Category: Uncategorized

Well, things have been crazy the last couple of days!

Last Monday, we went to the Hampton Memorial Day Parade. Its funny that everyone comes back from everywhere to be at the parade. Saw people from high school. Saw people who babysat me. Saw people who were at the baby shower that was thrown for Mom two weeks after I was born (the last time I was early for anything).

That afternoon, we went to the old house in Willimantic. I wanted to get some of the plants and bring them home with me. Weird to think that plants have sentimental value, but these did. The garden is in full bloom. Irises are everywhere. The evening primroses are thriving (they’ll bloom in a couple of weeks), and the day lilies are going gangbusters! I got a shovel full of both irises (they came from Mrs. Hardistay), an alium from Mrs. Holbrook, some poppies from the back, and some of the blanket flowers that Brownie loves.

So, Tuesday saw me putting in a new half to the Secret Garden (its in the back). Did pretty good, if I do say so myself. Wednesday just hurt. 🙂

Thursday was Adele’s spring concert. She did great! The whole fourth grade sang for every song, so she was up there for 20 minutes. After that, Mom and I went out to lunch, and then to the Boston Museum of Science to see the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Dead Sea Scroll exhibit needs its own post. It was fantastic. They gave so much historical context, spent a great deal of time explaining the times when the scrolls were written, and the scrolls themselves are beautiful. The writing was so precise and tiny, the skill that went into them was just … yeah. There aren’t words.

And then there was Friday. Friday, we sold the house in Willimantic. Sold. I cried walking around in it on Monday. But now it is just sweet relief to know that the burden of maintaining it is no longer ours. No more two mortgages. No more two sets of property taxes. We’ll actually be able to pay down the other debt, and start saving up for a new car/vacations/college/retirement.

So yesterday, We went out and got clothes for me, sandals for Adele, a duster for the ceiling fans, and Quinn and I went to the Cheesecake Factory (yum!).

Today, we’re going to the Christmas Tree Shoppes to get a table and chairs for the back deck, along with an umbrella. We’re also going to get a tent. The kids want to go camping. So a nice cheap tent will do nicely.

And then we pay Mom back for the amazing loan she gave us, and we go back to being house-poor. There are worse things in the world. All in all, its been a fantastic week.

Beta decided she wanted to try lacrosse. So, with help from Mom, we got her signed up for the kids’ league here in town. She was super excited (counting the hours for three days).

We got there nice and early, so she could get her helmet fitted (they provide the helmets for this age-group). Most kids had their pads and everything, but they weren’t required for this get-together. We’re going to have to get set for her, though.

You see, there is a difference between girl and boy lacrosse (if you mated the two together, you would get another game altogether). So, Beta needs pads, and guards. And does anyone else feel bad for the other kids on this team? She can scoop the ball, throw the ball (over anyone’s heads), and put the stick in the right general vicinity to catch the ball. Which is a huge improvement over how she did before the practice. She was so frustrated she hid in a corner.

In the end – she loved loved loved lacrosse. And the coaches were awesome. I was quite happy.

I have a working drier! After having a pipe fitter come in and unhook the gas drier, and getting the permit to put in a new electrical circuit, and running said circuit over to where the drier needed to be, we HAVE a WORKING drier! And it dries the clothes!

This is huge because the gas drier the house came with didn’t dry. At all. Apparently this is not unusual for gas driers. It finally died, and we had to move it. So after five months of sucky horrible driers that sounded like a dying cat, we have dry clothes from somewhere other than the laundromat.

Thank you, My Darling Husband, for all the hard work you put into making this happen. You are awesome.