The Thursday Haps

Hey Howdy Hey,

Today was really nice, I didn't have my Arabic class so I hung out at the house in the morning, Emy played with Benjamin a bit then put him down for a nap.  While she cleaned (awesome!) I was able to unpack the two remaining UAB boxes and put away my piles and piles of clothes.  I really needed to ruthlessly cull about 90% of what I own, and I didn't do enough before the movers came.  Like all of my winter stuff is here, and I'm not going to need every scarf I've ever owned.  Which I still have.  All of them.  Ugh.  And we still have our huge shipment to come, but I'm hoping there aren't any clothes left.  Because there isn't any room.  I guess I could co-opt some of the guest room space, but I do want to leave some space clear for people who visit.  I'm hoping my parents will stay at least a month, maybe more.  (Hint hint, parents!)

I went to the embassy at noon for lunch with Thomas, which was fun.  And we got a package from Amazon, which is like Christmas.  I'd ordered some coasters because I'm trying to protect our brand-new furniture as much as possible.  We also got "Venture Bros" season 4 on BluRay, which we can't watch until the PS3 comes.  But it'll be fun to rewatch when we do.  Emy did an amazing job cleaning today, she mopped all the floors and vacuumed.  I'm really getting spoiled here, and I know it's going to be a shock to the system when we go back to the States.  She left at 1:30 and Ben and I played for a while before he went down for his afternoon nap.

Tonight was the usual Thursday night fun meal at the embassy, and it was steak night.  It tasted really good, but was much pricier than normal.  I think they do it once a month, so it's a nice treat.  They served cheesy potatoes and what I assume was a frozen vegetable medley alongside.  But hey, I didn't have to cook and I'm not picky.  (And yes, for lunch I had chicken fingers again.  Still ordering the same thing.)  We had a great time eating and talking with friends, it was perfect weather and Benjamin did a pretty good job of behaving.  An excellent evening.

We don't have much planned for the weekend, probably not going to the house church tomorrow.  I'm a little scared to do a 20-step process trying to find someone's house, so we'll hang back until we feel a little more comfortable.  We might try out the Amman International Church, but their website isn't super informative.  Because street names were only imposed maybe a decade ago, people don't go by the address, it's more like: turn left where the hotel used to be, make a right at the fruit stand and do a u-turn at the first possibility.  It's nuts.  And so you just have to call the church's phone number to get directions.  Sigh.

I haven't started on the fun playhouse yet, after rereading the directions I noticed she was using a metal ruler as a straightedge.  I don't know if I need it, but I feel like I want it to be as perfect as a cardboard house can be.  Do you think I could substitute something else?  I started pricing them on Amazon, that's how OCD I am.  I need advice here...

What are y'all planning this weekend?  Anyone else going to attempt the box into a house transformation?  This might be the second thing I've ever done off of Pinterest.  If you guys have any other suggestions for turning huge boxes into something fun, I'm all ears.

-Rachel