HKG190: Weird Wednesday

this morning started off normal, for the most part, but shortly after livie got on the bus, things got CRAZY.

first of all, i made the mistake of trying to fix olivia's hair while at the bus stop, and of course the bus came around the bend just as i took one rubber band out...and then the bus passed right by us and continued up the hill. so, i stopped working on livie's hair, and the three of us took off up the hill (fortunately, the bus stopped after getting about 20 yards past our regular stop). when i started working on livie's hair, i had handed her my keys because i needed both hands free and my keys are attached to a small purse that is too big to fit in my pocket. you see where this is going now, right? yep...just after the bus took off, i realized that livie had my keys. josh was in china. i had no phone (it was in the small purse), no cash, and no keys. way to start the day, eh?

my very kind neighbors lent me enough cash to get a cab to livie's school. we got up there and got the keys before school even started, and then came back to pay our neighbors back and get our day started for real. shortly after we got back home, i got a phone call from josh asking me if i was back home yet. i asked how he knew i wasn't home, and he relayed that people on the bus and at the school had contacted him to let him know livie had my wallet/keys/phone at school.

so, since josh is gone a lot, i am left wondering how in the world i will find a way to avoid this situation again. i need to hide keys somewhere, but considering i live in a high rise apartment building in which we are not permitted to have anything but a door mat outside our door, i am coming up empty on ideas. i have locked myself out before, but josh was in town that day. i really need a better contingency plan.

the rest of the day was far less eventful...it included a couple trips to playgrounds and wet markets and a trip to flamenco class for olivia. josh returned from china this evening, and things are settling in for a nice, normal, quiet night...complete with keys/wallet/phone in my possession.

q chillin' out on the carousel in the spinny park.

shortly after getting home from school and having a snack, livie announced she was going to her room to lay down. i gave her some time, and then went to check on her to make sure she was okay. she assured me she was, but asked if i would leave her door open so that waffle could go in. a short time later, i start getting "paged" to come "look at this." waffle was only too happy to cuddle up with olivia in her bed and allow her to pile stuffed animals around him while also covering him with a blanket.

while it's adorable to see q and his budding soccer skills, this video is meant to showcase the incredible amount of noise we hear on a daily basis. the loudest sound you hear in this video is from a construction site beside us where an 80-story tall apartment building is being built. that sound is part of the process of building the foundation for the building. believe it or not, we have mostly become immune to this noise, though evenings and sundays are blissfully quiet, and we do notice that!