Coming Home

The kids return tomorrow from their world of have-it-all. Fortunately for them, Mema is coming with them. Unfortunately for us, we'll have nothing but noise around here. Not only are they coming back, but they are bringing reinforcements!

I haven't forgotten to post, but I currently am sans kids, so LW and I are partying like it's 1999. Oh yeah, and doing laundry.

I Might As Well Be Wearing Panties

Tonight my loving wife is out painting the town red, while I play Mr. Mom to our youngest. While I'm ok in small doses, he is very much a Mommy lover (as are most little boys) and when it became bed time, he was completely done with me. You see, I've been ironing, making dinner, giving baths, and OH YEAH, building my loving wife a shoe rack, while she's been out. Seriously, how did I draw that short straw? She just got home to tell me how they had just SOOOO much fun and how they drank and flirted with men half their age and how there were dollar bills involved, and I just said STOP. I've been home holding down the fort and being a good little husband and building stuff for you. The least you can do is tell me how boring all of your friends are. "Um, OK, honey tonight sucked," she said. "Thanks, baby," I responded.

A Veritable Cold Front

The temperature here dropped nearly 30 degrees overnight. Today's high was a mere 91. People were out in their yards, playing basketball, walking the dogs. We even walked all the way to sonic, while our youngest rode his bicycle, picked up a Route 44 and headed back. I don't know how long this arctic storm is supposed to last, but I'm digging it!

Howdy! We're Your Neighbors - The Clampetts!

If it weren't Sunday, I'd follow Holy with a completely different word, but all I have to say about us is Holy You've-Got-To-Be-Kidding-Me! How did I go from snob to Hillbilly in 60 seconds flat?

I'm embarrassed by the state of my backyard, and unfortunately, the unsightliness is soon going to be the ummsmelliness!

Last fall when the markets started turning south and home building became the evil industry and my wife had to fire herself because everyone else ran scared, we decided we'd grab the economic downturn by the horns and finally realize our dream of having a pool house and a beautiful backyard. So, we hired a contractor, and we didn't like him, so we fired him. And then, we hired a contractor, and we didn't like him, so we fired him. And again, we hired a contractor, and we liked him, and we've kept him. Except, that he kind of screwed up this past week and didn't quite get the building codes exactly right on our addition, so in the midst of starting to dig up our backyard to move the pool pipes, so that none of the new addition would rest on top of the pipes, we had to stop them.

Now our cement pond is starting to breed amphibians (after all, it's been an average of 102 degrees all week - the murky water has some shaping up to do). The trenches that are dug in our backyard (which are about 3 feet deep, by the way), are collecting water from the sprinklers that we are having to keep on to keep everything else from dying, and are breeding grounds for mosquitoes, yellow jackets and lizards. After giving some home-made haircuts to our dogs, what you see floating in our partially drained pool is none other than dog hair. Yep, we're classy!

Luckily, all has been rectified, and we are hoping that all will be back to normal before July 4th. Hopefully, I'm not jinxing us by saying this. Hopefully!

I'm a Snob

Tonight I opened the mail to an invitation to participate in a new-release purchase of 'En Route Pinot Noir, Les Pommiers.' This is a new wine that is being produced by the owners of Nickel & Nickel winery, where I have a membership in their quarterly shipment program. A 3-bottle shipment of this pre-release wine is a mere $160. As I am reading the 30 page brochure of the Russian River sourced Pinot Noir, I realize that the marketing ploy is to make these wines seem unattainable to the common guy. After all, if I can afford something that others cannot, then clearly, I am superior to them and more importantly, I can provide a conversation piece at the next dinner party that my lowly neighbors and poor friends cannot. WOW - what geniuses these wine producers are.

As I reflected on the fact that I just simply would not be sucked into their marketing ploy, I realized that I was doing so with wine glass in hand filled with a glass of the cheapest bottle of wine I had in the house. If you care to follow my link you can figure out how much the 2006 Nickel & Nickel Suscol Ranch Merlot is, and I have to tell you that I am a little bit embarrassed at just how much I've bought into the price = quality mantra of the Napa Valley producers.

Yet another of my many faults exposed!

The Hangover

Tonight, my loving wife and I got a last minute sitter to stay with our youngest and headed to the 9:35 p.m. showing of "The Hangover." While in line, we ran into the director of the school where our eldest attended kindergarten. When we told her how tall he was, she was shocked and when we told her we had two more kids, she was really shocked. It is truly a small world we figured. But, it was time for the movie and we needed popcorn anyway, so into the theater we headed. Thursday nights in our suburban neighborhood are rowdy. We couldn't believe the number of people in the theater and all of them were loud and talking to one another. Four guys came into the theater together and we asked them how they got away from their wives, with the following responses: Mine's out of town, I get to do whatever I want, my wife is out with her friends, my wife has a boyfriend. We decided to leave it alone. As the movie began the theater settled down, but not for long. If you've seen "The Hangover," I'm sure you'll agree it is THE adult comedy of the summer. If you haven't, I highly suggest you go, but DEFINITELY, don't take the kids. A quick synopsis is this. . .4 guys head to Vegas for a bachelor party and absolutely everything that could possibly happen, does. Sound cliche? Well, don't be such a stiff and go see it and you'll laugh your rear off.