Lessons learned

1. Always take free tickets when they are offeredFriday night we got to go see Adam which was part of the Seattle International Film Festival. A guy I met on the plane coming home from Manila volunteered for the Festival and offered tickets to us. We doubled with another couple and we all LOVED Adam- go see it when it comes out.
Saturday we took the girls to the Pacific Science Center. Someone at church had some free tickets and offered them to us (again, because she volunteers- I guess it pays to volunteer!!) She also had tickets to see an Imax show and they had a cute animal movie that was great for the girls. Fun weekend.

Odessa kept asking to see the dinosaurs


Ada loved the music room

Count down- blast off into space

2. Never leave the blinds up on your windows (you think this is going to be embarrassing, don't you?)
Our apartment looks out onto one of the busier streets in Magnolia (not saying a lot). It also is across the street from the park, so we can hear and see people walking on the street and coming and going from Albertsons, etc. But our apartment is not at street level, it's about 6 stairs up or so. Last Friday night I was up at the computer past 1am working on a church project (I know, WAY too late). Stephen was keeping me company by reading on the couch. Misery loves company. The blinds were open and suddenly there was a thundering "WHAM" on the window about 10 feet from where I was sitting. Of course I jumped and yelled "what was that?!" turning in time to see a punk pre-teen jumping off our ledge between the bushes. Then he ran across the street to loiter under the streetlight with his buddies while they watched what we would do. I couldn't believe their nerve! So I grabbed the phone and held it up in the air and pretended to dial 9-1-1. They shot off like rockets into the dark. Dumb kids. I couldn't fall asleep for an hour after that, my nerves were shot.

3. Appreciate what you have
I saw a clip on Rachel Ray while folding clothes of an apartment makeover in NYC. The apartment was 290 square feet!! After it was over, I looked around at our apartment that I had been thinking was a bit too snug and felt like it was some kind of mansion.

I had a birthday gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket so my friend Mandy and I went to spend it. I wanted to get a black dress and we found a cute one for 40% off. A saleswoman in a wheelchair helped us into the dressing room. I have what I call "trunkles" also known in some circles as "cankles" and I try to hide my legs as much as possible. When I complained about this while modeling the dress, the saleswoman simply said "love your legs, they run when you want them to". She said this with no bitterness and I could only be humbled, not shamed.

The last 10 days have made me a wiser woman in many ways!