Farewell, September!

As I type this, lunch time has come and gone on this last day of the month. I am back from vacuuming the van and spent some time with some wet scrub wipes giving the inside a good once-over. The vacuum at the local place suck in that they don't suck. There is still dog hair all over the floor. But it's a starting point anyway and hey, we're going to the beach!

All that's left is packing our personal clothing and items and loading that and the food into the van. And closing up the camper and getting it ready and hitched to the van. It is currently infested with small housecats and large houseflies. I plan to have it all done by the time Matt gets home so we can enjoy our evening together and not stress over last-minute this and that.

Poor Matt, I feel so bad leaving him behind, especially considering his huge aversion to being left. He routinely freaks out if I push the buggy out of the store while he is still fiddling with his wallet after paying for groceries. Heaven forbid I go down a different aisle and him not see me! He reminds me of Jake, who once threw himself onto the back of my car while I was just changing parking spots.

Speaking of Jake, he was just in here chatting about Anne Hathaway-again. I guess it's a step up from his pre-school years when was determined he would marry a blonde. This was after he opted out of marrying his sister, despite the fact she was the 'onwy gull I we eber lub.' At 2 and 4, they were surprisingly well-reasoned in their thought process, they held hands to provide a united front and Jake-of course-did all the talking when the engagement was announced, though she nodded now and then.
So many things go through your mind when your children decide to get married and so many more things when they decided to get married very young and even more when they decide to get married so young AND to each other. Luckily, Po came along and opened his mind to 'lubbing' someone other than Chanopolis without us having to delve into details of why inter-family weddings are a bad idea.

Well, back to the list, I guess. I still need to clean some more in the house, floors need some attention and so on. And the packing...I hate the last day at home and the first day of the trip, it's SO much work. Same thing when we get back-the long drive, the unloading of the van and camper, the 11 loads of laundry and a whole bushel of stuff from elsewhere that now needs to be put somewhere. The odd aversion to throwing away parking permits and campsite tags and ticket stubs.

Off we go

Sparkle...

I feel newly alive, I swear all the rain nearly had me ready to jump under a bus.

Today we got the last of the 'stuff' for the trip. I thought about throwing a 0% interest check from the credit card company in the bank so we would not have to budget so much, but when I went to check our balance, it was such a better number than 6 months ago that I decided the budget could stay. I don't want to get any more debt.

I was in such a good mood about being out of debt that I crunched the numbers on the van loan and by adding $50 a month to what I have been paying, we can knock 11 months off the remainder of the debt! I fixed the auto payment to start that in January. Woot woot.

Also, our one card will be paid off in just another year! I am feeling better about getting us caught up and out of debt. : )

We have 2 days left before we head off-tomorrow we will be at Cathy's and the next day we will be cleaning the house and doing stuff, packing and all that. I am more excited about seeing our friends tomorrow than I am about going camping all month. hahaha! I guess because they require so little work while the trip has become a part time job.

Another Day

It has rained and rained and rained the last 3 weeks. I am about tired of it now, I am ready to go outside and do things and I am ready to get some pictures that don't involve some form of damp. I told Matt if it rains like this on our trip, I am turning around and come right back home. I can't even get the camper set up long enough to finish packing, let alone long enough to spray and seal and let it dry for 48 hours. Storms through the weekend. Maybe next Monday and Tuesday...since we leave on Wednesday, I hope that will be a workable plan.

Matt had practice twice this week and a gig this weekend. We came up with new words this weekend. 2 practices in a week is practi. When you are comfortable and then get uncomfortable and have to shift around, you are getting recomfortable. Also, someone who drives really close you your rear bumper is a tailgator.

I still have a list of stuff to buy and stuff to do. The trip is starting to take on a life of its own. I remember my father getting packed for a week's vacation. He put 2 changes of clothes into a brown paper bag along with a razor and shaving cream and his toothbrush and deodorant. Sometimes, he skipped the razor.


I am having fun with my new website, looking forward to getting that going. Updated the previous trips at roamschool last week. Marking stuff off my lists. Watching Buffy with Jake-the movie, not the series. It's pretty awful, I may have to counteract it with Serenity or something. I can't believe Joss wrote something we don't love. Pee Wee Herman as a vampire?

It is POURING rain, my very favorite weather as long as I was planning to be home anyway. It makes everything feel more cozy, our critters curl up on the porch or in the shed on the pile of hay. There is no traffic at all, no outside noises intruding. There's only one gutter, we put it there years back to channel water into a barrel from the long front roof slope. So from any window, the rain can be seen running off in streams and in the corner where the added-on bedroom meets the main house, there is a waterfall.

The house leaks at times. Sometimes we need buckets scattered all through the house and others, like now, it can pour and not a bit of damp. Maybe the wind blows the rain in somehow...we can't find the source in the attic.

The kids are still sacked out. This low grey weather makes them lethargic and snuggly. We all want to be wearing something soft and loose, sweats or a fuzzy robe. No one complains when I make soup for lunch. They are content to be read to, to talk about anything.

I can hear birds in the huge white pine behind the house. Cardinals calling out 'cheer cheer cheer'! Okay, birdie! HOORAY!

The pine needles wash off the roof, making damp brown piles on the ground under the eaves. The pasture fills with mist as the rain slacks off. The pine needles and the small green leaves of the sweetheart bush outside my window hold the diffused light in the drops of rain. It looks like tiny white lights everywhere.

Moonlight

September full moon, fog and a cove

New Dentist

Triple perfect check-ups at the dentist today. Shiny-teethed kids, happy mama.
Jake goes in the 11th for his first ortho appointment. I imagine there will be many of those in our future.

I did not fare so well. : ( I go back in soon for 2 fillings, one in each back tooth that got cracked when I had my wisdom teeth pulled last February. Waaaa

But we got to have lunch with my Daddy, we went to BK after Bob Gibson's was too packed. It was the first time we had eaten fast food lunch together...maybe ever. I sure don't recall any burger combos in the years I lived with him.
What struck me was that when we sat down, Daddy put his burger off to the side and ate his fries one by one and when they were all gone, he ate his burger. That's exactly how I do it! It was a nice little surprise. I love my Daddy. : )