surround sound takes over

After many hours of frustration, sweat, and trial/error, Springer has set up the surround sound for our HD tv!!! Now we can have the full experience of our beautiful 52" LCD flat screen.

See the blue light? That means it's working!

Rocky is adjusting to his new habitat!

Here is Rocky on the day we moved in. He took a big diarrhea dump in the kitchen (which I also took a picture of, but spared you from seeing it) right before I snapped this shot.

Here he is later, enjoying his yard! He's a swimmer now. He uses the ladder just like a real person. He couldn't figure out how to get in the pool, but after watching us do the ladder enough times, he climbed down it... and climbed back up it when he was tired of swimming! I jumped in to show him he could do that, and soon after he took a fearful jump in. Now every time we go outside, he bolts straight for the deck gate to go to the pool!

Notice that there's no stairs on the back of the deck? The seller's lawyer told us there would be stairs there- but lied- and of course it isn't in writing. So you can sit on the deck... but if you want to go into the backyard, you have to walk around the front and through the gate! And they also took some of the gate down to build the deck and never put it back up, so lil Rocky can escape the backyard! It's still nice to have a yard anyway!

How did the burners get like this?

When we first walked into the house while it was on the market, the very first thing I noticed was the burners on the stove. Why? Because they were caked in the most dirty, disgusting, nasty brown goo I've ever seen on a non-frat house stove. The rest of the house- spotless. Just these gross burners. I said, "Those have got to go." Here's a nice shot of Auntie trying to renew them for me... Try as she might, they are still awful. But at least they have been sanitized until I can find a solution. Any ideas?

how i know i'm turning into my mother...

1. When I don't like something, I say, "I don't care for that very much."

2. I lost the attachment to the vacuum cleaner, so I bought another one, took out the part, and returned it!

3. I was blacklisted from returning items at Walmart. (This happens when you return too many items without receipts. I have yet to ask people to go return things for me.)

4. I hounded the people at Comcast cable until they gave me exactly what I wanted, when I wanted it, and at a reduced price.

5. I will call/go to ten places before making any final decisions/purchases.

now i know why...

now i know why my parents sometimes acted the way they did- like when dad would get so mad when something broke- or when mom would call someone and yell at them until they came fixed whatever they did wrong. Because if you don't yell at them, no one will listen to you. And something always needs to be fixed and it never ends and you have to do it yourself... all the time!

moving in!!!

well, there is no internet, cable, or phone at the new house, so blog posts will be delayed... here's some pics of the fun! we were in for a few surprises, as we had anticipated. The carpeting needed to be completely replaced, every room painted, and a serious clean-up. Random food, their belongings, holes in the wall, etc. I couldn't believe that a family lived in such filth! Thankfully, the Shue twins (Pauly's mom and twin sister) cleaned and I gathered the troops- the Calamitas, Ricci, Kristin, Perky... anyone who walked by or just looked at me was given a job to do. The door may look stable- however it was hanging by random miss-matched screws until Daddy came and fixed it!!!! Also, these pictures were taken post- cleaning... so you can't see the inch of dust Auntie scraped off the fan, the grime washed off the walls, the random shoes and debris left everywhere...