Saved By the Gal

I felt like the luckiest guy in town Friday. I planned on taking a break from my tiling project and giving the kids a day for themselves. We headed out about 9:30am for bagels at Einstein Bagels. Minus one big altercation in the bagel store everything went alright. With the washer and dryer at my mom's unattached I took a basket full of laundry to my brothers. After starting a load I then swung by a friend's of ours house and the wife was home with their 2 kids. She volunteered to keep both kids for a few hours while I took care of business.

Business included getting keys cut for my mom's house since my dad locked us out Thursday delaying the tile project for 2 hours. I also picked up a few other needed hardware items. While waiting on the laundry I mowed my brother's lawn. After that I switched loads and went for lunch. I was craving an Ameghetti's sandwich from "the Hill." WOW, it his the spot.

If you are ever in St. Louis you really need to visit "the Hill" which is less than 10 miles from downtown. This is the area of my first job and this place is full of tidy shotgun shacks with neatly manicured lawns. There are plenty of bakeries along with deli shops and authentic Italian restaurants. I worked at Lou Boccardi's and my best friend BillyV worked at Rigazzi's. There are many more places to visit beyond this. I am probably going to visit a shop that I saw that is selling "the Hill" t-shirts.

Friday night I napped a little bit as my daughter went to Vacation Bible School at my friend's church. I picked her up and visited with some former mentors/friends from Maplewood Baptist: J Byrd and D Affolter. It was pretty rewarding visiting old Christian friends.

Saturday, today, my plan was to finish 2 other areas for tiling and possibly get to one bathroom. I didn't mention that I busted a pipe on the washer machine and someone had to come out and fix it today at $165. My mom and I also spent 2+ hours trying to attach the drier attachment. FINALLY at 7:30pm we were successful. The bathroom with have to wait until tomorrow.

The biggest blessing of the past 24 hours was my friend KF keeping my 2 kids. I had been cramped up in grandma's house for 5 days with them, and they with ME!!!!! Washer, drier, dining table and chairs ALL located in the living area. We were CRAMPED and the kids were bored.

My wife will be in town on Monday and I can't wait! It is REALLY tough being a single parent. I respect my friends who do this along ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!