It’s been a while since I’ve had time to post anything here. I’ve been struggling to keep up with Props & Pans. Our lovely dial-up country bumpkin internet service is SLOW! Note to realtor’s - you should really tell anyone who’s moving from the city to the country that things like DSL and Cable aren’t usually available.

Other than the internet connection our house is slowly becoming home to us. It hasn’t taken Ethan much time to meet and greet the neighbor kids. He can usually be found running from one yard to another. One great thing about our area is that our road is just a gravel lane with about 8 homes and every neighbor has young children. Being out by cornfields and away from the busy street we were used to, we can let Ethan run a little more and not worry as much.

This is the beautiful sunset we are quickly becoming accustomed to in the evening. The ambulance sirens and helicopter noises we were used to are becoming replaced with frogs and the sound of the wind whipping through corn fields.

Nate’s been doing a lot of the outdoor work and I’ve been playing Inspector Gadget indoors, looking for things we know we packed but aren’t sure where. Meanwhile over Memorial Day weekend, we had an odd request regarding our home in the city that was still on the market. A young man asked if he could stay the night in our empty home.

My first reaction was to think of the HGTV show “Sleep On It,” where people spend the night in a house to see if it is a good fit or not. Believe it or not, our realtor had never seen this show! I bet he’s never watched House Hunter’s either. In fact, he was quite shocked by the request calling it the “stupidest thing he’s ever heard of.”

We weren’t really opposed to allowing this, because we’d moved all of our items out except a love seat and bed. We did require some legal paperwork to hold the man liable for any damage, etc… It went well and he made us an offer. Now we are to the inspection phase and this guy submitted a list of 45 demands that he wants corrected.

For example:
Remove sandbox and sand from yard - Fine.

Replace furnace filter - There is a new filter sitting next to the furnace, but we can put it in if you really don’t know how.

Remove an old heavy dresser that was left in our basement - Fine hand me a chain saw.

Replace all light bulbs in the house with the new energy efficient ones - What? Does he not know where Wal-Mart is? Lazy ass.

Unplug a light hanging over the basement shower - He must be a double arm amputee right?

After two weeks of the back-and-forth ridiculous demands we finally gave him the final offer and a deadline to reply. Needless to say he backed out of buying our house and it is back on the wonderful market. There will be no more overnights. I’m fairly certain he made this list of demands during the 14 hours he spent alone combing the house for issues.

I’m a little sad tonight for a 5 year old boy in Ethan’s pre-k class. I spent the morning at his school and accompanied them on a field trip to a play. This little guy came to school, but didn’t end up going on the outing. During morning circle time he was sitting in a crunched up position rocking and appeared to be in pain. The teachers all attended to him and decided to call in the principal to assess the situation.

What I didn’t know is that the little guy had been seriously injured a week ago and was just returning to school. He and his older brother had been playing with matches, and he received second and third degree burns on his stomach.

It was obvious that there was no way he would be able to participate in this field trip. The bus ride alone would have been terribly painful. He could barely move. They decided to have the mother return to pick him up immediately and I heard the principal explain that they would need a doctors release before he could come back to school.

The mother was very put out with the situation and remarked, “I have things to do and can’t care for him at home. He’ll be fine in a few days. Just let him sit and watch.”

I’ve been around this little guy before and honestly always found him disruptive and needy. The more interaction I’ve had with his mother (and father) I’m beginning to see that his outward behavior is probably a result of his home life. She is a stay-at-home mom and anytime I’ve seen her outside of the classroom she hasn’t been friendly. In fact she can be pretty rude.

His parents never remember to dress him in the field trip t-shirt, so the little guy always looks like the odd kid out when everyone has on a red shirt and he’s wearing something else. They never remember when it’s his snack day. If it’s 40 degrees outside he’ll be dressed in shorts. If it’s 90 degrees outside he’ll be dressed in long pants and long sleeves. It’s just the way they roll.

Those things alone do not make them bad parents. Letting your child hear that you don’t care if they are hurting however, is cruel. The teachers have all dealt with this family for several years and have a way of handling them. I think I’d have a hard time keeping my mouth shut if I were in that role. She can’t or won’t care for her own child?

A big thanks to the neighbors across the street from us who had a garage sale very early Saturday morning. We had stayed up late the evening before, so we looked forward to sleeping in on Saturday. The garage sale wasn’t the issue…the sign they put out by the street that caused cars driving by to honk at 6 a.m. was the problem!

You’d think they could at least wait until 8 or 9 a.m. to put the sign out on the street. We don’t even know who Charlie is, but since he doesn’t live there I am guessing he didn’t awaken to the honking.

We got over 6 inches of rain yesterday and it’s still raining. School was even canceled today and is on a 2 hour delay for tomorrow as of right now. The weather has been unbelievable around here this winter. One day it’s 60 and sunny, and the next day is freezing rain.

As I was driving home today I was stopped behind a vehicle at a stoplight and saw that the driver was holding something out his window. I couldn’t really tell what he was doing, but then the light turned green and as he drove through the intersection it was clear.

He was driving and hanging half out the window cleaning, the rain off his windshield with a squeegee like this. I am assuming his windshield wipers were not working and he could not see where he was going, because why else would someone do this? (Which makes me glad I was behind him and not in front of him.)

The New 2008 Windshield Wipers - Manual Labor Required

Can you imagine driving and trying to clean your windows like this when it is pouring down outside? He had to be soaked. Not only that but it looked absolutely ridiculous. It is moments like this that I wish I had a camera to document the craziness I often seem to observe. Maybe I will start carrying one in my car.

After Christmas I found a vase at Lowe’s for less than $3 on clearance. I thought it would make a good decoration for our living room and I liked the warm color. It wasn’t until after I got it home and out of the box, that I noticed this little label on the bottom.

I’m fairly certain Lowe’s doesn’t sell lead paint right? So why are they selling home decorations with lead? Their web site gives you information on how to protect your family from unnecessary lead exposure and their stores sell lead testing kits. Never would I have imagined I’d need to break out a kit and test an item in their store BEFORE I purchased it!

But it’s all good. We don’t live in California. Apparently, that is the only state that lead can cause “reproductive harm” to consumers. It’s a damn good thing we live in Indiana. To be on the safe side though, I’ll try and keep my husband (and son) from licking the vase…just in case.