This week was a great week and a difficult week at the same time. We both enjoyed our jobs this week, but, after 4 days of sleeping in over Thanksgiving, waking up at 6 am was almost torture! I, especially, was tired this week, but we made it through nevertheless...
On Wednesday was the long-anticipated Book Giveaway at school during lunch. It was so fun to see the excitement on the faces of the 6th-7th graders at the chance to spin a prize wheel and win 2-3 books of their choice. It was chaotic, but I think they loved it. The 8th graders weren't quite as enthusiastic but still about 30 of them decided to get some books. It's nice to see the books showing up around school as the kids read them for another small prize (if they can tell us what their book is about). We even had a few girls who came by the next day having already finished their books! I'd say our first literacy event was a success, and we're gearing up for an even bigger one with students and parents next semester...
Wednesday night, Kayle and I decided to prepare a pot roast to go into the crock pot the next day. Kayle was in charge of braising the meat, and I was in charge of chopping everything else. Well, our meat started frozen, and, while it was thawing in the microwave, Kayle put some vegetable oil in a pan and started heating it up. It started splattering a little, so he turned down the heat until the meat could go in. Still partially frozen, when Kayle put the meat in the pan, the oil started popping all over with loud sounds punctuated by my surprised screaming and Kayle's laughter. I guess, as the water dripped off the meat into the oil, it sank and then rapidly evaporated (since, Kayle informs me, oils boils hotter than water). Don't worry, we were far enough away that there was no danger to us. However, our kitchen had some nice oil splatters in one whole corner! I suppose I won't entrust Kayle with braising the pot roast in the future...
On Friday, my team meeting was cancelled, so I didn't have anything to do for work. I dropped Kayle off at Building 41 (where his office is) and came back home. As soon as I walked in the door, I couldn't help but think, "Hmm...what to do now? Only 8 more hours until Kayle gets home!" I suddenly remembered why I was previously so anxious to find a job. So I sat around, reading "A Wrinkle in Time" (Kayle has been bugging me to read it for YEARS now), watching some TV, and doing laundry. I also ran some errands and went to Great Clips for a haircut. I asked for shoulder-length hair with some long layers, but my haircut ended up being shoulder-length in the front and several inches longer in the back. It didn't look too bad until I got home and finished drying it, finding out (to my dismay) that this particular combination makes my hair curl inward in the front and stick straight out (horizontally) in the back! Really quite terrible! So, I picked up Kayle at work and begged him to take me back to get it fixed, which he gracefully did(no teasing or anything). As the same lady fixed my 'do, it kept getting shorter and shorter. Now, my hair is, more or less, one length and falls to about 1 inch below my chin. As Kayle says, "it's growing on me" (pun intended). I think it's not much different than some of my other summer haircuts, so I'm much happier than before...
After the hair fiasco was resolved, Kayle and I had a lovely date in Redmond Town Center, which is set up much like a two story outlet mall but with the charm of a small town feel and Christmas lights. We wandered around, ate dinner at the restaurant we went with Joe when we came out for Kayle's interview, and checked out a store or two. It was very nice and we laughed a lot.
On Saturday, there was a big theology conference hosted at our church with Dr. D.A. Carson. He's a big deal in theology circles, having written/editted more than 50 well-acclaimed books and memorized the whole Bible in Greek/Hebrew and English. Supposedly the guy knows about 6 languages fluently as well. Anyway, I was very excited to hear him speak in 4 lectures about what he thinks are the most important passages about Christ's death and resurrection. He talked about Romans 3, Revelation 12 (woman and dragon), John 11 (raising of Lazarus), and John 20 (doubting Thomas). I've never read a book by him, but both Kayle and I (and some friends who went too) came away impressed and feeling like we learned a lot. Since it was an all-day thing, we went out for lunch with our friends and had burgers at a little pub. When we walked in, a waitress told me that there were "no kids allowed." I think I stared at her blankly for a minute before I realized that she was implying that I (and another younger-looking girl named Kat) were "kids." I laughed and told her we were all over-21. The place was additionally fun because it featured two skeeball machines which provided much joy and entertainment as we waited for our meals. Maybe we are "kids" after all!
At night, Kayle was tired and stayed at home while I went to a Christmas caroling thing. It was awesome. The event was sponsored by a cruise line and is apparently a long-standing tradition in the Puget Sound, running every night for several weeks around Christmas. Each evening, they host a different choir on a large boat all bedecked with Christmas lights and stop at several beaches for a 20 minute sing-a-long Christmas concert. Not only that, but the cruise line has several other large yachts plus private boats join in on the fun by following the "Christmas ship" around, also fully decorated. It was awesome to stand on a beach for a evening concert and have 25-30 colorfully lit boats circling in Lake Washington. Brenda, one of our friends here, always knows about cool random things like this to go to! Apparently, Bellevue also hosts something called "Snowflake Street" where the main road shuts down for a large drum-line dressed as tin soldiers and artificial snow to fall on the spectators. Might have to check that out as well!
On Sunday (today), we went to church where Dr. Don was preaching for the service. He spoke about the four ironies in Matthew's account of the crucifixion of Jesus. Then, we headed home for a nap and a late lunch of homemade pizza. Kayle's video game night from last week was postponed until today, so he'll be gone later on this evening.
We're really looking forward to being home in just over a week!
With lots of love,
Angie and Kayle
No comments:
Post a Comment