How can it be Thursday already???

Oh my word.  I can not believe it's Thursday already (and 3 pm at that!) I feel like I have written that a lot the last few weeks but dang!  The time here is FLYIN' by.  The last few days have been busy with errands, grocery shopping, chatting with family, and catching up on emails.  We are planning on staying around Toulouse this weekend and checking some stuff out around here (the weather is supposed to be awesome!). 

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Shopping, errands, grocery store, more errands, chatting with family, and catching on up emails.  I guess that's where my week went! ;)

Tomorrow we have dinner plans with another American family that is here for work as well.  We will be going to their house for dinner and it should be fun to get out of the hotel and speak English for a few hours! Yay!!  They are here working for Spirit Aerosystems and will be here for a few more YEARS. Yikes.  That makes me very thankful we are only here for three months.  I think I would waste away without Mac'N'Cheese after that long!!  (I do have some here though so I will make it the three months--Melinda sent some for me!  One of the quickest ways to my heart--that's for sure ;)  Anyways--that will be fun!  They have three small children and I think the wife stays home with them (his name is Derek and I don't remember hers off the top of my head--I will need to double check before tomorrow!)

We got to chat with Kerry and Melinda and Grandpa Doc last night and we were chatting about what our place looks like and Melinda said I should post some pics on here--I took some when we first got here but didn't think about posting them on here!  So I thought since there isn't much going on for this post that would be a perfect plan!  So I will add those down below! 

A random thought for the day: I think I will start posting about all the things we are thankful for (and gaining a new appreciation for) while being over here so we can look back on this in a few years and smile.      

Today I am thankful for:

1. My washer and dryer back home (Laundry is crazy expensive here so I am saving us money by handwashing all our clothes--I don't mind it that much but it just takes so long!  It will be convienent for me to throw a whole load in when we get back!)

2.French bread and cheese. It's AMAZING.  Tonight we are eating grilled cheese and tomato soup which is quickly becoming one of our favorite meals here!

3. The price of a 1.5 L water bottle here is .18 cents.  You read that right- 18 CENTS! We get a whole 6 pack of water for just a little over a dollar! Back home it's over a dollar for ONE bottle!

4. Airbus.  Without Cam working for Airbus, we would not have this opportunity.  Airbus takes very good care of it's employees and their families.  We don't have to pay for our hotel or rental car while we are here--that's a true blessing.  

5. Our Families and our friends.  We have a tremendous support system at home and we can't thank you guys enough for chatting with us, thinking about us, emailing us, and helping out with stuff while we are gone.  Thank you doesn't even cover it. 

6. My iPad.  (Again---it's not for the reason you probably think!  Not for the actual material item itself but the purpose it serves!)  We have logged some serious hours on it between Skype and FaceTime which enables us to communicate with you all back home!  I have also been watching a few movies on it which is fun on a rainy afternoon! ;)

7. Our hotel room.  Although it is small it is a roof over our head and we have a place to store food.  There are lots of homeless people here in Toulouse and everytime we get back to the hotel I am thankful for the shelter it provides and that we are able to have food in our pantry.   

8. Housekeeping.  Although I don't mind doing chores at home it is like a vacation to not have to scrub the toilet!  Plus we don't have to buy cleaning supplies, etc.  

9.  My Sweatpants.  Although they are not getting much attention over here you better bet when I get home you all will be seeing sweatpants all the time! (Not that you didn't before--but you know what I mean! :)  That being said it has been fun (most days!) to dress up a little more over here--makes me feel a little more girly than oversized black sweatpants!

10.  Cammy C.  Obviously without him I wouldn't be here (at least not for three months, etc.) but he goes to work everyday and I get to stay here at the hotel.  I don't really know how to put my thoughts into words for stuff like this so I will leave it at I am very blessed he is in my life.

On to the pictures! (Not every post will be 10 things long--the more I started thinking about it the more stuff kept coming to my mind!)

 The lighting is a little dark but this is our living room area :)

 This picture is taken from the other end of the living room looking towards the kitchen...

 This is our little kitchen nook which has two stove tops, a small fridge, and a small dishwasher.  The picture cuts it off halfway but I didn't want to post two pictures of the same thing :)

 This is the shower room which has the sink and the shower...it's a little different here because they don't have the toilet in the same room--so you have to use the restroom and then go here to wash your hands....

 This is our bedroom--it has a good sized closet which holds all our clothes just fine and the bed. 

 This is a look out of the bedroom window into the alley-way.  The architecture here is phenomenal.  I could walk around and stare at the buildings all day! 

Handwashing our clothes in the bathoom tub--hadn't ever done anything like it before so I wanted to capture it on film so I can look back on it :)

Here's Cammy C on our couch...

   This is looking from the inside of our hallway towards the door that leads out.  The first door on the right is the room where the shower and sink is.  Then there is a second door on the right side which is where the toilet is.  Then on the left side there is a closet where we keep our shoes and jackets.

It is harder to tell in this picture but on the left side before you get the closet there is an opening where you go to get the kitchen/living room and straight back from where I'm standing is our bedroom. 

Anyways...thought it would be nice to share those with you all :)  I better let you all go because I have to start thinking about making my grilled cheese (which sounds so good today--it's cool and rainy here) so we hope you all have a great Thursday!! 

Love,
J