pumps and ladders

m's back going to her day care center; her thoughts about the accident seem to be fading as quickly as the bruise on her side. M finished meeting with the police yesterday, and they were egging her on to make her complaint as strong as possible so they could throw the book at the driver. We've still got negotiating to do with the driver's insurance company since regular health insurance doesn't cover accidents and we've got a $3000 bill from the hospital. So life's back to normal, except that I keep waking up from nightmares in which I'm unable to do anything to save people from death. Weird situations, too, like chasing Marina on a rickety steel ladder hundreds of feet in the air when a little baby also appears, and I have to make a choice between going after Marina or the baby. And the baby falls. . . . Four nights in a row now.

We've made all our requests to the architect now, and are waiting for his final plans which he'll bring on the 26th. If they're okay, they'll turn them in to get a building permit, and the clock starts. One of the last-minute changes we made was to keep the washing machine near the bath, instead of having it in a nook off the kitchen. It's pretty common in Japan to use the bath water for doing the wash; it's just gray water since no soap is used. A lot of washing machines even come with built-in pumps and hoses.