Then last friday my sister and her boyfriend came over to watch 10 things i hate about you with me and Caleb. We also played Cranium. And they almost beat us but Caleb and I are formidable foes with extremely different talents so we tend to own that game. Before they came over I avoided doing homework by cleaning my house. Picked up a bit (not a lot though, heh) vacuumed, mopped, washed dishes....and disinfected our bathroom. It wasn't bad, though the toilet was getting a bit scungy as it had been a few weeks since I cleaned it. I think I'm the only person who ever cleans the toilet, but that's life. I have learned not to expect Caleb to think to clean the toilet and then do it of his own volition. I would have to ask him to do it, and while I know he would, I don't mind cleaning the toilet myself...it's a bit icky but it feels good to have a clean toilet! And it feels good to know it's clean because I'm the one who did it!

On Sunday night Caleb and I got a phone call from his cousin who was recently married to a girl and are doing a road-trip honeymoon type thing. They told us they would be coming by L-town on Tuesday night if that was alright with us. I got all the soap scum out of our tub! I have been trying for months with various degrees of chemical weaponry! But I am beginning to think that our shower curtain is beyond help. The water spots will not come off and there is some seriously weird pink tinginess to the previously white cloth bags that are attached to the curtain for storage. That's the problem with clear plastic shower curtains in hard water areas and poor ventilation I guess. I sprayed pretty much straight up vinegar all over that dang thing and to no avail. As well as disinfectant. And the chemical arsenal I tried on the tub. My next step is hydrochloric acid, or just giving up.

So I have found that cleaning is therapeutic. I love the feeling after I've tidied the whole house, disinfected a toilet, banished soap scum from the tub, organized the warddrobe, vacuumed the carpet, mopped the kitchen, made the bed, folded the laundry, cleared the dishes from the sink and made sure everything is in its rightful location....There are two words to describe the beautiful feeling: Goddess. Domestic Goddess. Though i am generally too lazy/distracted to clean on a regular basis.

Anyway they got here late tuesday night and it was lovely to see Lebby's cousin and meet the wife, they are both wonderfully nice people and I love love love Bev's new wife if only because she complimented my coffee making. I always feel inadequate when making coffee! They left the next day in the late morning, just before noon. I wish they could have stayed longer, and that we didn't have to be at work and what-have-you. I would have loved to have showed them around L-town, taken them to the Tandoor or gone snowshoeing up the canyon or something. Oh well, it is hopeful that we'll see them again when we next go to NZ. They are heading down in about two weeks. I think it is awesome that they get to move so quickly! I mean, Bev lived there already but in any case I am envious. hopefully we can move back to chch at the end of our educational experiences.

So those were the highlights of our month. Very little else has happened. I haven't cooked anything marvelous, or sewn anything amazing, or made any scientific breakthroughs at work. I haven't had a creative thought in my head for quite some time. I haven't been to any raucous parties, though I have been attending usual tea time despite its late start of 7 pm. Also Hailey and I have been able to lunch together a lot; hanging out with awesome people is super-duper good times

some sad things that are happening/have happened: I feel like my friend Cait and I are drifting apart, last semester we were having lunch almost every MWF and now I barely ever see her, even at tea. Same with Lellen, I only see her occasionally and a lot of the times when we plan to get together one of us has to bail for whatever reason and that sucks. Mike's dog died recently so he's been sad as of late as well.

my birthday is next week but I don't know if I'll have a party. Maybe next weekend. One of the PhD students in the lab is defending on the actual date marking the anniversary of my birth, so i'll be able to party...if not in my name than in his. Anyway I have birthdays every year and you only defend your dissertation once, so i'm happy to donate my birthday to him. Plus he's wicked awesome, and is always super nice to me despite the fact that i'm totally bonkers most of the time.

I don't know what I'm going to do this weekend. maybe this saturday will finally be the day when I go to the zoo to see the baby elephant. I sure hope so. BABY ELEPHANT HERE I COME.