End of vacation--parenthetical phrases abounding...




Saturday morning, and the house is quiet. The dog is snoozing. The pellet stove is ticking along, with a gentle hum and heat radiating to the rest of the room. I'm reaching the bottom of cup #1 of good coffee. This is the last quiet morning I'll have for a while, a week at least. And I am going to savor it. 

I didn't end up starting a new book yesterday; house chores and Holly things kept me busy. I have selected Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, though, partly because I need to find some good contemporary texts for AP Lit, but also the premise intrigues me. There's a lot of good discussion out there about the book, so I'll see what all the fuss is about. I'd seriously love it if I had an unlimited budget to add all the recommended texts to my bookshelves at school, but alas, I will only be able to add one or two at a time. I must choose wisely. And, to be honest, following the AP schedule, there's really only time for two, possibly three, novels in a semester anyhow. I'm already thinking about how to cheat the system so we can do (maybe) four next year. 

Yesterday was kind of fun, though. I bundled Holly into the car after lunch, and we went to the bank (and the nice teller lady gave Holly stickers again-- she does every time I have Holly with me). Then, I surprised Holly with a run through the Starbucks drive-through (though she grumbled that there was a LINE, Mem!)-- got her a chocolate cake pop and me a mocha coffee. Holly then suggested that since my car was really dirty (and she was not wrong at all about that), we ought to go to the car wash. We did. There was (gasp) another line, but it moved along. I splurged on the highest-end wash/scrub/wax option (my car was literally encrusted with road salt, dirt, and winter ick), so we enjoyed our Starbucks treat while the car was soaked twice, rinsed twice, wax-coated and so on. Don't we have fun? I can't hope to do so much fun stuff every day. (Small sarcasm there.)

That said, today is still a non-school day, and I hope to keep it that way. I did answer a few emails yesterday, but that was minor stuff. Today will only include a few domestic necessities: groceries, cleaning bathrooms, maybe tossing in a load of laundry or two. I have more laundry than usual, since Holly's been here this week, and she might need some of those clothes for school next week. So, we'll see. (I might put that off until tomorrow.)

And tomorrow, being Sunday (or, Monday eve) will be, I hope, quiet. Church, breakfast, and then who knows? I plan on making a lasagna. It'll be the last Sunday for a while that isn't punctuated by grading papers, I suspect. But who knows? Maybe I can structure more quiet time. I've really enjoyed this whole waking up early as usual, but not moving too fast thing. 

This week has been a really busy one, in that I've read a lot of little kid books aloud, cleaned stuff, and made some projects. We've caught up on catechism homework. And Holly has not stopped talking and/or singing for an average of 12 hours a day-- except the few naps she took. Quiet is good. She is a happy, helpful kid, though. Yesterday, she asked to dust the living room. (Um, sure...!!) But today should have some stretches of quiet, and my goodness, that will be nice, too. And we are going to go out for dinner, not sure where yet, but I am taking one night off from cooking. (That's vacation, right?)

You all have a super day. Hold your loved ones tight. Pace yourselves-- the world and the news cycle seem to be spinning faster and faster and it's just plain exhausting. 

Take good care,

C

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