I finally did it (II) !

Yes, yet another self-congratulatory post by Elaine. (as Michael would say) But, yet again, I have accomplished a task that has been on mental and paper to-do lists for way too many years. I recaulked behind the kitchen sink. That’s right. Using a combination of tools from a pathetic plastic de-caulking tool I bought at Fred Meyer, to a nut-pick, to my classy little gerber knife I bought years ago when I was in karate, I scraped off the (remaining) existing caulk on the seam at the bottom of the baseboard on the counter on the sink side of my kitchen. Then I bleached all of the icky mildewey parts, washed it off, let it dry and caulked it – all by myself! Yesterday I did the tub. I’m feeling very handy-woman-like these days. I don’t want any comments by anybody saying, “yeah, I did a lot of caulking when I rebuilt my entire kitchen by myself” or anything like that, OK?! That would cast me into the depths of a proper understanding of my capabilities, and we don’t want that. \par
\par
My sister KD is staying with me this week while my parents are vacationing in Arizona. She watched the boys for me so that I could do the caulking project – without her it would’ve been much less pleasant.\’c3\’82\’c2\~I don’t know if I didn’t get enough sleep last night or if caulking is unreasonably strenuous or if being 5 months pregnant is just wearing me out more and more every day, but after I’d finished my project I was wiped out. I sent the boys to play in their room, nominally under KD’s care (she did her math in the dining room and drank tea) and laid down on the couch, for just a few minutes – which turned into an hour long nap! That was a little unusual, especially the boys being quiet in Judah’s room for a whole hour – but if they made noise I didn’t hear it.\par
\par
After my nap, we ate a quick lunch and packed up and took a trip to downtown Portland. Not because we had anything to do there, but because I figured that while KD was staying with me I really ought to take her somewhere interesting. It wasn’t a fabulously fun trip, as we were walking around Pioneer Place Mall with two small boys – and no matter how good they are, it is not particularly fun shopping with two small boys. But she says she had a good time, and likes to see the big city phenomena, so hopefully it was somewhat memorable. We popped in at Michael’s office, just to say hi, and because the boys enjoy looking out of his window, and then we went back home. So, it’s been a big day, what with doing home improvement projects and going Downtown! \par
\par
As a side note, Ezra has just recently started attempting to say his own name. He says, “I Evra,” quite proudly. And when Judah says his whole name, Ezra tries to indicate his whole name, too, but he gets confused and starts calling himself “Bampa” because his middle name is Grandpa Howard’s first name, and he’s not sure how that all works.