Saturday, September 02, 2006

Fall Follies

For academic geeks like me, every fall promises the beginning of a brilliant new year. Blank notebooks, earnest faces, new shoes, spotless chalkboards. However, because I am on teaching hiatus while at home with my 18mo and 3yo, my usual September yearnings are thus far unrequited. Quiet moments have lately found me reading and even--gasp--writing again, but this "semester," there are more pressing assignments I must complete.

  • We need a new roof. Yesterday.
  • The family room/powder room/study redo is underway. I've identified the flooring we will use and we've summoned the contractor. In the meantime, we're stripping wallpaper, painting, pulling up carpet and vinyl, cleaning and deodorizing floors, and finally resting our weary bones. We'll let the installer-dude do the rest of the job.
  • I'm kicking my roomie out. Little A has shacked up in her crib beside our bed for 18 months now--a stale arrangement, frankly, since I weaned her a couple months ago. So we've got to prepare the spare bedroom for N--who's been in the nursery too long--where he will move into his first adult-size twin bed. Then we will roll A into the nursery.
  • But first, my parents will be visiting next weekend.
  • Oh wait--Did I mention the gigantic branches that Ernesto brought down last night across our patio, garden, and fence? The branches themselves are the size of trees. We'll need to enlist some large muscles and a couple of chain saws to free one from where it's wedged in the lowest crotch of the tree. (Lowest being a relative term. It is an enormous maple tree.)

Wife, parent, homeowner. It's hard to fit in any other stuff at the moment. I think there's a handy calendar in my Trapper-Keeper, though. I'll try to pencil in some writing time for next week.

3 comments:

Becky said...

ohhh, I get giddy during back to school time. I worked at staples for 5 years and it was really hard to not buy all that great stuff even though I didnt go to school at all.
Sounds like you have alot of work to do. Sorry about the trees in your back yard, Im glad they arent in your house though! good luck with the house make over and the kid room switch!

Christa M. Miller said...

I guess I'm an academic geek, then. Though I'd rather be on the receiving end of all the neat stuff than having to be its purveyor. ;) (No joke... already had to get a backpack and slippers. At least there was no fundraising involved!)

Mary Louisa said...

Thanks, Becky. I guess you're going to be doing some major school supply buying in another year or two, huh?

Christa, we also had to get N a backpack ("or totebag") for his twice-weekly preschool. I found toddler backpacks at Target (who knew?) and got him one with a Nemo theme. He just saw the movie for the first time (that he remembers) a few weeks ago.