Speak like you mean it.

I accidentally told R she could come find me this morning to make French toast.

She was in her parents' room at 6am announcing that I had given her express permission to wake me up. They held her off until 7:30 when she arrived in my quarters (pronounced kwah-turs here) to remind me of my promise.

I was able to hold her off until 7:45 when she climbed onto my back.

We made our French toast and while we did, we watched the rain that ruined any plans we had for going to the pool. We also watched the bright red cardinal who lives in the back yard. I'm not much for bird watching, but he is BRIGHT and he's been around for a few days now. I plan to stalk him a little bit with my Nikon.

In other news, I fixed my bracelet, the one my sister made me that spontaneously combusted while I was walking into town last week. I'm happy to have it back because my pool time and my long walks with the baby have already left me tan lines and my pasty white wrist was beginning to freak me out.

I snuck away this afternoon. I missed church because of E and T's late night that didn't get them home until 2am. And then, because there was no evening worship tonight, I accepted an invitation to Taryn's house for a barbecue.

And my goodness, I'm glad I did. For several reasons.

As I was preparing to leave, some friends of the kids' showed up for a play date with their unbelievably creepy father. After the third time that he smiled at me I started hiding in the dining room instead of watching the kids play. When Taryn showed up I all but ran out of the house with a yell about being back later, probably around 8 or 9.

I got back at 11.

I haven't laughed that hard since I moved.

I was introduced to all the siblings, most, if not all, of whom I'd met at church already. And friends were coming and going throughout the evening as well, most importantly, Emily, a friend of Taryn's who completed our trio and helped our laughter exceed an acceptable decible level.

There was good food, good wine, good conversation...all the things that make a night out perfect.

I honestly forgot about E and T and the fact that I live in NY and just enjoyed myself for a while.

When I did think of it, I texted T to make sure they didn't care that it was after 9 and I still wasn't on my way home. They didn't, although E was a little jealous when I left that I was running away from the house full of five kids while he was trapped inside it.

But he had a beer and a creepy friend to keep him company, so I don't feel too bad.

I slipped back into the house and retired to my bug-free-for-now room.

My perimeter is working. Last night I squashed a silverfish on the other side of the barrier. Even though he was outside my boundaries, he made his presence known and so he had to die. He's still there, between the rug and the wall, serving as a warning to other silverfish and as a snack for any spiders that might still be creeping around.

But I've spoken this warning aloud for all the bugs and critters to hear: I take no prisoners and I don't have patience for creatures that don't contribute to the household. Now, Spidey in the bathroom died an accidental death when I got a little crazy with the vacuum.

But the others, those weren't accidents.

And they weren't isolated incidents either.

I have Green Works surface cleaning spray and I'm not afraid to use it.