Back home

Selah posing with the fake flowers we just bought from Ikea

We've been back in our apartment for 15 days now. It is good to be back.

After returning, the first order of business was cleaning the house from top to bottom. It took me 9 days. Of course it wasn't 9 full days of cleaning. There were very important other things that needed to be done throughout that time, like go to the park every morning, have dinner with friends, go to the store (several times), and change our t.v. cabinet into a computer nook.

Ryan worked hard for almost a week on this project. I'm so pleased with the result. No more seen computer in our living room. The printer is hidden away in the cabinet too! Ryan also installed some great speakers to enhance our music listening and movie watching experiences.

I still want to get some new curtains made for the current guest, soon-to-be baby room. Enough projects for now...back to telling you about the most disgusting cleaning job...

We have these shutter-type things that we closed over all of our windows while we were gone. We left one cracked because there were pretty flowers growing in a planter on the outside of the window sill. One very naughty pigeon made this a warm nest for himself and others. So, the entire length of the window sill was caked with poo and the windows were smeared with it. Yuck!! Ryan, while wearing a mask, spent over an hour cleaning up that mess. What a man!

Selah is at school today, for the second half-day this week. She couldn't wait to get back. She squealed with delight when Zeynep, our good friend and babysitter came last week. She is now remembering more of the language each day. Today she commented that she only knew how to say "yes" when we came back, but now she remembers more words every day! Yippee!

Eden has started eating more than I've ever seen her eat. I'm wondering if she feels back at home, even though she was only 14 months old when we left. I didn't think she'd really notice, but maybe she does. She is doing so well.

Eden trying to find the scent of the fake flower.

I am enjoying eating the food I've missed for several months. Last night I made a vegetable dish that is basically a bunch of vegetables cooked in olive oil for a while and it hit the spot! You really should try it! I added some fresh green beans to the mix as well.

Here's the link to the recipe:
http://www.turkishfoodandrecipes.com/2009/09/mixed-vegetables-with-olive-oil.html