We have absolutely no playground equipment in our backyard so we basically mooch off our neighbors, who have a killer swing set and happen to be like the nicest people in Westchester (yes, the ones who baked the banana bread!).

So when my other neighbors (also very nice) wanted to get rid of a plastic toy house, I bounded across the street and was basically willing to show my breasts in-exchange for the house casually mentioned we’d take it.

And then I got a closer look. DIRTY. Like really dirty. Like it came with wildlife.

But no matter. A perfect opportunity to show my girls the meaning of hard work.

About half way through our scrubbing and rinsing, I started to wonder if I should give up teaching my girls the meaning of manual labor and just teach them the value of the American dollar by buying them a brand new, super clean house.

But I couldn’t imagine how to even get rid of this big plastic thing, so we kept scrubbing.

As it happens my friend Lanie (with two year-old twins, and another on the way) was visiting from Atlanta and if you think I’m above putting an exhausted pregnant woman to work, well….

lanie scrubbing

obviously not.

I gave her water breaks.

Um… well, I meant to. And in all fairness, she never mentioned anything about being thirsty.

And as you can see from the photo, the house now looks pretty good. Or at least good enough to play in without getting completely wigged out.

So now we move on to our next project.

Our new TV stand.

Yeah, way back in our city days (like 3 weeks ago), our doorman or super would have put this together for us. Now it sits on our bedroom floor in random, confusing pieces and Rick and I are not sure what to do about it. We would follow the directions except they include no information that would actually assist us in putting this together.

tv stand

I’m thinking that maybe we can just prop the TV on this pile.

P.S. I wanted to keep you all updated on the plight of poor Ruth Madoff. Ella commented that Ruth is not only having trouble securing an apartment, but her hair salon is refusing to highlight her hair. Which we all know is way worse than being homeless.

P.S.S. My mother saw “The Hangover” and thought a) it was hilarious and b) Bradley Cooper is way handsome.  I mean, she couldn’t exactly remember the name “Bradley Cooper” but we were easily able to pinpoint the hot guy in the movie.

So great. Now I have to fight Jennifer Aniston, Renee Zellweger and my mother for this man. The whole thing is becoming very high maintenance. And no, because I know you’re wondering, I did not discuss the elevator scene with her. Oh, you know the scene I’m talking about.

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