Well my parents came for another visit - which means we have some stories :)
The first of them being that it took my parents over a week to travel what should have taken two days. The transmission in their RV broke down and by the time they came limping into San Diego they had just spent 10 hours travelling from LA to our apartment - a feat that should only have take two. But they eventually made it and they didn't blow up, so that was good news.
Michael and I were both really busy with school so my parents spent a lot of time doing their own thing, not that they minded. When we did have a chance to all be together, Michael and I (ok mostly I) learned some valuable lessons.
Lesson 1: How to fix your garburator (or garbage disposal for those of you who don't speak Canadian).
Our garbage disposal stopped working a day or two before my parents came and rather than calling maintenance my dad decided to fix it himself. Several globs of black goo, a repulsive smell, and a few wrench turns later and voila, our garbage disposal was like new. Apparently a sharp blade had somehow gotten into the system....
Lesson 2: If your dryer doesn't work, check the lint filter.
We bought our washer and dryer off craigslist so of course we were expecting a few quirks (hence the timer-run dryer), but for some reason it would take FOREVER for our clothes to dry. I told this to my mother when she went to do a load of laundry and within one minute she had found the problem: the lint filter. We had apparently forgotten about the filter and so when my mom pulled it out there was literally 2 inches of lint stuck to the filter, sadly we threw it out before thinking to take a picture.
Disclaimer: Just so I don't come off as completely lacking in common sense, I know about cleaning the filter in dryers between loads but in all the dryers I've used before the filter was in the door and so you see it when you go to put your clothes in to dry. Since the filter in this dryer is sort of hidden, I just didn't think about it. Not to mention that I had expected the problem to be much more complicated since it was a Craigslist dryer.
Lesson 3: Lots of plants go dormant in the winter - they aren't dead and you don't need new ones.
Apparently I didn't pay very good attention as a child. Our strawberries weren't looking very healthy and I figured they were dead since we hadn't been taking care of them. A few moments with my mom and they were cleaned up and had a fresh layer of soil on top. Not only did she fix the strawberries, but she went through each of the plants in our little deck garden and afterwards they all looked much happier. You saw the blueberries; talk about a green thumb.
On top of all this, mt parents fixed the giant chip in our sink, helped cook dinner, did the dishes, cleaned, and helped with countless other little things on our to-do list including taking our Honda in for a re-call fix. Oh the joy of having parents around!
I want to give a special shout out to my mom for helping in the kitchen. It is so nice have the mess disappearing as you're making a meal; the end result is much more satisfying when there isn't a pile of dishes waiting for you attention. Can I hire you permanently? I'll let you sleep with Lily in the living room!
Other highlights from their trip:
-We had a good time with Michael's parents at Souplantation
-We had the missionaries over for dinner on Sunday and topped our record for most people in our apartment at one time (7). I don't think we will be doing that again anytime soon.
-We went to Costco and part of the store didn't have power and so we missed out on 4 samples :(
- We helped my dad purchase an iPad 2 from craigslist and fixed his computer (see, it's a symbiotic relationship: they help us with hands-on problems and we help them with technological issues).
-my mom went to the pool thinking I was going to do homework (which I was), but my dad and I ended up watching a movie. Mom if you're reading this I was still doing homework while watching the movie and I did well on my exam the next day :)
All in all another fun trip. It's always a joy to see family, especially when they live so far away. Thanks for the great visit guys!
In other news.....
For Valentine's day Michael and I went out to eat. We went to Outback Steakhouse because we really like their mushrooms and garlic mashed potatoes.
We also love the hot bread and butter which was gone before we could take a picture.
And despite telling ourselves several times that we were not allowed to start eating before we took a picture of our food, we still somehow managed to forget, so this is all we have:
Valentine's day this year was much more of a success as we didn't spend the majority of the evening apart. My wonderful husband got me a beautiful mini bush of azaleas and a package of hot links; the man sure knows the key to my heart.
Oh, and he also made me these delicious chocolate covered cheesecake strawberries. YUM.
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