Blah!

A decidedly blah weekend. We didn't get the several inches of rain we were threatened with, but a pretty steady rinsing nonetheless. The molds are here and my allergies have come to greet them, and that means it's time to lock up the chocolate, because I've got an allergy-driven jones. Plus, there's the whole dead Pope thing, which serves as an always effective reminder that nobody gets out of here alive. (Spouse reminded me the other day that we had been together longer than he had been Pope. That was true of the one just before him, too.) So now we've gotta go through the whole white smoke/black smoke thing. I'm just praying that the next one takes the name John Paul George. Pleeeeaassse. . . .

Hannah got a new bike for her birthday, and because she had already outgrown her bike from just a couple of years ago. Since Rebekah is pretty much the same size as her three-year-older sister, that means she needs a new one, too, but I was hoping to hold off. Out on my ride the other day, saw a decent-sized bike in front of a house with a "free" sign taped to it. It was pretty neglected, but fixable, so I brought it home and started in on it. Decided to strip it down to the frame and give it a much-needed paint job, so that's this afternoon's activity. May have to take some parts off another of our bikes, but she'll have something big enough to carry her over for a while. If these kids would just quit growing, life would be a lot less expensive.

Musical rediscovery of the week: The Pretenders' "Last of the Independents." Some very solid songs on there, especially "Hollywood Perfume," which just rocks. I can't believe that was released 11 years ago. Seems like yesterday.