Getting back in the swing

Who would have thought I would be too busy to blog once the kids got back in school?  So, remember in my last post how there was a mysterious trench in front of my house? Well, the workers  accidentally cut the powerline to my house, but no worries, they duck-taped it back together.  Thankfully, Mitch called the embassy and they were out here in a flash, directing the crew to replace the power line rather than taping it back together and bringing me a generator the size of my car. It would have been awesome if it had been connected properly, too.  Lightbulbs blew out all over the house, the surge protectors sparked and popped, and the alarm box actually melted down the wall. We eventually got it all sorted out and now we do have power again, just in time for me to get busy with the Project Teach bake sale.  Project Teach is the group that volunteers with the orphanage/school in Aguas Lindas about an hour outside of Brasilia. I finally got a good sourdough starter going, which took months of feeding and babying. I made sourdough english muffins, sourdough baguettes, and bagels for the bake sale, which was at the embassy. 

The baked goods sold immediately, because none of this stuff is available here. The Ambassador even bought three english muffins for $50R.   Of course, it was for a good cause. We didn't put prices on anything, just told the customers it was a donation. Of whatever they thought was fair. For the orphans. So they could have healthy food (we use the money to buy fruits and vegetables every week for the kids at the orphanage school).  As you can imagine, we made a LOT of money with that kind of pressure. Essentially, we force unhealthy foods on the diplomats so we can buy healthy foods for the orphans. Everybody wins.

The kids are very happy to be back in school with all their friends. Henry went to a sleepover on Friday and spent most of Saturday recovering in this manner:

Olivia went to a slumber party on Saturday. The girls are in separate classes, so Grace did not receive an invitation, which was fine with both girls. They've been enjoying playdates with their own friends lately. This was to be the first time the girls have ever slept apart since, well, conception (I'm not counting those dark days when they were one and Olivia was comatose for a week at Children's Hospital).  Henry invited Grace to sleep in his spare bed because she claimed she couldn't sleep without Olivia.  We thought we were home free when midnight rolled around and there was still no call to come pick her up. Alas, at nearly 1:00am, we got a call from the Czech Republic Ambassador to come pick up our daughter. She made her dad haul her sleeping sister back into her rightful bed, too. 

I'm off to watch the latest episode of my new obsession, Downton Abbey. I recommend it muchly. Unless you're my husband, who likes to come sit by me, watch it for about four minutes, grab a sharpened pencil, and stick it directly in his eye.