Life in the Land of "NO!"

I just mopped the kitchen because i couldn't stand looking at the filth that was my floor anymore.

Connor walks by-
"Mommy, you mopped the kitchen?"
"Who's coming over?"

lol.  That says a lot for my housekeeping skills, eh?

Has anyone priced swingsets from Creative Playthings??

First off- Happy New Year!!!

Quick question- what are the "etiquette" rules for an open house?  We are going to an open house type thing later today... I just don't know, do I bring something?  Like something to eat? 

I am in need of a good apple snack type recipe, maybe a bar or a cookie or something?  The only thing I ever usually make is an apple crisp, and I don't feel like making/eating a pie.

We went apple picking again on Saturday, Connor has so much fun going there that we figured what the heck (you know, since it was 80° again, prime apple picking weather ;) ).  Well, turns out on the weekends, you can only get the "medium" bag, there is no small option.  End result- a HECK of a lot of Golden Delicious apples....

TIA! 

Do NOT store a bag of Hershey kisses in the vegetable crisper with an onion.

BLECH!!!  Well, the bright side is it saves me from polishing off a bag of hershey kisses for lunch.  ;)  

I am so.bad.

When God was passing out green thumbs, he skipped by my house.

I am suddenly having a longing for a cement "yard", like a nice easily maintable fenced in driveway.  lol.  This yard is weed central and I have no idea how to control it!  I just spent the past hour pulling weeds and it barely made a dent. I had put down fertilizer with "weed control" a month or so ago, but that obviously did nothing.

I am realizing now that when Tim and I were debating "can we afford a house"?  The answer was clearlyy NO, since we didn't factor in the dire need for a lawn service and landscaper that we cannot afford!!  We suck at this stuff.  As it is, Tim does the mowing, but since he has been working 6 days a week and then has Connor on his own from 7-2pm on Sundays, it is never getting done (or not done enough).  He did his great "brush removal of 2007", but now we are just left with a big strip of dirt at the end of our yard that we now don't know what to do with.

The kicker is that with all the construction everyone's front lawn got torn up, so after they finished digging they came around a week or so ago and cleaned up and put down loom and then sprayed hydroseed on it.  Now, I am not kidding you but EVERY front lawn on this street, with the exception of OURS, is now growing new grass where it was sprayed.  WTH?!

;p

Okay, my son is a total boy.  He plays outside the better part of the day, and by "play" that means rolling down hills, rolling in mulch at the park, playing in sandboxes, falling down 573 times, etc.

His clothes are always filthy when he comes inside.  I just did a load of laundry from last week when he was outside all day, and a lot of the stains didn't come off.  Should I be doing something to his clothes as soon as I take them off of him?  If so, what?  I'm so sad because some of these things he's only worn a couple of times and they look ruined right now.  I just tried on a couple of the shorts putting Zout on the stains and I'm trying to wash them again right now.

What temp should I be washing them in? (I usually try to do most everything in Cold).  Any advice?  I am clueless with this stuff!!!

Big thumbs up for 1-800-GOT-JUNK.

We had a big ol' pile of brush behind our shed.  One of Tim's many "projects" that he starts, but doesn't quite look at the FULL project of before he starts.  He cut down a bunch of bushes/trees and then just piled them on up behind the shed and saying "Hmm, we really need to get rid of that stuff now".  So, we called 7 landscapers as I just assumed landscapers were the only people that would deal with the removal of this (and we don't have a truck to do any sort of disposal ourselves), let's just say out of the 7 landscapers, TWO called us back.  BOTH said they would come by for an estimate and then NEVER SHOWED.  I mean, I understand they are busy and all but have some courtesy!  I am so tempted to go write them all up on Angie's LIst!!  

Anywho.  Today I was driving behind one of the Got Junk trucks and read the back where it said "yard clean-up".  DING!  I called them at 10am, they came by at 12pm, I gave them the green light and our yard was clean as a whistle not even 30 minutes later.  I may have got ripped off, since I had no other quotes to go on.. but at this point, they were here, they had a truck, I had a credit card and ADIOS JUNK!  :)

I am so beyond annoyed right now.  We have had problems with our phone for the past 3 weeks.  We have a dial tone, then we don't have a dial tone, repeat repeat repeat.  We can go a whole day with the phone working and a whole day without.  I've been in circle calling hell with the Verizon reps.  Press 1, press 2.. say this, say that... is that correct, please hold while I do this, I'll transfer you to a representative in just a minute...  JUST GIVE ME A FREAKING PERSON ALREADY!!!!   My favorite was after I pressed the 74877386 buttons to get me to a rep, and then my cell phone lost service as soon as he picked up. 

So today I FINALLY get a truck out to the house.  I made this call this AM and was not so nice about the flipping production this has become and to please not "troubleshoot" with me one more time or I will lose it, just get a human being to my house ASAP.  

Murphy's Law.  I had no dial tone all AM.  Verizon shows up, picks up the phone and VIOLA- DIAL TONE.  I could have screamed, I got the whole "Ma'am it's sort of hard to diagnose a problem when everything seems to be working fine."  I feel like some sort of crazy old lady and wanted to just beg him to sit around for an hour because you just know I'll lose the dial tone the second he pulls away.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So, my one shot at getting this annoyance fixed just drove away.  Sigh.  I can't justify paying this month's phone bill when we've only had service like half the month!  Breathe in.  Breathe out.

Tomorrow night Tim and I are going out (HOORAY!).. we are actually going into Boston with 3 other couples.  Dinner in the North End and then we have tickets to the Improv Asylum.  I can't even tell you how long it's been, if you don't count rehearsal dinners and weddings!

ANYWHO.  So, I was going to make up a pizza for my mother to eat with Connor.  Just put the whole thing together and saran wrap it and put it in the fridge.  Would that be okay?  She could just cook it later?  I can't recall ever doing that before so I'm not sure if it will still taste as good, I guess.  The other option I guess would be for her to just make it.. worse case maybe I can stretch the dough and at least have that ready?  I wanted to make it as easy as possible for her, she's driving up from the Cape, so I owe her dinner at least!

Anyone?

Has anyone in the Boston (well I guess we are "metro north" now)  area recently used a plumber they found efficient and priced competitevly?

Our gas heater in the basement is not working and we really don't want to have that gas stove down here anyways as it's a playroom and too tempting for Connor to touch.  So, we need some estimates on installing baseboard heat down here.  I just had one guy out that I literally found in the phone book.. but thinking recommendations are the way to go.  

Karen-  Have you done plumbing in your new house yet?

TIA!

So, I really want to give our realtor a "thank you" for everything type of gift.  I'm thinking maybe some sort of a gift card, but I have no idea to where!  In one sense, I think a nice restaraunt that he can take his wife to, considering all the nights he was showing us houses and not with her... or, do I give him something just for him?  Tim had hoped to get him Patriots tickets from one of his friends with season tickets, but that didn't pan out.  I don't know if he likes the Bruins/Celtics.  I really need to get moving on this as I felt bad I didn't have it for him at the closing.

This guy worked SO hard for us.

Any thoughts are appreciated!!

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards.

I'm only halfway through it, but I can't put it down.  Just thought I would bring it up if anyone is looking for something to read!  I actually was excited to go to the gym yesterday morning because I knew I could have 30 uninterrupted minutes on a stationary bike to read it.  Thank god for the Y babysitting!!  ;)

So, I just received something from our mortgage co., a disclosure statement from paying off our loan when we sold the condo.  Of course the thing that caught my eye was the "ESC REFUND" of $785.  Now, believe me- I would certainly know if I got that refund, and we did not.  

I called the mortgage co., they said I have to check with my post office to verify that they have it, or some nonsense.  They issued it on August 1st. Could it really take a MONTH to get here???  Which post office do I call?  The one I moved from, North Reading?  What a PITA.  Who knows now what else may not have been forwarded to us.

I WANT THIS MONEY!!!!  ;)

ETA- I called the 800 number for the post office.  They were less than helpful.  I guess we'll go to the local post office after Connor wakes up and see if it happens to be hanging out there?  Otherwise I'll have to call back the mortgage company and try to get the guy who is sitting in his cube in India to somehow reissue this check.  Good luck to me, right?

"After six years of marriage, TMZ has confirmed that Kate Hudson and her husband, The Black Crowes' lead singer Chris Robinson are splitting."

I don't know.  She was really pretty young when she got married, but I'm still sort of shocked... why anything in Hollywood would shock me, I don't know.  And why I care and follow it all, well- who knows. ;)

To "The Devil Wears Prada".  

The movie, and the book, for that matter.

Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro are seperating.

but, the good news is that Pam Anderson and Kid Rock are getting married this month.

I guess hollywood should learn- a reality show based on your wedding/marriage is basically the kiss of death.  

This house is an absolute disaster, yet I chose to read E Online instead of cleaning it...

Does anyone have a recommendation for a home inspector?

Also, completely random- but anyone know a structural engineer?

TIA!

Oh- We got the house!  After 5 ridiculous days of going back and forth, we just finally accepted the final counter offer today.  Signed, sealed and delivered!  Now to just get through the home inspection!

Is broke!  Does anyone know anything about a problem like this-

I have brand new batteries in.. the camera turns on, the lens comes out, but the lens cover does not open!  So, it's on- but it's obviously black in the window.  I can view pictures I took previously, etc.  just cannot take any new ones!

I'm so annoyed.  It's only a year old.  It's a Sony.  I guess I'll have to go to Ritz Camera or something...

This is off the MLS from a new listing today.

"Description: NEAT AS A PIN, IN PRISTINE CONDITION, THIS COLONIAL FEATURES FIREPLACED LIVING ROOM,DINNING ROOM WITH BUILT-IN CHINA CABINET,NEW BATHROOM,NEWER WINDOWS, GLEAMING HARDWOOD FLOORS THRUOUGH "

2 questions-
1. What exactly does "neat as a pin" mean anyways???
2. Could you maybe run the spell check before you hit "submit" and I don't know, take the "all caps" option off???