The birds. They have flown south.

There are, in short, no more birds. For this, I could not be more grateful. Honestly. Last night I was near tears, having spent the better portion of a week packing, sorting and wondering why two people and a dog need so many damned spatulas. Suffice to say, some of the kitchenware that has spent the duration of our marriage stuffed in the back of various drawers made its way to the great kitchen in the sky - otherwise known as my brothers house. My rule became: if I haven't touched you in over six months, you don't get to take up my precious cabinet space. Last night I had had enough. The last box had been packed, the final dish stashed and we were both trying to subdue Kylie who was wondering what the hell was going on and why her living room had suddenly become a makeshift kitchen. Out of fatigue and just general hatred of the color orange, I started vandalizing my own home. If you ever need to get some aggression out and want to practice your penmanship, I highly recommend it.

I feel compelled to state that my handwriting is usually much better than this. The Ambien I had taken a few minutes earlier kept me from writing in a straight line.

My art major, being put to good use. I killed in Drawing 101 with my stick figures and smiley faces.

So this morning, I rubbed the countertops with my middle finger and when I came home! THEY WERE GONE! BEHOLD!:



A view into and out of the kitchen. With Kylie's rear. She had to sniff every square inch of floor space when we came home as STRANGERS HAD BEEN IN THE HOUSE. I believe she has come to the conclusion that it is all right for us to stay here and quite likes the new space between the kitchen and dining room as it allows her more convenient access throughout the front part of the downstairs. I like it myself, but we need the cabinets that are going to go there so the both of us will have to be content with a pass through and less floor space.

As the workers were leaving, one of them said, "Don' worry. We move stove back to kitchen when everything done." He's Chinese, so the accent is approximated. Not that I had thought that it was STAYING in the middle of my dining area as that would be the height of awkward, but I suppose it would solve the problem of getting food to the table while it's still warm. You could just fling it from one surface to the other all while screaming, "HOT PLATE HOT PLATE!" And while I'm all for a good shortcut, that might really be pushing things.