Cleaning House

I'm not knitting.

I'm shopping for carpet.

We only have hardwoods in a small part of the house. We've been here for eight years and the carpet wasn't new when we moved in. After 6 years of dog and 5 years of child, the carpet, she is shot. It's that nasty stuff made out of plastic so it doesn't wear out so much as ugly out. The stain resistance? Yeah, not so much.

So, instead of yarn, my wool of choice these days is carpet. We've narrowed it down to two. And I'm buying a houseful of the stuff this weekend.

This is the part of home ownership that's not so much fun.

The carpet buying isn't so bad. Plus, I have a neighbor who is a decorator with fabulous taste so I laid out the samples for her and then did the Happy Happy Joy Joy when she picked my favorite as the best one. But when it sank in that I would have to clean out the closets and under the beds and move everything small into the den and kitchen? Not a pretty face. Charities all over town are getting stacks of lovely things I don't want to touch more than once. Example: Husband's bachelor kitchen stuff was under the bed. We haven't thought about it in eight years. Goodbye 30-year-old Corelle!

Ralph!

No, not ralph.

Ralph's World!

Coming to town.

Bean is so excited she keeps asking me if it's a month from now yet.

Ralph is revered in our home - along with Dan Zanes - for providing music for children that still manages to be witty and entertaining for the adults and is never condescending to the kiddos.

Ralph! At House of Blues!

Of course, there must be at least a small fly in the ointment and there are two:

1.) The show is the same day as the birthday party of Bean's best friend. Fortunately, the timing is such that she can attend both, but it's going to be a long day.

2.) The show is general admission and at 9AM. This means having to get up hella early to go to the show. I hate getting up early to stand in line more than almost anything in the world. Including oral surgery.

Oh, and the show is during Birthday Week. But making Bean happy as a clam is a pretty good birthday present for me!

What you get for your PhD

Me: Is that thunder?
Him: Yes.
Me: Tell Bean to get inside and you might not want to be standing around on the patio with those metal tongs in your hand.
Him (aggravated): It's not lightening.
Me (smartass): And it thunders when?
Him: Bean, get inside.

Heh.

On a serious note, it's not raining at all but it's pretty loud thunder and two guys in town were electrocuted in separate incidents this weekend because they figured that if it wasn't raining, they were OK.

Is it summer yet?

Because, dude, it was 90F yesterday.

Oh, wait, that's Texan for spring.

But Bean and I are ready for the slower days of summer. It's birthday party season which means a party or two every weekend. Combine that with a sudden flurry of adult activities and several pretty hefty storms resulting in a constant need to clean tree limbs (not even our trees sometimes) out of the yard and you have a tired child and tired parents.

I can't wait for Memorial Day.

New adventures in arguing

The Bean, being a relatively bright kid, can and will use logic and reasoning against you and has for about the past year-and-a-half. This can make parenting ... interesting.

Yesterday, the zoo brought a bunch of animals to her school and she learned that animals that are awake in the night are called nocturnal. She also learned what animals that are awake in the day are called but couldn't remember. I thought it was diurnal, but we got busy and I didn't have a chance to look it up.

Long about 3pm, we're back at the house and she's getting really cranky, so I tell her she really needs to take a nap.

Much screaming ensues. (I've heard that 5 is The Year of the Boss and, so far, she's right on schedule.)

"I CAN'T TAKE A NAP. ONLY NOCTURNAL ANIMALS SLEEP DURING THE DAY AND I'M TURNAL!!!"

Ah, the benefits of education.