Half the week is gone...

Can it be Wednesday already?! This week is flying by...probably because we're a little busier than usual. We have our co-workers' two youngest with us for the week. They're both in secondary and have to be up and out the door by 7 a.m. They're back by 1:30 p.m., tired and hungry. So my week has been pretty occupied with cooking, laundry, crafting a little with the girls, painting furniture and assorted meetings.

Monday we met with the realtor and seller to go over debts owed on the property. On the advice of several in-the-know people, we're going to pay our offer-minus-debt total and take care of those ourselves. That way we KNOW they're done. Ivan also spent Tuesday morning with the seller, visiting the municipality and other places to confirm those debt figures (taxes, utilities, etc.).

Tuesday evening I spent about three hours sitting in waiting rooms. First up was yet another visit to the eye doctor because my "new" glasses continued to give me headaches after three weeks and I quit wearing them. Obviously something isn't right. I'm more than a little frustrated with this whole YEAR-LONG PROCESS that still hasn't provided a functional pair of glasses. I'm ready to give up and wait until we go to the U.S. next year and go back to my beloved Dr. Brichta in Hillsdale, Michigan. But Ivan feels we should pursue every avenue first. The guy here is going to check the glasses to see if the lab got the prescription wrong. The girl at the store already did that so I'm not hopeful he's going to find anything different.

The other visit was with a dermatologist who diagnosed the sore spot on my foot as a wart, not a psoriasis outbreak. Who gets warts on the bottom of their foot?! I do, apparently. Hopefully the topical stuff he prescribed will get rid of it quickly.

The craft that the girls and I are working on this week is taking longer than expected. It's this felt flower brooch I found on holidash.com.

Pretty, no? But let me tell you, glue on felt takes FOREVER to dry so we're having to do the project in phases and it's taking all week to finish. But not only because of the glue-taking-forever-to-dry issue; the girls are also in the midst of trimester exams so they're spending a lot of time studying every day too.

Had fun trying to buy the felt since I didn't know the right word. The online dictionary at wordreference.com says it's fieltro but here that refers to the heavy stuff used in automotive applications. Ivan thought it might be felpa but the lady at the store looked utterly confused when I asked for that. I tried my best to describe it and eventually she figured out what I wanted. Here it's called paño lensi.

It's been downright hot here this week, perfect for drying clothes quickly on the line (which allowed me to get FIVE loads done on Monday!) and painting furniture on the back patio. I'm working on one of the nightstands we bought at a used furniture store and a small table we brought from the house in Sta. Rosa. And finally finished the floor lamp which I'd started two weeks ago before running out of black spray paint. Ivan's going to re-wire it so it works, and we have to either find or make a shade. Sure do miss cheap shades! So far the cheapest I've found was still the equivalent of almost $25 U.S. -- and the only one in stock was busted. Ugh. Do NOT want to pay so much for a plain shade.

Tried a new recipe for breakfast sausage today and LOVE it! Super simple, I had all the ingredients, and it tasted more like what we were used to in the U.S. [Or could it be that it's just been so long we've forgotten what it tastes like? That's a distinct possibility.] Because one of the girls adores anything with apples, I made an apple puff pancake and sausage for lunch.

I made a menu at the beginning of the week and so far have stuck to it. It makes life a lot simpler when I'm more organized with meal planning, especially when we have company. The only issue has been several items are oven-baked and with the heat, I haven't really wanted to turn the oven on. Doing the big meal midday helps though, because it's still cool in the morning when I cook. We've been having various sandwiches at night...egg salad, grilled ham and cheese, BLTs and vegetarian subs. Tonight we'll vary that a bit with a chef salad and garlic bread.

I've been trying to find a better pizza crust recipe. So far the journey is mimicking my experience with No-Bake cookies: epic fail after epic fail. But I will persevere until I find a great one! Anyone have a crust recipe that's exceptional? Do share!!!