I haven’t posted anything on the blog in over a week. And no photos for nearly two!! Yikes. (Has anyone even noticed? Puh-lease tell me that someone’s actually noticed my absence … LOL)

What’s gotten in the way of my blogging? Well … after 3.5 years in housing transition (we sold our home in Marin in 2006 and have been renting our current home ever since, just waiting for “the right house” at “the right time” at “the right price”), we finally found what we’d been looking for! A few weeks ago, we closed escrow on our new home. And the home improvement projects began immediately. We’re moving in at the end of the month so phase one of our (endless number of) projects has to be completed by then.

When I come up for air, I’ll work on posting some before and after photos. As well as some of the work in progress. Like this, for example.

In the meantime, I just caught up on posting a bunch of photos in my “2010: A Photo A Day” album so be sure to check over there if you need a photo fix.

Nate has turned into quite the problem solver these days. Today he found this old skateboard in the garage. Pretty cool but it was missing its wheels.

Not to worry. The little guy thought he’d take matters into his own hands and solve the problem with some wiffle balls.

I loved this little story and included it in my “a photo a day” project. If you’re interested in seeing more of my project photos, be sure to click on this link for my “a photo a day” photo album on Facebook.

When I need a moment or two of peace and quiet (let’s say I actually want to hold a conversation on the phone or something), I let the boys have my iPhone and play some of the free games I’ve downloaded. It’s not uncommon for them to then misplace it. I’ll find it under a throw pillow, underneath a blanket, on the bookshelf, next to their lunchbox … the possibilities are endless. But we always manage to find it.

Yesterday was different. They swore they had left the phone on the kitchen floor right where they had been playing it. As it was nowhere to be seen on the kitchen floor … and they seemed to have no luck finding it (while wandering aimlessly through the house), I threatened to never let them play with my phone again. I thought the threat of never seeing my phone would jar them into suddenly remembering where they had last left my phone. But no new info emerged. They kept insisting it was last seen on the kitchen floor.

As the search to find my phone dragged on and on (calling it didn’t help since the battery was dead), I got more and more frustrated.

I yelled at the boys.
I gave them time outs.
I made them search high and low (and clean up the rest of the house during their search!).
I refused to let them outside to ride bikes with Michael and Cate until they told me where they’d hid it.
I yelled at them. Again.

And then …. for some reason, I had this inclination to take a walk outside and see if it ended up out there. And in the middle of the grass, I saw it. My beloved phone. And then the pieces started fitting together. The boys had left the phone on the kitchen floor next to the sliding glass door. But it appears our mischievous little pooch snatched the device and took it out on the grass where he always goes to gnaw on stolen goods from the home.

OOPS. I felt SO guilty for yelling at the boys and accusing them of “not trying hard enough to remember where they’d left my phone” …

Granted, they still need to learn to put my phone on the counter where it belongs and not on the floor …!