missing in action...

so see there... you only thought i was slacking! i haven't actually taken a break from pages... just posting. frankly, i've just been either too busy or stressed to write. we decided totally last minute to do some upgrades to our mater bath before listing the house... which may or may not have been a mistake. but we felt it was necessary. we had already replaced all the carpets and had the hardwoods redone... everything was just looking so beautiful until you got to the master bath and then - yeesh! talk about ugly!! and with the house just across the street being listed (and in some major need of updating) we thought it best to have ours completely turn key and move in ready. the only real problem of course is that Patrick is working full time in SC and we're all moved into our little temporary house here... so there lies the snag. The P actually headed back to Pittsburgh this week to work and try to get as much done on it as he can. he's ripping out the horrifying tile and putting in bamboo flooring. then he'll install the new vanities, sinks, hardware and lighting. it's a tall order, but with any luck, he'll be able to get most of it done without me or the kids getting in his way and providing endless distractions ;)

meanwhile, the boys and i are hanging out in the Columbia area. it's nice. nice and hot. and i'm not talking sweat and heatstroke hot... i'm talking liquefying your flesh sort of hot. as in totally feucking hot, folks. the heat index tends to hover around the 115 marker... so that's fun. especially when the air conditioner went out last week and the buzzards (yes, we have real live buzzards here) began circling. the temperature upstairs got up to 96... it was so awesome.

let's see... what other kinds of fun are we having?? ahh, yes. we live on a little cul-de-sac where between the 6 houses there are about 15 kids - wow. it brings back memories of Idaho!! but one family is just moving out and with any luck we won't be far behind them. i like our little rental. it's nice and well, little. little teeny yard, little teeny kitchen, little teeny cabinets, little teeny garage. everything is teeny weeny... except the bugs. those are big and so numerous its taking a bit of getting used to. Flynner finds them high in protein and Henry simply finds them absolutely everywhere!!

Mom! Here's another one!"
"WHAT is THIS, Mom??!!"
"Oooohh! OOOohhh!! Look, Mom, Look!!"

boy oh boy... that's totally awesome as well.

oh! back to all the kids... coming from a neighborhood with like NO kids, this is taking some adjustments on my part. oh, who i'm i kidding - i'm not adjusting at all. one of these little mongrels pounds on my door and the first words out of his mouth aren't - "hey, can your kid come out and play" ... no, no, no... they're "hey! how many GUNS do you have?!! i've got EIGHT!" Auy-yep... get the fuck off my portico bucko. then there are two boys that Hen just adores... the only problem is they're like WAY too old to be playing with a four year old. one is NINE and the other is SEVEN... so like why are they coming around?? of course, Henry thinks they're soo cool. yeah, of course he does. after playing with them for less than a week - out of the clear blue sky he's begun hitting me when ever i try to correct him. yeah, you read that right. he's also suddenly taken to shoving Flynn down every chance he gets and one day last week after doing just that - he actually spit in my face when i sent him to time out. the last straw was when these "boys" younger sister wanted to come in the house to play, but TOLD me i had to put my dog away first. she's five. i, of course, kindly showed her to the door. the very next day i heard Henry tell Evai "you're a big ugly dog".... hmmm... i wonder where he got that????????? so you can just imagine how delighted i was to have her pounding on my door during nap time today - announcing that she was selling lemonade for 75 cents and that i needed to buy some. it was all i could do not to trip the little shit as she stormed off the porch. hehehe.

really, it's not so bad. aside from the nasty influence the rabid mongrels next door are proving to be... it's just different and a rental just doesn't feel like home. i greatly miss our beautiful house in Pittsburgh. i miss my friends. i miss all the gorgeous parks and the fabulous museums! i miss Pittsburgh itself... we have so many lovely memories there, it's difficult to let them go. and yes, while i'm enjoying the bone liquefying heat... i even miss the notorious Pittsburgh weather, but just a bit ;)