5 Things I Really Dislike About Renting

1. The noise.  It's the parking lot.  The tow-truck driver.  The highway.  The airport.  The Air Products factory.  (<--- which is releasing clouds or steam or something under really high pressure this morning to the tune of a shrill whistle.  Imagine a tea kettle at full steam.  Right by your ear.  For 3 hours.)  Then there's the kids.  All the screaming.  All the knocking on my door wondering if I have snack.  Wondering if I can play.  Yeah.  They want me to play.  Not Koley.  Me!  I mean I'm fun.  But I'm 27.  And pregnant.  I'm laying off the monkey bars for awhile.  Then there's the dag gum scooters that sometimes run into my door.  Ride in traffic!
   There was an article in my Oprah magazine this month about noise and how damaging it can be to your physical and mental health.  I may have taken it quite seriously.  Earplugs please.
2. Hard water.  Not only is my hair straw-like, brittle, and unable to style... my shower curtain is turning orange and all my cups are so foggy you can't see through them.  Sorta gross.
3. The upstairs faucet on my side of the bathroom... if you turn it on cold- it'll run cold for about the space of time it takes you to reach the faucet.  Then, it's luke warm. And every night (EVERY NIGHT) I forget.  I bend over to rinse after brushing my teeth and get a balmy luke warm mouthful of water.  Blecckh.  I can just imagine those weird white floaty things that are always in warm water gushing into my mouth. 
4. The faucet in the guest bathroom downstairs... if you turn it to warm (like half a millimeter to the warm side) to wash your hands...  It will scald your skin off.  I've heard many a guest scream in surprise.  And horror.  I should put a warning post-it on the mirror.
5. Wind blows through the cracks around the front door.
6. I really miss getting the mail in my pajamas without a bra on.

5 Things I Really Like About Renting

1. Ken comes home every night.  You just can't beat that.  Kole gets so excited.  He watches from the window starting at five to 6 and waits.  Waits for Dad to come home.  And boy is it mayhem when Ken gets here!  Giggling.  Chasing.  Growling.  Wrestling.  Boy stuff.  Mom takes a break.
2. I do like having a box to walk to in order to get the mail.  It feels very "Housewives." 
3. When something is broken (kitchen cabinet, toilet, closet door, blinds) it cost absolutely nothing to fix.  Just call the manager and they send Manuel over at 5:15.  Love it.
4. My neighbor and I tape messages up to each other on our kitchen windows during the day.  It makes me feel like I'm 7 and I like it. (Maybe that's why those kids always want to play with me.)
5. I'm getting to know people.  They know me.  I'm making friends.  After 6 long months.  I feel comfortable here.

1. Juli posted her Truth Is yesterday and I feel like an additional day was dumped in the middle of the week.  Like a double Wednesday.  How is it not Friday?
2.  I think my butt is growing at the same pace as my baby belly.  I guess that goes to "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."
3. I just tried to take a nap... but between the Air Products across the field rearranging their fleet of trucks (Beep!  Beep!  Beep!), the stinking highway traffic, and my proximity to the airport... I just wound up taking a pill for a headache.
4.  I started reading The Studs Terkel Reader and feel very adult about it.
5.  Yesterday, for the first time in years, I thought- "Yeah... I could have more than 2 kids.  Maybe 4.  Maybe 5."  I think I was a little drunk on sunshine and warm weather.  
6. I dyed my own hair last night and it turned out the exact color on the box.  Perfectly even.  10 points Patty!
7. I like awarding myself points throughout the day.   It's something I've always done. You know, for good behavior, a smart move, a clever line.  I wonder how many points I have now?  And what I can cash them in for.
8. We got our tax refund today and that can only mean one thing.  We're going to The Outback!  YAY!  Ken makes us save all of it.  But I can always coax one dinner date out of him.  Awesome Blossom, Come to MAMA!
9. Kole is getting really good at talking.  Eh... he's getting really good at repeating things.  Yeah.  Better stated.

I'd like to start this post by welcoming Megan, our newest follower, aboard.
Hello, Megan.  Glad you could make it.  Refreshments will be served after the closing prayer.

When we woke up on Saturday it was so warm and sunny out.  It smelled like wet dirt.  Which equates to Spring in my mind. After Ken whipped up some apple pancakes (I'm spoiled.  Spoiled.  I know.  Spoiled.  Spoiled.  Spoiled.) I talked him into going to the zoo after Koley-Doo's nap.  I just wanted to be out in the fresh air.  Sometimes I feel like my lungs and whole body need an internal spring cleaning.  And I'm not into those colon cleanses... so I'll take breathing in a day with temps in the 50s. 
We headed to the zoo as the sky clouded up.  "It'll stay warm.  Don't worry."  I tried assuring Kenner and Koley.... I mean Ken was in shorts.  My only option of warmth was the fleece zip-up I tossed in the back seat. 
By the time we got to the zoo... the wind had kicked up a little.  And, let me tell ya, it wasn't blowing in from the Caribbean either.  It was chilly.  On the upside- the zoo was not crowded.  At all.  We got primo parking and great views of every animal. 
We even let Kole ride the train.  It was my first time on the train too and I loved it!  I got a thrill out of being on a ride and not having to wear a seat belt.  There is absolutely no danger in this train.  I mean you could pretty much step off while it's moving and walk along beside it... but that lack of seat belt really gave me an adrenaline high!
The train was our last stop of the day.  Seeing as the temperatures had dropped significantly.
It started snowing on our drive home.
So we stopped at Maverick for some Kettle-Cooked Jalapeno Chippies!
That'll warm you up!



Giraffes always remind me of Aunt Betsy and Julie.




I really wish Ken would have told me my t-shirt was all rolled up in my fleece.
I hate that wide-crotch look.



Ditto wide-crotch statement.



Koley was very excited waiting for the train.




He really only liked the animals that were smaller than him.



I have to stop reading Harry Potter before bed.
I started the first one for the third time at Christmas time. 
I'm on Order of the Phoenix now.
That's book 5 for those of you who don't know or who think you're above it.  Face it:  You're not. 
For people who have read the series, do you have the same problem as me? 
Problem Being: After Harry finds himself back at Hogwarts- I feel the urge to read until I finish the book.  I mean, every free minute.  I've been knocking these out in 3 days or less.  I finish one so fast... and then take a week or two off because I want it "to last."
Anyway, my key reading time is when the Koley-mun goes to bed.  So from 7:30 to 11:30 I've been reading my Harry Potters....
and then my dreams are all effed up.

Last week I woke up (but obviously not entirely) and I was out of my covers.  I panicked because I thought, "Oh no!  Now, I'm a wizard!  I'm out of my covers!  They're coming to get me!"  I suppose I thought the Ministry of Magic was after me?  I lulled back to sleep... woke up again... this time in my covers.  "Good.  Still human."  I woke up like 8 times that night and evaluated my existence as human or wizard based on whether or not I was on top of my covers or under them.

Then, last night.  I had this dream that me and my two sisters, Julie and Andi, were searching for Giants, in order to convince them to join Dumbledore.  And the giants were also looking for us.  To eat us.  My sisters and I were trying to get down this cliff covered in really thick vines and branches.  The cliff went straight into a river.  I don't know what our plan was when we hit water....  Julie was in the front and she froze and pleaded, "Go back!  Go back!"  I was all stuck in these branches (must of been Devil's Snare) and couldn't move.  Julie was climbing over me saying she saw one and we were in trouble.  We couldn't find our wands.  I looked to where she could have seen a giant and saw Santana (from Glee) in a wheelchair sitting by the river with a pair of binoculars.  She was scoping us out.  I told Julie that was Santana and she was singer and not a giant.  Julie just said "Polyjuice!"  Her and Andi were already so far up and I was stuck there.  No wand.  In Devil's Snare.  Facing a giant disguised as Santana...

I sat up in bed and my heart was really hurting.  I was breathing hard.  Basically, freaking out in real life.  Well... "real life" in the sense that I was technically awake but my brain wasn't actually functioning yet.  My first thought was, "Where's Hermione?"  Then I shook my head and said out loud, "That was a dream.  You don't need Hermione."  To which my inner brain responded, "Stupid Muggle.  You're just like the Dursley's."

So, yeah.  Might be time to lay off the HP before bed.
Harry Potter just seemed the happier alternative to Breaking Bad. 
Which put my dream-related-stress off the charts.