VACA!

Day three of Martin's vacation is more than half over already. Our weekend was fabulous, thanks to the discovery of our wood floor. We worked hard on it for two days and now it's completely done, with all the furniture back in place. The only thing left to do for that room is putting down the doorway pieces, which need to be painted first. That should be simple.

Yesterday, thanks to Caitie, I played at a 50th anniversary party on the West side for some people I don't know. I was hired to play 3 Irish songs. It started out being a little bit weird... but in the end, it turned out to be really fun and kind of a blessing for Martin! We went over earlier in the afternoon to set up my sound stuff, and after I was finished playing (about 7 minutes) I left my equipment and later in the evening (after ice cream at the Cook's) Martin went back for it. He ended up hanging out there for awhile with the old people, eating a sandwich and drinking beer with them! Hahaha! But the man whose anniversary it was turned out to be really nice and Martin enjoyed talking to him--and enjoyed it even more when they started talking about police work and the man asked Martin if he'd ever applied for the West Lafayette police--because he's on the merit commission!!!! That is Martin's most worrisome part of the process!! So that was a funny thing to happen.

When he got home we got a phone call from Mrs. Watson saying that Sr. Mary Grace was in town and could they come by and see Anja? Aw, shucks, Anja was asleep. But they said they'd come by anyway. Good thing I didn't insist that they stay away from our junkpile of a house--Joannie was with them!!!!!!! Surprise!!!!! Not only that, but she doesn't start her job until AUGUST, so she's got a summer vacation as well. This will definitely be a good summer. I wish that our house had been put back together before they'd arrive though, because I think my house looks cute most of the time (especially now with the hardwood floors) but when they came all our furniture was piled in the dining room and the front room was almost empty.

After the Watsons left, Tara came over and we sat in our fresh, new living room and talked for awhile. I really like it when Tara gets to come over after all the kiddies (including Anja) are in bed. We are so lucky to have the Cooks next door to us. Especially in a neighborhood like this, it's such a fabulous thing to be able to be such good friends with our neighbors!

This morning Anja and I woke up closer to 5:00. She's having a hard time sleeping upstairs for the heat, and I think as a result, we're going to be moving rooms this week instead of whenever another baby comes along, which is what my plan had been. Martin said it's silly to be running the air conditioner when it doesn't even go upstairs anyway, and that everyone would be happier and sleep better if we were downstairs. So it looks like that's the new plan. It'll be kind of a lot of work and a bit of a trick in the organization department, but I think we can do it. I may have to borrow my mom's vacuum again though if we're going to have our bedroom back here...

So anyway, once Martino woke up we all took a nice morning walk up to Vienna for coffee and scones. We were hoping Anja would fall asleep, but she didn't until we were almost back home, and then when we came inside the dog started licking her toes and she woke up. Oh well, she was beautifully behaved, so it didn't matter at all. I got a quick shower while Martin took the dog for her walk, we walked to the bank to deposit some checks, then went to the grocery. It's great to go to the grocery during the day when nobody is there!

Tonight Bella is being baptized! We are going to go down to St. Michael's later and find something special for her, and I've made tabouleh for the after party. I have the stuff to make hummus too, so if I get time I'll whip up some of that.

We're so happy to have the floors finished up front. The room looks so many millions of times less trashy than it did. I'll no longer feel embarrassed to have people over. I only made a few little furniture changes, but with the money I made from playing yesterday I'm going to buy a few little oriental trees!

So far, this vacation is tops!