Still No Internet

We still don't have internet at the house. So, how am I posting this you are probably asking? Well, I finally figured out that there is free wireless internet access in the food court of the building that Steve works in. I honestly think that Steve is in cahoots with our landlord about not having the internet installed at the house until after I have it all organized :) Unfortunately, this is not the case...the only internet that we have available where we are living is the internet provided by the government. While I have heard that this is actually the most reliable service available, it also takes time to get hooked up. Our landlord calls to check on it quite frequently, but in all honesty, who knows when it will be connected. In the meantime, I'm very thankful that I own a laptop, and that I have found the free wireless access. Now, I just hope that the battery on my computer holds out for awhile longer. For whatever reason, I'm having computer issues today and the battery icon that tells me how much longer I have has disappeared. Since, I've looked around and of course there is no place to plug in, I've decided to not waste my battery life trying to figure out how much time I have left until my computer dies. Hopefully, I still have another couple of hours...since Steve isn't planning on leaving work until then. My backup plan is that I brought a book along to read.

Anyway, life is good here. The house is almost all organized. For being such a large house, there is absolutely no storage room since there is a lot of wasted space. Not to mention that I have a lot more to store here than in Beijing...i.e. winter clothes, flannel sheets, coats, boots, etc. Anyway, luckily our landlord did install a lumber room. OK, what is a lumber room you are probably asking? I have no clue where this name comes from, but what I would normally call either a large closet or a small storage room, our landlord is calling a lumber room.

Let's see...oh yes, we have had at least one snake in the yard. For all I know, we may have had more, but I haven't exactly asked. The only way I found out about the first one is because the security guards requested flashlights after the first snake. They said it was only a small one...but then showed me that it was the length of their arm...plenty big enough as far as I'm concerned! I didn't inquire as to what kind it was...as far as I'm concerned all snakes are poisonous! Luckily, the snake was killed and disposed of before I even heard about it.

Geckos, geckos, and more geckos. These things are everywhere! I am starting to get more use to them (or maybe just accepting the fact that they aren't going away, there's no way to get rid of them, they are small and get through the littlest cracks, and I have to live here for a long time). Anyway, I am having fun torturing Steve with the geckos. I keep harassing him about them being in his shoes...to the point where it was taking him about 10 minutes every morning to put his shoes on as he had to tap and beat each shoe to make sure there weren't any hiding in them. It was quite amusing entertainment for me. Now, he has just resorted to putting his shoes into a large rubbermaid container every time he takes them off. The other night in bed, he jumped about a foot when I went to pick a piece of fuzz off of my pillow! He thought it was a gecko or a bug I was going after. This morning, I awoke to him using my shoe to kill a baby gecko. A few minutes later, he was using a different shoe of mine to kill a centipede type bug. I guess maybe I should resort to keeping my shoes in a rubbermaid container to just keep my husband from killing things with them. Anyway, I have now starting referring to him as the Gecko Killer. Before I get a bunch of e-mails from people who love geckos...the one my husband killed was very, very small...and up until today, we have just been using a broom to get the geckos out of the house (a very long process by the way...that doesn't always work if the gecko gets behind some furniture). This is still our preferred method as I honestly don't want to have to clean gecko guts off of my shoes.

Besides that, not too much else going on. I've been reading a lot during my breaks of organizing the house. No internet, so reading is the next best thing. My goal is to have the house pretty much done be the end of this week and to start scrapbooking next week. I have promised my mom a scrapbook of her trip to Beijing for Christmas, so I need to get started as time will fly by the next few months. I am still working out our R&R (rest and relaxation) trips for the year. We have 3 trips to take this year as part of the benefits provided by our company. Also, we have home leave to take this year. So, when you start doing the math, we will basically be gone every month between now and the end of the year. Therefore, I need to get busy on the scrapbook, and I guess I should start worrying about starting my Christmas shopping.

Anyway, I will do another post in a couple of days whenever I make it back to Steve's office building. In the meantime, I hope everyone is enjoying their last few days of summer. I had better go as my low battery light is finally starting to flash.