Time Flies (part1)

Date: February 5-6

First of all, let me just say I am really frustrated with blogger and I have no idea what is going on. Unless I break up my posts, I cannot get a post onto my page. I first thought it was the length of the post, but today my post was much so much small and I STILL had to cut it in half! I have no idea what is going on here, and of course, there is nothing resembling tech support here so... I guess I am SOL until this get worked out.

I have been keeping myself busy with everything I possibly can. I have barely spent 24 hours in my apartment. If I am not over at Pam and Sam’s house, I am out running errands with them. Anything to keep my hands busy I have been doing. When I have done all the work I can for Pam, and I am waiting for dinner, I organize the pantry, or redo the slipcover on the couch, hang laundry, fold laundry. Anything to keep me occupied. I have barely had the time to write, which I think is pretty good. It will not always be this way. Someday I am going to get tired of constantly doing, and I will take some time out to sit in my apartment and watch movie after movie, or polish my nails, or do something just for me. But, for now, I am happy to be moving ninety miles an hour. Pam is always really good about thanking me for the little things I do around the house. The other day I organized her linen closet, and she was amazed at the difference. Last night, while she was making dinner, I started to reorganize her shelves and I told her if she ever just got tired of me organizing, to tell me to stop and I would understand. On the contrary, she was really happy to have me doing little things around the house, and told me how much she appreciated my help. I work every day on things relating to her travel business. I think she was surprised yesterday, when I told her I was planning to do some more work for her after lunch. “On the weekend?” she asked me. “You know, if you ever want to take some time off, then you can. You do not have to work on the weekends.” I told her I would let her know when I needed some time off, but honestly, I feel like I have a little bit of time off every day. Mostly I do not get up until eight, nine or nine thirty on the weekends, and I always take a break right after lunch to call mom for about an hour; and to be quite frank, nothing I have encountered so far seems like work. Every day is filled with a little bit of errands, a little bit of leisure, a little bit of work, and a little bit of peace.
Yesterday Pam, Siena, Emma, and I went to Siena to do a little shopping. Unfortunately, the only shopping they needed to do was in the newer industrial part of the city, and completely detached from the old historic city center. Still, it was fun to see and do things normal Italian people do. We first stopped at a discount shoe store, where we looked for shoes for Siena and Emma. I did find some cute shoes for myself, but they were not very comfortable, and I think I am going to save my money for something a little grander. Then, because we were hungry and trying to wait out the rain, we scuttled over to the bar next door and had a pastry and a cup of coffee. The rain had let up a little by the time we finished our snack, and we walked down the way to a little mini home depot/bed bath and beyond. It was called “Things for the Home” and, to be honest I was not really impressed with it. The prices were expensive for the quality of things you were buying. It almost reminded me of the home things you see at TJ Maxx. Sometimes there are good deals to be had, but most of the time it is just clutter. Our last stop of the day was the grocery store, where I got a few new things for the house, and Pam bought more food for the week. Almost as soon as we had stepped foot in the door both of the girls started asking for everything in sight. First, they saw some plants they wanted. Then it was a certain type of pudding, and then it was a candy, and so on and so forth. I think I must have been like this when I was a child as well. Pam kept telling the girls there was not enough money for frivolous purchases, but did eventually relent to two things per girl. (Continue reading below)