Wow...I haven't written since spring break. Time has flown by - and much has happened. Not even sure where to start...guess maybe I will work backwards(?)
To start with my new computer crashed - with hundreds of photos on it that were not backed up. It has been in the shop since Monday and I'm still waiting on a call telling me how bad the damage is and if stuff will be able to be recovered. I am typing this entry on the shop computer - hiding out in a dark office enjoying the peace and quiet. The only sounds are the clicking of the keys, the ticking of the clock and the hum of the computer fan.
Graduation for Stretch was last Friday night June 10th. So very proud of him and his accomplishments - at the same time sad as he will soon be leaving home for college. Graduation was beautiful - and appeared to go very smoothly. I took lots of pictures - and promptly downloaded them onto the computer. The funniest part of that day was seeing Stretch's car completely wrapped in Saran* wrap - and his face when he got to see it. A group of his friends got together and did it. They also did a nice job undoing it.
We had a brief visit with Mike's parents over graduation and a slightly longer one with Lara and boys. It was so nice to see them.
Saturday morning after graduation both Stretch and Squirrel ran in a 5K in town here. It was a fund-raiser for a non-profit organization a friend of ours is involved in starting up. Anyway...there was a 5K and a 10K walk/run. Squirrel took first place overall in the 5k and Stretch took 4th. That was fun to watch and exciting to have them do so well. (There were a total of 63 participants so not huge but good for them. Squirrel decided he needs to train more before he runs another one). After that we had brunch and saw Lara and boys headed back to Chicago. Am really hoping they will be able to come out for a few days later this summer though that's still up in the air. Dipstick was at a boy scout camp-out Friday night through late Saturday evening.
Sunday afternoon was an Open House at our church for Stretch and 3 other graduates (the others were all from a different school district) It went very well and everyone seemed to have a good time. Stretch had some of his closer friends come home with him for the evening - that was fun as the weather was beautiful for them to play outside for some time.
At the moment...Monday is a blur. I don't have any recollection of what we did. Oh yes...Monday was clean the bus day and take the computer in. Tuesday Squirrel was to have an appointment with his pediatric cardiologist. Instead I ended up taking him to the family doctor as he had another lump under his arm, had a mild case of sun poisoning and I wanted the glued place on his forehead checked as he said he could squeeze white junk out of it. Doc said the glued place was healing fine - just needed a bit more time. Sun poisoning could be treated with benadryl and aloe lotion - he did not recommend that he go on the water park trip scheduled for tomorrow. However when doc saw the lump under his arm he said the water park was out - the lump had to be lanced and the wound kept open for a couple days. So we are dressing that 3x daily and he's back on antibiotics. Today he is definitely feeling better - not 100% though. I have questions that so far have no answers. Currently the opinion is that "some people just tend to get these" and there's not much that can be done to prevent them. So Squirrel and I will experiment and see what we can learn.
Today two of Stretch's friends came over to help take down the tin on the inside of the shop. Stretch, Dipstick and Stretch's friends put in a good days' work out here. B is getting ready to put a large addition on the shop. We have spent weekends for the past couple of months moving the wood pile, emptying and tearing down the old shop and garage and pulling out a large walnut and 2 dead apple trees. It has been a lot of work - hard physical labor mostly. We even moved the chicken coop down to the end of the yard and I spent several nights outside with Dipstick chasing and catching chickens to put them back in the coop. (They are fairly easy to catch when they are roosting and I've got fairly comfortable carrying them upside down by the legs. It was pretty funny the one night I had Stretch help as well as Dipstick! He wasn't so comfortable carrying wing flapping chickens by the legs). I had not planned on putting up a new fence until the chicken coop was in it's final home. However since they will persist in completely wandering the yard I have decided a fence is necessary. And I'm kind of hoping that B will agree to keep them down there - I enjoy the walk and they are further from the house.
The last couple of weeks of school were crazy busy - think there were 3 weeks in a row that I was out every weeknight doing something - band concerts, choir concerts, awards ceremonies...One of the evenings was spent attending a zoning board meeting for B's shop - he needed variances to put up the addition and to have the business here. It was a really interesting evening as I'd never been to something like that before. The guys on the board had obviously done their homework - visiting the different sites that were being discussed. I felt like I learned a lot and was glad I went with B.
The computer repair place just called - said the reason it would not boot up was because there was a cd in the dvd drive. They offered to refund the diagnostic fee and not go any further. However I figured since it was in there they might as well go ahead and run the diagnostics to make sure there is nothing else wrong with it. I will be able to go pick it up tomorrow. I am excited - that means I won't have lost any pictures. Just have plenty to back up.
Guess I will stop for now. Eventually I need to write about the boys' awards and final concerts. Thgankfully I don't have to drive the trip to the water park tomorrow - there was another driver willing to take it over. I probably would have enjoyed going but with planning a trip north to leave Saturday and Squirrel not getting to go I didn't see much point in driving it.
To start with my new computer crashed - with hundreds of photos on it that were not backed up. It has been in the shop since Monday and I'm still waiting on a call telling me how bad the damage is and if stuff will be able to be recovered. I am typing this entry on the shop computer - hiding out in a dark office enjoying the peace and quiet. The only sounds are the clicking of the keys, the ticking of the clock and the hum of the computer fan.
Graduation for Stretch was last Friday night June 10th. So very proud of him and his accomplishments - at the same time sad as he will soon be leaving home for college. Graduation was beautiful - and appeared to go very smoothly. I took lots of pictures - and promptly downloaded them onto the computer. The funniest part of that day was seeing Stretch's car completely wrapped in Saran* wrap - and his face when he got to see it. A group of his friends got together and did it. They also did a nice job undoing it.
We had a brief visit with Mike's parents over graduation and a slightly longer one with Lara and boys. It was so nice to see them.
Saturday morning after graduation both Stretch and Squirrel ran in a 5K in town here. It was a fund-raiser for a non-profit organization a friend of ours is involved in starting up. Anyway...there was a 5K and a 10K walk/run. Squirrel took first place overall in the 5k and Stretch took 4th. That was fun to watch and exciting to have them do so well. (There were a total of 63 participants so not huge but good for them. Squirrel decided he needs to train more before he runs another one). After that we had brunch and saw Lara and boys headed back to Chicago. Am really hoping they will be able to come out for a few days later this summer though that's still up in the air. Dipstick was at a boy scout camp-out Friday night through late Saturday evening.
Sunday afternoon was an Open House at our church for Stretch and 3 other graduates (the others were all from a different school district) It went very well and everyone seemed to have a good time. Stretch had some of his closer friends come home with him for the evening - that was fun as the weather was beautiful for them to play outside for some time.
At the moment...Monday is a blur. I don't have any recollection of what we did. Oh yes...Monday was clean the bus day and take the computer in. Tuesday Squirrel was to have an appointment with his pediatric cardiologist. Instead I ended up taking him to the family doctor as he had another lump under his arm, had a mild case of sun poisoning and I wanted the glued place on his forehead checked as he said he could squeeze white junk out of it. Doc said the glued place was healing fine - just needed a bit more time. Sun poisoning could be treated with benadryl and aloe lotion - he did not recommend that he go on the water park trip scheduled for tomorrow. However when doc saw the lump under his arm he said the water park was out - the lump had to be lanced and the wound kept open for a couple days. So we are dressing that 3x daily and he's back on antibiotics. Today he is definitely feeling better - not 100% though. I have questions that so far have no answers. Currently the opinion is that "some people just tend to get these" and there's not much that can be done to prevent them. So Squirrel and I will experiment and see what we can learn.
Today two of Stretch's friends came over to help take down the tin on the inside of the shop. Stretch, Dipstick and Stretch's friends put in a good days' work out here. B is getting ready to put a large addition on the shop. We have spent weekends for the past couple of months moving the wood pile, emptying and tearing down the old shop and garage and pulling out a large walnut and 2 dead apple trees. It has been a lot of work - hard physical labor mostly. We even moved the chicken coop down to the end of the yard and I spent several nights outside with Dipstick chasing and catching chickens to put them back in the coop. (They are fairly easy to catch when they are roosting and I've got fairly comfortable carrying them upside down by the legs. It was pretty funny the one night I had Stretch help as well as Dipstick! He wasn't so comfortable carrying wing flapping chickens by the legs). I had not planned on putting up a new fence until the chicken coop was in it's final home. However since they will persist in completely wandering the yard I have decided a fence is necessary. And I'm kind of hoping that B will agree to keep them down there - I enjoy the walk and they are further from the house.
The last couple of weeks of school were crazy busy - think there were 3 weeks in a row that I was out every weeknight doing something - band concerts, choir concerts, awards ceremonies...One of the evenings was spent attending a zoning board meeting for B's shop - he needed variances to put up the addition and to have the business here. It was a really interesting evening as I'd never been to something like that before. The guys on the board had obviously done their homework - visiting the different sites that were being discussed. I felt like I learned a lot and was glad I went with B.
The computer repair place just called - said the reason it would not boot up was because there was a cd in the dvd drive. They offered to refund the diagnostic fee and not go any further. However I figured since it was in there they might as well go ahead and run the diagnostics to make sure there is nothing else wrong with it. I will be able to go pick it up tomorrow. I am excited - that means I won't have lost any pictures. Just have plenty to back up.
Guess I will stop for now. Eventually I need to write about the boys' awards and final concerts. Thgankfully I don't have to drive the trip to the water park tomorrow - there was another driver willing to take it over. I probably would have enjoyed going but with planning a trip north to leave Saturday and Squirrel not getting to go I didn't see much point in driving it.
