Avalanche!

On Monday night we listed our house for rent, having decided that since we're supposed to close on our new house May 15, we are running out of time to find a buyer. Of course since Joel did not trust our realtor to bring rental traffic in, he also made me list it on Craigslist yesterday afternoon.

Since then we've had two people come look at the house yesterday, both expressing what can only be described as rabid interest and taking rental applications (though neither has returned them yet), with four more lined up for today and a couple more later in the week. For the record, three of the four coming today are being brought by realtors, as was one of the people yesterday. So I think Joel's fear of not getting any traffic was unfounded. And I think we're getting buried by this latest round of showings! Hopefully we will have a renter procured very soon. Although renting is not an ideal situation, the upside is that the rent we're charging (which people seem only too happy to pay, one even commenting how cheap it is) is $400 more a month than we pay on the property, so we'll be able to set aside plenty of money in case any repairs are needed.

Hawaiin Cow Brains

Usually a couple of times a week I let Ben eat breakfast at school because a) he gets to school a good half hour before the bell rings, b) the school cafeteria serves breakfast and c) it prevents me from having to listen to him whine about what he perceives to be limited breakfast choices at home.

So the other day he asked if he could get breakfast at school, and I said sure. After school I happened to ask him, "What did you have for breakfast?"

"I only had cereal," he said. "The menu said the main entree was a sausage patty on Hawaiin sweetbread."

"What's wrong with that? That sounds good," I said.

To which he responded with a disgusted look on his face -- "Did you not just hear me, Mom? I said SWEETBREAD! As in, COW BRAINS!!!"

After I stopped laughing hysterically (which took a while), I informed him that while yes, "sweetbreads" can mean cow brains, "sweet bread" can also just mean, well, sweet bread. And that I was pretty darn sure his school cafeteria was not serving a sausage patty atop cow brains. He did not seem completely convinced.

Working on her Escape

Just noticed that Clara has chewed a hole in the back of the canvas crate we've been using for her since we listed the house for sale (we started using it because it's very easy to move in and out of the house)... Looks like she's working on her escape route!

Grossed Out

Yesterday morning I offered to make pancakes for the kids for breakfast. Of course they insisted on having chocolate chip pancakes but we didn't have any chocolate chips. So I remembered we happened to have a semi-sweet kosher-for-Passover chocolate bar in the pantry, so I cut it into chunks and made chocolate chunk pancakes.

Which Ben thoroughly enjoyed until about halfway through when he said, "Jared has a shirt that has different true things written on it, and one of them says there are seven insect legs in every chocolate bar."

I firmly told him that was nonsense, there were no insect legs in the chocolate, and the only time I'd ever found an insect leg in my food was at a Subway restaurant (Now I am sure he will remember that, if ever we set foot in a Subway). He was not convinced and got himself completely grossed out not at all helped by his sister who was eating her pancakes with gusto and giggling about insect legs.

The pancakes ended up on Rebecca's plate, and he asked for an omelette instead. Which he ate about half of, until Rebecca said, "Hey Ben I think there are insect legs in your omelette." After that, breakfast was over for Ben.

Rebecca continued to enjoy her brother's pancakes and then asked me, "Are there insect legs in these pancakes?"

"NO!" I told her, thoroughly annoyed at the wasted food by this point.

"Then why are they crunchy sometimes?"

Really Really Annoyed

So this morning, after hitting my head, cutting myself, forgetting to send in fresh fruit with Rebecca for snack (only item allowed in from home during Passover) and having to go back home for it, I dropped Caroline off at day care. And was greeted with, "Oh by the way, you left your wallet here on Thursday. Or maybe it was Wednesday..."

Now of course it had occurred to me on Thursday when I couldn't find my wallet, that I might have left it wedged underneath Caroline's butt when I finally dropped her off at day care after her doctor appointment. Caroline was sleeping when we'd arrived, so I left her in her car seat. But when I picked her up the wallet was not in the car seat, and I stupidly assumed that IF SOMEONE HAD FOUND IT THEY WOULD HAVE CALLED ME TO TELL ME. But no, apparently the wallet was discovered in her car seat after she woke up on Thursday, placed on a shelf, and not mentioned to me until AFTER A THREE DAY WEEKEND. During which time I cancelled all my credit cards, ordered a new drivers license, and WOULD REALLY, REALLY HAVE APPRECIATED HAVING MY WALLET!

So now I have my wallet, and the only thing it saves me from having to do is order new health insurance cards. Because my credit cards are all already cancelled, and new ones en route. So I still cannot spend any money until they arrive. And on top of that, I still have to call several merchants who direct debit a couple of my accounts, to give them the new card numbers.

PISSED! Some common sense, people! Wallets are kind of indispensable. If you find one, and you know whose it is, and you have their phone number, it is common sense to call them and give them a heads up, even if you know you'll see them again a few days later. How would you like to be without your drivers license and all your credit/debit cards for three days?

Passover 2012

Bubbles