The Week in Review

This past week has held some adventure for the boys.

The little stores around here all carry a collection of stuff, including the Chinese version of Snap Pops. These are normally harmless in the USA. You just throw them down and they go “POP.” But the Chinese like to make it a little more fun. Instead of wrapping the powder in paper, they roll the powder up in a paper tube, then put two white plugs on either end. When you throw the snap pops down, one of plugs shoots out, turning the most harmless firework into mini-guns. It doesn’t really hurt to get hit by one, but EJ did have a “What the heck was that?” look on his face after being shot.

Another fun adventure for the boys was coming home from the playground with Mommy and Waiwai (grandma). EC got home first, and before the door had closed, he said, “Daddy, guess what I did? I rode a motorcycle!” A few minutes later, N got home, and before the door had closed, he said, “Daddy, guess what I did? I rode a motorcycle!” EC rode with Waiwai, and N and EJ rode with Mommy (that’s right, FOUR people on one motorcycle). “It was cooooolllll!”

Then, like the idiots we be, we climbed the muddy mountain again. And again, we came back muddy. But this time, I was helping EJ up when he slipped, which caused me to slip. I went sliding down on my face so that my whole right side was covered with mud. EJ went head-over-heels so that his back and hair were muddy.

Mommy was greatly pleased.

In the Good News department, we bought a new couch. With Chinese New Year coming up, we had to create more sitting space for our future guests. Apparently, dining room table chairs aren’t good enough. We also apparently needed a TV since our guests will want to watch TV. So our table and two-seater sofa headed back to Waiwai’s apartment, while one of the TVs came over here.

Last Thursday, we went couch hunting, and decided to have one made since we didn’t see any that would fit our house. On Monday, the couch was delivered…and was nearly too big to fit through the door.

We had it custom made because to the left of the couch is a heater, and to the right is the shoe cabinet, and nearly every couch is saw was made up of a thin back, and large throw pillows acted as the back cushions and none of them were comfortable. JP requested that the back of the couch have three layers of sponge instead of the normal one layer. The boss-man called her over the weekend to tell her it didn’t look nice and wasn’t very comfortable, but when she got there she liked it, and so did one of the guys that was making the couch. The only problem with it is that the seat needs to be about an inch wider, but then it would not have fit through the door.

Everyone seems to like it, even though you are also looking at our new kitchen table (which I bought years ago in Kaifeng).

So, yes, we got a custom-made sofa in three days. Hopefully it was last for many years.