Not Much Progress

Well I got, pretty much, nothing done today. I’m stuck. Nobody is responding to the craigslist ads I posted because of the holiday weekend (Ellen said it; I’m just giving people the benefit of the doubt). I’ll repost the ads on Tuesday morning so everyone can get a fresh look at everything I’ve got to sell. I did have a couple come and look at my dining room table and chairs but the color was “too light” for them. Bummer. Had they bought it, I’d have room in the kitchen to start stacking boxes. Right now, like I said last night, I don’t really have any free space. I can only do so much.

My kids went with my neighbors (some good ones) today, to a picnic at a park, and were gone for about five hours. In that time I had those mean people come and tell me my table wasn’t good enough for them (hmph); I took down all the extra wall hangings (stuff around my desk, cork boards, knick knacks, etc.); I took the toy boxes out of the boys’ closet and moved them into Dolly’s empty room; I packed up their board games; I packed up some more kitchen stuff; and I got some of the basement cleaned. That’s a lot, right? Not a huge amount but it was still a step forward.

What sucks is that I spent most of my morning out looking for boxes. I went to K-mart at the time yesterday’s customer service chick told me to get there but they said they had none. Then I went next door to Dollar General and the sales dude told me to check back around noon to see if they had gotten to the stuff in the big boxes. When I told the manager that I’d be back for the boxes he nixed it saying he gets a credit for all the boxes he returns to the warehouse. That squashes my supply from them. Sunfresh, the supermarket, won’t have any until tomorrow, Walgreens didn’t have any, and Auto Zone said they don’t usually save them but I could check back Monday night. I may just have to drive across town to Hy-Vee, another supermarket, to get some; they’ve always got a supply. I refuse to pay for cardboard boxes; that’s just not right.

So I did what I did while the kids were gone and when they got back Zach lay down on the mattress we now use as a sofa saying he didn’t feel well. He had a fever so I gave him some kid’s fever reducer and he napped for a couple of hours. Now I’m sure he’ll be up most of the night. Sucks for him; he’ll be the only one awake. I’m not waiting for him to fall asleep before I do. I’ll wait for Dolly to go to sleep just so she’s not able to roam the house alone at night; the boys wouldn’t do that. After this morning, I need some sleep tonight.

It was about 5:20 this morning when I heard very loud talking. At first, I thought the boys’ television was too loud. When I got up to pee I realized it was coming from outside. I looked out my south-facing bedroom window to find the Samoan family from our cul-de-sac standing over by the playground, TALKING VERY LOUDLY to each other. Did I mention that it was 5:20 in the morning? I just stood with my palms on the window sill, staring at them. I don’t know if they saw me or not, but, about a minute later they all started walking toward their townhome which is on the other side of the parking lot. If you’ve never seen a Samoan person walk, this 15-second trip must have taken them about ten minutes. Walk a few steps – very slowly; stop and talk loudly; walk a few more steps – very slowly; stop and talk loudly…I, apparently wasn’t the only household they woke either because, when I spoke with my neighbor who took my kids out, and who lives on the same side of the parking lot as, but at the other end from, the Samoans, she said she was ready to call the police to have them tell these people to shut up. In any case, after they finally made it out of earshot of me, I tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t. Sometime around 7:00 Zach came into my room to ask me something so I decided to go downstairs with him. He said he’d been up “since the clock said 5:13.” Those fuckers woke him too. If they do it again, I’ll shoot peas at them until they get the hint that they are too loud. They’re a nice family, but so inconsiderate it makes me want to scream. Less than a month and I won’t have to bother with them anymore. YEA!!!

Tomorrow I’ll run to Sunfresh to get the boxes the guy is saving for me, I’ll finish packing up what I can – the stuff in the closets can probably come out now – and I’ll just start putting boxes in Dolly’s room. The kids will be bugging me all day long to be able to light up the fireworks I bought for them. I think I mentioned that in another post. I can’t really be sure, though. I just got some sparklers, smoke bombs, snakes, and those little snapper things that pop when you throw them at the ground. They’ll want to start at the butt-crack of dawn but that won’t happen. I’ll have to make them wait until after dinner, at least, and I’ll take some pictures. You’ll be able to see them on my Facebook page. I’ll probably post them early Monday morning; we’ll be outside later than usual to watch the fireworks going off all around us and then I have to blog to update my fans on my packing progress so I can’t post the pictures tomorrow night. Sorry.

I’m just kidding; I might take a break from the packing progress updates tomorrow. I’ll just give you a blow-by-blow accounting of how each kid did with each sparkler and smoke bomb; how many times they begged to get started; how many tantrums they threw when I told them to wait until after dinner; etc. It’ll be fun; I’ll even try to make it extra long if I can. If you’re going to take the time to read what I write, the least I can do is give you something worth your time, right? I’m cracking myself up over here; I am just so funny sometimes. Yea…I’m going to bed.

Until next time…peace to all.