Today was to be Day Two of the IRS audit, and we were forewarned to clear an 8-hour block. As it turned out, we got in and out in one hour, zip zip, in part because we decided to take an unjust but small hit on the home office. We’ll pay 15 bucks a month for the next five years, and frankly, it would have been worth a lot more to get out of that Kafka-Meets-Adaptation nightmare.

But there was truly an upside, as you’ll see in this photo of beloved husband (and tax preparer) John in the lobby. Look above him! 44! There he is! I know we’re beginning to see that Obama’s not perfect, but still — how cool is this? Made my heart proud.

My recent sighting of the Pik-n-Pig’s portable BBQ Kingdom was clearly a sign of things to come. Turns out my supercool stepson Jason just bought a 17-foot-long trailer, and this is what he’s going to build on it (in the heat of the Arizona summer, not that this worries me at all): an eco-friendly small house that’s, by definition, supremely portable. Also well-designed in terms of both aesthetics and ergonomics. J’s going to make it his own, of course, but his inspiration is Jay Shafer’s Tumbleweed Tiny House Company (photo is from Shafer’s blog, which is well worth a browse).

I’m excited to watch Casa Jason come into being without actually having to lift a hammer. And if I ask really, really nicely, maybe he’ll send some work-in-progress shots that I can post here.