10 Things Tuesday--Where Have I Been?

A random posting, if you please, accounting for all the things going on at Wayfarer House.

1. School starts this week. Actually, it started two weeks ago in practice, but this is the first week all the staff are back in earnest. It's been a great summer for some, a tough summer for many (a lot of births and deaths), but we're here and we're getting stuff done.

2-4. The list of stuff to be done vis-à-vis number 1, above. Like I said, I've been back for all intents and purposes for two weeks. I've been to school several times and I've been working at home in the evenings to get things ready for school and soccer. My list before yesterday was extensive, but I was moving through it. I sat down yesterday to add to it after our initial welcome meeting (after everyone had tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Nice to see you! Can we meet?"), and I nearly shot myself in the face. Sweet Mary, mother of Jesus, I have a lot of crap to do! So much for giving up the evening coffee.

5. The porch. Our major house project of the summer was to repair and paint the porch. I don't have before pics (Wifeness might, and if you ask she might post them later), but suffice it to say things were rotting off as we watched. It was time. My part of the project involved repair and replacement of all the railings and the bottom 3' of one post that had rotted out. Wifeness gets to strip and paint. It took some 12 hours over 2+ weeks to do my part of it (with kid help), but it's nearly done. I have only a single decorative element to complete. Wifeness will be working on the stripping in the evenings, I expect, over the next little while. If we're lucky, it'll be all done and pretty by the end of September.

6. The tree. Wifeness posted about the excitement from last week. Check her blog out for pics of the mammoth branch that fell, missing everything it could on the way down. I still can't believe we rolled a 99 on that (pardon the D&D reference)! Saturday was taken up almost entirely by de-limbing and clearing debris (and a world of thanks to Mark, whose small chainsaw made that happen before the end of this year). There is a nice mountain of brush waiting to be moved, and someone is coming by in the next couple of days to talk about the possibility of milling the branch for lumber. It'd be nice not to have to just cut it up for firewood.

7. The baby. We took care of Caleb and Maeve's youngest (13 month old) girl so they could celebrate their anniversary away from home. This is really more on Wifeness' list because she spent the night with her, but I tried to stay up, just in case. They came back looking much more at peace.

8. Grocery shopping. 90 minutes and over $200 later. Before that there was...

9. Cleaning out the fridge. This is, without a doubt, the most distasteful kitchen chore there is! Damn, that shit was nasty! But, look at all the room! Oh, wait. It's filled with $200 of groceries. What the crap?!? Now I can't find anything again!

10. The laundry. Somehow, our entire stash of towels needed to be done. That makes the weekly count somewhere around 7 loads. How is this possible, especially since the kids are still running around like refugees from Kosovo? And will you guys stop wiping your blueberry faces on your shirts? There's just not enough stain remover for that.


Somewhere in here, I've managed to enjoy my children, have some small amount of time with my wife and bask in the love and fellowship of chosen family (Beth, Katie, Mark, Lisa, Ben). I have read only 3 pages of my book in the last two weeks, and I haven't even so much as taken a walk in that time (though Saturday certainly counts for exercise--that wood is heavy!)

Here's to hoping the routine of school provides more time for pleasurable pursuits. Yeah, I know. I'm not holding my breath either.