Before we got out of bed this morning, Armando freaked out while lying next to me for some unknown reason (erratic Kai movements? Amanda rolling over?) and basically used my face as a launching pad. That would not have been so bad, but unfortunately for me his claws were out, and I got a one plus inch bloody scratch on my face. Scarred for life!
Amanda did get the landscapers to do a bunch of things to our yard. They were here yesterday (and one guy finished up today). Amazing how much 6-7 professionals working all day can accomplish. It did cost a lot of $$$$, and I admit that it was not stuff I personally would have paid for (as I am more concerned with structural integrity of the house and whatnot rather than aesthetics), but Amanda said it was worth it.
Some of this things they did:
I voted today. I went to the post office to make sure it got postmarked today. On the way back I picked up the first two Harry Potter books from the library. I have neither read them nor have seen any of the movies, so it is time for me to become culturally educated.
There is a Parent Appreciation night at LK’s school later, so we are going to attend and get a free dinner. Woot.
We are back on standard time, so we got an extra hour of sleep. The opportunity anyway, as the family basically got the same amount of sleep but officially woke up an hour earlier.
We finally got a place to stay on Oahu during the holidays. We wanted to stay on the northshore, but there aren’t places to stay there other than a few condos people rent out (and our attempts to rent one earlier fell through). As it is, we will be staying in a more typically touristy hotel-y area, but I am sure it will be fine.
Amanda wanted to go to IKEA, so we went off down to Tukwila for second bfast and shopping. There was a huge line for bfast; undoubtedly the influence of the time change. Initially, the Kai did want want to go to Småland and play in the ball pit, but after bfast (around $4.50 for all of us!) he changed his mind so we dropped him off and had an IKEA date with ourselves.
I had thought we only needed to look at rugs for our back entryway, but Amanda had many other things to look consider. Regardless, we ended up only getting what I thought we had come for… a rug for the inside of our back door and a bristly mat for the outside.
After IKEA we went to Southcenter for lunch and to pick up Kinect Sports. The Kai can manipulate our current Kinect games, so we decided to get another one since they involve lots of physical activity and family interaction. I had Ivar’s for lunch. Slurp!
We got home in the nick of time to meet the landscaping guy. Amanda talked to him a long time while I put the Kai down for a nap. She is going to have him do a bunch of things, and apparently he and his team (three other people I believe) will start tomorrow and presumably can finish tomorrow. Professionals can work fast. He has a good “fence guy” so fixing the fence post that broke yesterday is on the list as well. They are in the middle of a big “stone” (?) job that has some delay for a few days so they have some time now as otherwise they are really busy.
We probably will have them put in our garden raised beds next February assuming everything works out. I assume the price is ok, but Amanda did not seem all the worried about it.
We had shells and cheese and leftover kale salad for dinner. Yummy.
Everyone is asleep now. I did some project work, but now I think I will play Fallout 3, a cheap used game I also bought today. Cheap because it originally came out three years ago. I actually played the first two games when they came out in 1997-1998. That was a long time ago.
The fence post connected to our back gate sheared off on the bottom right where the post enters on the concrete base, so now the fence will collapse if we don’t prop it up. That sucks. Currently we are using the gate itself to prop the fence up by leaving it open, but something else will have to be done.
Amanda and LK went to gymnastics in the morning and then went off to get socks and long-sleeved shirts and other kiddie clothes.
I went off for my weekly project team meeting (we got an additional two members the other day); we were up on campus, but since now the other five team members live on the eastside, we will be meeting on Bellevue from now on. Ug.
Amanda and the Kai got to eat lunch at Chipotle while I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
A landscaper guy was supposed to come and give us some quotes on some things, but apparently he was only here a couple of minutes… just long enough to tell Amanda that the front slope was too steep for him. She called another one who was supposed to come by, but he didn’t show up at all. She was 0 for 2 today.
The second guy called later to apologize as he got wrapped up in doing his payroll and time got away from him and it wsa too dark to come by. I guess he will be by tomorrow instead.
I made lasagna and kale salad for dinner. Amanda’s mom came over. Everyone else is asleep now.
Amanda told me that lat Saturday we went to Kubota Garden after gymnastics. We went to their annual plant sale and got a bunch of things. I presume I forgot because the Kai had a massive meltdown and why remember something like that?
We basically got a bunch of things to plant on the front slope to keep our house from sliding off the hill. I also got a couple purple coneflowers and a cool bonsai thing. I hope I don’t kill it.
This afternoon/evening I picked up Amanda and the Kai after MK’s appointment and we all went to the farmer’s market in Columbia City. They were having squash races for the kiddies. We got a bunch of very tasty strawberries (aren’t they out of season?), raspberries, apples, and some other unknown Amanda selections.
We had dinner at Geraldine’s Counter. Tasty!