So the weekend has passed without accomplishing much of what was on "the list" - but of course that's no surprise. I did get one load of laundry done, the groceries bought, and the kitchen is free (for the moment at least) of dirty dishes! Friday had a nice chat and coffee with my American buddy, and last night we went out for Indian food with a group of friends. Had a great time - excellent food as well! Real curry -what a surprise, and the best part is that it's walking distance from our house! I got a to-go menu - why didn't we know about this place sooner?? So now, Lia is working on her homework (in between breaks to sing a little Avril LaVigne), and Chris has taken the baby out to lunch with his parents. We have a birthday party to go to this evening at 6 - its at a "kid place" (you know - big blowup structure, ball pit, lots of running and screaming in enclosed spaces - kind of like Chucky Cheese...) which, luckily, is also walking distance so I don't have to give up the FANTASTIC parking space I scored last night. This may seem trivial to all y'all in the US where houses come with all mod cons like driveways (or maybe even garages!) but here in Thessaloniki the daily battle for parking is an unfortunate fact of life. It can take up to 45 minutes to find a spot in our neighborhood, except during the dog days of summer when everyone's gone to the sea. (One of the reasons I actually like the city in the summer!) Anyway, the parking situation is one of the many reasons we are trying to move out of the city. We've been talking about it for a while now, and we finally got off the bench to look at property out in the country. We're looking in an area that's pretty close (only 20 minutes away) to the city, with beautiful rolling hills - it reminds me a lot of the Napa valley (without all the great wineries - not sure if that's fortunate or not!). We've seen some great plots, but the situation is complicated by a planned road that will cut through the area. Our friends have a house there and have helped us out tons by showing us land and and getting information about the road - the final route hasn't been decided yet but it's 99% sure they'll go through - you guessed it - the exact plots of land the realtors show us! Now we know why the prices were so good...  Well, its time to start the spaghetti bolognese. Ciao...