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We still have our house up for sale…..sort of. We’re still not listed on the MLS, but have been getting people look at it. We’ve even had an offer on the house. Since there are other homes in our neighborhood for sale, people driving by call us to see ours, too. The offer we had was pretty close to our bottom line, but not quite. We heard back from their realtor that they’re trying to put together another, bigger, better offer. We’ll see what happens before we take the plunge and get on the MLS service.

Since we’ve been had people looking at the house, that means spur of the moment cleaning and gathering the dog and cat and hanging out in the van for up to an hour. Jubilee, the cat does not like being in the van, or even outside the house too much. It’s funny to watch her. She knows something is up before people look at the house and she hides.

Holly and Mitch were in a play that ended Memorial Day weekend. The play was called “The Adventures of Mottel” and all the kids did a great job. I helped with the sound, lights and a little on the set again. All that’s left is to take the time to edit the video and put together a DVD. Watch for it in your local Blockbuster soon. Go to the picture section for some pictures of the play.

I’m still working on building an FM transmitter, stereo encoder, clipper/compressor and RDM module for the Christmas light show. See a couple posts ago. That FM transmitter and related boards are taking much longer than the light controllers, but the documentation is much better for the controllers. Even though the light boards are physically bigger, the FM transmitter has a bigger variety of parts. I’ll try to get some pictures of the boards posted, too.

Holly is going to start playing the bagpipes, or actually just the chanter for now. Don’t ask me what a chanter is because I really don’t know. I think it’s part of the bagpipe, or it may be instead of a bagpipe. Anyway, when the bagpipe guy gets some more chanters from Scotland in a couple weeks we can pick it up. I was looking for a ‘cheaper’ soprano saxophone (it’s like a metal clarinet – like Kenny G plays) for Mitch (and me) to play but they don’t exist – at least not in a decent quality. I did pick up an alto for $50 which does play OK, but should be pretty nice after we get a new mouthpiece.

We’ve all heard it many times. We’ve all said it many times. It’s that phrase, usually used in a greeting that people don’t usually want the answer to – or not a full, truthful answer. Can you guess what that phrase is? ”How’s it going?” or “How are you doing?”

When people ask me how I’m doing, I really do think about what they’re asking and wonder if they’d sit and listen for a full explanation, likely taking an hour of their time. I’m sure some people really do care how I am (or we are) doing. Sometimes, I consider telling them how things are, but then realize that putting my troubles on them would probably be the low point of their day and not make me feel any better. Since Jessica and Erika have been gone I’ve been more moody (usually on the down side) and could give someone a real earful of complaints and sorrow. So, I usually just tell them that things are going pretty good, or just say OK.

If you’re reading this and wonder what I’m talking about – Jessica and Erika being gone…  I’ve “unpublished” a number of blog entries about that whole unbelievable chain of events. I’ve been told that what I wrote put blame on people and made me sound angry towards them. I disagree with that, but I suppose it’s because I know the feelings behind what I wrote. I thought that just “unpublishing” them for now would be a good solution. I haven’t changed any of the words, nor will I. It’s all there behind the scenes of the website, just as it is in real life. I’m going to do my best to move on, especially since I just learned that Jessica and Erika have been officially adopted by a family in a different state. For me, moving on may not mean much, and will probably look different every day. I will never be the same person I was before. Part of my family is gone forever.