Buzzkill

DISCLAIMER: As the title may imply, I apologize in advance if this post is a bit of a buzzkill. This is, however, pretty much my diary (I don't have a physical diary, so this is it); and whatever happenstance brought you to my blog, you happened upon my diary. So if this post is TMI or too personal, I apologize. I'm not trying to get sympathy. I just need to vent, and what better place than a diary -- right?

Anyway. Yesterday evening I noticed that I was sort of spotting. Not a whole lot. It wasn't even the bright red color you fear. Just a brown clump. Unnerved, and after hours, I called my OB's emergency line. He quickly returned my call. I explained the situation and he asked me to come in the next day (today) for an ultrasound to make sure everything is alright. He said it's not out of the ordinary (which I know it's not), but he wanted to be sure everything was alright. I had zero spotting with Adrien, and I rarely ever spot after papsmears and the like, of which they say spotting is "common". I'm not a spotter. I've been spotting since yesterday. Once again, not the bright red. Just the brown. I still fear it.

Anyhow, I can't go to the doctor. I do not have the gas to drive all the way up there (a good hour drive with traffic). I don't even have access to a car today. Andi's car is so low on gas, we're wondering if it will make it to the station. We still have a little gas in a gas can for the lawnmower, so it can be used if need be. So, with his car out of gas, he took mine to work today. My gas gauge is hovering just above E. I truly hope he makes it home safely. Even so, how will he ever make it back to work tomorrow? If you're wondering -- at this point -- why we don't just go and get more gas, I'll let you in on a secret. We have no money left until pay day, which is Friday. In fact, we have so little money left that we have negative money. So yay for me. I'm not sure how all of this happened, exactly. I'm really not. I suppose, if it weren't for bank fees, we wouldn't have [as much] negative money. Most of the reason we're overdrawn is because of stupid fees they seem fit to charge when you're already broke to begin with. We had a check returned. We don't know which one yet. It's either the one to the IRS or the one to the water company. The water company I can handle. The IRS? Not so much.

Our only hope to get out of this before tomorrow so that my husband can drive to work, is a PayPal payment pending from someone Andi did some design work for. However large the amount of money we are expecting via PayPal, we will surely still have very little left over after all of the bank fees we've apparently accrued. Hopefully, we will have enough to buy a little gas with. We do have food though, and that is what we really need to survive. And PayPal is so slow. Slower than my Mother. On top of PayPal being so slow to deposit the funds into your checking account, the guy who payed Andi the money to begin with took his sweet time with it. And to add salt to the wound, Andi owes half of the money payed to him to another designer he works with who took half the work load and helped him out. I hope she doesn't mind waiting until Friday for her share. Well, she doesn't really have a choice.

So there's all that and the bills keep coming. Andi interviewed with a company about a week ago. He had a second interview yesterday. He hasn't heard anything yet. They were supposed to let him know either way within a week. The only thing is that even if they do offer him the job, they haven't talked salary yet, so Andi doesn't even know if all of his efforts were in vain. He's talking about getting a night and weekend job. I really don't want him to do that. All in all, I'd rather go back to work than see that happen. But even Whole Foods didn't call me back for a cashier position I applied for. What's with people. I have a college degree and am qualified to do many things. No one will even give me an interview. I don't know what's wrong with me. I feel really inadequate most of the time.

I remember in college, I was the girl who always had the best projects turned in. I had the best grades. At jobs I've always gotten top ratings by my employers. Even when I worked at Cartier for the biggest bitch ever, she thought I was the tops. Every employer has loved me...that is until my last one. I worked for this guy. I was his assistant. The guy I'm speaking of is named Alakazia. He's horrible. He's selfish. I'm sure he is taking more than his credit for the Baby Phat line (you have to read the story linked to previously). Anyway, he treated me like crap; got me to trust him; took me away from a stable job (Cartier) by hyping up the position I was moving into at the new company; and then fired me before my first 90 days were up because he didn't like me. Never mind the fact that I worked my ass off. He got pissy because I was his assistant (not his maid) and I wouldn't do things like clean his office after he'd tear it up in a fit. That was not in my job description. But that's a whole other story. Anyway, the point is, since my experience with Alakazia, I just don't feel like I'll ever be able to do anything (career wise) again. He really made me feel like shit as a person.

So all of that aside, even if I applied to every job I came across that I was qualified for, I doubt I'd even get a call back for an interview. Because believe me, I have applied for almost every job I see that I'm qualified for in the past and no one seems interested. They don't even give me a chance. Besides, I want to stay at home and raise Adrien. With having another baby, it seemed like there was no way to go back to work for me. Now I'm not so sure I'm going to be having another baby.

I called the nurse at my OB's office today and explained to her that there was no way I could make it up to the office this week because of car issues, etc. She understood. She set me an appointment for Monday. I hope everything is alright. I'm just a little freaked out. I've been having dreams about miscarriage, actually. The night before last (the night before I started spotting) I had a dream about it again. I've noticed my pregnancy symptoms start to disappear (about a week or so ago) and I got a little worried. My breasts aren't as sore as they were (or at all anymore) and I am not nauseous at all any more. The only symptom left is that I'm very tired and very fatigued all the time. Generally I'd be happy about the nausea going away, but I know when I was pregnant with Adrien I was sick for 3 months straight. So something just doesn't feel right.

The only thing the nurse could tell me was to "take it easy and stay off your feet. And don't have sex." She doesn't have to worry about the sex thing. But how am I supposed to "take it easy" when I have to chase Adrien around?

I just hope everything irons out soon. I truly don't know how we got in this situation. And I don't know what to do to get out of it. We could sell the house, but any apartment or rental property we got into would cost as much or more than our mortgage...so what would be the point of that?

I just don't know what to do and I can't seem to talk to anyone about it because it's so embarrassing. I'm sure none of the playgroup moms would care about this. I don't really have any real friends that I can unload on. So I have to do it here. And I apologize for that. I really just want to lay on the couch and cry all day.

Yellow dots, anyone?

My birthday cakeI turned around from the cake for a brief moment. When I looked back at it, my Mother had dotted it with yellow icing, making it appear as though it had gotten hold of the same rash I was currently suffering from.

Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake. Homemade buttercream chocolate icing, made with Ghirradelli chocolate. PS: I know I most likely spell Ghirradelli wrong.

Flying Stinging Things

These two pictures pretty much say all that needs to be said about Saturday. Adrien fell asleep on the couch watching Bicentennial Man. That is very strange for him. Generally, getting him to take a nap is more than an Act of Congress. He must have been conked out, though. He just dozed off. It was the cutest, funniest thing ever. The other picture is of my husband "stuffing his face" as he says. He was eating ice cream -- out of a tupperware container! We were in really bad need of running the dishwasher. Saturday was such a lazy day. Andi and I took naps while Adrien slept. Before we knew it, it was 7pm.

Sunday, we got up and went to Church as usual. It was the usual rigmarole of trying to get Adrien distracted in the nursery long enough for me to be able to sneak off to Sunday School without a fit or anxiety attack on his end. There was something odd about Sunday though...oh yes. We had a different Pastor. Apparently good ol' Dr. Wilbanks (our usual) was on vacation. His replacement seemed to have everyone in the congregation yawning. His sermon finally picked up mid way through...but I'm afraid it didn't save us from near boredom. It was a good message -- truly it was. But I could have done without all the words being said nearly 30 seconds apart. He was definitely one for that southern drawl thing they talk about. I will be delighted to have Tom (Dr. Wilbanks) back next week.

After Service, we came back home and had to WRESTLE Adrien into nap time. He didn't lay down for his nap until 1:45pm. That is so incredibly late for him. Then we set out to make up for all the things we didn't get accomplished Saturday. We began to weed our landscaping. That was such a chore in itself. We didn't even get half way done. With all the rain lately, grass and weeds have set up shop (thoroughly, if I may add) among the mulch. It was so ridiculously hot. I covered myself in SPF 50 and could still feel the sun scorching my skin. Andi also mowed and weedeated the front and back yards. I am making a strong effort to stay out of the back yard. There are huge black spiders (wolf spider too) back there, and apparently some wasps have made themselves at home inside a hole in one of our fence posts. This post happens to be part of the gate we go in and out of. Andi sprayed them...I hope they don't return. He says he'll have to get some wood puddy. Good riddance. I hate flying stinging things.

Speaking of wolf spiders, there seem to be a huge colony of them in our garage. They're so huge, brown, spooky, and gangley looking. I killed two the other days (huge monsters, I tell you). Andi killed three more Sunday. All in our garage. I realize that these spiders are not harmful to humans (they actually kill other spiders and bugs) but I just can't have those huge big-as-a-Volkswagen spiders lurking about in my garage. Plus, they could get in the house. I would scream and wet myself if that happened. Oh, and yay of yays, I found a dead one (smaller though) by our the baseboards in our living room this morning. I vacuumed it up before Adrien could go pick it up and poke at it. We're infested I tell you.

And now I'm back to the land of the weekday. I hate weekdays. Andi leaves for extended hours during the day (well, no more extended than anyone else's working husband), and I'm left to my own devices with a toddler. I truly do get tired of thinking of things to do. I get sick of play dates. They're all the same, really. And honestly, they cost quite a bit of money if you don't pack your own lunch every time. I do pack our lunches, but that in and of itself is a huge feat. Also, I am getting so incredibly tired of the mall. Adrien has discovered the exit to the play area there and so every opportunity he gets, he runs straight for the exit. It's tons of fun, I tell you. It's entirely too hot (and flying stinging thing infested) to do anything outside. It was already 85 degrees at 9am this morning. No wonder I was sweating all night long last night. Earlier in the summer, I loved to head out to the parks...but now the sun is so hot and the ozone is in full spring (orange alert for today). I decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood this morning around 10:30am. I took the short route and got back home ASAP. It was so ridiculously hot outside! I mean, we were only out for 12 minutes, and already Adrien had started to pink up on his little legs, arms, and face. He was cooking faster than a sausage during a barbecue. The entire neighborhood is swarming with wasps. People think it's a great idea to plant those huge flowering bushes right next to the sidewalk. They're magnets for flying stinging things.

Thanks alot, people, for planting those flying stinging thing meccas.

Yay for stretchy waisted pants

Not that I'm "showing" yet, but I made Andi get in the attic and pull down my box of maternity pants yesterday. I have some on right now. I have to say -- I love stretchy waisted pants. I mean, really...they're the best. I know that by the end of the pregnancy you can't wait to get back into normal jeans though. But for now, I am happy with them. I can wear jeans all day and actually be comfortable. The waist band isn't cutting into my post-last-baby jelly belly. (Icky, and TMI, I know.)

So anyway, my Mom is officially on her way back home. Can you believe we didn't argue the entire time? I really can't. All in all, my birthday was pretty uneventful. Tuesday night we (Andi and I) left the house around 7:45pm or so and headed to Burger Street. I'm a cheap date, I guess. And generally I'd ask to go somewhere a little nicer to eat...but I was really craving a good burger. Mostly I was craving the curly fries. I had a burger, curly fries, and a chocolate shake that was so thick it should have been eaten with a spoon. It really was heaven. Then we went to the theater, where we waited three hours for the movie (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) to start. The theater was nice enough to let the ones of us first in line sit down in a theater and wait. I really did not realize there would be so many teenagers there. There was a girl in front of us wearing a shirt that truly made me feel old (and I'm not old at all). Her shirt read "Class of 2010". That just seems unreal to me. We were out of the theater by 2:25am or so. Of all of the Harry movies, it was shorter. It was the best by far though...in my opinion anyway.

The day of my actual birthday (7-11) the only time I ventured out of the house was to go to 7-11 to get a free Slurpee. The cup actually said Squishee on it...paying homage to the Simpsons. When we got to the 7-11, I found out that all the "free" Slurpee cups were gone. I had to pay for mine, but it was worth it. I would have gone for anything cold in my mouth by that time. Why would I have gone for anything cold in my mouth? Well I'll tell you...

Last Sunday I drank some orange juice. That was harmless enough. Well after I drank it I noticed I had a sore on my tongue. I thought it was from the acid in the OJ. A little while later my tongue began to hurt so bad, that my throat felt like it was hurting. Now I have sores all over the inside of my mouth. They hurt like hell. I also have a rash on my hands. It starts as little red dots on my hand and then the dots turn to little red hard spots that hurt when they are touched. I called my OB yesterday and he told me to come in first thing this morning.

He seems truly perplexed by my condition. He took a look at my mouth and said to gargle and rinse with warm salt water. He said there's medicine he could prescribe, but he prefers not to in pregnancy -- and especially not in the first trimester. I'm really against taking anything while pregnant at all, unless absolutely necessary. So I will just wait for it to go away I guess. Meanwhile, it hurts to talk, chew, swallow...be awake. My mouth and throat just hurt. I've got sores so far back on my tongue that it feels like my throat is on fire. For some reason, eating everything stings.

I didn't enjoy my birthday cake at all...it was too painful to eat. I'm sure it was great though. It was a dark chocolate fudge cake with home made chocolate buttercream icing. My mom insisted on decorating it with some sort of yellow dots on top. I don't know why. But I let her.

Anyway, as for the rash on my hands, my OB said that it was strange. He referred me to a dermatologist. That was sooo much closure. I just have it in my head that this weird rash and my sudden crop of canker sores in my mouth are related some how and I have some strange virus or something. Ick.

Why is it that you don't crave anything healthy (for the most part) while you're pregnant. All I want to eat are french fries, curly fries, waffle fries...anything potatoes. I have also been craving tomato soup. When I was pregnant with Adrien, I wanted Tom Ka soup all the time...and sticky rice. Thai food rocks. Gosh...satay sounds good too. Man, I'm hungry. But I can't eat anything and get pleasure from it right now.

I will post pics of my bday cake and whatnot later.

Don't you just love mothers...I know I do.

Okay, so I know it's been a while. I have had zero motivation to do anything. Really. I've had raging headaches and the extreme need to be in a constant state of nappishness. And yes, I just said nappishness.

Anyway, My Mom is coming into town today. Tomorrow is my birthday, and my husband and I have plans to go see the midnight showing of Harry Potter 5 tonight. So I asked my Mom to drive 4 hours (three and a half for her, because she drives like a bat out of hell) to come "watch" Adrien while we're out tonight. I mean, he'll be asleep the whole time...it's such hard work for her, I'm sure. So anywho, on with my story: She calls me this morning and asks if she can have lunch with her Mary Kay sales director (yes, she sells Mary Kay -- ugh) tomorrow at Mary Kay Corporate. Tomorrow of all days. It went a little like this: (Yes, note my cattiness. But honestly, I had a right. Right?)

My Mom starts by very passive aggressively asking, "So I know Andrew has taken off of work tomorrow...does he have anything planned for your birthday tomorrow?" [Andrew is my husband, btw]

"No, not that I know of. I mean, we're seeing Harry Potter tonight and that's about it. We don't really have the money to go do anything else very extravagant."

"Oh, well maybe I'll just call Andrew and ask him."

"No, Mom. I'm really pretty sure we're just doing the movie tonight."

"Well, I mean, he did take off tomorrow."

"Ya, he took off so he wouldn't be tired after watching a three or four hour movie at midnight! But why do you ask?"

"Well, Tanya wants to take me to lunch at corporate sometime and I thought tomorrow would be great."

"Well if you don't want to see me on my birthday, I understand."

And then my Mom kicks it in hard core, "SEE! YOU MAKE IT SO HARD FOR ME TO DO ANYTHING BUSINESS RELATED WHEN I COME TO DALLAS!!! I CAN NEVER DO ANYTHING BECAUSE YOU GET SOOOO JEALOUS!!!"

"I don't get jealous. It's my BIRTHDAY!"

I mean, really. That was the conversation. She got off the phone all huffy and acted like the "I love you" at the end of the conversation was forced. I mean, am I wrong to get a little upset that she'd want to drive all the way across town on my birthday to have lunch with her friend/sales director? She'd be gone for a good two or three hour jaunt just for that. Not to mention that she moves slower than Methuselah in the morning, so by the time she got up and drank her pot of coffee, I'd get very little social time with her before she shot off to discuss the goddess that runs her life, AKA, Mary Kay. On top of it, I haven't seen her since Adrien's birthday in May. AND, in addition to all of that, she was originally going to come up yesterday and stay until Thursday morning. Then her trip suddenly got shortened to being here this afternoon and then leaving tomorrow evening.

Now she's magically back to staying until Thursday morning and then leaving from here to go have lunch with Tanya on Thursday.

After our little argument this morning, Andi (my husband) got a call from her not even 10 minutes later. I'm assuming she was asking about his plans for me tomorrow...which are of course NONE. But She also berated him with the usual questions about why we never drive four hours down there to see her. And, he also said she tried to get him in the middle of our little feud while complaining about my supposed "jealousy" to him. He says he refuses to get in the middle. It's fine -- I know he's on my side anyway.

So then not even thirty minutes later, she calls me all cheery and happy and announces she has some great idea to pick us up sushi on the way over so we can have a late lunch. I can't tell her I'm pregnant yet, because I'm waiting to do it in person...so I just insisted she bring me the California Rolls with zero sashimi...I really do love sashimi though.

So everything is peachy keen to her now, I suppose. I really don't understand her sometimes. She'll be here anywhere between the next 30 minutes to an hour. Yay.

So anyway, other than that, I haven't been up to much. Fourth of July was sort of fun. It was a little dreary and drizzley out. My SIL, Aerobics Barbie, was there. She ate her hamburger with no bun, thank you. I mean, Carbs Kill, right?

We went to the mall twice last week for play dates and then we were right back at the mall today for another one. I really do get sick of the mall, but it's been raining nearly every day here lately. On top of it, if it's not raining, it's basically a sauna outside.

I saw "Sheila" at the mall today. She was looking as gaunt as ever. She informed, again, that she'd formed a new play group and left the old one. I guess she forgot about our meeting at Target. Maybe it's the heroine or lack of calories consumed. It was very strange for two mommy groups to be meeting at the mall at the same time. It was almost like some strange cliquish competition. There was one of our members who was attending that is also a member of their group. Strange.

We went to another pot luck yesterday. It was very strange, indeed. It was held, last minute, at a new member's house. I think only one person from our group had met her previously. She's lived here in Dallas for only 4 weeks. When the original hostess was unable to host due to a death in the family, this girl piped up and offered her house up. I think she must be a robot. Her house was perfectly unpacked and in order for just being there for only 4 weeks. As an assistant organizer of our little play group, I wondered if this woman knew what she was getting herself into when she offered to host the pot luck. Apparently she did not. She has a four (nearly five) year old. Nothing was baby proofed. She had no ice for the drinks. She had only a few paper plates to eat off of. She had no plastic cups or flatware of any sort. There was nowhere for anyone to sit at. Everyone sat with their toddlers, trying to feed them on the floor. That worked out soooo great for Adrien...(sarcasm...) I was ready to leave.

Well Adrien is now awake and my Mother will be here shortly. I really have to go...as if this post isn't long enough. I promise not to hold you all in suspense for that long of a time again.

Fuzzy Wuzzy Spider

Adrien kept asking to go outside yesterday, and it was -- of course -- raining so I couldn't allow him to. After all the talk of 3 hour naps in my blog yesterday, it served me right for him to only sleep a good hour and forty-five minutes. Needless to say, he became quite cranky when I wouldn't allow him to go outside. So we compromised. I thought I would hold him and we could open the front door and look out. I saw a tarantula sitting perched on the back side of a pole that holds up on the awning to my front door. Spiders truly creep me out. I slammed the door and retreated back inside...The door safely between me and the icky fuzzy HUGE spider. I googled "texas spiders" and came up with a list (with photos) from Texas A&M University's entomology department. I could hardly bare to the look at the pictures. Although they list tarantulas as living in Texas, I didn't see a picture or description of one like I saw. They list the run of the mill black to brown ones, but did not like any black and orange ones. The one I saw (although I saw it only briefly) was clearly brightly marked. I wonder if someone's pet got out. (BTW, this pic is of a Mexican Redknee Tarantula I found on GoogleImages. The page this pic is from states that this is a picture of their pet. I do live close enough to Mexico though. I wonder how many miles that is in spider miles?)

I know it's horrible, and very anti-reincarnation, but I was going to bug-spray the beast. I really do not want it getting into the house because I think I may faint if I were to see it creep around. And knowing Adrien, he'd be chasing it around; or even worse yet, gnawing on it. So I got out the bug spray and opened the front door, but it was gone. I really do hope it doesn't turn up inside.

So, due to my little arachnid encounter, I had dreams of spiders all night long. It really did ruin my otherwise good night's sleep.

I remember when I was in high school, I dreamed of a huge spider one night. I dreamed that a large spider with a bulbous abdomen was attempting to crawl over me but I kept wiping it away...it kept trying and trying. When I was getting ready for school that morning, I moved a pile of dirty laundry to find the spider I'd dreamed of run out from underneath the dirty clothes. I wanted to climb the walls to get away from it. I smashed it with the bottom side of my trash bin. OHHHH SO SCARY! And to think, It probably was crawling on me all night. (I mean, it was seriously a good 2 inches long from tip to end.

Spiders really give me the heebie jeebies.

Anyway, we went to the mall for a playdate this morning. We needed a boat to get there though. (Not literally) It was pouring. I waited for it to let up at home before we left. It didn't matter because it was really coming down at the mall. All in all it was pretty fun. I had boiled eggs for lunch with some grapes and Adrien had a PB&J with some raisins (and of course some of my boiled egg). The food from the food court smelled soooooooo tempting. I was really wishing I could get some Sbarro...MAN the pizza smelled great. But, I am determined not to gain 60 pounds with this baby. Yes, you heard me. I gained 60 pounds with Adrien. I was a bit underweight when I got pregnant though -- so I think it's typical. I'm at a normal weight now. Honestly, I wouldn't mind having a bit more meat on my bones haha. But NOT 60 pounds of meat.

We are heading out to the in-laws today. They're having an Independence Day bash, and we thought it would be nice to go down tonight, as opposed to driving and returning in the same day. It is, after all, a two hour drive. I will take some pics to share!

Head over to my photo blog to see some awesome sunset pics I took yesterday. I really amaze myself with a camera! LOL, I'm just kidding...not really. Okay, a little.

Well, there are quite a few showings of Miami Ink on today, so I'm gonna go back to the TV before Adrien wakes up.

I hope all of you have a happy Fourth!

A big fat blog about big fat nothing.

There's not a whole lot to report on. Not much happened this weekend. Saturday we just sort of hung around the house all day. Adrien napped from 12-3:30pm as usual, and that sort of cuts our day in half. So the morning was spent waiting for him to nap and the early afternoon was spent letting him nap. My husband finally got a chance to mow our yard (between Friday night and Saturday)..the rain finally let up enough. I'm pretty sure it has been a good three weeks since the last time our yard was mowed. It was looking mighty bushy. The grass was so monstrous that our lawn mower could hardly make the trip across our lawn without wanting to die. Now there are six bags of wet, mildewed grass in our garage awaiting pick up from the waste collection service. Our garage smells hideous.

Saturday afternoon we went to the duck park. My husband's such a wanker -- we only walked around the pond once and he was ready to leave.

Sunday we went to church and then waited for Adrien to take his 3 1/2 hour midday nap. My husband and I watched the Nascar race (well he did, mainly) and I took a nap. Yay for napping. So the whole day was pretty uneventful.

Adrien's currently taking his midday nap and I'm left to my own devices. I could clean, but I don't really like to do that in my spare time. I feel like nap time is my time. There seems to be a marathon of Little People, Big World on....I'm really hooked on that show (It comes on TLC). I have a ton of laundry I could be folding. My husband felt entitled to wash most of our laundry this weekend, but not to fold any of it. I hate folding laundry. I think he's leaving it to see if I will fold it. I sincerely abhor laundry folding.

We went to the duck park earlier, and there's not much more to report on than there was the other day. I was accosted by at least a dozen ducks, a dozen pigeons, two geese and some finches upon leaving the park. I was packing Adrien back into the car and they all seemed to congregate around me. I assume they were waiting for some stale bread or something....I felt a little bad that I had nothing to feed them, but then I was sad that they'd come to rely on humans to feed them things they shouldn't be eating in the first place. That reminds me: I wanted to scream at the park authorities (or whatever idiot was responsible) when I saw some of the tiny ducklings pecking at a cigarette butt this morning. I can't imagine how horrid the tobacco must be for them. The little cove these duckies stay in was horribly polluted today. It really makes me sad. Isn't it the city's job to keep it clean? And what moron would throw their cigarette into the pond in the first place?!?!

Other things that bother me today include the fact that I had to close my blinds because my neighbors were outside mowing their yard. I know they can see straight into my house when my blinds are up. I hate that we live so close together, although as suburban neighborhoods go in Dallas, I don't have it half bad. The houses in our neighborhood are a great deal farther apart than they are in most other neighborhoods around here. It just feels a bit like an invasion of privacy in a way. I don't want them to see my living room floor littered with toys. I don't want them to see me camped out on the computer or on the couch napping for the 3 hours Adrien will be asleep. I just genuinely dislike that they can see the goings on in my house.

However, at least those neighbors are compelled to mow their own lawn. My other neighbors pay a service to do it weekly. Every single week on Thursday mornings, my husband and I are awoken at 6:45 or 7am by their lawn service. I really think they're the laziest people on earth. Their yard is not that big. Couldn't the guy manage to mow it himself? I guess it's too much work. But it really ticks me off to be woken up so early by either a lawn mower, weedeater, or a leaf blower. That was one reason we moved out of an apartment complex! Oh well, I guess they have the money to keep their little topiaries perfectly ball-like.

In other news around here, apparently an 18-wheeler blew up on the interstate that is about a football field's length away from my neighborhood at 12:30am this morning. I heard nothing. Man, I must have been sleeping good. (The driver was not injured, by the way) But honestly, how does one sleep through something like that?