five (+ five) on friday

This is my 59th attempt to revive the five on friday section of this blog.  In an attempt to make up for  lost time, I'll throw in five extras for free!  Eat your heart out, people!



1.  You might have read about Jason's accident with the handsaw.   Good news--- he is now stitches-free and it looks like he might live!  We are finally able to laugh about it a little, but it is something I NEVER want to relive.  Here's an updated picture of the arm:



2.  Today was the first day we've used a power tool since Jason cut his hand.  In fact, we finished the project that initiated the use of the saw.  This curtain is used to close off the family room so that we can contain the air conditioning or heat- whichever applies.  It had recently fallen, but now it's up and running.  And no one was injured in the process!



(The armed guard was adamant about being in the picture.)

3.  Speaking of heat, India is cooling off.  We're officailly in our "winter season."  I will admit that it can be very cool inside the house.  Because our houses are made of concrete, without insulation, and the floors are all covered in tile/marble, it is usually colder inside than out.  But I was shocked to see that our local schools were closing until January 14 due to "severe cold weather."  Don't believe me:  click here to see the newspaper article.

Here' s a look at our seven day forecast.  Bundle up!  I think snow might be just on the horizon!

4.  With such frigid temperatures, I was finding that my dryer (a.k.a. clothes rack) wasn't working as efficiently as it did when we were nearing 115 degrees.

Lucky for me, Santa came early and I'm the proud new owner of a real CLOTHES DRYER!  A couple of things I want you to notice:

• The object with the white cover directly beside the dryer is the washing machine.  The washing machine is the same as what you would find in America.  But I'm guessing none of you have a dryer that compares in size to this one!
• Size doesn't matter!  I put a load in and less than an hour later, we pull out hot, fresh. soft clothes.  For the first time in 19 months, we don't have to sport crunchy bluejeans and underwear.  Hello, soft clothes!
• There are two settings:  normal and easy.  I'm guessing easy means "warm."  But I stick with normal.

(The boy on the dryer was all about modeling today.)

5.  If you live without a dryer for long enough, your children will forget what it is.  I told Jack to put something in the "dryer" the other day, and he returned by saying, "I see two washing machines, but what is a "dryer?"  Have we been in India too long?

6.  Rubbing alcohol will get silly putty out of fabric couches.  Wanna know how I know that?  Ask the little guy on the dryer in #5.

7.  Since the weather is cooler, the boys spend LOTS of time outside.  In the evenings, they enjoy sitting by the fire with our neighborhood guards.  During his bath one evening, Max mentioned that a spark had burned his finger.  I asked him what the guard did when it happened.  His response, "Oh- he just put my finger in his mouth and did his tongue around it."  I have no words.  But be assured- we washed the wound that evening.

8.  Speaking of that little boy--- Max will be 5 on Tuesday.  That's an entire handful of fingers.  I've begged and pleaded with him to stay 4, but he is determined to break my heart.  I'm putting my foot down after this birthday.  Five is all I can handle.

9.  If you looked at the picture in #3 for more than a second, you might have noticed a few Christmas decorations.  I wish I could say there were only a few still lingering around, but on January 11th, our house is still fully decorated for the big day- garland on the gate, a decorated and lit tree, stockings, and ornaments.  And if I'm honest I don't really see an end in sight.  They've been up so long that they've become part of the house.  Would it be crazy if I kept them up forever?

10.  Christmas decorations aren't the only area of my life where I need to do some cleaning.  Jason has this thing about his email account.  It MUST stay empty.  When he is notified that he has an email, he races to move it to a folder or delete if for life.  NOT ME!  He was looking over my shoulder as I was checking email.  He was horrified to see my inbox.  Yep- I have 10,282 emails in my inbox.  And I'm convinced I may need them all one day, so for now, they are staying put... all 10,282 of them!






And with that, five on friday comes to a close.  Hope you enjoy your weekend and get lots of rest.  Monday will be back before we know it!