08 March 2009

Shopping, Tile, and the Wonder Pets

I taught RE today and without doing as rigorous preparation, it went well. A good deal of that was due to Kevin who brought in a convection oven and baked with the kids. The baking as a class and for each other went nicely after talking about the community of our class, our families and the church and doing the pepper, soap, and sugar trick. While we waited for the cookies to bake we read Yertle the Turtle and talked about what it takes to be a good “king” or leader of a community. And then, the got to eat cookies and milk – and what could be better.

I have met such good people during this teaching experience. From my reluctance to teach in general to a feeling of great gratitude towards my colleagues and the kids we teach, has been a journey which reminds me that burdens have a chance to become gifts. So the task has not changed but my mind and heart has.

Yesterday, the three of us went shopping for a good long time. It was rainy and ucky out but a good day to do tasks which might be sensibly put aside if the sun was shinning. We visited two plumbing showrooms, a tile shop, and Home Depot. In each place we priced and talked and as we did I saw that what I had picked out on Friday was indeed the best option for our bathroom. We were given an estimate which was a high according to our budget for the work done. I am waiting for a full estimate from the other plumber. Truth be told, Home Depot has the same hardware – tub, sink, accessories – at a much lower price than the plumbers. Of course, with them, we will need a plumber installing the stuff. I'll check that out tomorrow. Then there is the balance of convenience of having all of the work and the hard ware from one place vs. making sure the hard ware in delivered and then have the plumber come. There is a slight chance this can all be done next week, and if that is possible we are going to go for it. Our noisy steam room, which is the disguise our bathroom now takes, is driving us all bonkers. Not to mention the waste of water!!

I am going to do the tiling. I'll price it out tonight but either a modified subway tile (3”x6”) or the regular 4”x4” will go on the surrounding around the tub. The floor will be 1” hexagons with a boarder of two or three rows of 1” squares. This is very old fashion. The only variation from the original is that there will be no black squares or hexagons interspersed in the pattern. Not much of a comment on the original but something.

Back to the shopping of yesterday. We told Julia that if she was cooperative during all of the shopping that we could get a toy. Going to five stores, all of which were incredibly boring to anyone especially an 8 year old, took an awful lot of self control. Daddy helped with the control. We got through all the bathroom shopping and did a big food shopping and then headed to Toys R Us – it seems like only yesterday that we couldn't even consider going to a store like that with all the sensory overload.

Julia asked for toys from the show Wonder Pets. We found a Wonder Pet boat with the three characters in small action figure size. The boat has a button that when pressed has a few phrases that the characters say plus a abbreviated version of the theme song. She loves it. It is a show and toy meant for a younger child, but the story line about about saving baby animals and saving anything in trouble is a favorite for Julia.

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