In France they call it "le week-end."

We had a great weekend. On Friday we went for ramen and then ice cream (Shoki and Gunther's, for those curious Sacramentans). Saturday Z had soccer practice, her penultimate one. She wants to try ballet next, which should be interesting, now that she's a year older than she was for her disastrous class.

We did a few errands in the early afternoon, including going to Costco, where they had more samples than I'd ever seen. I usually give all the samples to Z, and I was trying hard to watch my food intake (since I wanted to pig out that evening), but even I had to try the madelines, the lemon mini-cupcakes, and the pita chips with spinach dip! I didn't even feed Zadie lunch, since I'm sure she'd had an adult portion of meat, at the very least.

Then home so we could make strawberry ice cream and caprese salad. I sometimes have too much confidence in my own cooking, but both those dishes are AMAZING and they're not really so because of any work I put in. You buy good strawberries, you grow good tomatoes, and you can't go wrong.

Then we went to poker night, where we swam a bit (though it was surprisingly cool for August), talked about gardening, ate delicious food (Phoebe's deviled eggs and Debbie's arugula and roasted potato salad are favorites here), and then settled in for some poker. I lost respectably, and enjoyed the "cake break" immensely. Our music challenge was "summer songs," and I liked the mix. It's always fun to talk about our song choices, too. As always, Debbie had new surprises in her toy chest for Zadie.

Sadly, the evening ended on a low note. Our friend Maurice's car window got smashed. Everyone helped clean it up, but that's a bummer.

This morning we made waffles, tried my pumpkin butter and Debbie's (quite different!), then got ready for yoga. Zadie and I hopped in the car, and when we pulled out, we saw that someone was parked in the driveway of the empty rental next door. I recognized her as having been parked in front of the house the other day, so I figured she had rented the place and I waved in a friendly fashion. She waved back in a "please pull over" fashion, so I did.

She asked about the owner, how long she'd been away. Well, it's a rental, and the owner lives here in town. She asked how long it had been vacant, and I said that Dawn (the renter) had just moved the last few of her things out about a week ago. "Dawn!" she said. "That's it! That's the name of the person I've been emailing! I found the place listed on Craigslist and I'm supposed to move in next week, but I haven't been able to see inside yet. I wire transferred the money to London to Dawn. Does she write in kind of broken English?" "Uhhh...." I gracefully answered. "That... doesn't sound right. Dawn's not in London, she bought a house in town. And the lady who owns this place lives around the corner. There's no one in London. And Dawn's English, as far as I can tell, is fine. That really sounds like a scam." We talked for a while longer, and I knew what was happening -- the bottom of her stomach was dropping out at the same time that she was denying it could be true. She seemed to think that the person she'd been emailing was the last renter, and that maybe she was taking over a lease while she was in London. I asked if by any chance she could stop payment, but she couldn't. She grew suspicious when she came by a few days ago and saw the property management sign, called the number, and found out that the rent was different than on the Craigslist ad she had seen. She sent more than $1000 by wire transfer to a stranger who has nothing to do with the house next door. I feel awful for her, but seriously, are there any more signs that point to a scam? I went and looked up the ad myself, and it says at the top of the page to beware of any ad that asks for wire transfer, particularly out of the country, and particularly if the owner can't meet you. I guess that's why scammers do it, though - for every 50 people who spot it as a scam, one sends you a thousand dollars. I feel sorry for the lady, though. About three times during our conversation, she'd say something like "Well, do you think the property manager put it on Craigslist?" and I'd have to say "No, I really, really think it's a scam. I think the person you've been emailing has been untruthful with you."

Anyway, we went to yoga and Z had a good time in the child care center. I never really have to worry about her watching TV, because as much as she likes certain shows and begs to watch TV here, if there are other kids around, she'd much prefer to play. But the older sister of one of the kids Z plays with was watching when I came in. I often hang around for a few minutes because Z's not ready to go, and it's no skin off my nose. So I was sitting in there when the other child care worker came in. The main one greeted her with "Oh, you're back!" The younger one quietly indicated the sisters and said "Justin says their mom is on her way." She turned off the TV. They then told her something like "We have to turn it off, because you know your mom doesn't like you watching it." I thought... pretty sneaky! They have a system in place to let the kid watch TV and then warn each other when the parents are coming. I'm not sure whether I should say something, because I actually know and like the parents (we hung out at the frozen yogurt shop one day and we take yoga together), or whether I should just let it go. I mean, the child care lady is like 70 -- can't blame her for putting the TV on to entertain a few of the kids.

Incidentally, we were doing leg lifts on our sides in yoga, and the mom whispered to me "Your lack of cellulite is AWESOME." Which is the best compliment I've had in ages!

While talking to Debbie last night, she mentioned Green Acres, a garden store out on the Jackson Highway (that makes it sound far away, but it's just a couple minutes past the Home Depot). I was like "Oh, it must be near Matsuda's." No, apparently Matsuda's closed and this took its place. Debbie raved about how great it was, so I decided to go today. Well, I know my mom loves garden stuff, so I called her a little early today and asked if she wanted to go with us. She did, and I'm so glad we went. It was AWESOME. I mean, there were acres of plants, of beautiful pottery, fountains, chimes, soil amendments, tools, structural pieces, garden decor... I decided not to buy anything today, but I'm going to make a list, go back with a plan, and come home with a CARLOAD of stuff. It was beautifully laid out, and one employee, upon finding out it was our first visit, shook our hands and introduced himself. Mom said even if you weren't going to buy anything, it was kind of a nice place to walk around, and she was right.

We had Star Ginger for dinner, which is delightful, and now I'm watering the lawn and avoiding writing (poetry) again. I'm also perusing a book of canning recipes. I have only placed ten post-its, so that's doable, right?