Monday, October 02, 2006
Guest Free
Whew - they're gone. I love entertaining and we all had a good time, but it's sort of nice to have the house back to ourselves again. As far as houseguests go, they were model citizens. Which helps - immensely. We did all the touristy type of things you do when people from out of town come to visit. You know, the list of things you cite as reasons you enjoy living where you do, but hardly ever take advantage of unless you have company staying with you. Stuff like going to the Oregon coast (awesome awesome day!), going wine tasting, shopping, etc. We were quite busy. I'm hoping my friend sends me pictures soon because I was totally reliant on her for preserving in photos all the fun stuff we did. Not having a convenient camera really sucks sometimes.
One thing I learned about our lifestyle during the week was that we really don't eat out much. Not even take-out. I had to ask other people for a recommendation for good take out Chinese food because in the 6 months we've lived here we've never gone out for Chinese food. Not even once. So I was completely clueless about where to go for such things. Same with breakfast and lunch spots. Our friends wanted to go out for lunch, just them, and I really struggled with where to send them. I drew a complete blank. And breakfast? Same story. I know where a lot of the high-end dinner places are - mostly because I stare longingly at them as I drool while driving past and inhaling the sweet aromas of their cooking, but that doesn't do me a lot of good when I'm being asked for a yummy breakfast joint. So for dining out, we suck. We're much more in the habit of eating at home. It's cheaper and more convenient with the kids. God we're boring.
The other thing I learned? We drink a lot of wine. Wow - we put away quite a few bottles during the week. First with the wine tasting, then with various dinners and/or just hanging out we'd crack a bottle or two. Lushes, I tell you. But it was soooo goood! And then just this past weekend our neighbors called us up to say they've started pouring cocktails at their house and invited us over. So of course we went. And they mix up some yummy cocktails. It didn't take long for me to start feeling it. Thank goodness we had to only walk back across the street at a decent hour to put the kids to bed. Good neighbor bonding.
I had some interesting discussions with our friends during the hours spent driving in the car. Topics such as child spacing and whether it's better to be young or old for your class in school. You see, their daughter is exactly 1 year younger than Lauren (they share a birthdate), but the mom wants to push her ahead so she starts school at 4-almost-5 and would therefore be in the same grade as Lauren. She's thinking that her daughter is bright and doesn't want her to be bored and unchallenged in school and believes she would be if she waited a year to start her. Plus, I guess the mom developed physically on the early side and has read something about girls who mature faster also tend to be more likely to be sexually active, etc. than girls who don't. So by putting their daughter in school younger she would in essence delay this possibility. My take in being OK with Lauren being one of the first to have a birthday in the school year is that she'll be more emotionally mature and confident (hopefully) as compared to her peers, and won't be 15 hanging out with kids who are 16-17 and wanting to do the same types of things (aka dating, etc.). Why rush her to grow up?
So that was interesting to hear a different point of view. And on child spacing, I guess it came up because she was fearful she was pregnant and was wanting to know how it was for us with kids 2.5 yrs apart. She's not ready for child #2 yet, if ever. Turns out she's not pregnant, so that's good news for her. Drama!
So now I"m in the process of unearthing after the visit and putting the house back together again. Re-stocking the pantry of the basics we flew through. Doing lots of laundry. Getting the place back in shape. And oh yeah, speaking of getting back in shape, getting back on my workout schedule. I wasn't able to visit the gym at all during that week and I'm feelin' it. I leave for Palm Springs in less than 2 weeks and I need some hard-core workouts before that.
It's was so nice to see old friends again, but it's also nice to be back in the groove of my everyday life again.
One thing I learned about our lifestyle during the week was that we really don't eat out much. Not even take-out. I had to ask other people for a recommendation for good take out Chinese food because in the 6 months we've lived here we've never gone out for Chinese food. Not even once. So I was completely clueless about where to go for such things. Same with breakfast and lunch spots. Our friends wanted to go out for lunch, just them, and I really struggled with where to send them. I drew a complete blank. And breakfast? Same story. I know where a lot of the high-end dinner places are - mostly because I stare longingly at them as I drool while driving past and inhaling the sweet aromas of their cooking, but that doesn't do me a lot of good when I'm being asked for a yummy breakfast joint. So for dining out, we suck. We're much more in the habit of eating at home. It's cheaper and more convenient with the kids. God we're boring.
The other thing I learned? We drink a lot of wine. Wow - we put away quite a few bottles during the week. First with the wine tasting, then with various dinners and/or just hanging out we'd crack a bottle or two. Lushes, I tell you. But it was soooo goood! And then just this past weekend our neighbors called us up to say they've started pouring cocktails at their house and invited us over. So of course we went. And they mix up some yummy cocktails. It didn't take long for me to start feeling it. Thank goodness we had to only walk back across the street at a decent hour to put the kids to bed. Good neighbor bonding.
I had some interesting discussions with our friends during the hours spent driving in the car. Topics such as child spacing and whether it's better to be young or old for your class in school. You see, their daughter is exactly 1 year younger than Lauren (they share a birthdate), but the mom wants to push her ahead so she starts school at 4-almost-5 and would therefore be in the same grade as Lauren. She's thinking that her daughter is bright and doesn't want her to be bored and unchallenged in school and believes she would be if she waited a year to start her. Plus, I guess the mom developed physically on the early side and has read something about girls who mature faster also tend to be more likely to be sexually active, etc. than girls who don't. So by putting their daughter in school younger she would in essence delay this possibility. My take in being OK with Lauren being one of the first to have a birthday in the school year is that she'll be more emotionally mature and confident (hopefully) as compared to her peers, and won't be 15 hanging out with kids who are 16-17 and wanting to do the same types of things (aka dating, etc.). Why rush her to grow up?
So that was interesting to hear a different point of view. And on child spacing, I guess it came up because she was fearful she was pregnant and was wanting to know how it was for us with kids 2.5 yrs apart. She's not ready for child #2 yet, if ever. Turns out she's not pregnant, so that's good news for her. Drama!
So now I"m in the process of unearthing after the visit and putting the house back together again. Re-stocking the pantry of the basics we flew through. Doing lots of laundry. Getting the place back in shape. And oh yeah, speaking of getting back in shape, getting back on my workout schedule. I wasn't able to visit the gym at all during that week and I'm feelin' it. I leave for Palm Springs in less than 2 weeks and I need some hard-core workouts before that.
It's was so nice to see old friends again, but it's also nice to be back in the groove of my everyday life again.
// posted by MP @ 8:17 AM 
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