Another Weekend Flies By

Yesterday ended up being a very busy day, hence there was no post.  Today has been a frustrating day of computing so this post is coming in late.  Actually I'm surprised the computer is working so well after being beaten with a hammer and thrown out the sixth floor window.  I'm a little tired and it is getting late so this won't be my best description ever.

Saturday morning I went over to Celine's and met her seamstress, Sue, and saw the dresses that she made for Celine and Caroline.  Actually, Sue now has a team of people who do the sewing for her because she is too busy but she does meet with her clients to take measurements, do fittings and will go to the fabric market to help pick out material, which is what we did after Sue tried on her finished dress.  This is the same market that I went to with Debbie and the boys a few weeks ago but it was much more relaxing this time.  We went around to several vendors and Celine picked out the fabrics she wanted for five more items.  It was very exciting and the possibilites are endless.  All you  have to do is show Sue a picture or a drawing of what you like and she will get it made for a very reasonable price.  I am going to get her to do Ryan's curtains and perhaps an outfit for me, I just have to decide what I want.  I'm not much of a fashionista but it would be nice to have a couple of pretty outfits for going out while we are here.

We spent quite a while picking out material then Sue left and Celine and I continued looking around on the floor where they make quilts and bedding.  Next we went down a few floors to check out the purses for me but there was nothing there that I really cared for so we headed back to the van and on to Wu'ai market.  Finally!  This place is so cool!  There are at least a couple of buildings but perhaps more and I think six or eight floors of stuff.  Just stuff.  We found out that purses were on the second floor of another building so we made our way there and along the way I came across some backpacks.  A while ago Tim had asked me to pick one up for him so he could use it as a gym bag.  I grabbed one off the rack and asked the guy how much.  He told me it was 60rmb (about $9).  I offered him 30rmb and he said no.  I said thanks and was walking away when he yelled after me that he would take 50.  I said no again so he shrugged and said okay, that he would take 30.  Score for me! 

Next we made our way to the purse area and it was great to have Celine there because, not only is she a lot of fun, but she can tell the difference between a good quality fake purse and lousy one in seconds.  This was really helpful because we were pressed for time and I'm not much good at picking our what's decent and what's crap.  After checking out several stores I finally found a purse that I really liked.  It was pink, leather and had lots of room for all the junk I seem to have to carry now.  The really cool thing about this bag was that inside there was another smaller one that you can remove when you don't need the bigger one.  I asked the price and the guy told me it was 350rmb, a lot more than I wanted to spend, but I really wanted it.  We dickered back and forth for a bit and finally we agreed on 220.  I was pleased and Celine was really excited.  She thought it was the perfect back for me.  Now I just needed a wallet for inside the purse.  After searching and a lot of bargaining I found an Hermes knock off for 50rmb.  On the inside it says Made In France and when I showed Celine she just said, "Puh!".  It doesn't have the French quality but it will do for me.

After finding a sun hat for Celine we made our way, surprisingly easy, to the parking garage and our van.  When we found it we noticed there was a guy who worked there sitting on a chair by the passenger door, sleeping.  Tian Ye started to go then stopped the van and got out.  He had to go wake the guy up and get him to move his feet so he wouldn't run over them.  Great worker!  We made a stop at Carrefour then on to home where we said our goodbyes.  We had a lot of fun and I had some great laughs with her.  We plan to do it again soon.

I got in the door, grabbed a quick bite of some sushi I had bought at Carrefour then Tim, the boys and I headed back out to the van to go to Cristina and Daniel's for supper.  They live in the city center, right by the pedestrian shopping street, in a building that is quite new.  They have a lovely apartment and the ammenities are fabulous.  After a wonderful supper they took us for a tour of the common areas.  First we saw the gym and it was really nice.  I miss having a treadmill to burn off stress and make me feel energized so I was a little envious of their clean, brand new machines.  We had a difficult time getting Nicholas off the exercise bike but when we did we were shown the children's playroom.  It was clean and new and had a great ball pit.  I got got in with the boys then Cristina joined us.  We started throwing balls at the guys and ended up having a really fun ball fight with all six of us being in on it.  It was the second time that day I had some laughs and it felt great.  I realized that it's been a while!

After cleaning up the balls in the playroom we made our way next door to a room that housed a pool table, fusball game and a Wii.  I asked Cristina if she liked pool but she had never played so we started a game of nine ball.  After a bit the guys joined us and we played teams, girls against the guys.  They beat us the first two games but the last one Cristina sunk the nine ball and we won!  She did really well and I think enjoyed learning to play so perhaps they will get some use out of it on their own.  At this point it was getting kind of late and we decided we should get the boys home so we went back to their apartment, had some quick but tasty desserts then left for home.  It was a fantastic evening and I hope we can do it again soon.  They are a lot of fun and Nicholas and Ryan really enjoy spending time with them too.

When we got home and got the kids to bed I thought about writing the blog, until I turned on the computer and my internet connection wouldn't last more than a minute.  I decided I was too tired to fight with it and I went to bed.  The kids actually slept well until seven this morning when Ryan got up.  I figured it was too early for him to be awake when he went to bed late so I tried for an hour to get him to go back to sleep.  When that wouldn't work I went in to our room and asked Tim to get up with him.  He did and I slept for another two and a half hours.  I guess the week of restless sleeping caught up with me.  However, had I remembered that today was Father's Day and realized the guilt I would feel for the rest of the day, I damn sure would have stayed up and let Tim sleep in.  It wasn't until I dragged my ass out of bed and sat down to eat some breakfast that it clicked into my pea brain what day it was.  There were no sweet Father's Day cards from the boys, no breakfast in bed, nothing.  Oh, what a bad wife I am.  Of course Tim, being the great man that he is, said that it was fine and not to worry about it.  That just made me feel even worse (I'm not sure if that was intentional) so I decided that next Sunday would be Father's Day in China.  In the meantime, he walked up to Carrefour and got some groceries while I fought with the computer and reformatted it several times to try and get everything working.  I think it's okay now, except that I have to use a cable to get on the internet as the wireless seems to be toast. 

The nicest part of our day turned out to be the supper preparation.  Tim loves to cook and try out new things so we decided to make chicken balls using our own batter made with rice flour.  They turned out very nicely and the kids even ate them.  We also made beef, vegetables and rice and it was a tasty supper.  Afterwards we took the boys outside to play since it was finally cool enough.  It has been very warm and humid here this weekend.

So that was pretty much our weekend.  It was a great one and I can't believe it's come to an end already.  One other thing I have to mention happened this afternoon.  Tim was down on the floor playing forklifts with Nick and telling him about the ones they have at Michelin while I worked on the computer.  I can't remember how the subject came up but Tim said that Cristina and Daniel would make great parents and he wondered if they would start a family soon.  Nick asked if that was because they were married and if, once a couple got married, they just got a kid.  Tim answered that no, you don't just get a kid once you are married so then it was the inevitable question, "Where does the baby come from?".  Tim wasn't quite ready to field that one so I was brought into the conversation.  Nicholas came over and stood in front of me and as I started to explain he interupted with, "So, do you have to be married before you can get a baby?".  I told him that you didn't and he asked why we got married then.  I told him, "We wanted to be married and I wanted a nice ring" then he went back to how we got a baby.  Again I started to explain and got as far as the egg inside the woman when he interupted again.  This time his question was, "Did you know that at Michelin they have forklifts where the forks can separate to pick stuff up?".  I guess he was bored with the conversation and decided to go back to something that was more interesting to him.  It gave us another chuckle anyway!

That's it for tonight.  I know some of you now thinking you will scroll down the page and see pictures from this weekend but I'm afraid not.  I forgot my camera yesterday and although both Celina and Cristina took pictures, I have yet to receive them.  I will try to get copies tomorrow and post them then.  My bad.  I could post pictures of my new purse but I'm too tired.  I will do those tomorrow too.  I know, I know, I'm getting a little slack at this blogging thing.  I will do better!

Of course, I must say a Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful father's out there in the blogosphere, but especially to my Dad.  He is a faithful reader and one of my biggest influences.  I'd like to think I get my sense of humor, and with it my sarcasm, from him.  I miss cooking suppers with you and just hanging out drinking wine and talking or shootin' the shit about our days.  Thank goodness for Skype!  At least we can still drink and talk!  Have a great Father's Day!