Em N Ru: I LOVE August

General: Ruben has been fascinated by his phone. Its an older phone, a dumbphone in that it does not connect to the internet, but it sends texts, has a touchscreen, and makes calls. It also has a memory card in it. He figured out how to transfer songs from his computer to his phone, and he's been playing music from his pocket all the time. Often its Weird Al, or some hip hop. He has a variety of styles of music he likes, and his choices are limited to what I bought and he has access to.
I was outside watering the garden and I looked up to see Ruben standing on the pegs of Bryce's bicycle, holding on to his shoulders as they flew down the hill behind our apartment with the Indiana Jones theme song blasting from his pocket at the loudest volume that tiny speaker can handle. I almost fell down from laughing so hard. Last night he was taking a bath to the Mario video game cave music, and this evening he's laying next to me clicking his tongue to the Addams Family theme.

Monday the 11th of August:
I got up and went to a class called Group Power. Its like group weightlifting with cardio thrown in. It toasted my legs, but that's not all bad. I was feeling tired and crabby, and just puttered around the house, in 100 degree weather, wishing it was only 90. Ruben's friend Cameron came by and the boys played together so long that it was dark. Ruben wanted Cameron to spend the night, and so I was up playing Yahtzee with them till 11, and Fred took over kid watch till 2am when he was tired of listening to them whisper and giggle and came to bed too. Ruben told me the next day that they had stayed up till 3 playing Yahtzee and Lego. Crazy kids.

Tuesday the 12th of August:
I got up and did nothing. It hurt to go down the stairs my legs were so sore, and as the day went on it got worse. As I was laying in bed procrasting about leaving the apartment Fred got a phone call from Judson Middle School asking him to come in for a job interview next Monday. It would be really handy if he lands that one. Its only a 3.5 hour IA position, but its a start.

Fred wanted to go downtown to apply for jobs at the state fair, and I had some errands to run so I drove him. Ru and I dropped by the bank, then the library, then we went to the mall downtown. I need new work clothes pretty badly. When Fred met up with us (they had already hired everyone they needed) he asked how long I'd be. Well I can usually shop for a few hours so he took Ru to the movies. They saw Guardians of the Galaxy in 3D at Cinebarre (its a cinema, and a bar).

I shopped at JC Penny and found nothing I wanted. I shopped at Kohls and found nothing I wanted, and I went to Macy's, and had a personal shopper, and found nothing that fit well that I wanted. It was weird to go shopping with a huge list of things to get, and find nothing. I was looking for dress slacks in various colors, tailored jackets, a denimn jacket, crisp white and colored collared shirts, high boots with a medium heel, a colorful handbag or two... I'm going to try Target and Fred Meyer next, then head to the outlet mall.

Our neighbor Mary came by and offered us a free piano. Fred took her up on it. We all know there is no such thing as a free piano, but this one was small and only one key didn't work, so he said yes.

Wednesday August 13
My team pretty much gave up on our fitness challenge. We have the lowest score of all the teams. Its kind of sad because I really did well, I did all the challenges, kept my journal, went to the classes, and ate the diet. Problem is we are all teachers, and during summer we travel, party, visit, and relax.

This morning after our breakfast burritos we went to the UHaul store and rented a moving dolly. We got the piano home with the help of our neighbor Ray, and it perfectly fit into the dining room. It is terribly out of tune, but the pedals work. We got a tuning estimate of $95. I think it will sound really nice once we get it tuned up.

After the piano moving, I lifted some weights and then went to dance class. We worked some more on our Christmas hulas. I'm not the most coordinated dancer, and I'm the tallest in class, and one of only two white girls. I think the word that describes me best is gawky.