June 2008

House full of big kids

5 Comments / Daily Dose, Family Funk, Friends & Family, Kid Talk /

Today we had a lot of big kids here. It’s been awhile since that happened.

Chris was here and then Charles and Sarah showed up. And, Sarah brought the baby (who we haven’t seen in a year and she is walking and talking and a-freaking-dorable.) Michelle arrived, too. Liz was also here.

The house was loud and busy. There was a lot of laughing and a little bit of crying (when Michelle had to say goodbye to Liz and then when I had to watch her cry afterwards.)

They all left, to go to work or school or somewhere and that quiet was disquieting.

Charles is back here, working on the upstairs bedrooms. Chris will be back here in a bit to help him.

I’m going to miss these big kids a lot – and not just because they do things like buff the floor and carry heavy boxes so I don’t F*** up my arm some more. I’m going to miss them because they’re funny and they’re fun.

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Dueling Hybrids?

5 Comments / Daily Dose, Day to Day, Family Funk, Friends & Family, Money Talks /

My dad called today and after he finished thinking TW was me, we chatted about his home improvement projects and about our move and as we were about to hang up because we had nothing more to say, I remembered…. “Hey! I bought a car!” he asked what I bought and laughed. I told him the Metallic Grey Prius and he laughed again. I asked why he was laughing… because he too bought a car. Also a Hybrid. Also “grey”. But he bought the Honda and just picked it up on Monday.

We chatted a bit about our choices and I of course had more to say because I have actually driven both the hybrid Prius and the hybrid Honda – he hasn’t actually driven the Prius and only test drove the Honda once before he ordered.

Anyway… being who we are… we’re tracking our mileage so we can compare every week. Which hybrid will win?

Mine, I’m sure.

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Stress

4 Comments / Daily Dose, Day to Day /

Michelle’s walls took 3 coats of paint (2 coats were Killz) and they still need another coat.

RJ’s walls will need the same treatment.

The boys have not picked up the furniture, cats and turtles that were supposed to be out of the house no later than last Saturday.

Yesterday, a bad thunderstorm hit and we lost our internet connection. Can’t get a tech out until Wednesday.

Yesterday, a bad thunderstorm hit and fried the Wii.

Money is flying out of the bank faster than we can get it in.

Two weeks from today, we’ll be in the new house.

If we survive.

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The Gathering

5 Comments / 2008, Books in Bed, Don't Read This, Favorites /

I have decided a couple of things, now that I’ve finished The Gathering.

First, I rarely like Irish novels. In fact I like them so rarely that I think I should stop reading them.

Second, Booker Prize winners are highly over-rated and I should stop reading those, too.

I didn’t care about any of these characters. At. All. I didn’t understand any of these characters. At. All.

Boring, boring, boring. A lot of pretty words combined in such a way as to bore me to tears for a full week.

Someone please remind me of this next year when I’m reading the Booker short list.

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The House of the Scorpion

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Fiction, Printz Award Challenge, Young Adult /

I didn’t think I was going to enjoy The House of the Scorpion very much. We listened to it on audio and that first chapter was a little dry and the voice of the reader wasn’t very compelling. But, I got hooked and really enjoyed it.

What’s also interesting is Liz started listening to it on disk 8, in the car on the way to Lakewood on Friday and when we got in the car this morning to come home she asked if we could turn it back on. I’m sorry she missed the first 7 disks, but maybe she’ll listen to them in her room this week and catch the beginning of the story of Matt, the clone of the drug lord… it really was an interesting story.

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links for 2008-06-13

1 Comment / Daily Dose /

links for 2008-06-13 Read More »