Just a weekly update

Not too much to report this week. Our camera batteries died and Brian's the one who normally recharges them. Well, he's been working like a .... very devoted husband and father... and only realized he was remiss in this duty when I brought it to his attention last night when he came home at midnight. Hopefully that is a tolerably suitable explanation for the lack of pictures in this little blog.

So, I'll try to capture some highlights of the week, in bullet format for y'all:

• A very funny youtube video, for those who haven't already seen it. This one goes out to all you Moms with minivans, called "Mom My Ride": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEFE3B0Rje0
• I made some very good tomato soup from scratch this week, full of peppers, onion, celery, garlic, and just enough olive oil to taste. I garnished it with fresh cilantro and sour cream (they call it soured cream over here, just emphasizing that the cream is actually soured, I suppose.)
• I also made some really nice curried carrot soup that exploded in the blender all over my kitchen, just hours after I had scrubbed all the floors on my hands and knees! Lucky for me, there was enough left after the explosion to take to the family who was having a new baby this week.
• Book club this month was successful -- that is if you call four people sitting around talking about "Jane Eyre" successful. I do! Especially since a very thoughtful friend watched Sam so I didn't have to bring her along.
• We have reservations at a hotel near the Lake District for tomorrow night, so we can enjoy a relaxing G.C. weekend, watching the sessions (which air at 5 and 9 pm here) from a cosy hotel room, taking in some walks and drives in the country and some swims in the pool in our spare time. yay!
• One week from right now, we'll be in the air somewhere over the Medditerranean Sea (and who knows how to spell that Mediterrrrranneenana word, anyway?) descending to Cairo in just over an hour!
• Brian said he'd be home by midnight tonight, which means I should see him in just 20 minutes! Very exciting, I assure you!

That wraps up the highlights of my week. If I posted highlights from Samantha's perspective, we might get some of the following:

• This week I learned that if I push my highchair toward Mom or bring her the tray and my bib, she will feed me. Mom seems to respond better to this approach than to my constant reaches toward food items on the counter that she pushes out of my view as soon as I reach for them.
• Mom let me walk all the way home from the park around the corner, except for that one part when we were almost home and I refused to hold her hand and she picked me up even though I was screaming for her to let me down again. At least she didn't put me back in the stroller.
• I've successfully persuaded Mom and Dad to keep EVERYTHING off the kitchen table. I kept climbing up to give them hints that there was too much stuff on that table, and they finally obliged. It looks so much cleaner now with nothing on it, thank goodness.
• I learned that Mom does NOT want my help when she's changing my diaper. Rude.
• The washing machine is the best place to hide toys and things. If I'm lucky, Mom won't notice, and she'll wash my toy items -- like the AA batteries she washed this week for me.
• It's probably better not to wave goodbye to Daddy, because almost every time I do, it seems like he doesn't come back for a verrrry long time.
• When Mom is in the shower, I can do WHATEVER I WANT... that includes eating half a box of raisins (like today), tearing apart a bookshelf (like yesterday), and rifling through the mail (like earlier this week). I'm glad she allows me these three minutes of free time to explore my surroundings.
• I'm going for a record in the afternoon nap department. Wednesday it was from 1pm to 5pm. Maybe next week I'll try for four and a half hours?

Well, folks, as you can tell, we're doing well over here. Hope everyone else is doing fine, too.