SUCCESS!!!

I am happy to report that our trash was collected!! Apparently sarcasm works around here.

I took my excess clothes to the recycle center to donate them. I included a photo. In order to get all of our clothes in the house I had to discard some. I am a bit of a clotheshorse and still have plenty to wear. Matt says he doesn't want to see the photo. I guess it will just annoy him at the amount of clothes I had. I know it annoyed everyone who helped unload the moving truck. If I could have only cleared out all of these clothes BEFORE they were brought inside the house.

I took Chloe to IKEA yesterday to pick up some items. She was playing in one of the many play areas and picked up the dreaded word that most toddlers possess in their vocabulary..."MINE". It is amazing how they can pick up certain words so quickly. A little girl was riding a rocking horse and Chloe walked over to say hello. The little girl, thinking Chloe was after the toy, shouted "MINE". Well, that was it, Chloe was sold on the word. She immediately ran over to a chair, hopped in it and shouted "MINE". She then got up, ran over to a stuffed animal, picked it up and shouted "MINE" back at the little girl. Wonderful.

It is a bright and sunny 70 degrees here today so we took a stroll through "Mayberry" (as I affectionately refer to our town). I think when you tell people that you are moving to New Jersey they automatically visualize Newark and The Sopranos theme song starts playing in their heads. I am here to report that our town does not fit into any of those stereotypes and am certain that our friends and family would be pleasantly suprised, if not shocked, at the quaintness of our village. Anyway, I digress. Chloe and I took a walk to the park and she played and then we strolled into town. All the shops are having a sidewalk sale and we strolled through downtown and stopped for some pizza. Chloe loves pizza now and she finished her slice quickly and then jumped out of her chair to chat up the table of ladies next to us and to do a dance for the entire restaurant. Chloe wanted to walk from downtown to our house (not quite 1 mile) and push the stroller. Pushing the stroller lasted until the 1st hill and then she began pulling dandelions out of people's yards and attempting to blow the seeds everywhere. The grass freaks of New Jersey would like to send a shout out to Chloe's PaPaw for teaching her this trick and for helping spread the dandelion weed to their yards. Viewing all the torn up and re-seeded yards on our walk, I was careful to explain to Chloe to stay on the sidewalk and not walk in people's grass. I was afraid one of the neighbors who spent 10 hours destroying then re-seeding his yard would also have set out alarms in case your 22-month old accidentally stepped underneath the caution tape and cones into their prized lawn. Luckily, we made it home without any incident and now I have a sleepy toddler who informed me it was nap time. Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy! We are taking this walk everyday!

On a side note: Matt and I discovered this morning why the former owner of the house left behind a major stash of light bulbs. We thought they just had a light bulb fetish. Well, we have had to break into that stash too frequently. As we wake up in the morning and turn on the lights we sometimes get to hear a "Pop" and the light bulb goes. Are they cheap bulbs? No, it's wiring circa 1925! I guess it's one of the joys of an 80 year old house and it answers the riddle to why the previous homeowner left what we thought was a lifetime supply of light bulbs in the house.