California Love

California. . .knows how to party. . .We keep it rockin'. . .

Fans, we are back from California.  While we were gone, Raleigh House sold!  It was bought by a contractor who--grab this!--went to Northwestern!  He played football for the Wildkitties; class of '02.  Go Cats!  In case things fall apart (not that a former Wildcat would know anything about that), Fierce Realtor Cindy has also secured a back-up offer from, as it happens, another realtor.  We close on Raleigh House about two weeks after we close on the New House, on July 16, but Fans, already it feels a little funny here.  Wildcat Contractor has brought in an architect so it seems Raleigh House will not remain as she does today.  Maybe that is for the best--like, maybe if it's a different house, somehow it will feel better that it's not our house anymore?  Of course, it helps to have New House to which to look forward, too!

Now that we are back, it is fair to say that the bambini are off their feed.  Really, all of us are off our feed between the mad dash to make ready Raleigh House for sale, packing for California, living out of suitcases for a little over a week, eating fast food that same amount of time, and being two hours ahead and then two hours back in the span of a week.  As this report is filed, Clara is wailing because she was covered with her blanket when apparently, she wanted to cover herself up with her blanket, but not enough to actually do it once she'd pitched it on the floor.  By then, she wanted Julie to do it and if you can't keep. up. with that, well, maybe you should go get under a blanket and call it a week.  Frankly, that doesn't sound half bad, and we'd welcome someone tucking us in thank you very much.  We'd be back to our regularly scheduled programming in no time if we could spend a week under a blanket.

The last time we went on vacation, to Arizona, we brought you a compendium of conversational tidbits.  We intended to do the same this time, we really did.  But Ted was running zone defense for a lot of the trip and we spent an awful lot of time in the pool which does not mix with the iPhone where one keeps such a compendium.  But, we captured the following and Fans, we think you will agree: good stuff.

First day, in the car driving to the hotel:
Joe, to Clara: Stop making that noise.  It's disgusting.
Clara: It's not disgusting.  It's annoying.

Second to last day, in the car, driving back to the hotel to go to the pool:
Joe: I'm going to ask Santa for an ax, a heavy ax so I can knock things down!  Clara, do you want an ax?
[Clara made no reply, but perhaps her silence said, "Boys are weird sometimes."]

It is also perhaps worth noting that one of Joe's new pet phrases in his ongoing effort to mimic disciplining Clara, is to tell her she is "disrupting the narrative flow," which is what Julie tells the bambini when they want her to read every sentence in every thought bubble and every word on every sign or label or what have you when reading a book.  Try it sometime, Fans.  Doing that totally disrupts the narrative flow.  Memo to the Berenstains of this decade: fewer thought bubbles, fewer signs and such.  But, Fans, you can also try dropping a "you're disrupting the narrative flow" on someone the next time they are being disgusting (or annoying) and seeing how things flow then.