Monday, March 30, 2009

Paranoid in the suburbs


My husband is AWESOME.

It ended up taking him about a week, start to finish. (Which of course GUARANTEED that winter would have to give us one last gasp before melting gracefully into spring, because this is Indiana. It actually snowed while we were in church yesterday.) He started it on a Saturday and the following Thursday, not even a full week later, we got the requisite snotty letter from our HOA. "Your play set in your back yard is broken. Please fix it or we'll charge you a $25 fine." I got a pretty good chuckle out of that, especially because that's the second time we've gotten a letter from the HOA about something that, when you really get right down to it, is not actually a violation of the neighborhood covenant. (The first was my kids' Little Tikes playhouse... you know, the kind that you see in every third backyard.) I thought it was pretty amusing that one of our neighbors had nothing better to do than rat us out for not completing construction in a timely manner (which is, apparently, less than a week). I have this funny mental image of one of our neighbors peering out between the blinds, furtively scribbling on a little spiral bound notebook. So we amused ourselves trying to figure out who it was. I'm pretty sure it wasn't our next door neighbors (although their kids were pretty darn eager for us to finish our play set so that they could play on it while our kids play on theirs); I'm fairly certain it's not the guy who didn't mow his lawn for two months last summer; and I'm nearly positive it's not the family that does archery practice in their backyard. But whoever it is, I guess they're happy now.

So, here's some other fun things to share.
  • When we were at Toys R Us getting the baby swing, I found that Fisher Price is totally bringing back a lot of their old-school toys. And even better? Some of them are in PINK. I got Amy a pink corn popper and a pink chatter phone (you know, the one with the rotary dial. Remember rotary dials?) for her birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa.
  • I love this interview with Colin Firth and Ben Barnes. I swear they're like an old married couple. Totally cannot wait to see Mr. Darcy and Prince Caspian in the same movie.
  • And I love this idea: paying it forward, crafty-style. I'm working on 3 projects to share and will post pictures as soon as I'm done.
  • We got Bolt from Netflix and there was a preview for The Princess And The Frog, which is supposed to be all hand-drawn animation (speaking of There's No School Like The Old Skool). It looks like it will be really good.
  • I actually got a compliment on my personal style the other day. I was at the school and one of my teachers told me I looked like I should be on American Idol. I was really flattered! I guess I've come a long way since my days of total dorkitude.
  • Oscar Mayer makes little tiny hot dogs now. I know that's not exciting for most people but it is for my kids.
  • The kids are on spring break next week. I'm so glad I will be around to do fun things with them. And you know what else, people? It's almost skirt weather!
  • I actually have a job interview tomorrow (organic extraction, third shift). Haven't decided yet if I really want to go back to working full time... Matt had a really good month for sales in March and also, I am having way too much fun with my kids. But it's nice to think that I am still desirable, thin resume and the lousy economy notwithstanding.
  • Remember how cold it was on Easter last year? It should be much nicer this year. And here's a fun bit of trivia: Amy will actually be more than one year old on her first Easter. (One year and three days but it still counts.)
  • It's my mom's birthday today! Let's all wish her a happy one.

3 witty remarks on "Paranoid in the suburbs"

fatty mcslowslow said...

That's quite a swingset.
Those things take a while to build.
Take that, HOA

susan opel on 12:08 PM said...

You SHOULD be on American Idol - but make sure you finish all of your projects, first!

jdhoosier said...

This is exactly why I will rent, but never buy, in a modern subdivision. You have the patience for these things; I do not. I worked on a case over the summer involving an HOA, and came to the conclusion that their primary purpose is to give high school busybodies emeriti a sense of purpose.

Nice playset, though!

And good luck with the job interview.

 

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