Into The Swing of Things

So we're slowly but surely getting into a groove and haven't even gotten lost on the way to the bus stop in the mornings!!  The first few mornings were a bit challenging because it's dark, like, midnight dark out there when we leave the house.  No, it's not super early, just dark.  There are only like 2 roads we have to turn on but remembering those two roads in the beginning was semi difficult.  We finally did it though and Alexander tries to lead us there in the mornings.  He and Christopher discuss the way sometimes and can come to an agreement most of the time.  Other times I just keep truckin' and they end up following.

The temperature is starting to drop here quite a bit.  I have to wear a jacket in the mornings but by the time I get back to the house with Rajah we're both ready to take our coats off.  Madison and Christopher seem to be fine with the cooler weather but Alexander on the other hand, not so much.  He needs to wear his sweater every morning and he had to wear pants once already.  I'll be busting out the winter coats before I know it just to find out they no longer fit.  All three of them are growing like crazy.  Christopher is now 3/4 of an inch shorter than me and Madison is a couple of inches shy too.  Alexander's got some catching up to do to be as tall as me but he's not being left out when the height inches are being handed out.  He's going to need new pants too.

So, the swing of things, is bus stop, walk Rajah, pick up the house (dishes, laundry, whatever is left) and walk to the bus stop to get the kids.  We're pretty much unpacked at this point except for the few boxes that contain mostly stuff from the garage.  It's a little hard to figure out where to put garage stuff when you don't have one.  We have a bunch of cardboard boxes we're going to get rid of soon and then my new shelf can be put where it belongs.  We made our first (and Glenn's last) trip to IKEA and I loved it!  We found a wardrobe for Madison since she doesn't have a closet in the room she picked.  The picking out was the easy part but the putting together....no.

Trying to figure out if everything inside (the shelves and the hooks) were included was the challenging part but we managed to do it.

So, you may be wondering, why does she have a picture of her....what the heck is that thing??  Yeah, it's a microwave.  Tell me how to work it....No?  Glenn figured this out.  Top button, turn the knob for the time and then push the lightning button.  I just figured out that the down triangle is the cancel/clear button.  One day maybe I'll try to see if I can set the clock on it but for now, we'll just stick to turning the knob.

Yeah, there are the boxes I was telling you about and my new shelf!!  Everything you can recycle here has to be recycled out in town or you can get a fine.  No thanks, I'll reduce, reuse and recycle.  There's the good ol' booster seat Alexander had to get back into.  Rules are rules and we're not taking any chances.  Glenn works hard for the money *sing next part* So hard for the money!!, so he rides in the seat.  Madison and I put the shelf together and I have to say, it's kind of wobbly but we'll figure out a way to stabilize it before I load up the wine racks we got for it.  The whole picking out the parts at IKEA was not as easy as 1, 2, 3.  It was like 1-17.  We had all the right pieces and we didn't have any leftovers so I was super impressed with our skills.  I'll post an updated photo when we have it all done and loaded up. :)

Next question, what do those lines mean on the left knob?  No clue.  I just know if you turn it, the red light comes on and you're preheating the oven if you turn the right one to a celsius temperature that you have to google the conversion for.  Otherwise, you'll either burn your orange rolls or undercook them and have to apologize to your husband after all the frosting got sucked into them because you had to flip them upside down to cook the bottom after thinking they were done and spreading the frosting all over.  Yeah, it might have happened once. ;)

Those are the three lonely socks on the clothesline that I didn't see while taking the clothes down.  Yeah, I'm going all Little House on the Prairie over here and hanging clothes!!  I even wash dishes by hand and put them into the dishwasher to dry.  I'm going green!  Nah, I'm just trying to save as much money as possible.  We're not sure what the utility bill will look like yet so I'm not taking any chances.  Oh yeah, that white thing there, that's a dog bath!  Rajah says no it's not, she hates it and I don't care.  She hates all baths.  I love it because it's outside and if she gets dirty I can spray her down (yes, there's a shower head and everything so she can get warm water) and she can run around outside and shake off.  

She loves it when I sit right on the doorstep and watch her chase the flies, bees and whatever else seems to fly in front of her nose.  

Alexander got a gift from his 4th grade teacher Mrs. Montero before we left Maryland and he was out on the porch putting it together the other night.  Rajah decided she wanted to keep him company so she went out and sat next to him.  

I had planned on going to the gypsy market today in Rota but I'm going to see how much I get picked up this morning.  I should be able to make it.  

Oh, we have named the turtles as well as the fish that live in there with them.  Bobby has stopped trying to get into the pool, probably because he doesn't like sharing.  We think that's why Buddy is so aggressive with the cheerios when we feed them.  Bobby's a jerk, that's why.  Bubba is an orange and white fish with a crooked mouth and Clyde is the orange bully.  He isn't very nice to Bubba.  He probably took lessons from Bobby.  

This is Buddy, before we put Bobby back into the pond.  He's very shy most of the time.

So that's it for now.  I just heard the washer go off and I need to go hang the clothes. :)  

Adíos everyone!!

Hasta Mañana!