The dresser's gold trim made the whole thing even classier

Way back when my brother was young and impressionable—as opposed to now, when he's older and impressionable—he was known to say embarrassing and inappropriate things. Things that little boys giggle over.

Like when we were playing baseball in the backyard with Dad (Kyle was hitting tennis balls over the backyard fence at the age of 3). There are several classic family anectdotes related to backyard baseball, among them the Erin Toots Repeatedly As She Runs Around the Bases Incident and the time a ground ball Dad hit took a weird bounce and, according to Kyle, "Hit Erin in the China!"

It was around this time that Kyle also and unfortunately found a permanent marker used for addressing overseas packages. One afternoon, following a few minutes of unsupervised play, it was discovered that Kyle had taken that permanent marker and written the word "bra" on Nanny's dresser. On the top, above one of the drawers. Actually, he didn't write "bra." What he wrote was:

BRA

And forever more, no matter how many awkwardly placed doilies attempted to cover it, Nanny's dresser has proclaimed BRA. In fact, she may have used it as a label so as to always know which drawer housed her knickers.

Well that dresser is now sitting on the curb outside my parents' house, waiting to be picked up by a donation service. Why? Because my parents are moving. Here.

When my Dad lost his job this past January, they decided to consider looking here so they could be near us Ethan. Although Dad hasn't found a job yet, believe it or not he has way more prospects here compared to the zero prospects in the Chicagoland area. And just a couple of days ago, Mom got the great news from her employer that she can continue working for them from home in North Carolina.

So, I've been preparing the spare room for our temporary house guests (they're planning on coming in October and acquiring their own house once they're here). And how exactly have I been preparing? Well, for starters by removing all protuberances from the walls, such as curtain rods and pictures. I've also begun tacking up padding and covering all the outlets. Because with them, you never can tell what will go wrong.

Kyle will be in school in Oklahoma, but he'll be here with us on holidays, at which times I'll be hiding all the Sharpies.