Pencil Thin

My husband used to use our back deck as an area to jump rope because at one point it used to be private and quiet and free of idiot neighbors. Since the idiots have moved in I don’t see him out there so much and I don’t let the kids go out unless I can supervise them. We thought about increasing the height of the existing fence but continued fence installation just doesn’t feel like the answer. We have done everything we can to work with our neighbors but now feel that it is time to make a call to our lawyer to see what legal recourse we have. It would be nice to be able to let my kids go into the back yard without worrying about who is out next door watching them.

I give my husband a little bit of praise for bringing home a treadmill three years ago and you think I gave him a license to bring home any vacuum and used cisco product he finds on the side of the road. Now its a chain saw. this thing look like it was from the early fifties but he swears he will get it working and use it to cut some of the fallen trees on his mothers property. Of course I remember that same type of promise when he brought home the lawn mower, the two weed eaters, and the edger that has been in the same box he found it in in more than four years ago. My basement looks more like a junk yard than anything else.

For the last 3 weeks we have been traveling. This has meant that my family has eaten about 5 times the normal amount of take out food than we usually do. Despite bringing our own microwave and toaster to the hotel there is a limit to how much cooking you can do in a hotel room. At least one meal a day has ended up coming from some restaurant or another. I am actually quite scared to see what the scale shows when we get back in the next couple of days. Maybe I should just start taking some type of diet pill now and not weigh myself for at least another week. This might be the best thing for my self-image rather than to see those scary numbers that I am expecting and feel like garbage because of them.

You know one of the sure signs you have been married a really long time is when you hardly need words to communicate. I can’t tell you the number of times my husband and I have communicated fairly complex information using a minimum of words. This is especially useful when you have kids like mine who think that everything that comes out of your mouth is their business. This isn’t to say we have a gesture or head nod for everything. I am quite sure we would have to actually say “Zero Halliburton” if for some reason that is what we were talking about. For now though we have gotten pretty good at keeping life’s true secrets like finances or up coming surprises under the radar of our snoopy little men.

In the last 6 weeks I haven’t had a minute to myself. Convinced that somehow I would find some time for me I purchased a couple of books that I had been wanting to read. These books were bought 3 weeks ago and they are still sitting in the bag I brought them home in. Somewhere and somehow I am swearing here and now that I am going to plop myself down on the couch and read until I fall asleep. Whether that takes an hour or all night it is going to happen. It just may have to wait until we get a blizzard before I actually get to do it. A girl can dream can’t she?

We met this week with an insurance agent to discuss some different options for our needs. During the entire meeting I was wildly distracted by the diamond rings on almost all of this woman’s hands. What was more distracting was how incredibly long her finger nails were and the wild polish and jewels she wore on them. I can barely manage to get anything done when my nails get even slightly long. I am quite sure by the way she carried herself that she isn’t into rock climbing or anything but how does one put in contacts or wash dishes with claws?

Staying in a really nice hotel for more than a night or two has been a real treat for our family. There is just something refreshing about a great hotel when you are used to staying in lesser accommodations. Our beds are super comfy with plush linens and the room always smells fresh and clean. The breakfast buffet has really not been friendly to my waistline. It always smells like fresh baked cookies throughout the hotel at night and we make sure to stock up on these fresh baked goodies before turning in for the night. I am sure that when this is all said and done I am going to need to look into taking weight loss pills if I am every going to fit in my jeans again. For now I am just thankful to be here and away from the stress of running my own household. Reality will set back in tomorrow when we head home for a few days.