Week 12

Hey everyone! We're closing in on three months. We go to school and work. We go grocery shopping. We play board games and listen to music. I guess what I'm trying to say is that we are much more boring these days than we were in the beginning.

We haven't had any animal updates, and that's because they're pretty boring these days, too. Marabel just kind of hangs out on the couch downstairs at night and prowls around outside all day.

Han, on the other hand, has caused us endless grief. His uncoordinated movements and reactive personality result in claw marks in the soft pine floor and weird claw marks on the trim of the door where he jumps up to look up the window. He won't stop digging on our furniture regardless of how many times we kick him off and yell at him. We've started kenneling him during the day. He's still dopey and sweet though, so it's hard to be so mad at him.

Good boy.

Bad boy. Note the claw marks in our new sofa.

Friday

I worked from home after spending the first four days of the week away from home. The kids were still on Autumn Break so I took my time getting started in the morning. Khloe and Harrison and I finished the puzzle!

I asked the kids if they had taken any pics of what they did during their week-long break from school since I wasn't around to take photos. I was hoping they came through for the blog, but they all said they didn't take pictures. I asked what they had done all week and the answer was pretty much this:

Zac and I spent the evening hanging up a bunch of our framed pictures. It's scary to put holes in a wall you don't own, but if we're going to be here for two years, we figured we might as well try to make it feel more home-y. We can always fix the walls later.

The hallway is very Star Wars-themed now, I guess.

Our music posters were previously in the basement, but now they're in our dining room.

Nothing says fine dining like Mountain Witch!

A little art to look at as we make coffee?

Kaden has been rearranging a lot. He really doesn't like his room in the basement as much as he thought he would. To be fair, it was very damp there in the summer and smelled like "old house," and now that we've gotten it dried out quite a bit and turned the heat on, it smells a little like thiol for some reason. Maybe the gas water heater? Anyway, this is the newest bedroom configuration, and I think he likes it now.

Zac drilled out some holes in the back of the IKEA shelf he bought last weekend and now all of the electronics are appropriately housed under the TV in the basement.

Saturday

Zac borrowed a drill and we took a trip to the DIY store to get some better anchors for the heavier things.

More Star Wars pics on the left, and our new entry rug, bench, and hooks in the center!

We hung my guitar and bass by the record shelf and hung the periodic table of elements art up above it.

Zac heat-straightened the rug in the living room so we quit tripping on it, too.

And I started to propagate! I know it's not the best time of year for that, but I sure missed having a little live art show on the wall in the dining room!

Sunday

We were lazy. We cleaned a little, did a little laundry, and generally just tried to lay low and get over colds.

We also had another movie night at Harrison's request. We watched Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Zac and I bought pre-popped, bagged popcorn for this one. :)

Monday

The kids had the day off one last time, but Zac and I still had to work. We were pretty sleepy, but we made it. Everyone has been fighting colds. Zac even called the doctor on Monday and went for a quick appointment to make sure he didn't have pneumonia or COVID or anything.

[Yes, you read that correctly. Zac voluntarily called a medical clinic, made an appointment, and went to the doctor. Was it because it's free and he wouldn't be incurring a medical bill? Was it because the doctor is the one who answers the phone and he doesn't have to deal with the stupid-and-kind-of-racist front desk staff like he did in Post Falls? Who can say? The point is, he did it, and I'm so happy!]

Oh, and I got THE PLASTIC CARD. It's the laminated piece of paper that gets dropped on your desk when it's your turn to bring the morgenbrød (morning bread) on Friday. This is my first time. I hope that I (a) remember and (b) get enough.

When we got home from work, we literally just laid in bed and binged The Office. We had to get up at like 19:45 though to drive Khloe to theater.

I had printed the Limenas (theater group) schedule at work and noticed there was an Instagram page. I figured I should follow it and I might see a pic of Khloe. The first thing that I saw was a pic of me though!

Khloe said she had a great night at theater! I'm glad she's finding something she enjoys. And I did also find her in one of the photos after some Where's Waldo-like searching.

Tuesday

I told you our days were getting dull. The only news I have is that Zac and I got our flu shots at work. Wild stuff.

Khloe did get excited that some of the bus drivers decorated their busses for Halloween though. :)

Wednesday

Kaden had an after-school party. I don't know what the reason was, but we were notified less than a week in advance that the Year 9 kids were staying after school on Wednesday to have a pizza party with a DJ and all kinds of other fun things.

Kaden said they learned a traditional Danish dance, ate a ton of pizza, and escaped to the gym to ride crazy carts and do trampoline dunks on the basketball court. We pulled ourselves out of bed to go pick him up at 21:00. Going out into the cold rain after we've been in bed for an hour watching shows isn't, like, our favorite thing, but it's nice to see the kids making friends and being social and joining activities.

Thursday

Zac stayed home sick. He has really been struggling with this chronic cough and it means neither of us is getting very much sleep. He felt a little better after lounging today. He made us all stir fry and cleaned the microwave. Ya can't keep a good man down. :)

* * *

As a reminder, it's almost Halloween. But in this house, there's always something weird and spooky going on. Case in point, this is how I found Harrison when I went in to say goodnight after he went to bed one evening. He likes to have the red LEDs on.

Anyway, next week will be my last "Week" post, and then I'll just start writing up shorter posts about specific things we do. Don't worry - I'll keep bugging Harrison to finish the post about his field trip, and maybe I can get Kaden to write one about his school party!