A full-blown grownup...

Quick check-in on a couple of things...

First: the house fell through. There were some potentially major structural issues that the engineers just couldn't quite scope out without doing some serious investigating. It was possible that the whole building was going to need to be torn down and rebuilt, but there was really no way to tell for sure without starting to rip some stuff apart. So, we passed rather than take on the potential for major negative surprises.

Then there is another place that was intriguing but is kind of a development project. It is currently five 1,000 square foot units, each taking up one floor of a building. We have talked a little bit with a friend of The Boy's who is a developer about converting it into a smaller number of larger units including one for us to live in. He and his wife just had a baby and are looking to move and might or might not be interested in the other half. It could be two 2,500 sq ft units (the third floor would be half in the lower unit, half in the upper) or one that is three floors and one that is two.

There is also some basement space that could be finished, and there is the possibility of making one larger unit (that we would live in) and several smaller rentals, either in the current single-floor layout, or in smaller one-bedroom and studio units. Or, the basement and first floor could be rentals and we could build two 2,000 sq ft upper units.

All of which is to say: nothing yet, but we're thinking about it and The Boy's friend is thinking about it both as a residence and as a potential development opportunity. More to come, maybe...

Second: in one week, the baby girls will turn SIX YEARS OLD! Time flies...

Third: if that makes you feel old, then this is going to make it worse. I just got back from a four-day Las Vegas bender to celebrate the twenty-first birthday of my favorite little sister... That's right, the skinny little ten year old that moved in with me in August of 2005 is now a brilliant, smart, funny and absolutely gorgeous woman who can buy her own booze! (Not relevant: she's been able to buy her own booze since she was 17...)

Big Sis, Smoking Hot Roommate and I took her and 8 of her friends to Las Vegas for the weekend and us old broads showed them all how the city is supposed to work. They are all substantially more controlled and less boy-crazy than I think I ever was, but we got them to let their hair down for a bit. There was an enormous amount of eating, and drinking and gambling (the tables were kind to me and VERY kind to Big Sis!) and general rabble rousing, and a whole lot of teasing unsuspecting boys. I had a blast, I think they all did, too, and there was very little that can't be shared as funny stories in mixed company. So, success!!!

She has a job in Boston this summer, and Tinkerbelle is coming for the whole summer again, which leaves me with something of a space problem. Munchkin is probably just going to stay at Smoking Hot Roommate and/or Big Sis' house for the summer, or just bounce between her various bedrooms and couches in all three places like an adorable little vagabond. Either way, it means that I finally have both sisters together in the same place at once for an extended period!!! Yay!!!

Oh, hey...

I haven't blogged in eight months...yikes! And no, I don't have anything major today to tell you (and who is "you" anyway? Not sure anyone still would see this...)

But, I'm tired, and I am super hungover and I powered through the morning and now I have totally run out of energy and have no desire to work. So, here I am!

I'm tired and hungover because I was out with Munchkin and her friends last night. I still have dinner with her every Thursday (my very favorite time of the week!), but last night I got talked into going out with her and her friends afterwards...not a good idea. This may come as a surprise, but I am not, in fact, 21 years old anymore...

I didn't go to sleep until 3:30, and I stayed at Munchkin's apartment...which means I woke up at 6:00, showered, stole some fresh clothes from her and came home in what I can best describe as an Uber of Shame before the girls woke up:-).  Cuz responsible, that's why!!!

Anyway, let's see what's new. The girls are loving Kindergarten...they're such big kids now! They have new friends and they're learning to read and do math and all kinds of other fun stuff. LK doesn't love the dress code...she wants to wear jeans every day, and she is supposed to wear either khakis or a skirt and tights. The skirt is a non-starter...but I found some khaki jeans that are acceptable. She will probably have to get over this as she gets older. (Also, she really only wants to wear things that have pictures or sharks or lions on them...)

Munchkin is most of the way through her Junior year, which is just staggering. Her 21st birthday is coming up in a month and a half, and I am not totally sure that any of us are going to survive. The planning has been ongoing for quite a while, and her pretend sisters have maybe gone a *little* overboard. The four of us, three of her college friends and three high school friends. Katy bar the door...

She's got a job in Boston this summer, which is awesome. Tinkerbelle is coming back, too, which will mean that I will finally get both sister under the same roof for an extended period of time! I'm pretty excited about that.

Except for one minor problem, which is that I don't actually have room for them:-D. My plan to have them under the same roof relies on them wanting to share a room...which they may or may not. Alternatively, Munchkin will just spend most nights at either Smoking Hot Roommate's or Big Sis's...I'm not really too worried about it (I'm wondering if any non-property manager has keys to more homes than my sister does...)

Kind of on this subject...we may have bought a house. It's a ton of money and it is a HUGE project and I will curse myself for this 1,000 times before we can move in, but it looks like we may have done it. It's a very old, currently unlivable, very vertical (3,100 sq ft on five stories!) townhouse near here that will take probably a year to renovate and so much money that I don't really want to think about it.

But they accepted our offer, pending a couple little things...so, it looks like it may happen. I will reserve excitement until after the inspection!

Summer stuff

I wrote the very last day care check today, which makes me kinda weepy. It's been such a wonderful place for the girls, and they have grown so much because of being there around their friends and teachers. They've been happy and enriched and safe and comfortable there since they were four months old. Four. Months. Old! I know they will miss it, and I will probably miss it a whole lot more...I foresee some crying (by me) when we walk out of there for the very last time.

Onto happier news, Tinkerbelle is now fully settled in, and she is absolutely loving herself. I may have had a little apprehension about how she would react to a different environment and more freedom and new surroundings, but she is absolutely killing it. Just a totally and completely different kid than I have ever seen her before.

She gets herself up and ready and out the door every morning, and totally loves acting like a big kid to do it:-). She drinks iced coffee, rides the T, makes witty observations about her fellow commuters and carries unnecessary stuff with her to justify a backpack. She comes home every day tired but chipper and just generally very pleasant. She got her first paycheck and complained about the amount withheld by the tax authorities!

She has also very quickly totally adopted the "uniform" of the older girl camp counselors, which I find hilarious. Sleeves rolled on her staff T-Shirt (which is also notted near the waist), very short denim or khaki shorts, keys and ID on a lanyard around her neck, sunglasses, ponytail and either flip flops or sock-less running sneakers. She is sporting an absolutely killer tan:-). She's loved her weekends at the beach and is always thrilled to hang out with Munchkin and the older kids. There may be a boy, but that is nothing serious. Yet;-)

Mostly though, she is just a completely different, older, more confident kid. I swear she talks louder and more clearly than she did a month ago, she sits up straighter, and is entirely more capable of having "adult" conversations. Her Mother, who hasn't seen her in a month but gets Facebook pictures and talks to her every day, has told me the same thing...she is just really, really having a great time for herself and reacting very well to it.

So far, then, better than expected! There is still time for this to go terribly wrong, but the early returns are very good!

Five Days!

Five days until the Great Summer Adventure of 2015 begins! Tinkerbelle wraps up school this week, then packs and flies out her next week...all very exciting!

I'm pretty fired up. I still recognize that this could end really badly in a lot of ways, but I'm just really looking forward to it. It will be great to have that much time with her, great for the girls to spend that much time with their "other" Aunt and, as I've mentioned, it sounds like it will be a really welcome break for both her and her Mom.

I don't actually have a ton of "plans" for the summer. She'll be working pretty much every weekday, and coming to the beach with us just about every weekend. She is going to inherit Munchkin's regular Thursday dinner date slot, which will ensure that I get a regular chance to sit down with her without any other distractions and talk about how everything is going. I have a couple of other things planned for her first week and a half here, too - a baseball game, an ice cream festival (more or less!) and a free concert - but I don't really anticipate having to keep her that busy.

I anticipate that she will make friends through work, and she will definitely have some time to be on her own and hang out...I'll probably give her a curfew, but I love the idea of her having some free time with kids her own age until then. At some point she is going to want to stay home for a weekend, which I probably won't sign off on, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!

Other than that, we're just gonna play it by ear! The weather has finally warmed, Munchkin is back from Europe (probably for not the last time this summer) and settled in at the beach, and I am really excited for summer! The girls have their pre-school graduation next Friday, although they will stay where they are until the end of August before school starts. That makes me feel pretty old:-). They've loved their day care and so have I...I'll be a little sad to see them go.

Nothing major beyond that! Girls are getting big, work is work, The Boy is still my favorite:-). No news is good news, I guess!

Planning

Munchkin is out of the country for about a week and a half (friends in London, friends and the boy in Paris...ho hum) which meant that she was unavailable for our regular Thursday night date last night. Big Sis took that opportunity to schedule a meeting with Smoking Hot Roommate and I to begin planning what will be the single greatest party in the history of mankind: Munchkin's 21st birthday.

No, I am not kidding. We legitimately began the planning process last night. Her birthday is April 3, 2016.

There is absolutely no way that this ends up being anything short of preposterously out of hand.