Ah, the start of a new day! It's cloudy right now, but supposedly it will reach the mid 80s with the possibility of thunderstorms. As long as the storms stay away between 6 and 7 p.m., it should be perfect weather for Accalia's soccer game. Right now I'm cleaning up our vacuum - one of those stupidly expensive Electolux - to prepare for selling on ebay. We're downgrading to a cheapo vacuum for the time being. Since we only have three small areas of the house that even need a vacuum - living room rug, upstairs landing rug and runner on the stairs - it makes no sense to keep this vacuum when we could get at least a couple hundred dollars for it (not great when you consider it costs around $1,000 new).

Anne had good thoughts about my situation with feeding the neighbor kids. I forgot to add yesterday that one of the things that complicates matters is when Accalia or Cole annouce "I want x or y or z!" since they know we have that food. It's a little awkward when I know there isn't enough and I just have to tell them that we don't have enough of that to share. That still makes me feel icky, though, since that's never the case within our family. I also dislike the fact that I find myself putting up bowls of food that we normally have sitting around so the neighbor girls don't just come in and empty the bowl. I remind Cole and Accalia before they play to not shout out the foods they want with the neighbor girls around since we may not have enough, though, so they'll eventually remember that.

It would be so nice to eventually have a neighbor who isn't an absentee parent. Oh, the parents are always around, but the only time they're outside when the girls are outside is if they're smoking. So, rather than me getting a chance to talk with the neighbor while everyone is outside, the girls usually just get yelled at from the open window or door to come inside. Now, too, the girls have told me they can't come inside to play. So they'll wander in the house to ask for food or water or a toy to bring outside. I've suggested to them that they go to their house to see if they can have something to eat or drink (when they're constantly asking), and they've done that once to no avail. They've also asked if they can go inside their house to play, but they've been turned down for that, too. That must feel pretty crummy to be relegated to the yard of your home just because you're the kid and can't go in and out of the house with your pals as an adult would do.

Ella's still sleeping, so I'm going to check on her. Then maybe I'll make some coffee and start on the laundry.