Settling In

It has now been a few weeks in our new home in Delaware, and we are all getting used to the more lavish lifestyle. Alixa has long been a fan of the ABC show Desperate Housewives, and now she is doing her best to become one. Her full time job here is baby growing, which leaves her plenty of free time for things like quilting, cooking, doing crossword puzzles, going to the mall, getting pedicures, etc… It has been really great for her until this week, because the rest of the Winn clan took off for the Bahamas. Jarom and Lix couldn’t go because of the new rat, so now when Jarom leaves for work in the morning Lix is stuck in a big house with nobody else and little to do. Anyone who knows Alixa will know that her vivid imagination doesn’t do well when left in an empty house, so she has managed to keep herself busy. On Monday she was hanging out with Annie, Adri, and Juliet at Longwood Gardens. Tuesday she went out to lunch with Karen and Lindy at the Olive Garden. Wednesday she has a doctors appointment, Thursday she is planning on visiting Annie at her house, and on Friday a friend from Lancaster is coming down for the day. So far nobody has tried to break in, so everything is OK.

Jarom is enjoying his new job well enough, although it has been a little slower than he would like thus far. He does get to do a variety of things, which he likes. The laid back nature of the job has come in handy thus far. Last week he received a call from his mother and a simultaneous message from JD that he was urgently needed at home. Somehow a full-grown bat had managed to get into the house and was sleeping in the family room above the fireplace. JD was the only male in the house, and none of the females were willing to touch the bat, not even with a ten-foot pole. And so Jarom was called, and left work a little early to assist with the wild animal removal. Fortunately, Bruce also has a cushy job that allows him to leave early, and his office is even closer than Jarom’s, so the situation had been successfully handled with no harm done to bat or man when Jarom finally walked in the door. Jarom also showed up for work late one morning because he had been pulled over by a cop for speeding in a 25 mph zone. As he usually does, Jarom batted his eyes a little, made some friendly conversation, and got away with nothing more than a warning. The cop did seem a little confused by the fact that it was a car registered in Ohio, a driver’s license from Utah, while driving in Delaware. Jarom chose not to tell him that his permanent residence right now is in Tennessee.

As for me, I am enjoying the constant attention that I get from the grandkids, and have even ventured out of my cage to tour the house a little bit. I have gotten mixed reviews from the singles who frequent this place, and got some not so warm looks from Nancy, who made it quite clear that she was making a sacrifice by letting me stay. But she is managing to tolerate me, if only because it means she will get to see a new grandbaby, which should be here sooner than seems possible. Whenever it comes, it won’t be soon enough for Alixa, who has entered the unenviable finishing phase of pregnancy, where you are always uncomfortable and in pain, and everything swells up and generally makes you wish you had never done this. Cross your fingers for an early baby. I would, but, you know.