Thoughts

We finally hired a plumber today. Miguel found an older gent whom he enjoyed talking to and had the most reasonable estimate (reasonable being $2,700. ouch.) We still haven't received our tax refund, but we couldn't put this off anymore. I'll spare the details and just state that it's getting unsanitary out in our back yard. The plumber's supposed to start work tomorrow.

In other news, I had my first test of the semester today. I guess it went ok.

Also, I've lost 9 pounds since the start of the semester. I've been keeping record of my weight and exercise since the beginning of the semester. I'm averaging about 4 days a week at the gym and I spend at least an hour working out every time I go. My goal is to work out all 5 days I'm at school during the week, but something always seems to come up once a week. Anyway, it's nice to start seeing results. I no longer have an "apron front belly" as it was so called in a novel my mom lent me a while back. It was so bad after I had Leyla that I would routinely get the flab stuck in the drawer of the changing table if I closed it using my body instead of my hand. The good news is that no longer happens. But I still have 15 more pounds to go until I reach my goal weight. Slowly but surely.

I don't think I mentioned it before, but Miguel's younger brother has been staying with us for the past few weeks. I won't go into why he's here, but what I will say is that I'm loving it! He helps out with Chloe and Leyla and I haven't had to do the dishes once since he's been here! I LOVE that. His rent payment consists of driving Miguel around and helping out around the house since he doesn't have any money coming in. It's been great

Speaking of Miguel's brothers, we're still taking care of Chata, the little puppy who belongs to Sal. I have no interest in ever getting a puppy again. As far as puppies are concerned, I think this one is pretty much one of the most well-behaved, but I still can't handle it. The house training, the nipping, her getting under my feet... it's just too much. If I ever get a dog again, I'll do the rescue shelter thing. Puppies are cute, but too much for me these days.

And you know what else is too much? Chloe's drama. I know I've written about a few of her obsessions before. Well, here's a new one. She really likes lights. We have a couple desk lamps, and she loves to turn them on and off and point at the light and say "light" or "hot" because I tell her not to touch the bulb since it's hot. She points to the ceiling fans and says "kiko", which is her form of abaneco (which apparently is spanish for fan). Well, this morning another one of our 7-year bulbs burnt out after only a few months (don't even get me started on that). Miguel took off the glass cover to the light in the kitchen so we could change the bulb. But, we didn't have a spare bulb, so he left the cover off. When Chloe saw the light without the cover off, she kept pointing at the light and saying "light, light" over and over. We told her we were aware that the light cover was off. Then she just lost it. She threw herself on the floor and started screaming and throwing a fit. All over a light without its cover. What is that all about?

Sounds like Leyla is waking up. I guess I should go.