Safe and Sound

We arrived home at about 11:30 p.m tonight, safe and sound, well maybe not so sound. We saw some lovely thunderstorms while crossing Dallas, several points where we had to drive 20 mph and even one point where we had to pull completely off the road and go hide in a truck stop with about 20 other people. Had it not been for the weather, we'd have been home around 10pm. C'est la vie!

We're of course exhausted, but not quite ready for bed. We sent the kids off to bed, they were passed out in the car anyway. We're just chillin' out on the couch now thinkin' about everything and nothing all at once. We got some crap to do tomorrow, gotta go pick up our mail, clean out the rental, maybe get it returned (has to be done in 12 hours), get Sam's license, and go to the bank.

The cats are very happy to have us home. At first, they looked at us like, "Who the hell are you people, and where is that nice calm couple that's been coming over?" Then, when they recognized us, they got some preliminary pets and proceeded to ignore us for about a half hour in protest of our 3 week absence. Now, only Cyrano is really cuddly, cuddled up to Momma, of course. Everyone else has had a bit more love, though.

The rats are happy to have us home also...Poor Demi, Karma's rat, needs a one-way trip to the vet. She has a mammary tumor that in the 3 weeks we've been gone is now about half of her pre-tumor size. Foxie rang her bell for some attention, got some, then proceeded to ring her bell again because she wanted more. The girls told her she will just need to wait until morning.

Well, there's a lot more to talk about, but that can be another post.

It just keeps getting better!

That was our sarcastic voice. In our last post, we mentioned the recent murder in our neighborhood and the fact that it makes us want to move (including all the hassles therein). Well, last night, Sam was up reading Cell by Stephen King when he heard several shots being fired and footsteps running past our house. Then, a car door slamming and the car peeling away. He went outside to see if our car had been damaged and saw folks from our extorting neighbor's house filing outside to check their vehicles as well. No report on whether or not anything (or one) was shot.

So...our lease is up in August and it just can't come soon enough. Fortunately, we will be gone for 3 weeks in April for vacation, before which we plan to get renter's insurance so should something untoward happen in our absence, we'll be covered. This is just crazy. Of course, last night's occurence has not been mentioned to the children, they already hate our house and are scared enough in our neighborhood. What kind of life is that, to be terrified to be in your own home?

To make it worse, we're homebodies. We prefer to be at home. Don't get me wrong, we love to go places, see friends, rock out at concerts, etc, but at the end of the day, we're happy to be back in our home where we can enjoy each other in what should be peace and quiet. We don't have that. We can't feel peaceful to be home. That's just wrong.