Who wants to come visit??

Anybody up for a road trip? Or for my local friends, who wants to come over and hang out? I'm sure you'd find the House a most welcoming place right now. We have a fantastic guest room. It even has its own bathroom. It's nice and cozy with a queen size bed, there is a TV and video games, there's a dresser you can put your clothes in during your stay. Or, if you prefer, there's even a nice little closet for you. And in that nice little closet, you will find a nice, big, black, smelly mold-stained wall!! That's right, MOLD. Seems that when the guys who did the trim work in the House got to the closet in the guest room, they found what they thought was a stud and nailed right into it. Only it wasn't a stud. It was a big ol' plumbing pipe. So for the last 9 months that pipe has been leaking right onto the wall. The wall in the closet in a room that is rarely used. Which means the door is always closed. Which means it is dark in there. I didn't need a degree in math to realize that wet + dark = MOLD. We called the builder right away who arrived bright and early Wednesday morning to rip out the molded wall. The insulation seemed fine, the wood framing seemed fine, but the wall was a complete wreck. And my 8th grade yearbook was a complete wreck. 2 days later I'm still wiping the pages down with bleach. Tomorrow is Field Day at the elementary school and I'm supposed to go there and help out. But our dear friend Sergio (the builder's right hand man) is coming back to the House yet again in the morning to work on the wall. He's always late, though. Today he was supposed to be here at 8:30. He got here at 9:00. He was supposed to come back at 4:00. He rolled in at 4:40. Maybe I'll see him by noon tomorrow. This morning when he was late, I had to leave him in the House alone while I drove my kids plus a friend's kid to elementary school, then I had to drive the preschool carpool. When I got back I had to grab the dog and go to the vet. As if the mold isn't bad enough, we also have ticks. Well, Dash has ticks, but he's a sweet dog and he will share them. 2 days ago I pulled 13 ticks off my dog. As long as we've had Dash we have never had any flea or tick problems, but we have lived in northern Virginia where there are no bugs. You people who live up there and think there are bugs there, you are wrong. Come down here sometime and you will see how good you have it up there. Compared to the south, there are no bugs up there. So...I get the ticks off the dog and call the vet the next day to get him started on Frontline. The appointment was this morning, so after I dropped off the little guys at preschool, I went back home and checked on Sergio, who was still working away, spraying bleach on everything left in the closet. Talked to Mike, the builder, for a few minutes, then realized it was 10:05. Luckily we live in a small town and the vet is only 3 minutes away. I cruise in there, still unshowered (and I ran this morning! P-U!), hadn't brushed my teeth, hadn't eaten breakfast yet, 10 minutes late. Dash gets his yearly checkup, shots, and heart worm test. Everything looks good. They load me down with Heartguard (which is also something you don't need in Northern Virginia, especially if your dog is mostly indoors like Dash is) and Advantix. We went with Advantix for the ticks rather than Frontline because they had some special deal going on and I got 2 free applications. Just when we think we are all set to go, the vet comes in and tells me Dash is positive for Lyme Disease. Wow. That was like a punch in the gut. He hasn't even shown any symptoms yet. He just got the ticks a couple of days ago! Fortunately, it is not as bad in dogs as it is in humans and in a month, he should be fine. He has to take antibiotics twice a day for 30 days. Finally the vet gave us our walking papers, I paid the bill, then I picked myself back up off the floor and went home. Sergio was gone. I finally got my shower. By then it was time to start picking kids up from school. Today was early release for the elementary school. I go get my kids and my friend's kid, come home, grab a quick sandwich, then head out to pick up the preschoolers. One of those was our friend's other kid, so he came back home with us. We had just a few minutes before it was time to pick up Haley. The kids were going crazy while I started to clean up the kitchen. Then my friend showed up to pick up her kids. We decided she would stay at the House with all the kids while I went to get Haley so they could play. They stayed for about an hour after I got back with Haley. It was great sitting and talking with Robin while the kids ran all over the place and the kitchen didn't get cleaned, the beds never got made, etc. And that's real...no sarcasm at all. Robin is a wonderful new friend for me and I'm glad I got to spend time with her today. Even though the House was a wreck and she cleans houses to make some extra cash, so she probably was thinking I needed to hire her. When they left, we had to go to the grocery store to get something quick for dinner because we had dance class and youth group later on and Sergio was also coming back, so I had to have something that could be prepared quickly and kept warm while I operated my taxi service. We got back in just enough time to have the kids start their chores while I made spaghetti sauce. Still no daily cleaning done and I've had 7 kids playing here today. Sergio showed up just as we were leaving for dance class. He was here just long enough for me to drop Carrie off. He was coming out as we were coming back in. He said he'd see me in the morning about 9:00. We'll see about that.

So, who's coming over? We have mold, ticks, and a dirty House to offer you. If that's not enough, I do make some darn good iced tea!