rain on tulips

I finished reading Talyn, by Holly Lisle, about two weeks ago, in the midst of this crazy move (Can we all say “escape”?) and I was absolutely blown away by it! And then, I put off reviewing it because I didn’t want to write something inane like, “Wow! That was so cool!” But… Wow! That was so cool!

Talyn is a Tonk warrior in a race of warriors, content with her role as a magic shielder, and ready to die in defense of her people against the Kingdom of Eastil and in defense of her honor.

Gair is an Eastil warrior sent undercover into the Tonk Confederacy to destroy their gathering of leaders. He and his men are captured and thrown into a Tonk prison, held as prisoners of war against the day the two sides would arrange prisoner exchanges.
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3 days. 2 offers. Priceless!

(We are struggling through the long distance “trying to sign counteroffers by email” nightmare… the realtor, bless her, is *not* technologically savvy, and its a slow, painful process! But, the end results look promising… the light at the end of the tunnel is looking less like a freight train!)

I missed the chance to make banana bread this week: part due to my not wanting to take the time, part due to my not having found my beaters yet, but mostly due to the bananas going too too squishy. EWW!

The kids met a couple of neighbor kids the day we unloaded the big truck, and played for an hour, having a great time. They were regaled with stories of the fantastic backyard and the fun tree house the neighbors have. A couple days later, we tried to stop by, to say “hi” and seethe wonderful Backyard. No answer. Tried again & again, always with no answer. In fact, we’ve been by 5 times and never found anyone home.

So, the plan for today: we’re going to bake cookies, and try again at the neighbors. And if they don’t answer, at least we’ll be able to leave cookies so they know we’ve been by.

(off to find the chocolate chips, Iguess!)

Well, it’s still not fixed. The Landlord came by to remove the spider and ant condo* from beside the driveway, and looked at the pipes, promising to bring out pieces to fix it. Its been 2 days, and he’s not been back yet. When the a/c is running, I have to empty the bucket every 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or the water runs across the garage floor again. Its all getting a little old.

UPDATE: The landlord came by an hour after I posted, and put the final pipe pieces on! Hopefully now, I can run the a/c without fear of floods!

*The 100+ foot tree that stood by the garage was taken down the day we brought up the 26′ truck. The resulting pile of tree limbs and stump pieces lay piled 4 feet high along most the length of the driveway for nearly 2 weeks. In the early morning light, the sun glistened off the cocoon of spiderwebs that had grown to cover the whole thing. Ewww! And the carpenter ants that arrived to feast on the sawdust have been slowly infiltrating the house. Ugh! Honestly, I’m more than glad that the entire mess is gone!

It seems that the kids have taught GC how to blow bubblegum bubbles, at the ripe old age of 4! I never realized that kids that young could learn that kind of thing! (takes a lot of refined dexterity, doesn’t it?)

Of course, EK hasn’t gotten anywhere near blowing bubbles yet, but she sure enjoys popping them!

And, because I wanted a current shot without the sunset glare, here’s one with most everyone smiling! (wish GC could take one picture without worrying about what everyone else is doing, or just trying to be silly!)

The view out my front door this morning (and in July, even!):

(It a little hard to make out, but that is pouring rain there at my house. LOVE IT!)

Look! A new home! (And a cardreader so I can use the camera without a serial port!) The house looks a bit blotchy, because of the sun through the trees; but you can see the general structure and the color and stuff.

And, just because I can, and its been a couple of weeks, here’s a picture of the kids! I’ll try to get one without the sunset glare tomorrow or so… this ought to tide you over in the meantime, though!

Actor James Doohan — Scotty on Star Trek — passed away today. The miracle-working engineer will be missed…

The other day at U-Haul while I wasrenting a truck, I saw these really cool bracelets/wristbands, and had to have some! I bought 2 (one for myself and one for Fuul), but he’s not been able to wear his because its too small. So the girls have glommed onto it instead!

Its kind of difficult to tell in the image, but they are like camo- colored!

I found them listed online, now, and found out they offer dogtags too! (I’m a dogtag junkie, I admit it!) So, I may need one or two of those as well!

Anyway. Just thought I would share my find, in case anyone else was interested in supporting the troops or something! (I always like finding the little things I can do locally that do good.)

When I got home from picking up JS from scouts last night, the puddle was back. Luckily this time, all the boxes were out of the way, and just one part of the old (falling apart anyway) dresser was set in water. Seems my preemptive flood-stopping bucket overflowed. Who knew an a/c could spit that much water in 18 hours?!

Emptied the bucket. Moved the really wet dresser outside to dry. Reminded Fuul to call the landlord.

Someone is supposed to be out today to finish running the pipes outside. It’s nearly 2, I’ve already had to empty the bucket once today, and still no sign of the repair guy. Hope he doesn’t take too much longer!

So, I ran out to the garage last night to grab a bag we’d left sitting there when we came home, and saw a trickle of water running out toward the front of the garage. I’ve seen this sort of thing before in this house, but it never seemed to be A problem (it seemed isolated to the front corner of the garage, & not touching anything).

Last night, however, the trickle seemed to have puddled beneath EK’s dresser, and spread backward into the garage. Yes. Lots of our stuff is still in boxes in that garage.

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We just got home tonight from what should have been the final “moving” trip from one home to another. Too much loading-unloading-packing-driving-cleaning for me!

Hopefully, the next trip will be to sign over the house to someone else, and then to walk away with a little nest-egg! (Wishful thinking?)

Tonight though? I’m sitting on the couch, watching TV, and trying to not consider now many boxes I need to unpack!

Life sure is fun, huh?

Anna is keeping a travelogue of sorts, documenting in words and pictures her teaching opportunity in China. It is absolutely worth a look or three! (She will be in China & updating at least through July).

We’re trying to figure out what to do with our old house… we have received one offer - as is - butwe’re trying to figure out if its a better deal to sell & be done with it, or try to do some of the necessary work and start with a higher asking price.

Our main areas of concern right now are (1) the carpets, and (2) the walls. Both need replacing (well, the walls need repainting, but you know what I mean!) and we don’t want to argue that! What we have to determine is whether its a better deal for us to replace and repaint first, or knock off those costs from what were asking.

And how do you figure out that kind of stuff?

(I’d rather just curl up in a ball and hope it all sorts itself out! Ugh!)

I’m sitting on the couch, watching Monk, and SURFING THE NET!! The modem’s been hit-or-miss all day… hopefully its settled into some sort of useful state, and won’t be such a bother from here on out!