Friday, again.

well, it's friday today and besides that meaning it's the day after Thursday (which implies my sacred ritual of the $7 foot massage), it also means that's the time I usually have the afternoon to lounge around in my bedroom on the computer while josh is busy with other stuff. So, there you have it: Friday=blog...most of the time. :) Hopefully, if all the cords and switches are aligned correctly, today Friday will also equal pictures. Today, as was the case last Friday, Chicken Fried Steak is on the menu for tonight...and, I'll have you know, last week was my best ever CFS! And the greatest part is, all I do is bread it and fry it. My house helper preps all the meat and breading mixture and it's all set out nicely in little bowls and platters, just waiting for me to heat that oil. Yum.....

I just have to say - it is stinkin hot here. This week, in my opinion, has seemed nearly unbearably hot! Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that every morning/early afternoon this week I have been out toting the little ones around, but still...I am pouring sweat by the time I walk back into my air-conitioned oasis that also doubles as my home. My children's cheeks are flushed every time, and they pack away the water like you wouldn't believe. And it's not just hot, it's humid-hot, humid-no-breeze-hot, making it feel like the Sunday Mr. Woods won his most recent major and set records for heat index. I didn't really imagine that people kept track of that sort of thing, but apparantly they do. When Tiger won those few weeks ago, it went in the record books as "hottest final round in a Major," which I guess falls right under "rainiest final round in a major", or "coldest final round in a major"? hmmm, anyway. It's hot. Period.

Yesterday's errand was simple enough - to go buy a light bulb. Not just any light bulb, of course - it is the light bulb that sits right over the sink where josh shaves. He has truly missed the light during its darkened absence. My house helper and I wrote down the serial number on the light, and after discovering that this is a special light (ie, it cannot be bought at a grocery store), we made the trek across town to a big lighting emporium. We located what we and the saleslady thought was the right thing, and managed to buy several other things in the process. One of those "things" was an extension cord - you wouldn't believe how hard I've searched for a simple extension cord. Long power strips and cords are in over-abundant supply, but that's not what I was looking for. I needed just a few extra meters of cord to help my lamp plug in to the nearest outlet. I guess yesterday was my lucky day, because at the lighting emporium, I got to watch a lady MAKE an extension cord for me. Hmmm. Yeah, that's what I thought. It was a twenty-something girl whose miniskirt barely served its purpose, armed with a screwdriver, open wires, and a two-year old who was way more comfortable around electrical appliances than he ought to be. But, in the end, my skepticism ebbed...it worked. At least, so far...

Today's errand involved walking down the street to get more cheese...and, boy do we go through the cheese! So the girls and I walked down the street to the grocery store, through the chaotic twists and turns that our nice tree-lined street has become since a road-repairing campaign. Anyway, one of emma's favorite things to do it look for caterpillars and roly-polys. Whenver we go out, her first item of business is to find a stick or other long implement so that if she happens to see a roly-poly, she has the necessary tools to make him roll up into his little ball. Truly, she loves it. Not as much as she loves Mater, but she loves it. Today was a bummer because she found a great stick, but no roly polies. We did see a bulldozer, and Emma decided that was pretty cool.

I'm not such a big fan of the rumor mill, but it's alive and kickin out here. Remember my landlord, the fabulously wealthy, super-connected entrepreuneur? Well, she kept telling me over and over and over that her friend was preparing to open a western restaurant here in our city. It was a really famous American restaurant (yeah, sure) and it was coming here. Asianese people think first of all, that KFC and McDonalds are the same, and secondly, they think "What other kind of western food could there be that KFC and McDonalds doesn't have?" So you can imagine my non-excitement when she's trying to get me all pumped up about a new western place coming in here. It was so good that, apparantly, she didn't even know the name of it. hmmmm, that's how good it was. Finally, after WEEKS of hearing her talk this place up, we made her ask her friend the name of the place. I'm not banking on it. I'm not even expecting it be here within a year, but supposedly, it's on its way. What is it, you ask?

Applebee's.

:)

We had a little friend over to play a few days ago, a little asianese girl that is a friend of a friend. I've told you before that emma usually has 3 mornings a week where we have special language games with her, but this week we changed it up and invited over a friend to play for one of her language mornings. We colored Dora color sheets, read books together, and played musical pillows, one of emma and mantha's very most favorite activities...probably because in involves jumping and trouncing on pillows and that perhaps makes them feel like they're getting away with a little extra deviousness... The results were pretty incredible - since her little friend left two days ago, Emma has been more willing to speak asianese than ever before and has even carried on little conversations with us, consisting of several questions and answers. It's an understatement to say that she enjoyed playing with the friend more than she enjoyed talking to me and my house helper. So we hope that can become a normal part of emma's week, and of course, in the process she makes friends and has happy times.

Last weekend, daddy let momma have the morning to go to one of my favorite places to window shop while he took the girls out to play. They went to a park in our city that has a nice lake inside...and emma got her choice of whatever she wanted to do. I was so surprised to see the picures of emma and mantha on top of the ferris wheel! Josh relayed to me that they both enjoyed looking out at the city and the boats, and especially that yellow car that always seemed to stay right behind them...

Anyway, by the time they made it to the ferris wheel, both the girls were really tired and the multi-million dollar camera's flash was running low on juick...but I thought the pictures had a fun feel to them, since part of the skyline is in the background.

Emma and samantha sure have been keeping busy, with all the phone calls that they must be getting from you guys and mater and sally...those are some interesting conversations! Clara, we hope you come soon because lots of those phone calls seem to be from you, too!

More of emma's friends include Baby Jenda, a foreign friend of hers who came over to play a few days ago. Jenda's parents were brave enough to let emma have a shot at holding her...and I'm not sure who was more curious about who! (The next photo in this sequence is baby jenda almost falling off the couch...!)

While were in hong kong, our friend Biji bought emma and samantha princess tiaras...except emma thinks she is TWICE the princess and nabs mantha's tiara. The Book does say that two is better than one, but I don't think this is what it meant...

But I do think she is the lovliest of all lovely princesses!

Last but not least, two extra pictures, just because they're cute...

When there's no where else to sit, samantha gets creative and bounces on the ball...

What this picture doesn't tell you is that samantha's newest feat (as of about a week ago) is climbing at warp speed onto anything taller than herself. It takes her less than two seconds to make it to the top of the dining room table chairs (and if they are pushed in far enough, she'll manage to stand ON TOP of the table, ohmywordgivemeaheartattack!). Check - fell off the chairs. She also very deftly scampers on the couch, and check - knocked off a spindle of CD's, and check - fell off the couch too. But in her quieter moments, when she's content to sit and read books on the couch, she seems all grown-up and big-girlish. How can that be? and then, every so often, you'll catch a scene like this and your heart will laugh with them as they savor the joys of childhood...