Okay - now that the summary is done - on to my latest puzzle:

Went camping in the desert with kids and H this weekend. Really nice. Friend took a nice picture of H and I while we were hiking, and said he'd email it to H. H told him his home email address, then said "or you can send it to H'sname@hotmail.com". H then made a comment to me about how his name was still available (H had used a hotmail account like this before when we were travelling out of the country.)

So, of course, the snoop in me wonders why H revived this email account (H's emails at home go to his laptop, so I don't see them anyway, and he always has his work email too). Not really suspicious - after all, H didn't seem to be hiding anything from me - just curious. So, in a moment of snooping, I go to his email account - which I find he has set up with the same "family" password that I use, so obviously he didn't set it up for any nefarious purposes. I check his emails and - there are exactly 3 - one from Hotmail itself, and two opened emails which are German-language ads - one apparently for face cream and hair remover, the other I haven't translated yet (my German's a little rusty ).

The two German emails are clearly spam or advertising from someplace that you might have ordered something - but what would my H be doing on a German language website in the first place? He speaks Dutch, but not German. He didn't order anything exotic for Christmas.

Let me make it clear - I do NOT suspect my H of anything bad - he never would have set up the account with "my" password if he had bad intentions, nor would he have mentioned it to me. Just trying to imagine the source of the German spam - which I can hardly ask him about now, without revealing myself to be a snoop!

On other fronts - H has gotten himself a little too busy lately and is feeling the strain (he accepts too many invitations and starts too many projects, then wonders why he doesn't have any time to relax!). Also, somehow my S13's Xmas present has turned into a major house remodel.

How does that happen, you ask? It's simple. We buy S13 a large, used fish tank and stand for Xmas so he can pursue his dream of setting up a saltwater reef tank. Despite my arguing for one of moderate size, we end up with a 90 gallon tank so S13 can pursue his ultimate goal of keeping a mandarin fish, which apparently needs tons of real estate in order to be happy.

Now - a tank opf such size would be nearly impossible to move once it is set up - and the carpet in the boys bedroom is quite old and in need of replacing - so obviously it makes sense to replace it BEFORE we set the tank up, right? And if we are going to replace the carpet in their room, we ought to do D14's room and our bathroom, since they are the only three rooms in the house with carpet, and it is all matching and very old. And if we're going to replace the carpets in those rooms, shouldn't we repaint them first, since they are in need of repainting, and it's much easier to paint (especially the ceiling) when you don't have to worry about spills on the carpet because you'll be removing it? And if we're recarpeting the bathroom, first we will have to deal with the squishy spot in the floor where there has been water damage.

Now mind you - all of this has been set in motion while H has work obligations or travel plans in place for almost every weekend from now until the end of April! So guess who will be busy painting and coordinating - yup, me - all the while H is bugging me to get a job outside the home.

Moral of the story? Don't buy a fishtank bigger than a breadbox!!!!

Ellie