Saturday, June 17, 2006

Hot and bothered

We're back in town after a fun-filled week with my parents in Naples. D's cousin came over for a few days to play and spend the night at Grandma's and it was so much fun watching the kids together. My brother and I always comment how its weird and wonderful to watch them play - just like we used to when we were kids. We visited the awesome Naples Conservancy with the kids and had a great time in the animal rehab center and the Discovery center. D just loves getting hands-on with little critters. So NOT like her mommy.

Blistering hot here right now. Our house, feeling neglected for a week, decided to go on hiatus too. We came back to: the a/c not working, giant palmetto bug invasion, termite swarms, and about four other service-call related problems to deal with. Our lawn guy is totally AWOL and we look like we're living in a meadow. Not to mention that even after M and I have each vacuumed and mopped twice and the cleaners have been here once, there are STILL ashes all over the place. M even got down on hands and knees to hand clean the firebox and grate and still... what a mess.

I'm off to Mazzaro's this morning to get a Chocolate Decadence for M for Father's Day. Mazzaro's puts the "M" in "mmm, mmm, good."

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Nesting

I was nesting last night. Washing and drying and folding little baby boy outfits and making myself really nostalgic for when D was a baby and almost every night that it was clean, I'd put her in my favorite little baby nightgown -- soft, soft white cotton with pale pink and blue flowers. She looked like an angel. Of course, almost every night I would have to strip it off of her by around the fourth feeding when her diaper would leak or I would have a leak while nursing or something like that. Anyway, i hope I have the same feeling for one of these little boy outfits -- soft, soft cotton but with trucks or bugs or puppies or fish instead of flowers.

Sometime this week I'll have to ask M to get the rest of our baby stuff down from the attic -- the bassinet, stroller, baby car seat, Diaper Genie, baby bathtub (I need to see if it can be re-used or if I'll have to replace it). Then, in a few months, the next cycle of baby equipment will begin and we'll be hauling out the play-yard, high chair, exersaucer. This time, though, since I know he's going to be our second and last child, I'll be happy to just give away everything as he grows out of it.

I am very worried about the cramped quarters we'll be enduring once the baby arrives. The baby will be sleeping in our room in the bassinet until he can sleep through the night in his crib in The Kids' room (what is now D's room). Fizzy will have to sleep in the living room, because there will be no place for her bed with the bassinet in our room. I worry about M having to sleep on the couch. I worry that between the new baby's stuff and D's stuff there will be NO ROOM anywhere in any closet or on any shelf ever again. I'm totally annoyed that we have been talking and talking and talking about re-modelling the house and it never goes anywhere. We even had a contractor come out and look at it about a month ago - he said that he'd get an estimate to us, but we haven't heard a word since. And now it's crunch time and I really don't want to deal with a newborn and remodelling at the same time. So do we wait some more? Almost more important than dealing with the house is the freakin' yard - something must be done. There's virtually no grass left, and with rainy season here, we're going to be dealing with a sea of mud and sand and weeds and crap every day. We need a fence and sod and some flower beds and I don't know who is going to take care of that.

Alright, enough crazy talk. Such minor worries when you look at the big picture. It's the hormones, right?

Saturday, June 03, 2006

R & R

My peaceful and relaxing week "off" is almost at an end. My family will be home tomorrow evening and I'm looking forward to seeing them.

In one short week I managed to go to a movie, watch the LOTR series (deluxe DVD version), read a book, walk the dog twice a day, make ice cream, buy some blankets and other stuff for the baby, find new pants, make (but not eat!) a peanut butter pie, and listen, uninterrupted, to all the 80s music I wanted. We're talking Duran Duran, Simple Minds, Berlin... stuff that usually makes M cringe. But I loved driving around singing along to "Hungry Like the Wolf." Back to Raffi on Monday. At least I got my fill of great old music and elves -- there's something about that Legolas. Too bad Orlando Bloom looks kinda skeevy in real life. Sigh.

I also spent way too much time online, mostly due to bad summer TV reruns, and as a result I know way too much about Brad & Angelina's baby and the Denise Richards/Heather Locklear/Richie Sambora love triangle. If you ask me, Denise Richards is making some pretty poor choices in men. Charlie Sheen is no catch in my book, but he looks great next to Richie Sambora. Plus everyone knows you DON'T hook up with your best friend's husband/boyfriend/crush. C'mon people - that's stuff you learn in high school!! Tragically, I guess Denise considers herself above the basic rules of best-friendship.

That I even give a crap about any of this just shows I've been alone too long.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Thunderstruck

OMG. Yesterday afternoon, I had just hung up the phone with my friend J from Pittsburgh and was settling in to re-watch "The Two Towers," this time with the book handy to follow along (yes, I'm that geeked out. What next? Dungeons and Dragons?) when a terrific storm started to brew. I heard some thunder pretty close by, so unplugged the computer and TV and had just settled back down on the couch to read when there was this explosive noise and all the lights went out. When my ears stopped ringing and my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I realized our fireplace screen, a massive heavy copper thing, was flung all the way across the room -- on top of our poor dog. I freed the dog, looked outside expecting to see our big tree blown up, and instead I saw the top of our chimney sitting in the front yard.

A flashlight examination of the living room revealed ash everywhere and the flue for the chimney sitting in the blackened, scorched firebox. The lightning had literally blown the chimney apart. The strike even charcoal-ized some random bits of wood we had left in the grate after our last fire. (Let that be a lesson to everyone that you should really clean your fireplace after every fire.)

An electrician had to come out to re-set our breaker box, a nice man named Dale from A-1 Electric, who reminded me of the Mel Gibson character in Conspiracy Theory, and he helped me to inspect the outlets, walls, etc. for damage. Later my friend B's husband came over to inspect the attic and make sure there was nothing smoldering up there or, as I feared, for gaping holes in our roof. Thank goodness, no damage, other than to the chimney which we really won't be needing anytime soon.

So what else did we lose? The phone, the handset of which was literally blown apart. My cell phone charger. And, sadly, the antique lights in D's bathroom - I'll have to have Dale come out next week to see if they can be repaired. Thank goodness I had unplugged the TV and computer. And let that be a lesson to anyone who thinks it is safe to stay on the phone during a lightning storm!

No lasting damage, except maybe to the dog, who this morning is still a cringing furball of fear. She refuses to leave my side (is under the computer chair right now) and spent the night panting and sighing on her bed. When B's husband came over she practically leaped into his arms -- clearly I am not to be trusted any longer. First the family goes missing and now I've blown up the house.

The good news is I found some comfortable pants yesterday morning at the mall and my s-i-l found another pair on eBay for me.