Aaron, my 13 year-old stepson, has his first girlfriend. They went out to a movie together a couple of weeks ago, and they see each other frequently – usually she rides her bike over to our Motel and hangs out doing homework and playing with Aaron. They are both still young, and they mostly talk about cartoons and Yu-Gi-Oh Cards, rather than anything too serious.

Now, Aaron has ADHD and is very hyperactive. But Kelsey, his girlfriend, is even more hyperactive than he is — which I had not thought was possible. In fact, a few times Aaron has gotten frustrated with her when she gets really hyperactive and starts bouncing around like a super-ball in a dryer. “Kelsey! Calm down!” he says in exhasperation as he looks at me and rolls his eyes. And I think: “Now you know what its like to deal with you.” I don’t say it out loud of course, I just shrug and smile at him.

Over a week a go, on Tuesday, Oct 4 our double-wide manufactured home was delivered. It sat for 3 bright and sunny days and nobody did anything to it. Then it rained on Friday and it didn’t stop for 3 days, so they couldn’t do anything then either. They finally started getting it together yesterday, and they are supposed to be doing more on it today. In other words, we’re already a week behind schedule.

It’s easy to get frustrated. We’ve been living in a 2-room motel room for over a month. Although the experience has brought us closer together in some ways, we getting tired of the inconvenience of motel living. We are ready to get our own place.

Having said that, we also have to put things into perspective. There was a lot of flooding and damage in New Hampshire this weekend, and many people lost cars and homes and loved ones. Our inconvenience is almost banal compared to all those who have suffered because of this tragedy. We are very lucky that we didn’t lose any lives or property, and we are thankful for that.

I have great hopes that they will at least get the two halves together and properly leveled, and that they take the plastic off so we can see what the place looks like inside when it’s all one piece. If they get it done today, I’ll have more pictures tonight.

That’s right, kids! Now you too can re-enact the excitement of an airline security check. . . (shoe bomb sold separately).

Playmobile Airline Security Check-in

Keene in National News –

Hundreds forced to evacuate.

Floods blamed for 3 deaths. . .

Flooding in N.H. Prompts Evacuation

Four dead in 5-State flood

And here are my own, personal pictures of the flooding in Keene:

Pictures of the flooding in Keene.

Fortunately, my family and I are safe. The motel we are staying at (while we still wait on our house) was not touched by the flooding. We are also fortunate that our new home, which hasn’t even been assembled yet, was not damaged by the flooding.

Here are a couple of pictures of our new home:

Our house arrived!!

Yesterday Cindy, Aaron and I went out to the park and we saw our new double wide. It was in 2 pieces, one on one side of the park and one on the other.

Here is a picture of it below. Try to picture it split down the middle lengthwise:

I tried to take a few pictures, but it was getting dark when we got there. After staring into the windows for a while and trying to see all that we wanted to see, I decided to be a bit bolder. I unscrewed the screws that were holding the door closed and Aaron and I went into the back-half of the double wide. We saw the kitchen, dining room, laundry room and the kid’s bathroom. I noticed there was a stove in the kitchen, which was odd because we specifically requested to NOT have a stove. We didn’t like the stoves they were offering with the home – we wanted to buy our own glass-top stove.

Next, we went over the the front-half of the house (and again, unscrewed the door so we could get in). This section was right near some other people’s houses, so we tried to be a bit stealthier. We saw the living room with a built-in entertainment center, plus Aaron’s room and the master bedroom. It was pretty dark, and we didn’t have a flashlight so we couldn’t see much, but we got the gist of it. Right about then, a pickup truck pulled up and Cindy gestured for us to get out of the house. We quitly left, and I tried to put the screws back into the door, but I couldn’t get them in, so I just sort of left them there.

I hope to have a look at it soon and then get some pictures of it to post here and in our album.