Peace and quiet gone
Wonder when it will return
Alone together
NaPoWriMo Prompt– And last, but not least, our final (optional) prompt! In some past years, I’ve challenged you to write a poem of farewell for our thirtieth day, but this year, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem about something that returns. For, just as the swallows come back to Capistrano each year, NaPoWriMo and GloPoWriMo will ride again!
Good morning and welcome to the last day of napowrimo – day thirty. At the beginning of all this I posted how my life hasn’t changed much. After all I don’t drive and have not worked outside the house in over twenty years, but then my family started intruding upon my house. First it was Gretchen as ASU moved to online classes. Then Shawn began staggered work days, leaving him more time to be at home. Then Robin moved out of his apartment and back home. Thankfully both Shawn and Robin are working outside the house. But since Robin’s job at ASU is for a student and he graduates in May, the last day he is allowed to work is May 25th. This summer my house could be overly crowded!
We just received word from Michael Crow (ASU president) that they are looking to resume in person classes this fall semester. August 20th should be the first day of class. And Robin is looking at moving up to Corvallis at the beginning of August (Vet school doesn’t start until September). So maybe mom will get her real alone time back by the end of August. It seems so far away. I know I am the total opposite of most people who want a return to normal so they can go out and socialize. I want a return to normal so I can be alone again.
By the way the family photo is a few years old for anyone wondering. Just before all this craziness started, I found out I won a trip to Legoland in California for the family through the ASU rewards app. I got the paperwork filled out and mailed to them before the stay at home order in AZ was given. At first the trip had to be made before today, but it was extended til the end of June. Well when the stay at home order came down, I emailed them and we now have til the end of June 2021. I’m hoping we can make it work as both Shawn and Gretchen are huge Lego fans. There is a reason we had to go to the zoo when they had the Lego sculptures up.
Woken from sweet dream
Alarm turned back on last night
Lazy mornings gone
Good morning! It’s official both spring breaks have come and gone. The above photos are from the fun Gretchen had playing with snapchat. Also I promised my readers a photo of me in my green, Live your dash, t-shirt. So there it is. Well the first day of Gretchen’s break, she did sleep in past noon. Tuesday I woke her up at 7:30am because she had an orthodontist appointment. Then we went to the LEGO bricks & minifigs store. Believe it or not Gretchen still had some Christmas money burning a hole in her pocket.
Wednesday and Thursday we stayed home. Gretchen logged in quite a lot of time on the game Heroes of Might & Magic. I realized Saturday was St. Patrick’s Day and we did not have corn beef and cabbage. Shawn suggested we walk to the store, but we did walking on Tuesday and I can only walk so much. Friday Rachael is off so I thought we could buy the St. Paddy Day fixings then. Little did I know getting the oil change in the car would take almost 3 hours. The previous week when Rachael went to the dentist on her spring break, she texted, the engine light came on. Shawn was here because it was the day we were getting AC estimates. When Rachael got home, dad went out to the car; it’s the oil change light. Okay that we canhandle – Rachael and I are old pros at oil changes now. The reason it took so long – the tire pressure light has been on for quite awhile. Shawn kept checking the pressure but even when he added air, the light did not go off. We asked them to check the tires; there was a nail in one so we had that repaired as well.
After the fun experience of our second oil change. Rachael and I went to the feed store to pick up hay for the tortoise. The look on the guy’s face when two women pulled up to load a bale of hay into a Honda Fit. They got the hay in the car; then we had to unload the hay. Guess what? ASU is #1 in innovation. They plaster it up all over so no one will forget. It took all three of us, Gretchen, Rachael and me to get the bale out of the car. Then Rachael started flipping the bale up the driveway, “Number one in innovation”. See what our tuition money is paying for. The bale was too big to push, but then I grabbed the twine and started to pull while Rachael pushed. This worked well until we ran out of sidewalk. The bale didn’t slide very well on the stones. Rachael flipped it the rest of the way onto the back porch. Oil change and tire repair done, hay for the tortoise in the backyard accomplished, now it was time to pick up Gretchen’s new frames.
We get to the eye doctor’s around 4:30pm and see the new frames have lenses in them. They were only suppose to be frames and they would switch the lenses from the broken pair to the new pair. Figured out the lenses were plain glass most likely to keep the frames in the proper shape during shipping. Well the office was very busy and they only had one tech who could switch out the lens so we had to wait. We walked over to the grocery store because Gretchen was disappointed we didn’t buy food while waiting in Wal-Mart for the oil change (still have not gotten the corn beef and cabbage). Buy some snack food and a roast chicken for dinner, walk back over to the eye store and learn it’s going to be more than a little while. It’s 5pm and we need to sign paperwork for the new AC at 6pm. I tell them we’ll pick up the new frames tomorrow.
Replace old AC
it worked well for 18 years
New one will be cool
Yes, we are all signed up to get a new AC unit. The old one is the original one stage system that came with the house. It has worked very well. One summer while we were out of town it stopped working. My cousin was coming over to check on the house, cats and tortoise and realized the house was warmer than it should have been. When we got home a good friend (who does AC repair) came over and saw we needed a new fuse. He replaced it for the cost of the fuse. Since then we have not had a problem, but the unit is 19 years old; it was made in 1999 but we bought the house new in 2000, which is why I say 18 years. And last summer was VERYHOT – the AC was chugging away all the time. Grateful it did keep chugging because during an AZ summer, you do not want to deal with no cooling.
And that brings us to Saturday. Rachael drove Gretchen and me back over to the eye doctor’s. Gretchen got her new frames and then we went over to Fry’s to get groceries for the week and the corn beef and cabbage. After we got home and put the groceries away, I had a little time to recoup before I had to start cooking the corn beef. It worked out pretty well. Then Saturday night Shawn went to the final event for the Erotic Show at Alwun House. I stayed home; I was worn out from all the adulting I did on Friday and most of Saturday. Sunday Rachael was off to work as usual and Shawn went over to help his mom. Then my cousin called to see if Shawn could help him. His mom lives down the block from my cousin, Shawn went over there to help as well. While he did that I made soup with the roasted chicken we bought on Friday. Prepped the veggies to go in and then had just enough time to get ready to go see the band, Come Back Buddy. They were having a free concert on the lawn at the Wigwam.
On Saturday we spent the afternoon at the Phoenix Zoo to see the Nature Connects Lego Sculptures. It’s been awhile (over 4 years) since our last visit to the zoo. On the way in they had green screens set up for photos. This was new and of course I wanted to see what they photoshopped us into. Pretty neat picture and keepsake for the day.
Tired of 9 to 5
quits to build Lego sculptures
dare to be yourself
Lego Peacock at zoo entrance
Nature Connects will be up until January. Definitely well worth the visit.
#truestory just before 5PM yesterday there is a knock on my door.
Sorry, Ma’am, I had to shut off your cable. I can schedule a repairman first thing tomorrow morning.
For about 45 minutes before this my little one is complaining Netflix and youtube are not working. I was a good Mommy that day, giving her the minecraft village Lego set that came in the mail. Mostly because Dad spilled the beans of its purchase. But her complaint, I can’t construct Legos in total quiet!
Hey, what do you know you have an MP3 player. It isn’t the same, Mom!
Well just before 10AM this morning the leak was repaired. Not that my little one was happy. First thing in the morning was interpreted as – Before she left for school.
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