Cheers!

We just bought our house.  Again.  By which I mean, of course, that we managed to do a refinance (with these crazy low interest rates) and we closed today!  Hurrah!  I cannot believe it.  It's quite a bit different to sit at the lawyer's office and sign your life away without a moving truck sitting outside.  Perhaps you remember how it all started, way back here.

So cheers! 

And while I'm here, a few quick updates:

1) We've been out and about in the canoe a few times lately, with paddles on the Merrimack and the Concord.  Lucy loves it.  We had never taken her out before (in fact, our last trip in the canoe may well have been this one).  We've seen a bunch of turtles and a blue heron, and lots of other birds.  It's been fun.

2) We had an awesome camping trip at Tully Lake this past weekend.  Many thanks to Ian & Elizabeth for bringing us along, and to Matt & Mary for the loan of their cavernous tent.  There are pics here of us with the tent, and here of the crazy orange newts Lucy kept befriending.  Lucy had a grand time.  We even got to experience a thunderstorm (from safely inside our tent); Lucy slept through the whole thing.  Ian & Elizabeth did not.  Here is a portion of their conversation:

Elizabeth (in Elizabeth-panic): Ian!  I think there's someone outside the tent!  Do you have your knife?
Ian (in what can only be described as Ian-like calm): Yes.
Elizabeth: WHY DO YOU HAVE A KNIFE IN THE TENT???!?!?!?!?!

So my next writing project is going to be a buddy-cop TV show, featuring Ian and Elizabeth.  They're married to their jobs....and each other!  It's Mazsa & Mazsa, Crime Scene Investigators.  It's gonna be a huge hit.

That's all for now.  

Fans of Fans

We're delighted with our most recent renovation/addition:  FANS!

Perhaps you are familiar with the hideousness that was our kitchen light/fan situation:

Yes, that IS a bare bulb on the bottom.  Perhaps you would prefer our new addition:

OH yes, much better!

Our electrician neighbor, who did the work for us, informed us that the old fan was held up with exactly ONE screw.  Awesome.  She affixed this one a bit more solidly, which you can tell by the fact that it is totally sturdy and doesn't sway all over the place when it runs.  Nice!

We've also been wanting a fan in our bedroom, as it gets a bit stuffy up there and Jake is a hot sleeper.  So we now have this:

So yes, now that summer is over, we have our fans ready.  Woo hoo.

In other news, we've been canoeing lately, on both the Concord and the Merrimack.  It's been great fun.  This weekend, we're going camping at Tully Lake.  Lucy is beside herself with excitement.

Updates as events warrant.  Hope you're enjoying September!

Quick Post: Conversation with Lucy

Me: Lucy, would like milk on your cereal this morning?
Lucy: Mom, when I have milk on my cereal and I talk too much, my cereal gets soggy.  So I'm not going to have milk on my cereal.

Perfect solution.

She can't stop talking.

[Further update/detail]

A comment (below) from Uncle Kanga reminds me that I should also mention that among the many lies I have told Lucy is the claim that we can't buy Lucky Charms (or any other sugar-laden cereal such as Cap'n Crunch); only Grandma and her school can purchase such things.  She really and truly believes this; when we see said boxes of cereal at the store, she points and talks about how we can't buy them.  Only her school.  And Grandma (who buys them in the whole multi-pack set of mini boxes for her as a treat).  There is a future (long) post to be written at some point about the many, many lies that we have told Lucy, and her predisposition to believe these things.

So the cereal in question above was Cheerios.  She then went to school, where she had a bowl of Lucky Charms.  So no worries, fans of Lucy, she is getting her US Recommended Daily Allowance of kid cereal.