Well... There it is.

So. We loaded the last of the stuff into the pod last night. It will be picked up tomorrow, and that will be the last of the bug house, other than the fight to get our deposit back. The cat was not happy to be moved again, and she'll have to do it again this weekend, as Leslie has been gracious enough to keep her for a while. We plan on chilling for a while t save up some cash, pay off some debt, and mooch off the in-laws. I am sick to death of moving things around, so I'd like to put that off as long as possible. This does involve staying with Norm and his wacky eating habits, but at least I have back up from my wife and kid this time. Here's a funny thing: After Jack's birthday party, we had a bunch of those little individual serving ice cream things, the kind that used to come with a little wooden spoon-shaped thing, left over, and Norm ate 4 of them in one sitting. The best part was that he was totally unashamed about it. He didn't get 4 of them one by one. He just grabbed all 4 at once. I think he would have grabbed more, but that was all that was in there. Monday night, we had some leftover pizza, actually about half of a large pizza, so quite a bit of pizza. He ate it all in one go with mustard on it. yum.

We also found out yesterday that Jackson will be a big brother to another boy. YAY! My brother mentioned that, try as he might, he couldn't imagine a Powers girl anyway, so it's just as well.

Um... That's it.

-JP

In which I have to move again...

Because of the bugs.
We got an exterminator and I put a massive amount of crap on the lawn, and in the crawlspace and have sprayed the house every few days and the fuckers just won't leave. I just got my cable hooked up, too. The last straw was on Saturday when Jen went to pick out an outfit for Jackson's birthday party, and there were three roaches in his drawer, that scattered when she opened it. That was it. we are out of there. We are going to stay at the in-laws until we either find a new place to rent or a new place to buy. We may just hang there, and bank some cash for a really sweet down payment, depending on how much annoyance is involved in living there.
The landlord was being pretty cool about it, but his wife was not. Jen got in a pretty good argument with her on the phone the other day, and that pretty much sealed the deal. I think that it we are out by the end of the month, having been there less than 30 days, we should get our deposit back just fine. We are going to try to move all our stuff into a storage unit over the weekend, so if you would like to help out with that, give me a call.
In other news, Jack had his 2 years old birthday party, a month late, on Saturday, and it was a big success. We all went to incredible pizza, a join put on this earth for kids parties. We all had a good time. A lot of people showed up. Jack made out like a bandit with a heap of toys that are sadly going into storage this weekend. He played the toddler version of whack-a-mole, and rode the little train a lot. Then he crashed out and slept for two hours.

That's all I got.Have fun.
-JP

In which we internet-stalk...

So Jen did some interwebs sleuthing, and it turns out that dude from next door at our old house was put away for 2 years for selling meth and cooking it in his house. The other two people who lived in the house at the time got much smaller stays, which means they probably testified against him. He and the wife got married shortly after he got out, and the two of them moved in with dear old mom next door.
Only one of the 4 kids is their own progeny. The oldest is from when Dude was in high school, and the twin girls are hers from some time before as well. Only the kid that just turned two is theirs. This made us think:
Wait a sec, ... that means he was still in when the kid was conceived ... that means that he was the result of a conjugal visit ... yuck ... and she was preggers when he got out and they got hitched at the court house ... classy.
The meth use does explain the two's erratic behaviour and their extreme skinniness. (In looking through arrest paper work, the wife was brought in a few years ago weighing 135 lbs, and her most recent arrest shows her weight at 105 lbs.) And the complete lack of any memory.
And the jail time certainly explains the crappy tattoos. All of it explains why neither of them can get a damn job. Now I an REALLY glad we moved.

Speaking of:
The bugs are getting fewer and further between. On the advise of a Kettler, I bug-bombed the crawl-space. That was kind of fun actually, like chucking tear gas into a heating vent. We are starting to be able to close both eyes when we sleep.
I wish the animals were any flipping help. They just stare at the bugs as they scurry across the floor, Even the cat. Bloody useless, they are.

The visit with my Dad was fun. We took Jack to a Drillers game, and he had a really good time. Now every once in a while, he'll say: "Wanna see base ball!"
So that's cute.
Jack started at a new day care yesterday, and I think he loves it. He gets a little upset when we drop him off, but from what they tell me, he gets over it pretty quick. He was in a really good mood when I picked him up so let's hope that stays the norm.
Um... that's it.

-JP

We are Tulsans again.

Well, we are all moved in. Kind of. There is a lot less room in the new place, but we knew that. Our stay here is completely temporary, so we just have to decide what not to unpack. I think the china and the comics are staying in their boxes.

What we do have room for, apparently, is bugs. Lots of bugs. All kinds of bugs. The kitchen was pretty filthy when we got in there, and we slowly started seeing the signs of an infestation. We cleaned everything real good, put all kinds of traps and what-not down, sprayed inside and out, then called an exterminator. He came yesterday and now the house is airing out. It should take care of the problem with minor maintenance here and there.

I really hate that I'm renting again. The majority of what we have to unpack is out, we just have to find a place for it all.

Jackson is very excited because he got a toddler bed shaped like a VW Beetle. Now all we have to do is get him to actually go to bed in it. Jackson, like his father, doesn't like to go to bed early. He'd rather stay up and see what everybody is doing. So we usually have to put him in his crib at bedtime, and once he realizes that we mean it, he'll settle down and go to sleep. The car bed has no rails or anything, so he'll just get up, and come out of his room. We're working on that.

My Dad is coming to visit tonight and for the weekend. I get to see him rarely, and Jackson gets to see him even less, so I'm really glad they'll be able to spend some time together. Our new house is right by the Baseball field and my dad is a big baseball fan, and the Drillers* are The Colorado Rockies' farm team, so there is that, too. Other than that, we're going to do some touristy shit, and have a generally pleasant time.

Then we get a weekend to ourselves, and then my Mom is coming down for a visit while we plan a very belated birthday party for Jackson.

If you wanna come, let me know. Jackson likes tractors and fruit snacks.

I finished the new Harry Potter book, and I have to say it is a bit of a let down.

!!!! Spoilers !!!!

The whole series has been building up to a show down between Voldemort and Harry, and hinting all along that Harry will ultimately prevail because he has the ability to love, and Voldemort doesn't and ergo Harry is better no matter what. So after 6 big books and years and years of build up, Harry wins because of a wand mix-up. Lame.

Also, I spotted a major continuity flaw: Dumbledoor gets the Elderwand because of a duel. They make a big deal about how that wand was unbeatable in a duel. You can steal it, but you can't win against it in a duel. What's up with that?

The previous book set up a situation where the three main characters quit school and go hunting for the remaining horcruxes. The pay off here was a big let down. They spent the majority of the time hiding in a tent for months on end wondering what to do next.

I did love the Battle of Hogwarts, Though Ron and Hermione were strangely absent for most of it. In fact, most of the action scenes were awesome. I do have to say that I like the Voldemort of the movies better than the one of the books. He way more menacing.

!!!! Spoilers End Here !!!

Well that's all I got for now.

-JP

*why does their logo look so communist propaganda-ish?