranium WOW" and comes with cool players and new cards.  Sparklers, glow sticks, and confetti poppers were involved, as was some great conversation.  Good times.

We headed back up north around noon on New Year's Day, and I tried to do Wii Fit to stay awake during the afternoon.  It worked, kind of.  Jesse took over on the Wii and was playing Raving Rabbids while I "watched" on the couch.  I woke up to "Honey, do you want to be sleeping?"  :)  Woops.  We watched some Boston Legal and called it an early night.

Today has been good; I slept in, then did Wii Fit (and unlocked a new balance game; it's some kind of zen/candle thing and it's weird), then was feeling extremely light-headed.  I rested for a bit, Jesse made me some oatmeal, and I felt better.  I sifted through cookbooks and planned out our meals for the next few days, and Jesse and I left to run errands.  We ate lunch out, mailed a bunch of thank-you notes to the US, then hit the grocery store.  It was about a 2 hour trip total, and we were satisfied that we got a lot done!

Upon our return, I hit the kitchen and made some pasta.  I received a cookbook from an Aussie friend for Christmas, so I decided to try out spinach-ricotta canneloni.  I even bothered to shape the pasta into "canneloni," although some of them kept trying to fall flat.  This endeavor resulted in approximately 3 hours in the kitchen from start to finish, but I'm feeling quite accomplished for having cooked the whole meal from scratch (with the assistance of my wonderful KitchenAid mixer and Pampered Chef Food Chopper, of course).  We'll see how accomplished I feel in 10 minutes when the canneloni comes out of the oven, but at least I tried! :)

I haven't been one to make New Year's resolutions; if anything, I tend to make birthday resolutions.  One I've been working on for a couple of years now has been remembering others' birthdays (and not just on facebook!), so I suppose, if anything, I'm hoping to continue getting back into that and also to writing more personal letters.  We shall see.

No real news on the job front; there was one possibility that I was quite excited about, but that seems to have fallen through.  There's still a ray of hope, but I'm not holding my breath.  As for "accounting" news, I've been asked to join a volunteer team headed to Papua New Guinea in May for some auditing.  I'm quite excited about this prospect, and although Jesse won't be coming with me, looking forward to the chance to help an organization I respect and appreciate.

Now the moment of truth... I'm off to get the canneloni.

Full

This describes our weekend, and it also describes my stomach, as I just had a delicious piece of apple pie (left over from Thanksgiving) with Jesse. We had the usual youth group on Friday night, and our 3rd and final wedding reception at the church on Saturday. A few friends came up from as far away as Sydney, and many from the church and area were able to come. It was fun to celebrate again with all of them. Yesterday, I was able to spend some time reading and writing in my journal, which was good.

We're still being invaded by ants. We did a little Wikipedia research this morning, and it sounds like we're doing some of the right things - we're washing the counter and windowsill (their point of entry) with vinegar-water. We may need to get some corn meal or something for them to eat and take back to their nests. One of the suggestions was to capture a bunch of them, dump them on another ant hill, and let them fight it out. I think you can guess which suggestion Jesse related most heartily to.

It was another humid day, and I spent most of it IMming with friends. The weekend, though nice, had made me a bit homesick, and it was nice to get out of my own head for a little while and catch up with friends. Once I finally became productive, though, I attacked our office room with a vengeance. I put all my summer clothes (and almost all of Jesse's) into our dresser. Winter clothes are still in a suitcase, awaiting a better home, but the floor of the office is generally picked up now. I also pulled aside the Christmas decorations so they're ready for when we get a tree. By far, the best news of the day was finding some skin medicine I thought we'd lost in the transition over here. I was so happy, as I'd been convinced we HAD to still have it, but had combed every place I could think of and hadn't found it. It was tucked away, with a few other forgotten toiletries, in a Target-style plastic bag. That was a good find.

When Jesse got home from work, it was roasting inside the house, and we decided to go out to dinner. Not only could we enjoy air-conditioned solace, but that meant I could have a break from cooking, and he could have a break from the dishes. Also, we would have a break from vinegar-ing the entire counter after using it for food preparation. We returned home, watched a little tv and ate pie, and now I'm watching Jesse play the Raving Rabbids game he bought for the Wii. He's convinced there must be something seriously wrong with the people who invented the game. But he's enjoying it, nonetheless :)