Odds and Ends

Oldest child's pile of stuff.

This has been a week of mixed emotions!  Oldest child has moved into his new home, and is getting ready for the next chapter in his life.  Middle child is packing up his belongings, getting ready to move out, and youngest child is getting nervous butterflies in her stomach over her upcoming move.

And me?  I'm not sure what to think about anything...  I'm trying to make certain everybody has everything that they need, and that everyone makes it to the dentist and the optometrist before they leave.  Once everything is settled, I think I'm going to sit down with a pitcher of margaritas and think about the implications of everything.

I'm working on bringing my Etsy shop back up and running again.  I shut it down when my Mom was so ill last fall.  My goal is to have this back up and running by the end of the month!

Good to know the Zombie Task Force is on the job....

Our washing machine is finally fixed.  Only 3 months, and 3 separate parts were needed before husband finally got it all working again.  All told, we spent $60 on laundry at the laundromat, and $40 on parts.  So, $100 to fix the washing machine.  We saved at least $300 on the cost of a new washing machine.  I love my old washing machine.  No computerized parts to fix - which is a blessing.  While finding the correct part might be a challenge, getting inside and fixing the machine is relatively easy. 

Last night, daughter and I headed out to buy a few things and take advantage of tax free week.  We got in line behind a woman who had five carts of clothing.  She had been at the check out for 2 hours by the time we got there, as the cashier very patiently rang her out.  I have no idea how long she was there - the store had back up cashiers behind her who took the overflow traffic from her line.  At the risk of sounding judgmental, I think that might have been a little bit excessive.

I hope that you are enjoying your weekend! 

Moving Day

We moved oldest child into his apartment over the last couple of days.  This is a totally new experience for me.  I went straight from my Undergraduate Degree into the work world, and I moved back home after I graduated until I got married 2 years later.  I completed my graduate degree as an adult, with a family and a job to juggle.  His experience will be different.  His school is giving him a stipend to study.  Must be nice - to be paid to go to school!  THAT was never MY experience!

Anyway, he and a friend are both going to the same graduate school.  They found an apartment townhouse, and found a third person to share expenses.  I met the third person, and really like him.  He worked in the real world for 3 years in order to save enough money up to go back and get his PhD.  Nice young men, all of them.

Anyway, this is the progression of events over the last few days:
Cleaning out his room.  Remember I said I had to sit down with him in order to get him to clean out under the loft bed?  If you look closely, you can see that under the bed is clean!  As of Tuesday afternoon, this is what the rest of his room looked like.  His brother's stuff is all shoved firmly under his loft bed.

This is the pile of stuff in the living room that he had sorted out to go.  To be fair, not everything is his.  Daughter's pile is next to his pile.  She's adding stuff to one of her boxes here.

The van, with seats removed, packed and ready to go.  We went up in two cars.  Husband and oldest son went up together in the van.  The rest of us went in the Civic.  It was a beautiful 4 hour drive, straight up into the mountains.  I would have had one of the kids take pictures while we were driving up, but somehow, a camera phone just can't quite capture the majesty of the mountains.

The day after we moved him in, we went exploring around campus.  Of course, his mother is a librarian, and he's going to be working on a graduate degree.  What do you think was the first place that I insisted we go and visit?

The library.  Isn't this gorgeous?  I just love this atrium!  What an awesome place to curl up and study in between classes!  It's nicer than my library where I went to school!

The Leisure Reading Room of the library.  I could live in here!  I wonder if they're hiring librarians?  Wouldn't that be a hoot?  To go to graduate school at the same university where your Mom works? Livin' the dream, that's what that would be!

Says it all, doesn't it?

I have many, many more pictures, but you would get sick and tired of looking at them all and never come back and visit my blog again!

He lives in a sweet spot. He's far enough away from campus that he should be able to get some peace and quiet.  His neighborhood is mostly graduate students and young professionals.  They are within walking distance of a grocery store, and on the bus line, with a bus stop at the end of their street to get them back and forth to campus.  For now, he is going without a car.  He doesn't think he's going to need one to get back and forth to campus, and the walk from any parking lot would be much, much longer than the walk from his door to the end of his street.  

Before we left, we took him grocery shopping.  We bought his "start up" groceries for him.  Before we left, we made a chili and left it in the slow cooker for his dinner.  Unfortunately for him, he left his graduation cookbook home.  I am under strict instructions to send it to him ASAP.  

Moving him in was an experience.  I'm looking forward to going back when he's been there for a while and he can walk us around and give us a campus tour!  

I really do hope that he enjoys himself!

Book Review: Bossy Pants

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Come romp with Tina Fey through her life story to date.  A lighthearted look at her very serious journey through life, you will be touched by the story she has to tell about how she has come to be where she is today.

This book was great!  I laughed - a lot - while reading this book.  So many of her stories were similar to mine.  We are about the same age, and the forces that defined those of us who grew up and came of age during that time are familiar to me.  While I did not travel the path that she has chosen, I relate strongly to her..  I especially enjoy her look at the bright side of life.  I am positive that not everything in her life has been sunshine and roses, but she chooses to dwell upon the funnier parts of life and to find the best in whatever situation she finds herself.

By the way, my sister was at UVA at the same time as Tina.  Tina, I think I know the identity of handsome Robert Wuhl.  (HRW).  I'm pretty sure he's the cad who took my sister out to dinner, and at almost the end of the meal, a girl comes into the restaurant, walks up to the table and says "Hey, I know you said to wait in the car, but it's been almost an hour, and I'm getting bored.  Are you done yet?"     (I don't think he was planning on breaking up with my sister at that meal, but that was the end result.)

A fun filled read, I highly recommend this book as an end of summer pleasure!

Don't Cut the Bone!

Many years ago, when our middle son was born, we were talking to the doctor about  having him circumcised before we went home.

The doctor was going through the procedure with us, and explaining what we could expect and what the recovery would be like.
He asked if we had any questions, and we shook our heads at the doctor, and basically let him know that we played in this rodeo before, and we were ready for the procedure.

He seemed very relieved, and then he laughed.  He told us that two parents that he had spoken with earlier in the day had told him in all seriousness:

Don't cut back to the bone.

*True Story!*

Job Rejection

You know, many times after you interview for a job, they never again call you back and let you know whether or not you've gotten the job.  I've been on a few job interviews recently.  I do have to say that all of the potential employers I have interviewed with have been very good about letting me know the results of the interview.  They've addressed me by name, and the e-mails have been personal enough to make me happy.

My most recent rejection letter tickled me.  For the first time ever, I received an actual rejection letter from this particular employer.  It was addressed as "Dear Applicant" -

  This correspondence is meant to inform you that the position of        at    School   has been filled. 


Notice, they couldn't even be bothered to state which position, and at which school.  Classy move, HR, very classy.  (I purposefully cut out the name of the school system, not wanting to call them out on the internet.  That seems a little... rude.

Getting Ready for Graduate School

Oldest child leaves for Grad. School on Wednesday.  His last day of work at his old job, at his undergraduate institution was Friday.  We are frantically attempting to get him together.  He's going to be further away from home now- 5 hours instead of 1 - so there will be no same day runs from us on our way into or out of work to drop stuff by. 

Yesterday, I did the unthinkable. I forced him to clean his room.  He and his brother share a room, and neither of them are great housekeepers, and I've tried to let them have their own space.  However, I fully realize that he's never really going to live at home again full time, and I want him to clean up his space so it will be clean when he does come home.

After 4 hours, we had cleaned out under his bed.  Let me be specific here:  He has a loft bed, so the space under his bed is significant, and it is cluttered.  We found trash.  Good Lord, did we find trash.  We found stuff from high school - old papers, notes from friends, and whatnot.  We even found a one gallon bottle of water that had been put under there when he moved back home for the summer.  The bottle had broken, water had seeped into the carpet, and there was mold and mildew everywhere.  I don't understand where or how all of this stuff got there, because he and I do clean out his room annually before he goes back to school.  I think it just procreates - like bunnies.

We've got him partly packed.  He wanted to put that off until Wednesday morning - right before we leave.  No, no, no, no, no!  We wouldn't get out of here until after noon, and we have a 5 hour drive staring at us, and the rental office closes at 4.  I made him start packing stuff up last night.  We've got a huge pile in the living room, but at least the pile is in one place. 

That's the funny part- I feel a little like a hoarder.  Middle child has his boxes and stuff piled in the hallway.  Daughter has her stuff piled in the kitchen - and the dining room.  Oldest child has his in the living room, and I am winding way my through stacks and stacks of boxes, crates, and bags every single time I try to move anywhere. 

I am really going to miss him when he goes.  In my heart, I know that from now on, he'll just be visiting us.  He's going to be working on his PhD, in a different state, and I know he's going to have great adventures, meet wonderful people, and do fantastic things.  I'm terribly excited for him, and for all of the possibilities laid out before him.  (I'm a little envious, actually.)

But I am going to miss him.  He's my first baby.  I know, he's not a baby anymore, but he is my first child, and he will truly be flying out on his own from now on.  I'll always have his back - but I'm going to have it from much further away now.

This is going to be a very weird fall.  All 3 of the kids, out of the house. 

Odds and Ends

When I got to work this morning, I found these guys waiting for me.  It's a little hard to see, but the geese are back.  We had 40 of them, stalking the parking lot.  There was also a heavy odor of skunk.  I don't know who ticked off who, but the skunk smell was strongest near the geese.  I'm suspecting someone got a little hasty and aggressive with a skunk, and ended up getting odorized.

We got the a/c in the van fixed yesterday.  I was expecting a $500 repair.  Thank the good Lord, it came out to $200.  Of course, after spending the last two months driving a car in the heat and humidity with the windows down, the first day the a/c is working, it's all of 60* outside when I leave the house.  I could have waited longer to have this fixed!

Instead of watching the debates last night, we went out to the airport, to our favorite spot where we used to watch the airplanes land when the kids were little.  We took dinner with us and watched the airplanes and watched the little kids running around and waving at the airplanes.

I had an interesting encounter with a student this week who told me she wasn't sure that the book I gave her was the one she was looking for because "the pictures don't match".  I asked her if it was the same author, and she looked at me and asked, in all seriousness "What's author?".  As Bill Engvall would say:  Here's your sign.

Maryland Tax Free begins on Sunday and runs through Saturday.  It is only good on clothing items - not school supplies, computers, or calculators.  Items only priced under $100.  For us, tax free week means a 6% break on taxes.  We're planning on picking up the clothing that the kids need - jeans, shirts, underwear, and shoes.  Do you have a tax free week where you live?  Are you planning on picking anything up for you or your kids?

Tiger, looking adorable.  His grey fur is starting to turn white now.  He's 12 years old, so I guess that is to be expected.  He's still a very active cat, but he has more grumpy moments than he used to.