3 posts tagged “home”
“Part of his job is to stay in touch with the American people, and the
White House can be a very suffocating place if you don’t get out and
talk to people,” David Axelrod, a senior adviser to President Obama, speaking of the presidential visit back home to Chicago.
Four of them have and I've not got a lot to show for it.
Took
son school supply shopping ostensibly for just his engineering class.
Dropped $50 in the blink of a eye. Haven't gotten the supply lists for
other classes but he thinks that we may not have to purchase 4 extra
books for English again this year (we didn't have to but it was
suggested so that when mid-term test time rolled around he'd have the
books from which a chunk of it was based on).
Remember when all you
needed to purchase for school supplies was a pencil and later, a pen?
No? Then you are too young to relate. Modern parents buy a tons of
stuff and then pay hundreds in book fees.
The second day home I took son and two of his long-times buddies to Gameworks from early afternoon through evening.
Son's 16th birthday and first day of school were yesterday and by then I felt like a wet dish-rag. The long drive home alone from the doesn't really hit me until a day or two later--and that's when (in my fantasies) I chill at home leisurely unpacking. There's been no chilling and nothing leisurely. Also no unpacking.
However I was reminded today of how much I enjoy the school day "debriefings" son and I do immediately after school. I get to hear the news of the day whilst it is still fresh and he reinforces what is on his plate for each class. He really doesn't seem to mind it though it came about as a way for him to be better organized/us better informed.
So far he's really digging
his AP Physics and AP Trig and Calc classes. With the exception of one
or two friends he's got a goodly amount in each class so the social
aspect seems to be off to a good start, too.
Apologies to anyone who
I've neglected online. It's just a pretty big deal to go away for a
month but leave one person here--one person who does not really
clean--yet didn't do anything strikingly bad either. I just have to
wipe off everything before I touch it which was exactly as I did for
the first week in the cottage after it was sealed up tightly for nine
months.
Plus no a single person of the male in this house can "see" dust collecting EVERYWHERE.
Housework should be called house hard labour.
So
OK, here I am about to attack the gmail. Stay tuned for some graphics
of why my drive home took 1.5 hours longer than it should have (14
hours, total).f
From
Battle Creek To Climax, Michigan--one lane highway--many big
trucks--top speed 20 mph. Usually 5 or 10 mph. The truckers, me, and
other souls who had to shift gears were not really thrilled with this.
Burned a quarter tank of gas.
Oh Detroit, what can one say that hasn't already been said? Who made the detour so that I had to fight for my life to be able to get back in to the US? It's just a big circle! And my, what a lovely little tour of the city one gets! The construction mini-highway signs seemed to be directing me correctly but as I saw the last choice --94 East and no sign that said 94 West, I pulled into a well-lit Marathon station. The bullet-proof glass looked like it would be highly effective. The nice man inside quickly verified that I just needed to continue down the road and the on-ramp would be on my left. Then he added a grave-sounding "Be careful!" Holy moley. I was being careful--did not need confirmation that this was a scary place. I was sincerely trying too get the heck out of there as quickly as my 5-speed would let me. So home is where I am, feeling sort of normal, finally. Still haven't unpacked my suitcase though I've been cheating and getting clothes to wear each day from it so I'll have less to drag out of there.
Think I smell dinner. Hasta.
Tonight, over Lake Michigan approaching landing at Chicago O'Hare. I am soooo glad to be home only slightly worse for wear.
We were in Maryland for a week on a business/pleasure trip.
The business included doing lots of yard work on my parent's two acre spread and pleasure was two day-trips into D.C. and having a little visit with the folks.
When I woke up this morning I noticed a bumpy, oozing, red rash on my left forearm which confirmed that the bush-like tree I'd been slashing vines and low branches off of was indeed poison sumac (I knew that there was a fallen, dead poison sumac tree in the yard; guess I should have extrapolated from that that there could be more).
/edit
So I get up today (Tuesday) and it has spread to my right forearm. Frak.
Time to Google what not to do 'cos obviously, excluding touching the stuff already there must be something else I'm doing wrong. That's what happens when one lives either in an apartment or (currently) a condo and doesn't normally do yard work. :(