Count me IN!

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2

I woke up to the census lady coming by. Oh, I forgot to tell you about her! My doorbell rang earlier last week and it was a nice Japanese lady with an official looking arm band who spoke no English. I did my best with Japanese (Elizabeth says she thinks I'm getting much better. I think I”m just getting more creative.) and still nothing practical resulted. So I grabbed her and we went downstiars to Josh's apartment where Ali answered the door with a screaming baby. I appologized profusely and she said she just needed a moment to grab him. Once she had him he stopped crying and the lady and she spoke. Ali then told me that this woman was from the census and would bring me an English copy of the form next Saturday morning. I thanked Ali profusely.

And, come Saturday morning, as expected, I woke up to this nice Japanese woman dropping off my census form. I need to do that...

I made breakfast, and started in on dishes and laundry. It's amazing how fast my dishes pile up! And it's just one person and there's still always a sink-full! I had three loads of laundry which I did and hung to dry while chatting with friend from home.

Then I started in on my sewing. See, I had to have my collar sewn onto my underkimono. So, as I was on Skype with Alan, it seemed like a good way to be extra productive. The collar took me about FOUR HOURS to finish hand sewing. Which was about three hours more than I'd expected. So, I didn't get to go to Hard-Off as I'd planned. But it had to be done and I got it done. I also stabbed my self with enough needles that if I were sleeping beauty, I'd be sleeping through the second coming. I managed to get blood on the white fabric, but it came right out. I also stabbed myself under the nail while putting away the needles and that HURT!

Elizabeth and I had a date to go shopping that evening, so we met at 5:15 and headed out to the grocey store. There wasn't much she wanted, but I had a whole list and my new backpack. We swung first up to the kimono shop for me to pick up the ribbon I needed. It took a while for me to say what I needed because I had forgotten to bring my classmate's example with me. But, they figured it out and I ended up getting a two-pack of the lace ones, as they were the same price as the regular ones. Then it was downstairs for food. Two hours later, we also had her friend Dusty and I had significantly less money on me. It all couldn't fit into my backpack, so I was carrying some and Dusty had some. I'm so excited to cook now! We also bumped into Ali, Josh, and baby Thomas that store.

I dropped my stuff off at home, checked my e-mail, scarfed down some leftover pasta, and then headed back to Elizabeth's where she and Dusty were waiting for me. I was back again to pick up ice, then back at Elizabeth's. We had chips and they made a pudding dessert thing. They had drinks and I donated the sparkling cider my teachers had given me upon my arrival for the occasion. I can't handle carbonated beverages, but they were quite appreciative.

We eventually settled down to watch Sex and the City II, as I'd never seen it and they both liked it. When we had watched 72 minutes, the website kicked us off for 50 or so, so we took a break and tried the pudding stuff. I didn't like the lemon flavor, so I was sure to mix in extra peanut cream and chocolate whip. Dusty thought the peanut cream was beyond sketchy and thought the chocolate whip was dreadful. I agree they're not American standard, but he's much too critical.

At midnight when the movie ended, I stumbled back to my apartment.