Moment of Truth?

Today we have an open house from one to three. A family who liked our house from our last open house have told our agent that they are coming today and that they have been talking to their bank (which hopefully means they are approved for a mortgage).

There have been times when we've both been kind of discouraged lately, so we're putting a lot of hope into this basket.

B.

Humans must move to space in 100 years or face extinction: Hawking | Posted | National Post

Okay, great-grandchildren to be: start training as soon as you can!

Humans must move to space in 100 years or face extinction: Hawking | Posted | National Post

Eddy Grant - Gimme Hope Joanna (1988)

I just spent a couple of minutes trying to convince the girls that the tune to a Yop commercial on TV was actually a song about South Africa- a plea for the centre of white power, the city of Johannesburg. It is, I think, a far better song than I remember. Good enough, for me to have mixed feelings about it being used to sell delicious dairy-based drinks. But, I didn't write it.

Set your Way-Back Machines to 1988 and try to remember how outraged so many of us were in 1988 at Apartheid. If only we could summon the same outrage at poverty rooted in racist pasts.

Enjoy!

B.

How to Start a Fire Without Matches | The Art of Manliness

You never know when something like this will come in handy:

How to Start a Fire Without Matches | The Art of Manliness

Nerf N-Strike Stampede ECS Gun

If they had toys like this when I was a child, I'm not sure how differently I migh t have grown to be as an adult. Regardless, it is pretty awesome.


Nerf N-Strike Stampede ECS Gun

B.

How to Make a Corn Cob Pipe | The Art of Manliness

For my father-in-law, because he and ONLY he is cool enough to pull this off.

B.

How to Make a Corn Cob Pipe | The Art of Manliness

Article: "15 Manly Smells"

The only two things I could think to add to this list are the smells of WD-40 and freshly turned soil (or freshly cut hay).

B.

Link below:

http://artofmanliness.com/2009/06/23/15-manly-smells

Cat Safety Propaganda

Kids' Movie Magic

Week two of our vacation is going well. We've repainted the family room downstairs and have had lots of time to relax as well.

Tonight we watched Jurassic Park with the girls. It was the first time they'd watched it and was a very big hit.

Ah, childhood!

B.

'It's Kind of a Funny Story' - Trailer |HD|

This could be pretty funny:

Its to be released on September 24th 2010.

B.

The New Ride

As mentioned previously, we have been in need of a new vehicle.  A week before our trip I received our insurance cheque (the old Santa Fe was a write-off) and bought a 2005  Santa Fe with 53,000 km on it.  Its a FWD with a 2.7 litre V-6.  The colour is different and unblike the 2004, it has anti-lock brakes and stability assist.

 

Our new Santa Fe had a very comfortable ride on our trip and decent mileage.

 

B.

“Best Road Trip Ever”

Last night we arrived home after a road trip to Maine.  We visited Bar Harbor, Freeport, and Bangor.  It was a great trip and went smoothly.  Super Girl (age 6) proclaimed it the “best road trip ever.”  That can’t be a bad sign.

 

Bar Harbor:

We had a great time seeing the mountain, Acadia National Park, and the town   itself.  Unfortunately, our whale watching tour was cancelled due to high seas.

 

Freeport:

The Land of L.L. Bean.  Shopping, shopping, shopping.  Plus a few quirky sights:

Back to school clothes and backpacks were the popular choice.

 

B.

Here she is...

Cat News!

I can't believe the cat came back after a week and a half! Apparently she spent the last few days in the neighbours camper trailer.

B.

Open House Today!

Open house today! Cross your fingers!

Living room has been painted (by me). Surely that's all it could possibly take to tip the balance in our favour.

B.

Stuff that reminds me of Mom: Philips Turntable

Happily, I have a number of memories of Mom that involve records and music. Neither of us were hardcore fans of any particular music (although I came close in my devotion to U2). But, we both liked a number of different types of music and she was always willing to listen to whatever I suggested and played for her.
Last week, I collected a number of cassettes to which I knew Dad would never lsiten. He recntly bought a turntable with a recordable CD drive on it. We tried copying a one record so far and results have been mixed. I'll write more about the cassettes in a future post.
My dad's biggest objective of the last few months has been to get the basement cleared out of stuff that he will not need and which are not pricless family heirlooms. I help when I'm able and last week I decided to tackle our 1970-ish vintage Philips "portable" turntable. Its an item with which I associate a lot of good memories, including at least one birthday party. Here it is.

And, then there's the other stuff (House & Cat)

So, these two things in no way compare to yesterday's events, but-

1) The two families that were interested in buying our house are no longer interested (or possibly couldn't get mortgage approval). We're having another open house on Sunday, July 18th.

2) Peggy is missing. She's been "out" since Thursday. The longer she's gone, the less likely it is that she'll be returning to us.

B.

A Trying (but really GREAT) Friday

Yesterday was eventful. Action Girl (age 9) was finishing at the summer camp she had been at since last Sunday. In a unrelated happening, I took Super Mom's car top have some brake work done. Our plan had been for her to leave home and pick me up and to drive to pick up A-G at her camp.

At about 2:35PM, about a kilometre from our home a car crossed the centre line and struck them close to the driver's side front wheel. They are fine, at least by today.

The local fire department, police, and two ambulances were called. The other driver and Super Girl (age 6) were taken by ambulance to the hospital. Happily, Super Girl was there and gone in about two hours and she and Super Mom are bruised and stiff but otherwise okay.

Our car, the 2004 Santa Fe is pretty heavily damaged. It now has three wheels, which I suspect may turn out to be a problem. All that really matters is that they are fine. That makes it a really successful day.

B.

Terrifying police raid wakens couple at 4 a.m. - thestar.com

I'm generally pretty supportive of the police. One of the great pluses of the last 14 years as a social worker has been getting to know a number of police officers and working quite closely with them , at times.

Stories like the one below trouble me, though.

Terrifying police raid wakens couple at 4 a.m. - thestar.com

Mistakes happen. Mistakes that almost get people killed are harder to excuse.

B.

Maybe we're actually pretty good at this...

So, it sounds like there are actually two families who are very interested in our house! Neither has yet made an actual offer, but things are progressing. We had an agent showing one of them our house on Saturday and they told their agent that of the four houses they had seen, our house was their first choice.

Admittedly, all of this could mean nothing, but its hard not to be optimistic. :-)

B.