The Week
Topic: This and That
I would like to begin with a belated happy birthday to my very good friend Teresa, and an on time birthday wish to her daughter, Abby!
I hope everyone had a good week, and is having a good weekend.
For those of you interested in Larry's doings, I have a story for you. Larry sits in the back of the room in class. A week or so ago, he was leaning back against the wall, and managed to trip an emergency shutoff for the power to several rooms in the building. He wasn't embarrassed at all. To the contrary, I think he was quite proud! He said there were people wandering around wondering what was going on. Someone had to be called out to turn the power back on. Apparently the class was dull, so people appreciated the break and thanked Larry! What I want to know is why would someone put a switch like that somewhere any moron could accidentally trip it? :) Larry said it was a big red button, too. You know what they say about big red buttons...
The weather's been wacky here. We had hail one night, and some snow flurries yesterday morning. It's been really cold, and also windy. The weather is very changeable here like it is in Germany. It can go back and forth between sunny and cloudy several times within just an hour. It can also be raining with the sun shining through. A couple of times during the week, I would look outside and it would be sunny. By the time I got myself and Ryan ready to go for a jog or walk, it would be completely overcast and even drizzling.
I'm starting to have more of a social life, which has been nice. Wednesday Ryan and I went over to Ivy's house on post. (Ivy is part of the babysitting co-op on post and watched Ryan last week.) After a while we went across the street to Sarah's house and got some lunch. After lunch I was able to leave Ryan at Sarah's and managed to go four places on post in under half an hour. Power errand running! When I came back, Sarah got out water colors for the kids to play with (Sarah's got two little ones, and Ivy's got one). I think Ryan is a bit young yet for water colors, but not by much. He mainly wanted to play with the water. At that point I just wasn't up to trying to keep Ryan from spilling water everywhere, and didn't feel like dealing with the aftermath of a wet, watercolor soaked child, so we went home.
The next day there was a meeting of babysitting co-op members at Sarah's house. It was nice to get out again. Then yesterday Ivy gave me a call, and Ryan and I went over to her place again. We got some pizza. It's been so nice to be able to have a social life here. I've even been running into people I know here and there on post. It's a general consensus with army wives that it takes about six months to start to get situated in a new place. I would have to agree. It seems like that's about the length of time it's taken me in Germany and here to start feeling like part of the community.
It looks like we may have to move on post. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it or not here, but it's a lot more expensive to live on the economy than we realized. Gas and electric prices here are OUTRAGEOUS. We got a bill we thought was for the quarter. It was for one month! Our house is really hard to keep warm. I called the gas/power company (they're lumped together here) and they were helpful. Basically the landlord needs to replace the windows so that the house is more energy efficient. I need to speak with the landlord about that. Our lease isn't up until June, so we would stay here until then. However, unless something is done, we just can't afford another winter in this house. I'd hate to leave the location. I really like where we live. Also, we'd have to move ourselves, which is a major pain. However, I'm not sure it's worth literally hundreds of dollars to stay put.
Has everyone been watching the Olympics? I've managed to catch some of the skating. I enjoyed watching it. It's great having British Eurosport coverage. Since we're only an hour behind Torino, we get it all live here. Also, they don't break it all up like I've heard they're doing in the States. The best part: no Bob Costas!
Not sure if Ryan and I will do much today. He's been a little out of sorts and I think he's fighting off yet another bug. I'd like to get out, but it's freaking cold and windy and that's no fun to walk around in. Today has the feeling of a day you just feel like not doing anything.