Saturday, May 20, 2006

bored...bored...bored!

Well, it's been almost two weeks since the movers came and got our stuff. I have to admit, it was a great day when that happened.

I took Hannah over to Emily's house...Nancy graciously offered to take her all day, bring her to preschool...everything! She had a great time there. Scotty was supposed to go to the hourly care facility. He was on the waitlist, and when I checked, they didn't have a slot for him the entire day, but said they could "manipulate" the schedule so that the ratio (teacher to kid) stayed even, although they would have put him in a different age category to do so. Christy Fitzpatrick offered to take care of Scotty for the day. I felt that it would be much better for him to do that; he would be with people he knew and would be more comfortable.

So, by 8:15 a.m., I got back home and the 3 packers were already hard at work! One was working in Hannah's room, one was in our room, and one in the living/dining room. These guys worked HARD! They did a fantastic job taking good care of our stuff and wrapping it well...MUCH better treatment than we got in the states. Around 11:00 a.m., the head guy got a call stating that they NEEDED to finish us up in a day (we were allotted 2 days - one for packing, one for loading). I got lunch for our 3 guys and shortly after, 2 more men appeared. One headed to start the storage room, the other took the kitchen (poor guy!). By this time, our bedroom was done, Hannah's was done, and they were doing bookcases, Scotty's room, the desk, etc. By 3:00 p.m., they were done packing, and had started loading. Three more guys showed up at this point!

I left to get the kids at 4:00 p.m. I got Hannah from preschool, and then got Scotty from Christy's house. Scotty had a good time, took a good nap (which wouldn't have happened at the hourly care facility) and ate well. We then headed to get pizza for supper. Meanwhile, Scott asked a few guys from the band if they could help bring the temporary furniture down from our storage attic. Two guys came, and we fed them pizza. By bedtime, we were "settled" in again with the temp stuff.

It stinks, though. I hate not having things to do! I am reading...and reading and reading! I was reading 5 books at one time! I finished one, so I'm down to 4. In case you're interested...I was reading Table for Five by Susan Wiggs (great read!), A Case for Christ and God's Outrageous Claims (both by Lee Stroebel), Love, Greg and Lauren by Greg Manning, and a sweet devotional book they gave us at the chapel for Mother's Day, called Mom, You Make A Difference. I have also read three scrapbooking magazines cover to cover...all in the course of less than 2 weeks.

I have cleaned the house as well as it can be cleaned. The floor could be swept thirty times a day and STILL be dirty (have I mentioned before that I HATE hardwood floors????). I've started cleaning windows (inside and out) but it's a long job, and it seems like every time I clean a set, the rains come and dirty them right back up (doesn't help that we live right on a busy street with lots of traffic and currently under a lot of noisy construction, which means dirt!). I make the beds, clean the kitchen and I'm done!

so...what now? No computer to occupy me...no blogs to read, or email to answer on a daily basis...only periodic checks at the library or Scott's office...I am BORED! No scrapbooking or cardmaking to do. I finally decided to pick up a paint by number set...THAT is how bored I am! It's actually really nice...called Freedom's Reason (click to see what it looks like). It should keep me busy for quite awhile!

But time is winding down, now...on Monday, we send our CAR back. With God's blessing, my friend Nancy and her husband are lending us one of their cars. Nancy took the kids to the states for 6 weeks, and they have a car just sitting around. They'll be back in late June, so we have a car for a month. I have a few options for a car after that. God places people in our lives when we need them most, and I'm thrilled to be able to thank Him for that!

I've been taking a lot of pictures of the flowers and scenery around here. Maybe I'll have a chance to upload some of them before I leave. I hope so - I'd like to share it with all of you.

One of the greatest things for me has been lilacs! Having lived in New England most of my life, I have always LOVED lilacs...but they don't seem to grow in the south. So, for the past 6 years, I had no contact with them...and I never knew how much I missed the fragrance and sight of them. But ah...Germany has them...in SO many different shades and fragrances! There were delicate pale pink blossoms with a STRONG fragrance. Beautiful purple blossoms with mild scents...the DEEP purple-blue with a scent that kept you wanting more....and I've managed to capture a few on camera. Just things to remind me of Germany. Right now, the countryside looks like a bright patchwork quilt. From the rich browns of unplanted fields, to the shades of green from the different crops now growing...and the squares of bright yellow flowers...truly a quilt made by nature! The yellow sections, I've been told, are a type of grapeseed plant that is quite a lucrative crop, made into some type of oil. I haven't been able to find much out about it, though. We're also seeing the greening of the vineyards...there is nothing quite like seeing all the rows and rows on the hillsides...they plant the grapes on the hills...from top to bottom...it's so neat to see.

Anyway, I've rambled on enough and should head home to paint some more. I hope to be able to post a few more times before we head out!

4 comments:

Sue said...

Hey sweetie, nice to hear from you. I love reading your thoughts :) -- sorry phone calls have been stressed and too few in between for me -- I am bad. Hope you can forgive me :(

Anonymous said...

you are missed, Linda....

Christy said...

You'll be thrilled to know that lilac's grow wonderfully in Kansas, I grew up where we had 4 HUGE ones in our yard, and when we were at Ft. Riley one of our neighbors had one and they were sold at the PX and about any green house you go to has them! :)

BTW, you need a laptop! :)

rennratt said...

Sorry it's so boring! I would send you something to read, but...you would be stateside by the time it got there!