A quiet day

The painting in my bedroom was done by this art student form Inner Mongolia who was selling them back in Beijing at the Forbidden City.

Sophia in her bed -- she has finally gone back to sleeping on her own, thank heaven.

Not a lot to report today. I was feeling a little under the weather stomach-wise -- the first time really -- so in the morning the girls and I stuck close to home. After my morning chores I was lounging reading back issues of the New Yorker someone left when the maid came to vacuum and clean the bathroom. Did I mention that we have a maid? She empties the trash, vacuums and cleans the bathroom (sort of) 3 times a week. We are on friendly terms, but I find it a little odd. I would rather she left the vacuum and I could do it myself! Then I could get that dust from under the bed without feeling bossy and having to point it out to her. While the room were clean I took a few pictures to complete the tour of our apartment. We finally have nearly everything put away and have done a little rearranging to make the place our own. Thomas has a privacy curtain now and we call his room "the cave". Speaking of Thomas, he is now walking home from the bus stop in the afternoon, since there is a crossing guard. In the morning Deborah or I are taking him and Kate to the bus. The walk is mostly on campus, takes about 15 minutes, but its a big step towards independence for him. I think we will start giving him some spending money so he can stop at the store on the corner on his way if he wants.

The girls and I took a walk back to the temple grounds today and actually saw a frog sitting on a lily pad. Too bad I didn't have the camera. My shopping quest for the day was to find the European embroidery store to get a hoop for the cross stitch kits I brought. I had the address from a flier and unbelievably, I found it!