Curse Of The Sponge!

So, every morning my ritual is the same.  Wake up, a little later then I had hoped, with the reluctant help of Angela, urging me to "get up" as my annoying alarm does more to antagonize her then I.  With a little effort, a few groans and flatulence I crackle out of bed, hit the head, dress, then begin my round of rousing equally reluctant adolescence.  At times, having to employee the business end of the broom, the older boys finally grumble to life.  At this point the normal chaos ensues.  Miranda, who is waiting patiently, bright eyed and full of vigor, stands up in her crib, bidding me to pick her up, and legs pumping even before hitting the floor, surges off to get into whatever was foolishly left lying about the night before.  Her game?  Keep away.  If she can get her hands on it she prefers to throw it as far as she can rather then surrender it to my desperately flailing grasp.  Once she has had her fun, diaper change ensues, then to avoid any further mischief, I must turn on her "stories".  Channel 36, Nick and the ever present "SpongeBob Squarepants".  Here's the trouble.  Perhaps it's the frenetic movements, or bright primary and secondary colors employed in this happy go lucky bottom feeders show, but as the remaining children meander about they inevitably slow to a stop, mesmerized.  I find myself perched at the kitchen table, coffee in hand, continuously repeating the same mantra "stop watching TV and get ready!" This of course is met with a barrage of "I am getting ready!" as they sit dumbly, with shoelaces in fingers, or brush in hair, stalled, staring at the wide screen as Bob and Patrick are engaged in some mind numbingly inane pursuits! 
This morning, as I came out to the dining room I saw the deep gray clouds hovering over head, and could immediately sense our doom.  Urging the kids to get ready quickly as we had little time.  One of the benefits of being on this Earth for awhile is the adaptation of weather sensitivity.  Bones ache when cold is coming, and sinuses compress when the barometric pressure kicks in, heralding a storm!  At that point, when your ears pop and the area above your top lip, running over your cheeks into your ears starts to tighten, you know you have about 10-15 minuets before something heavy hits!  Of course, as usual, they don't listen and by the time we got out of the house, ten minuets late, we barely turned the corner off of our street, then the rain doth strike!  And of course it's the big, fat heavy rain! 
ARRGH!! CURSE YOU SPONGEBOB AND YOUR IRRESISTIBLE CHARM!!!
Mind you, it's not me I am concerned about.  No, I like riding in the rain.  As long as I have a dry set of clothes waiting for me where I'm going, I find it refreshing and fun to frolic through the puddles.  It's the fact that the kiddo's have to enter an air conditioned environment, wet, with no chance to dry off properly.  A recipe for ailments and discomfort!  Of course, when I got to the shop we had forgotten to shut off the AC from yesterday, so BRRRRRR!
Speaking of yesterday!  What a HOOT!  The beginning of this week was kind of slow, but yesterday made up for it!  First thing, a gent from "Up North, ay!" came in looking to equip his southern vacation home with a couple of bikes, and picked out the gorgeous ladies Schwinn Ranger and the men's old school Schwinn Highland!  He also commented on the simplicity of American money and how easy it would be to counterfeit them (yea, with that comment I double checked the magnetic strip on each of the bills!) then showed me the newest Canadian Money!  WAY COOL! 







Check it out!  They employee multiple colors as well as foil and an awesome plastic like clear window thingy!  Yea, I can see where it would be a challenge! 
Then, Elijah and I got busy getting new rides put out, and with little time to spare!  First, as I waited for him to get us some parts we needed, I put together the FitCo BMX he had cleaned the day before.  Once that was finished and he returned to clean my next build I started to put together the sharp looking comfort cruiser.  While it was in my rack, a gent came in to pick up some parts, saw it and opted to buy.  Once that one was done, I went on to the Green MTB.  Once finished it sat on the sales floor for a whole seven minuets before a returning Looky Loo, who has been searching for the right ride came in and pounced on it!  Then, as I worked on my next project and Elijah was cleaning the pieces of a really sweet vintage Peugeot road bike (to be finished today) another gent came in and snagged up the Mongoose XR-200 we had put together the day before, as well!  All in all a SUPER Thursday!!  Also, many thanks to the folks bringing in and picking up their repairs!  Space around here ALWAYS helps! 
As mentioned, today we will be getting the Peugeot together, after I finish up the men's MTB I have half done in my rack.  Once that's done we have  a SLEW of kids bikes we NEED to get done and out of the way!  So with that, we got's some heavy chores to do! 
See y'all soon!

"20 FitCo BMX!!
only $90.00!!!

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