A Peek at My Week

*Saturday morning, around 7 a.m. we received a delivery: Three extra kids. 'Member when we went to Hawaii and our neighbors took OUR three kids? Well, this week we're returning the favor. Our friends are basking in warmth in Hawaii, and we are now the proud parents of a 9yo, 7yo, 6yo, 5yo, 2yo, and an angelic (but very mischievous) looking 1 yo baby girl with golden curls. It's been a busy week.

When they arrived and Doug handed me baby Ashley, I said; "See, this is what adoption is like. Someone hands you a cute little baby and there's no additional wear and tear on your body!" (I have 5 adopted nieces and nephews. I do realize it's not quite THAT simple.)

*Sam has been officially diagnosed with ADHD. The "inattentive" type. (Max is the "hyperactive" type.) Awesome.

In the throes of motherly guilt (since I was diagnosed with ADD in first grade) I asked Doug, "What about you? Do you think you could have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD as a kid? You were pretty hyper, weren't you...?"

Doug: "Well, there was that time I chased my sister with a knife...and since my parents weren't home, someone had to call the neighbors to come over to help..."

Uh huh.

Thus we see this is all DOUGS fault. No more guilt for me!

*It's been cold and wet and overcast all week. A few minutes ago I walked by the window and huge snowflakes were filling the sky. Five minutes later it had stopped again.

*We like to save up our maintenance issues until we have more than one. Then call all of them in at the same the same time. Doug called yesterday and promptly at 10 this morning, seven Japanese men showed up at my door. Two came in to fix the dishwasher (it was making noises), two came to fix the stuck closet door, and three went upstairs to fix the water pressure in the showers. (Kramer would love it. But it makes me feel like I'm being sand-blasted every day.)

Of course, all of them took their shoes off by the door. (This is standard procedure and we do it too.) I noticed at least two wearing the socks with the individual toes.

They all went to their separate parts of the house and did their jobs. Within 25 minutes, all of them had asked me to check their work and had left. All problems fixed to perfection.

Contrast that to calling a repair man or plumber in America. It's never quick. It's never easy, and they track mud through the house. (In my experience.) Plus, I usually wondered if the slovenly men I was letting into my home had criminal records.

Sometimes living here makes me despise American customer service. Okay, a lot of times.

We could learn a lot about courtesy and efficiency from the Japanese.

Plus, why don't we wear cooler socks?

*At the beginning of the week, we let all the kids pick their favorite meal and made a dinner menu. Max choose "Wizard Wonton Soup"--a Sneaky Chef recipe from her second cookbook.

Unfortunately, the commissary was out of Wonton wrappers. So we bought Lumpia wrappers and I cut them into quarters and used those. Who knew the Lumpia would dissolve when placed in the simmering broth?

When I served the soup, the ground turkey/veggie filling was floating unwrapped in the extra thick broth. Like square meat balls. Fortunately--for everyone's sake--the kids ate it anyway.

And that's all I have energy to write.

It's 6:42 p.m. I'm going to bed.