I'm Baaaacccck

 Hey! It's been awhile. I was busy getting ready for a surprise vacation, more on that later, and trying to get the house in order again after the mud filled basement fixing. I missed writing more than I thought was possible. And I'm positive John was tired of my ranting over the past two weeks!

  Let's start with the basement.....it's an on-going saga like Star Wars or Coronation Street. A few years ago after a nasty flood we did some outside work to fix the problem. It did...almost. Now we are fixing from the inside. And after the thaw of two weeks ago we can say with 99.9% certainty it is fixed!

  Now the real work begins. Gravel. Concrete. Wiring fixed. Drywall. Flooring. Lights. Paint. I could go on and on but you get the picture. Lots to do. But John has a plan. Or I hope he does. Right now I just want it done. So I can throw the video games, consoles, movies, and assorted virtual reality crap done there out of sight. Not to mention the kids.

  It will take several months, and a lot of cash, to finish but there is now light at the end of this tunnel. In the not so distant future we will hear the laughter of children, the rumbling of movies and the fighting of brothers. Sigh...I can't wait.

  So we surprised the boys with a March break vacation. Boy were they surprised. Alex wasn't disappointed but I wouldn't call him excited either. He had it in his head that he was trading in his old video game systems for a new Nintendo Switch and spending the week playing it. He clearly had a problem hiding his disppointment.

  Riley was ecstatic. He is our social butterfly. But this time the roles reversed. Alex made lots of friends and was gone all the time. He had his first real taste of independance...with a few rules that were non-negotiable. He did fight against the texting every hour rule but quickly realized that was his road to freedom.

  John and I had a chance to hang out in the adults only area with a pitcher of margharitas. Once or twice. It was nice not having to worry whether the kids were enjoying themselves. We get so little of that. They are both double digits now so those stolen moments will be more and more frequent. 

  All in all it was a great week even though the weather wasn't the best. Can't control the weather. I am happy we went. It was nice to relax and rest. But reality has set back in quickly. It's time to get back to work, school and real life.

  Ugh it's gonna be a rough week. Welcome home.

  Ang