Seven days is a long time.

The plus side to having no internet at home is that I really, really look forward to my hour at the library on Wednesdays.

I have 36 minutes to post this.

I'm not really clear on what's been happening for the last week. I have about three gallons of pool water lodged in my head and it's making my days pretty cloudy. I get to hear out of my left ear off and on and I half to keep a supply of tissues on hand for the floods that are coming out of my ears and nose. Sometime in the last three days some of it moved into my chest so now everyone thinks I have the plague and I keep getting dirty looks as I walk down the Great Neck sidewalks hacking chlorine and pool water. It's hawt.

On Friday, E's father fell and injured his hip and head. He was rushed to the ER where he underwent surgery late Friday night. The family gathered at out house for Shabbat dinner that evening and I had the pleasure of hiding in the kids' room to avoid having to talk to any of them.

I put the baby to bed for an hour that night.

The good news is that E's dad is already in recovery and will be home later this week.

In other good news, T is pregnant!!!!!!

I called it. I hoped for it. And now it is here. I'm getting a baby!!!

Before we knew this, on Sunday evening, we were sitting around talking after dinner and she reminded me that she would like to keep me for fifteen years. Later in the same conversation we were discussing the illegal pools in the neighborhood. It seems three or four people have private pools that were put in before the laws changed and now they can't sell their houses with out filling in their pools. One clever family has an indoor basement pool.

"A basement pool?!" I asked her. "Why don't you have a basement pool? I'll stay for fifteen years if you get one."

"Where will you sleep?"

"WHO CARES? I'll sleep outside! Get a pool!"

My upcoming trip to Florida is weighing on T though. She's having some separation anxiety. She's trying to find someone to babysit part time while I am away, but she's more concerned about not knowing where anything is in the house. It's my house now and she's constantly asking me where things are.

I usually know, except this week the good can opener has gone missing. We've been looking for it for four days. Completely tore apart the kitchen. Twice.

She asked me jokingly if I would take R with me since she's been getting along with me so well lately and she often gives her parents a hard time. I told her to pay her airfare and not complain about psychological damage done to R from spending a week with six special needs kids and my mother and I. She laughed and retracted her request.

I'll be traveling alone.

On Monday I ran out of big projects to fill up my afternoons. I put the baby to bed and have my leisurely lunch and then I normally do something really involved, like rearrange a closet or room or clean something that hasn't been cleaned since the family moved in. But it's all done.

There's nothing left.

I read my book until I almost fell asleep on top of it. I folded two loads of laundry for three hours. I was literally aching for the baby to wake up so I could feed him and have something to do. Since I quit soaps a few months ago, there's really not much to watch in the afternoons.

T felt the same way because she slept all afternoon. When we met up in the kitchen after our down time she looked groggy and grinned at me.

"We need something to do, huh?"

She brought down a 500 envelope mailing the next day. We spent Tuesday afternoon at the kitchen table stuffing envelopes together. That's when I told her I suspected she was pregnant. That night she got a test and proved me right.

This morning I slept in, as is my ritual on Snobby Wednesdays. I woke up fifteen minutes before my alarm to the sound of the AC repair man coming down the stairs. I thanked God for my room dividers and went back to sleep.

This week we had two big rain storms. The first involved hail the size of quarters. The second involved huge puddles and torrential downpours. We repeatedly checked the basement to make sure no water was coming in.

And none was. The basement has been properly waterproofed and now we know for sure.

The day after the last storm I found a HUGE puddle on the far side of the basement, not my side. It's amazing I found it, because I usually don't even look over there. But I did and there was a river coming out of the AC generator and running all across the floor.

Hence, the repair man.

We've been living without AC for two days now. I can only hope that while I am gone the repairs are being made. Not that it bothers me at night the way it bothers the family on the air condition-less second floor...

20 minutes to go. I am feeling rather rushed right now.

Down at the pool, Ed the Overseer continues to ask me if I live here every time I go.

In the basement, I have encountered exactly one silverfish this week and it was on the other side of the basement where nothing was sprayed, displaced by the newly installed water feature.

T found a stash of framed vintage comics strips and caricatures they inherited in the estate. I intend to find out if they're worth money. And if they're not, I will acquire twenty or thirty picture frames that T doesn't want. SuhWeet.

The highlight of my week has been hanging out with J. I'm not sure why or how it worked out that I had more time with him than usual but he's been warming up to me extremely well. With that change comes better behavior for me and he has actually asked me for food, real food. Chicken, veggies, fruit. We picked cucumbers and tomatoes in the garden together and the rest of that day he kept reminding me that I was his friend.

He told me one afternoon out of the blue that he wished I had gone to the beach with them.

He stills gives me a hard time at least once a day and throws a good snot-inducing tantrum or two, but he's definitely doing much better with me. I can only hope my time away this month won't undo everything I've worked for.

I would hate to come back and have to start over again.

I don't know if I'll be posting next week because I may not take my day off before my trip. If you don't hear from me then, you'll hear from Snobby Nanny in Florida.

And I guarantee I'll be whining about the weather.