long time, no nothing

nearly a week with no post. not only that, but based on my last one, the implication may be that my house did, in fact, explode from a gas leak, possibly occupied by "first responders," as well as me and my family (holy smokes, check out all the commas in that sentence!). in light of that, why have i not received panicked phone calls from all of my dozens of readers? or at least alarmed comments (see below, the only alarmed comment is from the lady pictured above).

well, i've been busy visiting my parents and spreading birthday joy, as well as working hard on our newest project (kids' sizes!) and watching the progress on my new sidewalk (how many guys does it take to pour hot tar on the driveway? hint, it's more than seven and fewer than nine. you have to have a few extra to smoke cigarettes and sit on the bumper of my car).