pics

Hello Everyone!

Well it has been a while! Everyone over here is doing good. I am enjoying my job even with the Army's horrible funding problems and budgets getting frozen one after another- it just means more time to catch up with you guys lol. I am feeling better and getting fitter everyday, down to a size 12! YeeeHooooo!! :)

Kids- Anthony is doing great and reading his little heart out.... 8 weeks until Kindergarten, I am scared to death but I know my little man will do great! He has lost 2 teeth (bottom front) and is handsome as ever. He has been going to an Orthopedic Surgeon for his infamous toe-walking and hopefully, one way or another, that will be resolved soon- OUCH! He's getting smarter everday and his comments keep me entertained.. "Mom why don't you want to eat the corn because you'll get another baby???" Huh.... "Well that's what makes a baby in your belly right? Corn?" Whew...

Kaiya is doing great as well. She has learned her colors and is quite a little smarty pants herself. I cut her hair into a little Shirley Temple bob and it is adorable. She is in her 2 year old phase still but is coming along nicely- we were worried for a while... but she has come out of the monster stage just fine. Always willing to help and VERY friendly. She just loves anyone she can get her hands on; strangers, dogs, cats, BUGS! Her current obsession is squirrels, she is quite adimant on catching one... I am not so excited about that. She also asked me yesterday if she could go fishing with Little Bear... he is on Nickelodeon.

More pics to come!

Land Ho!

Well, this image should give you some idea of what our basement was like last night. When we bought this house a year ago the seller said the basement "leaked a little" with "really bad storms". Ha!

'scuse me.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Lol! There were no fewer than eight SPRINGS gushing into the basement last night. Andy worked tirelessly sloshing water into our two sump pumps. We had about a 10 gallon trash can under one spout and it filled almost instantaneously. Andy sloshed out to the garage in ankle deep water to discover slightly deeper water.

This morning I was surprised to learn that it wasn't just our crappy little house that got soaked. The federal government had liberal leave today. (I think this administration calls it "pinko commie slacker leave" though.) We'd already decided today we'd be off and so we made a bee line to Home Depot. At 7 am the place was seriously hopping. Andy waited in line for a water pump. It's a little thing so I'm surprised it does something productive...afraid we shall soon see. We already had a wet/dry vac and mega fan of course, but we got a serious dehumidifier and hydraulic cement repair goop. On the way back from Home Depot, we stopped at our "old"house, currently on the market (excellent timing). I'm not gonna say anything was wrong with the house, I'm definitely not going to say there was anything amiss. Not with our house that we're trying to sell that is perfectly good and has NO issues whatsoever. We just felt like visiting for a while and hanging out there in the basement for a while. Yeah...

Back here, Andy mashed the hydraulic cement into the walls today. I cleaned the rest of the stairs and went grocery shopping. We're having steak for dinner. We have worked up an appetite.

Edited to add a link to video of the torrent on YouTube:

Andy & Laura's Basement Pool

Shannon and Rick's New House!

Shannon and Rick have a new house under contract. You can see pictures of it here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rivahea/sets/72157594175973048/

Check it out!

Father's Day Savannah Style

Well, Sunday Dad came over to the humble bungalow in Arlington and we had a Southern spread. I made Johnny Harris BBQ chicken in the crockpot. This was not as easy as it sounds because I brought my crockpot/steamer/rice cooker (a truly amazing gadget) back to Arlington from the river Sunday morning, but I managed to forget a little disc that goes in the lid that keeps the steam in. So I rushed out to Bed, Bath and Beyond and picked up a utilitarian one. We had corn on the cob, baked beans (did they notice they were vegetarian???), hush puppies and onion-corn relish. Mmmmmmm. For dessert we had a store-bought mousse cake that was quite tasty.

We were sad that Dottie couldn't join us. It is hella rough trying to sell a house. It's also hella tough to build a house. Add to that trying to move and have a job and "Whoa doggies!". Shannon and Rick ventured over from Maryland and shared pictures online of the new house they just bought last week. (I just realized that we three couples currently own 7 houses. That is NOT a good scene.) They are very excited about their new digs. I hope Shannon will blog about it.

During the festivities, our realtor called to let us know that the first open house for our old house went well. They had a good turnout (rare in these bubble bursted days) and even had one person inquire about putting in an offer. She wanted to make one contingent on the sale of her condo, but if the housing market is mushy, the condo market is gooey. So hopefully we'll unload house #1 soon.

Right now Andy and I are looking forward to a week off at the river for 4th of July. It's so humid in DC today that my KEYS are sticky!