“I thought I’d stay home today and accept the things I can’t change.”

(Yes, yet another New Yorker cartoon tagline . . .)

No, I’m not at home today, but I really wish I was. Still have TONS of cleaning up to do before the Random Mom-in-law comes tomorrow, but I have a seminar to go to this evening which means I’ll be up incredibly late tonight – de-cluttering rooms, moping floors, changing sheets, and generally just freaking out big time . . .

We FINALLY had the new sink and vanity installed in our bathroom. Woo hoo! I can brush my teeth in the bathroom again! I will put up a picture of the bathroom once the new mirror is up and the new towels are in place . . . Um, yes, we did a little shopping this week for new stuff, in fact a little too much shopping . . . but with such a nice new thing in the bathroom, it just makes me want to spruce up everything. Last night we bought a new bathroom mirror (to match the dark wood of the new vanity), a colorful new comforter and sheets for the guest room (which can transition nicely into a kid’s room, if need be), new slipcovers for our sofa (which has seen better days), a new throw blanket for the living room chair (because a nice slipcover for the chair was WAY too expensive), and a new silverware tray for the kitchen (nice enough that I can gladly put my grandma’s silverware in it). The “new” towels aren’t really new – my grandmother bought all new towels for her new apartment so she gave us her old ones, which just happen to be close to the color of the bathroom . . .

Oh! The Good Friday service! This year's was not as exciting as last year – no real drama, just lots of readings. The choir sounded horrible because a few people showed up late who hadn’t practiced the songs very much beforehand. Since the choir was smaller than normal, the clunker notes stood out more. Also, we had one song cut at the last minute that we had practiced a lot on, and we were all rather miffed about that. The only moment of drama was at the end. At the front of the church, someone had built a little “cave” or “tomb” out of cardboard and fabric (which looked a lot better than I am making it sound), with a “stone” off to the side. At the end of the service, the pastor put a huge lit candle inside of the little cave, and placed the stone over the opening. At that moment all of the lights were turned off, and everyone was supposed to leave the church in silence. However, when Mr. Random saw that, he came over to me and (whispering, of course) began freaking out to me: “Isn’t that an open flame? Isn’t that thing flammable?” I was kind of annoyed at that point, since the choir stuff had gone kind of crappy, so I just kind of shrugged and said “they must know what they’re doing.” Although, it would be kind of funny in a sick way if the place had burned down because of it – with all of the weird theatrical stuff we try to do, it would just seem fitting that we’d be having Easter services in the ashes of our church . . . I’m just warped that way . . .

Easter service was not quite as annoying. The music we sang was peppy and uplifting, and our Music Director was really rocking out on the piano so I was having a good time. After the service, the church held an Easter Egg hunt for the little kids. Our the Kids in our Sunday School classes range in age from 2 to 12, with most kids being in the 2 to 4 year old range. Mr. Random and I went out to watch and we helped a little by pointing out where random eggs where to the little ones. They were so cute to see! Each child was only supposed to collect 7 eggs, so when each kid had reached their limit, they came up to every adult they could find and yelled, “Miss Kath, I found SEVEN eggs!” “That’s WONDERFUL!” I said with a huge smile. Many of them also wanted to show off the little toys that were in the eggs, so we were being dragged from one basket to another to see the little erasers and balls and toy watches . . .

After the service, we went home and I made a banana pudding to take to my parents’ house for dessert. At my parents’ house we had lots and lots of food. My other sister, J, came home from college and hung out with us a while. I took lots of pictures that I later uploaded and sent on to my other sister, who is now “safely” in Baghdad. I took lots of candid shots around the dinner table so that she would almost feel like she was with us . . .

Monday, I did the cycling class again. I had a lot of trouble adjusting the bike, so the teacher had to stop class to help me. I felt a bit embarrassed for a while, but eventually got into what we were doing. I think I’m getting used to the bicycle seat a bit more, which is a good thing. I’m still a bit sore today, and with the Random Mom-in-law here, I don’t know when I’ll be able to work out again, but I hope soon. We’ll probably be eating out a lot and I can already see myself expanding a bit unless we do some serious walking or something . . .

I hope everyone is doing well . . . just wanted to update you on what’s going on in the Random World. I’ll try to get some pictures up when I can, but the next few days are going to be super hectic. I’m thinking of you all and sending happy vibes out to everyone. Talk to you soon . . .