Irrigation

Irrigation and I have always had a love/hate relationship. I have a great story from a long time ago involving a friend from New Jersey and Irrigation. I would consider this the beginning of my relationship with irrigation. However, there are many reasons I hate it. I hate when I am on a walk early in the morning and I have to walk in the middle of the street to avoid someone's overzealous sprinkler system, I hate when I want to get to a front door, except it's the most inopportune time because the sprinklers are spraying all over the sidewalk. But today I have a reason to despise irrigation...(Granted my husband did most of the work with some friends, but that doesn't mean I can't complain about the little bit of work I had to do)

First off, my first job was to "move dirt around." Supposedly I was leveling out the dirt so that it would be even for when they trenched. I couldn't help but think I was a little kid given a job to just keep me busy. You know, move that dirt from here to there. Then Nathan and a couple friends rented a trencher and trenched the whole thing. I made them lunch and then drove an hour to pick up a friend of ours to hang out for the night. Then this morning, we had to finish all the digging that the trenching couldn't accomplish. The detailing stuff, you know. But despite all the complaining, most of the lines appear to be in. All we need to do is attach the valves and dig a small trench in front of the wall. I have discovered that the less I complain, the more praise I get for helping and the better my work looks. :)

I'm sure that in a few weeks once the trenches are filled again, the grass seed is being watered everyday and we have a green yard, irrigation and I will be on good terms again.

Chinglish

I'd forgotten about this picture we took while in China. We saw many examples of this. We call it Chinglish. I couldn't believe that we saw this sign in the airport. I can't remember which one, but it makes me wonder how misspelled and wrong our foreign language translations are in the United States.

Kitchen Update

Here is an updated picture of our kitchen. We still need to add trim above the cupboard & below the counters. I have been cooking a lot more the last couple months now that the kitchen is pretty much done.

Home update

Here is a picture of our new sidewalk. I am so excited! No more mud being drug into the house! We still need to finish the wall and repaint the house.

Friends

I have always had a difficult time making friends. Good friends. I think generally people like me, but it is difficult for me to automatically "connect" with someone and feel as if I can be open and share things with them. As I've lived in California, I have made some friends, but a lot of them live just far enough away that you have to "plan" to get together. Others of them, I enjoy getting together every now and then, but we don't see them very often.

Nathan and I have a set of friends that we've been casual friends with for some time now. They just recently moved a short distance away from us. They have invited us over to their apartment every Wed to watch Lost with them. In this deal, we also get a meal that Rachel has made. She says she looks forward to the weekly visits because she loves having us over and entertaining. It's the highlight of her week. Well, it's also the highlight of my week. She is a woman of God, inspiring me without even knowing that's what she's doing. Our conversations seem to flow, no awkward pauses. She genuinely cares about other people. We don't know similar people, so the desire to gossip isn't there. We have similar tastes, yet know that if we disagree on something, we don't hold it against one another. I had been praying for a friend that lived close by that I could relate to and I feel that God has answered my prayer. For this, I am grateful to Him.