2016/June/04 - Sleepy Saturday

After a very late night last night, (after the kiddies FINALLY got to sleep, Grump and Sweetie stayed up talking), we were all pretty tired today.  Despite this, we had an active and exciting day.

The day started like most days, with Kuya playing on the iPad.  He seems addicted to that silly thing!

Kuya rotting his brain with the iPad

We set out early to do some chores, one of which included signing up Kuya for a karate class.  (Hopefully the discipline will do him good!)  While there we discovered they were having a free women's self-defense seminar, so Sweetie stayed behind and learned some techniques to defend herself with.

Sweetie at the self-defense seminar

She got an opportunity to take a few whacks at "Bob", the practice manikin.   Below is a still from a video Grump took of her doling out punishment on her attacker.  (Compete video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J1FNsfKUb0&spfreload=5 )

Poor "Bob"!

After Sweetie was done with her seminar we decided to go to Mellow Mushroom for lunch.  On the way there, Dodong fell asleep:

Sleepy Dodong!

Kuya posing outside the Mellow Mushroom restaurant.

Whilst Sweetie had been practicing smacking and kicking imaginary attackers, Old Grump had gone shopping at Lowes for parts to fix a broken towel rack in our bathroom.

Lowes has a really nice garden section.  Unbelievably, to you folks in the Philippines at least, here in the USA we cultivate and pay money for what you would consider noxious weeds.  As an example, here are some Lantana plants for sale:

Weeds for sale!

In our neighborhood many folks grow these around their mailbox, as they are quite pretty with their yellow or reddish flowers.  Which just goes to prove that a "weed" is often simply an unappreciated plant.


Once back home, Grump kinda fixed the broken towel rack.  I say "kinda" because, as you can see from the picture below, although it is now securely fastened to the wall, he hung it up crooked!  (Don't count on Grump for home repairs, as he has admitted before: http://buyingnirvana.com/words/when-it-comes-to-home-repair-ive-got-no-thumbs/ .)  You can also see the holes in the drywall where the towel rack was previously fastened.  He'll patch those up "someday".

Actually our bathroom needs a lot of work.  We have a non-functioning whirlpool which "someday", (when we get the money), we're gonna tear out and replace with a nice built-in vanity for Sweetie.

Our non-functional whirlpool

Meanwhile Lola and Sweetie have the gardens looking very nice, and producing well too!  That tomato plant in the photo below has already, (early June!), produced several small tomatoes for our use.

A Productive Tomato Plant

In fact, just whilst we were out walking around the yard in the late afternoon Sweetie pulled a couple more tomatoes off it.

Fresh Tomatoes

As the day wound down the boys gathered in the bedroom, each one transfixed to their own "smart" device.  We're not sure if this is a good sign or not.  What did people do before the internet was around?  (Grump vaguely remembers playing out in the street with other neighborhood kids when he was young.  Kids certainly don't do that these days!)

Three Internet Addicts Feeding Their Addictions

Peace y'all!