3/23/07

* * * Apparently, here in the country, it’s not unusual for a woman in a red truck to pull into your driveway and toot her horn. When you go out to see what the hell’s up with that, she’ll shoot a significant look at your trash pile at the end of the driveway and ask if you need anything hauled off. Unfortunately, you’ve probably already arranged to have someone come and haul off the pile over the weekend, so you have to turn her down. She’ll take it well, though, smile and wave and say she was just checking. Is it weird that I think that’s really cool?

* * * So Fred came out to Smallville briefly on Wednesday. While he was there, I gave him our utility bills for the last year to give to the realtor, along with a copy of the survey we got when we bought the Madison house, and the appraisal. The realtor actually lives in our subdivision, and when Fred drove by his house on the way to ours, the realtor was out checking his mail, so Fred stopped and gave him everything. Then he told the realtor that as long as he told everyone that we were having the house repainted and recarpeted and that it was a big mess, he could go ahead and start showing the house. The spud spent Wednesday night in Smallville with me, and then we left from there, separately, she to go to Madison to get more clothes and to meet up with her boyfriend, and me to go into Huntsville to run some errands and then go to the Madison house for the evening. She called me after she left the Madison house to let me know that the painters were still there, and a realtor was there showing the house as well. Turns out, the house was shown twice yesterday. No offers yet though, damnit. I spent a couple of hours cleaning, and I must say – the kitchen looks pretty fabulous. I need to clean the glass in the corner cabinet and maybe wipe down the inside of the refrigerator (even though the refrigerator’s coming out to Smallville to live in the laundry room with the litter box and freezer, it doesn’t hurt to have it clean in case some nosy-ass bastard pokes their nose in to see what’s in there). I’m spending all day today cleaning the hell out of the rest of the house (aside from the bathrooms, I don’t think there’s a lot to be done, aside from windows and windowsills). I suspect there’ll be several showings over the weekend, and wouldn’t it be nice if I posted Monday morning to say we’d accepted an offer on the house? Not holding my breath, though. * * * Their evil chicken talons don’t poke holes in the kiddie pool? It’s funny you should ask that. Wednesday around midnight, I went upstairs to check on the chickens before bed, and found that the top section of the pool (it’s comprised of three blow-up sections) was almost completely deflated. No chicks had escaped, but I was sure it was only a matter of time. I went downstairs and called Fred (waking him from a really deep sleep, apparently), and he said not to worry about it. I checked the next morning and all chicks were accounted for, then I went upstairs a few hours later, and Fricasee had escaped from the pool, and when I walked into the room he was peering over the side into the pool, and he looked up at me as if to say “This is quite a predicament I’ve found myself in. Give a brother a helping wing?” I picked him up and put him back, then called Fred again. Ultimately, I blew up the top section of the pool, looked around it, and found a small puncture hole made by either an evil chicken talon or an evil chicken beak. I taped it up and so far things are okay, but I believe Fred’s going to buy a hard plastic pool so that doesn’t happen again. Wait…all those rooms that Fred painted last year in the Madison house are going to be RE-painted? Really? Are thinking that it will sell faster with more neutral colors? I guess that makes sense, but ALL that work. No wonder you decided to hire painters. Yeah, our idea was that a neutral color throughout the house would be more attractive to buyers. It does suck that he spent all that time last year painting the rooms, only to have the work undone, but if it makes our house sell faster, it’s worth it! Question – I also have six cats, and we just installed laminate flooring. Since shedding season is starting, how the hell do you control the cat hair tumbleweeds? I always found that developing a blind eye to the cat hair helped a LOT. But since moving into the Smallville house, I’ve discovered that it’s easier to ignore the cat hair wafting through the house when there was carpet there to catch it and make it less obvious. In the last week I’ve either vacuumed or Swiffered every day. It keeps it at a manageable level, but I’m thinking we really should just shave the freakin’ cats bald and be done with it. I came to read thru your comments to see if anyone had mentioned to you about the HUGE pet food recall. I’m sure you’ve seen the news.. but I wanted to let you know just in case! I saw that Publix brand was on the recall list and thought immediately of the And3rson kitties. I had definitely heard of the recall, but our cats don’t eat Publix brand cat food because they’re spoiled rotten. They eat the expensive stuff, of course – and the stuff I buy wasn’t on the list (thank god!), so I think we’re safe. Somebody probably already asked, but are you going to put up a Virtual Tour of the Smallville house? I lubs me them tours… I’ve actually got “after” pictures I’m going to put up side-by-side with the “before” pictures, but yes – once we’re all moved in, I’ll definitely be doing a house tour of the Smallville house! The new house looks great – I have a question, though. Do you ever get creeped out staying there by yourself at night? My husband works nights a lot of the time, and even though we have lived in our house for over 20 years (and we’re in a very safe area), there are those occasional odd times when my imagination takes over. Usually it’s because the cats are on “alert” – and I know it’s either gotta be a serial killer outside the window … or a moth. I was a little creeped out the first night, but after that, not at all. I’ve heard weird noises, and always look to the cats to see their reaction, and they haven’t been concerned yet. They’ll occasionally do the “Behind you! A serial killer!” look, but they don’t all do it at the same time, which is how I gauge whether or not I should be worried. (Of course, I’ll be found dead, hacked to bits, with my head in the freezer, and Miz Poo will be saying “I TRIED to tell her there was a serial killer behind her, but she just told me to shut up and kept playing Snood!” Flappy McGee? Does he do much flapping? She certainly does. She’s a flappin’ fool. (Flappy McGee) (Fricasee, the suspected rooster) * * * “Dude, you’re crowding me. STOP CROWDING ME!” * * * Previously 2006: “Hookers and blow!” he crowed jubilantly. 2005: Also, there’s that whole pesky “dealing with people” thing, and I don’t like that sort of thing at ALL. 2004: The spud passed the test for her learner’s permit, THANKYAJEEZUS. 2003: No entry. 2002: No entry. 2001: Fred and I chose the names of our future child/ren way before we ever met – Seth Forrest and Samantha Jayne. 2000: On the other hand, I was shopping in Wal-Mart, wasn’t I? What’d I expect, diamonds and furs?]]>