The Fence

This is the fence I have right now...
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This is the fence I would like to have...
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Setting aside the fact in the second picture there actually IS a fence, I like the horizontal slats of the second fence.

We've been without a fence going on about 3 months now. It blew down in a storm and we just haven't put it back up yet. We've had estimates, but Papa and the neighbor with whom we share the lot line haven't moved on a start date. The dogs are loving their new expanded yard and the neighbor has taken to greeting them and I think even feeding them. It seems we now have co-op dogs. Fine by me.

-E

Oooh, Look What The Crap Bunny Left Us

My mom is cleaning out her house. Sort of a very long, drawn out flylady process. She's going through this purging phase and so guess who is the benefit of her discards. Right-o!

What am I gonna do with all this stuff? Really do I, a mom of two small boys, need delicate little etched wine glasses? My mom gets these baubles at thrift stores because she thinks they look pretty, and they do, but it causes her to take leave of her practical senses. So alleviates her guilt of purchase by passing them on to me. On my door step without telling me.

Sneaky.

So I leave the house on my way to meeting last night and found a basket of these "treasures" sitting there waiting for my attention. They're still there because it's easier to carry them to the back of my car to take them to the GW.

E

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Regalos

I am on a board about budgeting and someone was asking what was one of the strangest gifts I've received. I was thinking it was this crazy cat garden stake, but then one of the gals was talking about towels and I must revise my answer.

I remember that when Papa and I got married someone gave us two tweety-bird-yellow towels. Our colors were Burgundy and green so I'm not sure where they got the idea to give us yellow towels. Thankfully they only gave us two and they became the cat's towels and then eventually they became the car's towels.

What is the weirdest gift you've ever received?

-E

Dr. Who?

I'm constantly amazed how Papa can manage a staff of many, the business and administration of a medical office and the politics of government yet be so forgetful at home. It cracks me up the things he forgets. For example, the other day he was making a doctor appointment for himself. I hear him talking on phone and then I hear the shuffle of feet coming into the dining room where I'm reading the paper.

He frantically asks me, "who's my primary care physician?"

I reply, "you don't know?"

"I can see his face in my mind, but I don't remember his name" Papa answered.

Mmkay.

I tell him and he walks happily away to complete his appointment.

-E

Taking A Step Down on The Coolness Ladder

We did it.

We joined the minivan nation. (Is minivan one word or two, see I don't even know this which further proves maybe I'm not the minivan type).

I'm learning to love it, but I'm so panicked about having a new-to-me vehicle. We traded in the Suburban which was dangerously close to expiring on us. The Sienna isn't new, but it's got really low miles and, hell anything would have felt new to us. The payments are manageable and now we have a good, reliable vehicle. Safety first, you know.

I'm sorry, when did we take this detour into suburban hell?

I love my life, but every once in awhile I look around and go whoa! As a child of the 80's I thought I was going to be a corporate woman having power lunches, not play dates. I had visions of Madison Avenue, not Sesame Street.

The boys run to tell anyone who will listen "we got a new minivan!" I don't have the heart to tell them it's not what the cool kids are driving. At the dealership they told Papa they could see about adding some sort of sports upgrade. Yeah, right, he says. It's a minivan.

Still it was really nice to spend a little less than $40 on a fill up as opposed to nearly $100. I'm actually thinking that with gas prices we might be less in the hole than we thought given we now have a car payment. The thought gets me through the night anyway.

E

Tastes for Two

Why can my boys like the same thing?

It seems I'm usually making two different "somethings". One will want a burger and the other chicken nuggets. One will want fresh fruit and one will only drink smoothies. I know I should put stuff out and too bad, so sad if you don't like it. Still I'm a mommy and seeing my kids NOT eat goes against every fiber in my body.

I'm trying a different approach. I'm sending the boys to cooking camp over spring break and maybe they can learn to cook for themselves since they seem to have such different tastes. At the very least I hope to get some help in the kitchen.

E

Missing The Clothes Boat

I hate it when I miss the season on my boy's clothing. I put away The Negotiator's spring clothes last year for The Critter this year. When I pulled them out The Critter had already outgrown them. How could he?? Moving on.

So I purged The Critter's closet of no-longer-fits clothing and got a bag ready for the clothing pantry at Papa's work. I know all the clothes there go to great new homes and I'm glad. It gives me incentive to keep purging, and believe me I need it since it feels like we are drowning in stuff.

E

From The Spin Cycle

When will I learn that little boys with pockets and laundry do NOT mix?

I got out to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer and what to my eyes appear? Why little tubes of balloon goop. You know the kind that comes with straws and you blow up big plastic-like bubbles? I found yellow, blue, green and red at the bottom of the washer, thank God, still in tact.

Can you imagine what all of clothes would have looked like with the psychedelic goop on them? It's bad enough that I've already had to have the washer serviced because of those damned little playground rocks. Yeah, I know they're safer for kids, but they play hell on my floors and appliances.

E

The Oven Man Commeth

Damn! Damn! Damn!

It was going to cost nearly $400 to get that MFer fixed. Yeah, right. Thanks, but no thanks buddy.

We went to Sears and got a new oven which will be delivered on Saturday. I'm so tired of cooking on the stove top and in a crock pot. I want to heat a frozen pizza in the oven just like all the other kids on the block get to do.

Our appliances are white, but we decided to switch to black. So all the other majors will still be white until they go to the big appliance house in the sky. I wish we could afford to replace everything at once (but hell, if we could afford *that* we would have gone with all stainless).

E

Light A Candle For My Oven

The damn thing has died. It comes in three's so first the dog, now the oven. What is next?

We've had the oven for nearly 9 years so I have a feeling we have to get a new one. I think it could be fixed, but they're probably going to tell me some laughable number to get it running again.

Any ideas for stove top cooking until the Sears guy can get here NEXT week?

E

I Made It Myself!

In light of the new year and doing our best to keep things tidy, The Critter has taken to cleaning his own room. Today he came to me all excited that he made his own bed. I guess a little more practice is in order.

-e

Fine!

All of you who gave me hooey about my writing checks win. I got a debit card. Just to be clear though, it wasn’t peer pressure from you hooligans, it was the fact that everything was being electronically debited anyway. Papa and I came up with a system to keep track and I think we’ll be okay.

I’ll let y’all know how it goes.

-e

I Write Checks

Excuse my vent.

We have one check card between the two of us. It’s in Papa’s name so he keeps it and I have the number for online purchases.

I write checks. I used to have a check card, but I’m just not that responsible. I’d forget what I swiped where and there were little purchases – that eventually added up to big purchases – just hanging in the air and not in our check register.

I like checks. It makes me accountable when I have to write out *exactly* how much I’m spending at the time of purchase and to whom. It also gives me a record of what I spent that I can keep in one place and not in 15 tiny pieces of paper at the bottom of my purse.

So it makes me a tad irked when a store clerk looks at me and says “you *know* we run all our checks through as an electronic debit?”

And?

Frankly after I give you my little paper IOU I don’t give a flying fandango what you do with it. And then they make me sign a second piece of paper after I filled out and signed the check. Can I just had them over a blank check and be done with it since I’ve got to fill out all their ancillary paperwork anyway?

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with EFT’s. I just don’t like the ‘tude that comes along with it.

I WRITE CHECKS.

Okay, that’s it. Thanks.

-E