How to get to know your new neighbors!

Lock yourself out of your house....sigh. We have six, count 'em, six exterior doors! The deadbolts work fine but the locks on the knobs are going to be the death of me. I let the dogs out and the door swung shut behind me and the knob was still locked. DAMN!

So I went next door to see if the previous owner had left a key with the neighbors. Nope. So neighbor man got a putty knife and we went back round to see if it would work like a credit card in the movies. Nope. Wrong kind of door frame. So that was good and bad news.

When hanging curtains yesterday I noticed one of the bathroom windows is missing it's lock. So neighbor lady went back home to get her tall step stool. Neighbor man ripped the screen off the window for me. We padded the window frame with the cover off the gas grill and I climbed through while they held the ladder. I'm sure The Tramp would wish I'd been locked out with the video camera so he could have seen the show. Totally inelegant, but I didn't break my neck in the process, so all is well that ends well. :)

That was this afternoon's adventure. This morning's adventure included giving the Large Stealth Dog a flea bath. The outdoor tap looks like it needs work so I opted for my nice clean bathtub. Oh my the hair! Wads and wads of black hair. Ngaire behaved very nicely and managed to look suitably pathetic throughout the ordeal. :) Three towels weren't enough to dry her though so before I could send her outside to run herself dry she shook and shook all over the hallway and bathroom walls. Lovely.

So I sighed a lot and climbed in to the hairy scary tub to take my shower and scrub the tub and walls down again (didn't I just do this yesterday??). I let the hair dry where it stuck and then vacuumed the walls and floors. She smells nice and looks clean and shiny so I guess it was worth it. If my timing seems strange it's because of the ongoing flea battle. Battle? Heck...it's WAR! I locked both dogs in their crates in the part of the house I bug sprayed last night. I sprayed the rest of the house then went out to the stores for some retail therapy. If I'd known I'd lock myself out of the house as soon as I got home I might not have bothered.

Ah well. I guess this is my life now I'm "retired" and stay-at-home-mom for the dogs, the birds and the fish. Not so bad! :)