At least he's honest

Making a motion across his lips, Munchkin recited, "Zip it, lock it, put it in your pocket!"

I asked if that was what teachers say when they want the kids to be quiet at preschool. Munchkin answered, "Yeah, but it doesn't work. I still jabber, jabber, jabber."

NASCAR, 4-year-old style

I wasn't here to see it, so this story comes courtesy of my husband, who gave me a couple hours of freedom last weekend while he and Munchkin watched NASCAR.

Scott had second thoughts about letting Munchkin see the race because when he turned on the TV, the first thing they saw was a giant wreck. Munchkin was hysterical - in tears and running out of the room. The Home Depot car crashed! The pretty orange car was ruined and orange was his favorite color! Scott said it was almost as bad as the time he accidentally squished imaginary friend Cat in the stroller.

All was forgotten when Munchkin realized that the pretty blue Lowes car was in the lead. Blue is really his favorite color (this week). Lowes won and the world was OK again.

Easy come, easy go

Our buyer backed out today. The real bummer is that the way it happened means we have to do a bunch more work before we put our house back on the market. I guess no one ever said this would be easy, but it looked like we were done with this step. Sigh.

10 days

We sold our house today! Hard to believe, since we listed it on the 8th, but after multiple back-and-forths on the terms, we've got a signed contract. It's been only about 6 hours since we got the news, and already my son's & husband's stuff is back on the floor... Oh well, I'll enjoy not having to swap out towels a dozen times a day while we tried to pretend ours is a model home and not an actual dwelling. :)

So what's next? Well, besides the normal inspections, etc., we need to find ourselves a new house. Preferably before we need to get out of this one. I can't promise how often I'll be posting, but I'll be here.

My new favorite dinner

It seems like everyone looking for a house decides to come right around dinner time. Either exactly when we would normally eat or, even more likely, during the time I would normally prepare the meal. Our real estate agent said it's OK for us to be around when people come, especially if they come during dinner, but I have a 4-year-old who doesn't want to move, so he says he'll tell people not to buy our house because it's on a busy street. Unfortunately, he's right, and given the chance he probably would tell them. So when people come, we need to get out of here before they arrive.

In the midst of all this, I stumbled on a perfectly easy menu that has an added bonus in that it makes our house smell heavenly. The recipe goes something like this:

About 2-4 hours before dinner time, dice fresh tomatoes into a bowl. Stir in chopped fresh basil, minced fresh garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, and let sit covered at room temperature until dinner. I've left out the quantities because it depends on the size of your family. I'd just add that you should go easy on the garlic the first time you try it. :)

When you finally get to eat dinner, boil some fresh pasta (I'm currently buying mine, but if your house is not for sale you could try making it yourself for even better results.) On each plate put a generous serving of pasta topped with the tomato mixture and grated Parmesan cheese. If you want, add to the meal a salad and a loaf of good bread. Sorry there's no picture -- my husband devoured every last bite and I didn't think to take a picture until afterwards.

Tale of two dinners

Well, we did it. After months that felt like a marathon, we finally prepared our house to sell and it is now on the market. Now, all we have to do is keep it clean & tidy for all the hordes of people that will come and look at it. Ha ha. Remember, I have a Munchkin. One day I was washing windows -- not exactly a usual activity for me :) -- and I spotted him "helping" by breathing on my clean windows and "washing" them with his fingers. The best way to keep the house clean is to not be there.

Anyway, we had an end-of-the-summer and whew-we-did-it dinner to celebrate. I didn't realize until afterwards that it was almost completely local. So here's an idea for a wonderful, tasty, end-of-summer dinner. Everything's local except for the marinade ingredients and the sugar.

• Broiled T-bone steak: from our cow and marinated with a homemade marinade (we were going to BBQ, but the BBQ is buried in the garage and we were tired)
• Corn-on-the-cob: local, and served with local butter
• Green beans: local
• Fresh peach ice cream: homemade using local cream, milk, eggs, peaches & non-local sugar (the ice cream maker was buried, too, but I guess we were more motivated to find it!)

That was the night before we listed our house. The next evening, we went out to dinner since we had people coming through. The next evening, dinner was interrupted and I don't remember what we did. So the next evening, when Munchkin's preschool offered a free back-to-school BBQ for the families, we decided to attend.

I don't mean to be too critical since the dinner was free, they were trying to do it cheap, and the person who organized it is a very nice person who worked very hard, but dinner was too remarkable not to share. It was...

• One small hot dog of dubious origin, barbequed
• White little hot dog bun
• Catsup, mustard and relish (which I skipped since I don't like goop)
• Miniature bag of chips such as Chitos
• Can of soda pop
• Thin little slices of watermelon

I'm not sure I've ever eaten a meal containing less nutrition. The next morning, I woke up famished. Can anybody top this?

Not likely

Moaning and groaning because Daddy insisted he wear the wrong shirt for Sunday School, Munchkin wailed, "Stop it, you guys! You're making me lose my appetite!!!"

And you think your service is slow

As a dial-up user, I thoroughly enjoyed this story of the carrier pigeon vs. the internet provider. Check it out. :)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32772500/ns/world_news-weird_news/?GT1=43001

Confidential to kale's cute guy...

but I thought everyone else would enjoy it, too.

Munchkin just asked, sobbing, "Would you ask that guy that knew about the Scoops: Do Scoops cry? Please, will you ask him right now? And would you ask him if Scoops really sneeze?"

By the time he had finished asking all his questions, he had cheered up considerably.

Technically correct

As we drove past a pioneer cemetery this afternoon Munchkin cried out, "Mommy! There's a gardener in the park where the dead people are!"

Swimming lessons

Life is crazy around here getting our house ready to sell, which is why I'm hardly posting, but I have a cute Munchkin story to share. If I don't write them down, I forget them by the next day. Anyway...

Munchkin has been taking swimming lessons off and on all summer. He's done great -- he's advanced from sheer terror to being the kid the teacher uses to demonstrate new skills. When he's not the center of attention, he spends his time teaching the other boys how to kick and splash.

This morning I observed the teacher trying to get Munchkin to jump into the pool without holding her hand. They went back and forth, but Munchkin grabbed her hand at the last minute as he jumped in. As we drove home, I asked Munchkin about it. He said that he told his teacher that he's not old enough to jump into the pool by himself, yet. I suggested that maybe he'd be old enough by Thursday (his next lesson). Munchkin thought for a second and then answered, "I won't be 5 by Thursday."