The first part of our weekend...

Both Jake and I were hoping for a relaxing weekend... but that's not really what we got.  At all. 

Friday was alright.  I was feeling bored at noon, that's not a good sign.  But, thankfully, my visiting teachers (Jessica Wesel and Holly Tensmeyer) are pretty awesome and just dropped by in the afternoon.  Holly brought Ella (2) so Lila had fun following her around the house.  Jessica left her three kids at home (the baby was napping and her older two are 8 and 11).  We all agreed that we're super bored sitting at home all week by ourselves so we're going to try to do better to be more social and be friends.  I'm going to call Jessica definitely this week and go over to her house.  She homeschools, so she's home all day, every day pretty much.  I could tell that we were all just relieved and happy to be talking to other women.  I really need to make sure to get out a few times a week to visit other friends from the ward.

At around 3 we headed to Target to make some returns and of course we bought a few things.  Lila did not poop, which is awesome. :)  It was good to get out though.  We were getting antsy, as one is wont to do on a Friday afternoon, waiting for Daddy to come home.  When he did, he was raring to go to Benton Harbor to pick up a part to fix the seat in my Camry, but he didn't plan well enough and we would've gotten there right as it closed.  So, instead, we went to Home Depot with a 10% off coupon.  Lila had a blast walking around.  We bought white faux-wood blinds for the front windows and new hardware (knobs and handles) for our kitchen drawers and cupboards.  Lila was especially cute... as I was looking at the knobs, she pulled open a drawer of them, two fell out, so she picked them up, put them back in, closed the drawer, opened it again, two fell out, she picked them up and put them back, etc, etc.  Very cute.  And then she wanted to walk all over the store carrying a little bucket of knobs, she was so happy.  The lady who checked us out was from Taiwan; she and Jake had a nice little conversation in Chinese.  She was born in Taiwan but lived mostly in Taibei.

Stopped for my favorite Hungry Howie's pizza (ham and mushroom on butter cheese crust) on the way home (it was 7:30 by the time we got home) and ate it in the car while Lila slept in her car seat.  Got home and eventually put Lila in bed.  I don't think she fell asleep till 10 or so.  She's been very fickle at bedtime lately, and I guess it's because she's teething.  I see her bottom incisors starting to work their way through now.  Ouch.  I passed out along with her for a while, woke up at almost 11, said goodnight to Jake, and went back to bed.  Jake stayed up till 12:30 doing Maestro work on the computer.

Saturday was an early morning for us.  We woke up before Lila did (too early) and couldn't get back to sleep.  As soon as Lila woke up, we all hurried up and got ready so that Jake could help a family from the ward load up a moving van.  Turns out the family was Rigel Henry's family (from the KUB).  They were pretty weird and had a TON of food storage.  So it took a pretty long time.  Lila and I hung out there for a little bit at first, but I couldn't help at all because I was watching Lila, so I took her to Walmart to pick up some things... found some cute dressy sandals and a cute dress that I've loved every time we walked by on sale for $5, two more sippy cups (she has a clear preference for one type of sippy cup now), some miscellaneous household items, and some toilet paper holders and towel bars to screw into the walls.  These people lived for 8 years with no toilet paper holders or towel bars in any of the walls in the bathrooms.  Stopped at Wendy's for a treat on the way back (we get a free Jr. Frosty anytime we buy anything there, sweet fundraising deal) and sat in the car for a while once we got back to the house.  Lila ate some French fries, which was nice to see as she hasn't been eating very well lately (maybe because of the teething?) and I enjoyed my food.  Lila sat quietly in her carseat for like 15 minutes clipping the top buckle of it over and over.  As soon as she would clip it, she'd grunt for me to unclip it.  She's a pretty funny kid. 

Jake was done so we stopped at a nearby garage sale.  I found a few shirts and books for Lila there--most of the stuff was in great shape, from Target.  And they gave Jake a broken weed-whacker for free... which we thought was a blessing (directly related to our going to help the family move that morning)... but it turns out that it's not fixable, so we'll need to buy (a used) one after all.  We need to weed-whack very badly... we'll just borrow a neighbor's until we find one.

Jake spent the afternoon working in the garage, going to Walmart to pick up some more things, and mowing the front yard (it started raining before he could do the back).  I chilled out in the house with Lila and we Skyped with Mom for a while.  Jake went to install the blinds in the front room only to find that one of them was damaged (the box even had "damaged" written on it but we hadn't seen it).  Why in the world would they still sell it, and for the same price as a non-damaged one?  So we headed back to Home Depot.  Also stopped at True Value to pick up something for Jake that he ended up returning on the way home (d'oh!) but I also picked up a paint sample for the kitchen.  (Palladian Blue by Benjamin Moore... click here and here for pictures.)  I'm interested to see what it looks like on the walls.  I definitely wants some color in the kitchen, and I just keep seeing a soft, bluish-green like this.  Can't think of another color I'd like.  I think it'd especially look nice with the white cupboards.  We'll see.

We replaced the hardware in the kitchen and it looks so much better!  Love it!

Called Lauren on the way home and wished her a happy 9th birthday.  Can't believe she's 9 already.  We hadn't talked to her in a long time and were very surprised to find that she doesn't sound like a little girl anymore--she sounds exactly like Melissa!  It was so funny!! 

Got home, got back to work on installing the blinds... only to find out that the one we'd exchanged the damaged one for had been cut to a smaller width but not labeled as such, so it was too small!! 

Last night was insane.  I starting trying to get Lila to go to bed at like 7:00 but finally at 9:00 I couldn't take it anymore, so I just let her run around for a while and she was happy.  Jake had gone back to Home Depot to get the right sized blind.  He finished installing those when he got home.  When I tried putting Lila back to bed she screamed and cried and just wanted to nurse and nurse and nurse and I just lost it.  I was so exhausted and fed up.  I was yelling at her to just got to bed and crying myself.  I had Jake go in there for a while and let myself cool down.  I have not had a moment like that in a long, long time, if ever... it was just awful.  I think I was just way too tired.  Finally got her to sleep and I went to bed not too long after that.  Jake stayed up till 1am... cleaning the entire downstairs bathroom and took a shower before bed.  When he's "on a roll," he can't stop obsessing about things and needs to do them.  Which is usually fine, but not when I'm having a breakdown.  I was really mad at him and annoyed too.

I slept alright... having trouble sleeping lately.  I did wake up and laid there for quite a while at around 5 or 5:30, finally wasn't mad at Jake anymore, probably because I'd slept.  So I cuddled up next to him (he was sleeping) and thought for a long time about how much I love him and how I can't believe it's almost been 7 years since we met.  Mike had sent us these cute texts (more like novels) earlier... he's been with Cassandra since Friday and isn't leaving till tomorrow evening.  They stayed with a family from her mission for a night or two, that's who he's referring to.

(12:51pm)
Psst.  I'm in wellington canada.  It's going pretty well.  Cassandra and I are hanging some doors to a cabinet.  I haven't showered yet today and smell a little bit.  I've been in these clothes since I woke up in Texas yesterday.

(5:30pm)
Well. I just finished showering finally.  I needed that.  Cass is off with the dad, daughter, and one of the sons to look at some of the stuff they have in storage. Then they'll come back and we'll go look at some lilacs. So...we talked about some serious stuff on the way over here last night. It was good. At one point we were driving down this country road and there was lightning off to the left, stars shining off to the right, so we got out to star gaze for a little. :) Yup. Very nice. She told me that when I'm not around she misses me so much. But her plan is to still go to Toronto. Anyhow, we talked about what happens once we get married. Then talked about what happens once we are with baby. She was really happy afterward about having that conversation because it was important stuff that needed to be talked about. We also talked about her ring. lol.  It was funny how we got onto that. But in the end, we agreed that getting engaged is the next step and there's no reason not to at this point. Oh, she said the next step is for me to talk to her dad. Oh boy. I don't know when I'll see him next. But, sounds like I need to make that happen. Oh man, when I got to London, my instructions were to let myself in because she might be taking a nap. So, I quietly sneaked up to her room. Instant make out as she woke up. So good. And we were going to leave right away for Belleville. But we pretty much just made out for 4 hours. And while we were working on a project here, when no one else was around, she'd be Frenching me. It was awesome.  So...yeah, we're gonna get married. It is a bit weird being here though. These people love Cassandra...but really haven't had much to say to me or taken much interest. So...it's a little awkward. But oh well. We leave in the morning.

(6:00pm)
So, it's cool that she wants to be my wife and all. They have this closet in the hall that has 4 doors. And they haven't been hung in a long time.  They had since built a new frame around them. And no one had the patience to get them hung right. So, that project got assigned to me and Cassandra. We did great. Got them all hung. The mom is really happy. So, that was cool. After each stage of success we'd make out a bit. So awesome! Anyhow, seems like we're in love and going to be together forever. That sounds a little faggy to say though. But, it's true. I told her about the first time I went to Canada and how the words came to my mind "this is your future wife talking to you" as she demonstrated her knowledge of her piano with me. She said "well I'm glad you listened." I also told her that i found her on the VW forums. She reiterated that it really was vital that i fixed her car the first time i was at her house. :) so, then i was reflecting on my first trip to Canada and how she had asked what inspired me to make that trip and i said "you." then as we talked she said "it means a lot to me when a guy will take the steps and show initiative." so i said "well it's a balance with not seeming overly obsessive. I had to play it cool for quite a while." she said "enough with playing it cool, just do it." so i said, "okay, what's your ring size?" she said "whoa, i wasn't hinting at or trying to imply that at all." i said "that's sorta the next thing to be done." so she told it's a size 5.5. So, there we go. when we were star gazing she said, "i've just never felt so complete before." :) Yes! I'll be honest, the way i feel when i'm just with Cassandra, not making out or anything, i never felt with Kalina. But, I never knew such a feeling existed. It's amazing and rewarding. It's hard to describe, but it just feels like i belong with her and she with me. It's awesome.

More later...