I think it’s Tuesday. My ten year old hasn’t told me its not Tuesday, so there is hope I’ve gotten the day of the week right for once. It’s been over a week since I put up a picture and called it a post, and  if I’m honest, after reading this post by Anne R. Allen on quality versus quantity – she calls it Slow Blogging, I’ve no desire to post much at all.

It’s not that nothing is happening around here, it’s just that I’m so busy doing those things, I don’t really care about blogging.

But since someone out there might, here’s what’s keeping me busy:

My Neighborhood –  after a Welcome Wagon over the past month that has consisted of a bouquet of flowers, and now four plates of cookies (the last plate, a variety selection, having been delivered last night), I’m too busy being part of a neighborhood. That hasn’t happened in six years. Not since we lived in Maryland and we had neighbors who actually wanted to get to know you. And many and various children who careen from house to house (yesterday there were four boys here and only one of them was mine.)

It’s been a nice change. There’s even going to be poker for the men this weekend and drinks and a movie for the ladies in two weeks. I *might* get used to this.

We started going to church. Okay, so we’ve been once. But we do plan to keep going. Let me tell you, this ain’t your momma’s church by any stretch of the imagination. Trust me when I say Catholic churches don’t have electric guitars and drum sets (not to mention Starbucks coffee in the back of the church for everyone to enjoy while listening to the pastor, who’s funny and incredibly nice.)

It’s good, albeit so far from what I was brought up in – did you know you can wear jeans to Sunday service, and the kids go do their own thing and have rock walls and x-boxes? Well, at this church they do, and it’s pretty much odd and yet we really like the way the pastor takes the message and makes it modern so even now, two days later I remember exactly his story of David and Uriah and Bathesba. Pretty cool.

We’ve almost unpacked all the boxes in the garage. The goal is after this weekend, when we get the fence up and out of the garage, Darth will actually fit in there. With room to spare. The garage has an extra five feet on one side and it’s pretty much awesome.

The adoption is becoming more like this random thing we signed up for but we forgot to include any contact information to tell us we’ve won a prize. With new laws in Taiwan, regulations to the orphanages, there have been zero referrals for going on four months now. There are still fifteen more days before they can even begin to process them again, and who knows how long till our agency might get one. Who knows because they aren’t talking.

The local library is so teeny tiny, but they can get you a book from anywhere in King County so I’ve got all the books I’ve ever wanted at my fingertips. It’s brilliant to be in a proper system again. And the library has this weird slash cool water thing that you can program to spell out words with water drops that fall from the ceiling. It might be one of those ‘you have to see it’ kinds of things but my kids loving playing with it.

I do not love that it takes twenty minutes to get to the shopping area (like Target, grocery, Petco, etc.) It is better than TinyTown’s forty-five minute trek though. There is a grocery up here on The Ridge (as it’s called since we live on the ridge of a mountain – talk about gorgeous views!) but you’d better bring your gold card if you feel like buying anything. Price hikes are astronomical for the convenience. As is the price of gas up here.

I haven’t taken any pictures of the house, which I love, especially my kitchen and it’s enormous island. With cabinets and drawers. And my soaking tub. Those are my favorite things about this house.

That’s about what we’ve been up to. We are looking forward to celebrating the 4th with the pyromaniac men (and their families) of the neighborhood (I swear Vanilla’s eyes lit up when Papa asked if he wanted to go get fireworks after dinner tonight. My mini pyro in the making. It’s a good thing we sprung for the security system with fire monitoring.) In two weeks we are going to the International District for a Chinese cultural event with Dragon Dancing and food and all kinds of awesome stuff. Then a Mariners game (against Texas), and the next day a Scottish Festival with kilts, and competition and singing (and probably haggis).

That’s what I’ve been up to. How about you?