Back to Business

First of all, thank you to all who posted well wishes for me Friday. It was a happy day for me, though I did have to work the part time job that day. I was bursting to tell everyone, although my coworkers are tired of hearing about it, I'm sure. Suzanne, you are the winner of a free copy of Stellar Heat. Please email me at riley@riley-quinn.com with the email you want it sent to.

This past weekend was a busy weekend. We started off Saturday with a trip into post to do laundry. I think once we know we're staying longer, I'm getting a washer and dryer for the apartment. The German version is much different though, but trekking into post and then NOT being able to do laundry… When we showed up at the laundromat, it was full of soldiers. I mean, every single machine taken. I've never seen it that busy before. So we headed to the PX (Post Exchange – kinda like Walmart) and an early lunch.

Outside the PX was a Turkish company selling carpets. Now, we've lived here over a year. We've needed carpets for the living room for all this time, but we finally got around to buying some Saturday. Below is a picture of the large one. The couch (in pieces, as you can see) sits on it perfectly and I think the coffee table we have coming will slide right into place. We have a smaller rug and a runner coming that should be here on Wednesday. Once we get the furniture (end of May *fingers crossed*), I'll post a pic of the whole effect. I can't believe the difference the one rug makes.

Then we ate lunch, bought groceries and headed home where we were promptly invited to join the neighbors behind us for dinner. Our neighbor's birthday was Saturday and his son's birthday was Sunday so we celebrated by grilling out. I know I've talked about German food before but have I mentioned the spread they put out? Yum. We had bratwurst, bauch (not sure if I'm spelling it right) which is kind of like really thick bacon, and pork steaks along with potato salad, pasta salad, bread and stuffed banana peppers. Everything was so good.

Sunday I did some work in the office, had my chat with my accountability group and then trekked upstairs for another birthday party. There were 3 kinds of cake, coffee and then later in the evening, baked trout. I swear, I don't know how Germans keep from being huge. Must be the schnapps.

So, lovely weekend with beautiful weather. Yesterday it reached 75 and was sunny. As my neighbor, Renate, said, "Balcony season is open." Today is more like the Germany I'm used to, though. It's overcast and rainy. Cooler than yesterday, but still about 60. I guess that's good incentive to get my work done, right. So, I'm off to the laundromat for another try, along with my trusty AlphaSmart. I really want to finish those last two chapters of the rough draft of OOTS this week.

What was your weekend like? Busy? Relaxing? Good weather?