picnic-029
Originally uploaded by jen_lancaster
This was at the church picnic last week. This was just too good not to share!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Overheard...
Tonight at dinner, A asked, "Mama? You know at church - is it Palm Sunday or Pom-pom Sunday?"
Thursday, June 11, 2009
The one where I beat my head against a brick wall, then call my realtor...
The saga of the crazy rental house continues...
There is a rental property in our cul-de-sac. When we moved here 6 years ago, there was a "hermit" of sorts living there. I think I saw him 2 or 3 times in the first 3-4 years we lived here. No real sign of him, except his truck with the open trailer he hauled behind it filled with various tools, or the occasional beer bottle and used condom in the island.
After he moved on a family moved in. Our kids were getting old enough to enjoy playmates, so I was glad to see toys in the yard shortly after I saw the moving truck. It was a family comprised of a Middle-Eastern man, his American wife (who had converted to Islam and wore the hijab), their 2 kids (ages 5 and 3) and her 2 kids (ages 11 and 12, I think...). As we got to know them, we found out the oldest boy (aged 11) had tried to commit suicide, was bipolar, and had been hospitalized for mental/emotional problems. While they lived there, the 12 year-old girl tried to commit suicide and was diagnosed as bipolar. It was not uncommon for the 5 year-old to come to our house and ask if we had seen the 3 year-old, since they hadn't seen her in a while and they wanted to know where she had gone. Because I'm not busy enough - I need to help my neighbors keep track of their preschoolers.
After they moved out, the house was rented to 2 single men, their girlfriends, and one of the girlfriend's brothers. Oh, and the guys each had a kid from a previous relationship who visited occasionally. After a few months I didn't see too much of them, either.
Last month, a new family moved in. They have 4 kids, who for the most part are sweet and our kids (usually) get along fairly well. They came from North Carolina, where they had been for a year for his job, which had been lost (not sure what happened, probably the economy). Last week, the kids were excited, telling us they were getting a puppy. According to one child, the puppy was a $300 puppy. Imagine my shock, considering the oldest girl has a black, rotted stump of a front tooth. I'm completely serious. That, and the back window in their pickup is broken out. I will be the first to confess I'm not that great with money, and am extremely prone to impulse shopping (thus the reason I try to avoid Hobby Lobby and Michaels like the Swine Flu...); however, I have enough sense to know that if your child is in serious need of dental care, you don't buy a $300 puppy, which will need to be fed and be a continuous drain on the budget!!! Last night the kids said some people were coming by to get the camera and some rings from their mom, which I can only assume meant they were being sold. To top it all off, today the oldest sister pointed a REAL LIVE BB GUN AT MY KIDS!!!!!!!!!! The mom was sleeping at the time, and the oldest boy freaked out when I told him (something about her finding the key when she wasn't supposed to, which she vehemently denied, blah, blah, blah). AAAAACK!
The moral of the story - always find out from your realtor if there are any rental houses near the house you want to buy. If there are, RUN! RUN FAR AWAY!!!
There is a rental property in our cul-de-sac. When we moved here 6 years ago, there was a "hermit" of sorts living there. I think I saw him 2 or 3 times in the first 3-4 years we lived here. No real sign of him, except his truck with the open trailer he hauled behind it filled with various tools, or the occasional beer bottle and used condom in the island.
After he moved on a family moved in. Our kids were getting old enough to enjoy playmates, so I was glad to see toys in the yard shortly after I saw the moving truck. It was a family comprised of a Middle-Eastern man, his American wife (who had converted to Islam and wore the hijab), their 2 kids (ages 5 and 3) and her 2 kids (ages 11 and 12, I think...). As we got to know them, we found out the oldest boy (aged 11) had tried to commit suicide, was bipolar, and had been hospitalized for mental/emotional problems. While they lived there, the 12 year-old girl tried to commit suicide and was diagnosed as bipolar. It was not uncommon for the 5 year-old to come to our house and ask if we had seen the 3 year-old, since they hadn't seen her in a while and they wanted to know where she had gone. Because I'm not busy enough - I need to help my neighbors keep track of their preschoolers.
After they moved out, the house was rented to 2 single men, their girlfriends, and one of the girlfriend's brothers. Oh, and the guys each had a kid from a previous relationship who visited occasionally. After a few months I didn't see too much of them, either.
Last month, a new family moved in. They have 4 kids, who for the most part are sweet and our kids (usually) get along fairly well. They came from North Carolina, where they had been for a year for his job, which had been lost (not sure what happened, probably the economy). Last week, the kids were excited, telling us they were getting a puppy. According to one child, the puppy was a $300 puppy. Imagine my shock, considering the oldest girl has a black, rotted stump of a front tooth. I'm completely serious. That, and the back window in their pickup is broken out. I will be the first to confess I'm not that great with money, and am extremely prone to impulse shopping (thus the reason I try to avoid Hobby Lobby and Michaels like the Swine Flu...); however, I have enough sense to know that if your child is in serious need of dental care, you don't buy a $300 puppy, which will need to be fed and be a continuous drain on the budget!!! Last night the kids said some people were coming by to get the camera and some rings from their mom, which I can only assume meant they were being sold. To top it all off, today the oldest sister pointed a REAL LIVE BB GUN AT MY KIDS!!!!!!!!!! The mom was sleeping at the time, and the oldest boy freaked out when I told him (something about her finding the key when she wasn't supposed to, which she vehemently denied, blah, blah, blah). AAAAACK!
The moral of the story - always find out from your realtor if there are any rental houses near the house you want to buy. If there are, RUN! RUN FAR AWAY!!!
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