1) Happy Birthday Paula!
We went and bought a fancy new patio set for Paula's birthday present. Even with end of season discounts they're still pretty pricey though.
2) I'm also celebrating - my very first eye infection. It's hard keeping my eye open for more than 15-20 minutes at a time, so that's not too much fun. It seems to get worse when I drive, so I've been letting Paula drive and trying to sit in the passenger seat with my eyes closed. Lots of fun!
3) Biking back from the doctor's office I learned something the very hard way. It really hurts when the seat of your bike falls off. I was crossing Levan and suddenly felt the seat fly off from under me. Some fast reaction and bizarre groin twisting preventing me from actually sitting directly on a metal pole, but I stayed on the ground for a while just recovering. As far as I can tell the bolt holding the seat bracket on just sheared completely off. I assume it had been weakening for a while or something, but I've never heard of that happening before. I do not recommend it.
In case anyone was wondering, Dave figured out where the cable wire was buried in the backyard. It was pretty apparent where it was as soon as we realized that our cable wasn't working and the internet was down.
It seems he cut through the cord while digging trenches to reroute our sprinklers.
Luckily, Brighthouse came out and fixed it today, so all is well again.
For 24 hours, we didn't have TV, internet, or a home phone line.
It was like living in a cave!
Rest assured, we have rejoined society again.
I maintain this is why Todd Jones has made so much money over his career. When you just have to get through 1 inning with nobody on base and a lead of up to 3 or 4 runs, how hard is it to not win that game?
At 21 years old: I would be heading to the bar at 10 PM.
At almost 31 years old: I head to my couch at 10 PM to enjoy my "Friends" reruns in my first moments without munchkins all day.
What's 41 going to be like?
Sprint AIRAVE
We used to get really bad reception at our house, but it seems to have improved over the last year or so. Even in the basement I'm usually not in roam mode anywhere. But this still sounds pretty useful. Since Paula almost always goes over her minutes in the summer, if she ever decided to stop working I think we'd have to get this gizmo just to sign up for the unlimited calling over the internet plan.
Both kids slept straight through until 7:30 this morning! If they keep this kind of thing up I might have to actually turn on my alarm clock again. It's been about 2 years since I regularly used the darn thing. It seems like Emma is sleeping through the night and other advanced things even faster than Michael did. It's obviously all due to my influence.
I've noticed lately that when someone is waiting for my parking spot, I deliberately get into my car just a little bit slower than I would have otherwise. I know, it's mean, but I view it as my way of helping America combat laziness one carload at a time. Not only do I go slower, but I get downright angry when someone is waiting for my space when there is one open 3 spots away. My anger turns to outrage when someone is waiting for that spot when there's an empty one nearby AND I have both the kids with me. Case in point:
Today I was leaving "Music in the Park" in Plymouth and I was taking the kids back to the car in the double stroller. Sure enough, a teenager sees me coming and decides to camp out for my spot, as though they were waiting in line for New Kids tickets back in the day. It was as though a switch flipped inside of me and I became molasses-like. There was no way this kids was going to take this spot when he could drive another 15 feet to another one. I mean, come on. How desperate are you when you're willing to wait for a woman to load two kids, the diaper bag, the blankets, the food, and finally collapse the double stroller and stuff into her just-big-enough trunk? Seriously? Get a life.
So, I started my routine as usual by putting Emma in the car. Then I got Michael out and walked him to his side. I let him try and open the door (a surefire way to waste time) then watched as he climbed up and attempted to seatbelt himself. Then I dealt with the bags and stroller. All in all, I took a 5 minute task and doubled it.
But, darn it, that kid burned a few extra calories by walking from his new spot!
Slimming down America, one parking lot at a time. It's a noble cause.
P.S.
Before anyone starts complaining to me about handicapped people or other people in similar situations, please understand that I will happily move quicker if there is an elderly person or disabled person who needs my spot. But a 17-year-old? Not likely.
As I believe Paula has said, we're going to be putting an addition onto our house. Progress is being made and plans are afoot. The plans generally don't involve too much effort on my part until the addition is done and I then have to convert a bathroom into a laundry room and do some kitchen remodelling. But there is one bit of bad news coming out of the addition. At least 3 and, depending on how far out the foundation digging goes, possibly 4 of our sprinkler lines go through the addition. So I'm currently digging around trying to find where the piping is in the safe zone so we can run new lines around the addition and get everything set up before the backhoe comes in and destroys the yard. Michael really enjoys helping with his plastic shovel. His help mostly consists of trying to take dirt from my shovel, put it on his shovel, and then throw it either at me or in the hole, but at least he's getting in the spirit of it!
That's Michael's new phrase. Anytime you're doing pretty much anything, he wants to do it too. Those activities range from putting clothes in the washing machine to putting gas in the car. It's pretty cute. I figure I'll let him start pumping the gas any day now!
It's kind of frustrating when he refuses to listen to us after he's put his shoes on the wrong feet, but I figure he'll learn eventually. It's even more frustrating when he insists on putting my Birks on my feet and they're backwards. If I go to switch them around, he'll just keep saying "my turn now!" We get some weird looks sometime.
Anyway, this was a crazy busy weekend. Dave didn't get home til 11 or so on Friday night after working in Columbus, Ohio all last week. Saturday I had a pedicure/manicure, then Bridgid's baby shower, then Nicki & Kevin's wedding reception. It was fun to catch up with the girls who lived in the dorm with me my freshman year. Two of them have stepchildren who are 17 years old or older. Weird!
Sunday we had Samantha's seventh birthday party. We had to leave that early because Michael really needed a nap. After that, I went out with Bridgid and Charby to gossip at Laurel Park. Just like when we were kids!
This week should be more relaxing, thankfully.
It's funny how during the school year I can go months without seeing anyone outside of my immediate family, but we're so busy in the summers. Is everyone like that?
I just got back from a week in Columbus yesterday where I was taking some Linux training. That class really kicked my butt. Usually training is something like 9-4 with an hour lunch and plenty of breaks. And Friday rarely goes past noon. This was pretty much 9-6 every day with about 10 minutes total of breaks. They brought lunch in and we worked right through it. Plus I spent time after class studying a couple of the nights. But at least we did get to leave around 4:00 Friday....It was rough, but a good class.
