clare & anna & living in an empty house
So Miss Clare turned seven last Wednesday. I find it hard to believe this tiny baby of mine is a walking, talking, super intelligent and funny little girl. Not a day goes by that she doesn't say or do something amazing or to make us laugh. I find it harder to believe that she has technically been in my life for nearly eight years, including time in utero, so just two years shy of a decade. Wow.
We had an early morning and took Daddy into work so we could have the Jeep during the day. So we made the 45 minute trek to take him in and got ready for the day. I took her out to lunch at the infamous Hardware Store, which was, in fact, an actual Hardware Store over one hundred years ago. Now it is a restaurant. I had celebrated my twenty first birthday there many years ago, so it was quite weird to bring Clare there. Actually is is quite weird to be living in a place I spent so much time in when I was nineteen, twenty, twenty one....surreal almost to show Clare different places I used to frequent or where various friends of mine lived and whatnot. Obviously it is a sign of getting old! Anyhow we had a yummy lunch there, as usual and did a few errands here and there in town. Later we went back out to get Greg from work and once we got home around 8pm or so my parents came up with an ice cream cake and presents for Clare. It was certainly a fun day.
Now the next day, Thursday, was the birthday of Miss Anna, USS Monitor Curator Extraordinaire. She turned, well, never mind, she's not too much older than me! I met Anna while working on the ships at Jamestown way way back when I was, hmm, twenty I think? I do know we have been friends ever since, and she is one of the most interesting (and talented, beautiful, witty, cool, intelligent...) persons I know. It's funny because in her last entry she was talking about how noone ever really truly "grows up" or you lose the wonder of childhood, which is true, but I have always thought that when I "grew up" I wanted to be like her. So I guess we will just stay young together! :D
So happy, happy birthday to Clare & Anna. We will certainly celebrate together very very soon!!
Godparents~ The lovely Anna with her super wonderful Jim, taken last Halloween!
Now on a completely different note, these are the things I have learned while being in a empty house for a week.
1. Washing clothes by hand in a bath tub is not nearly as effective (or fun) as an 18th century clothes washing demonstration. And let's not forget, modern clothing is alot harder to wash by hand than 18th century period fabrics. I don't know why, it just IS.
2. Boiling water for coffee really does need to be done in a tea kettle, not a saucepan.
3. Speaking of coffee, I really hate instant coffee.
4. Using a Shop-Vac to vacuum your floors is not healthy for your back.
5. Neither is sleeping on an air mattress. With only one pillow.
6. Oh and neither is sitting on the floor using your computer. Hence why I am the Queen of Lack of Emails currently. I am too old to be sitting on the floor for extended periods of time.
7. Did I mention hand washing our clothing in the bath tub??
8. This is not really living in an empty house related thing, but for the first four days we had no idea where our mailbox was. The agents had no clue, just gave us a key and that was that. I called the local post office only to be put on hold four different times after making four different calls and finally got disconnected each time. So we hunted down the postman Friday and he showed us which mailbox was ours. I don't understand why we have to have cluster mailboxes in a townhome neighbourhood. And yes, I had already tried my key in every single one prior to asking anyone. Strangely it never worked until I knew for a fact we were number 11. Go figure.
So our household goods *allegedly* arrive this Thursday. We had been placed on a cancellation list should anyone change their delivery date of goods, but alas noone has contacted us to say we would be lucky enough to have our things delivered sooner. It's not TOO bad, but imagine keeping a seven year old and three Jack Russells entertained in an empty house. Luckily there is a pool here, and seeing how most of our neighbours are either retired or middle aged divorced women, the pool is hardly used, which of course, is to our benefit. So that breaks up the monotony of the days thus far. Of course after the delivery people drop off the mountains of boxes Thursday, it should keep us relatively busy for a few days. If anyone feels an overwhelming urge to help me unpack (Greg has to work), feel free to contact me!
