Report from the Porch
Change is in the wind as we start to shift back to school, and everybody is a little upset (me: A LOT upset) that summer is almost over. While it's been a very busy one, it's not totally been the "good" kind of busy, meaning we've been busy with work and school. That's not to say there haven't been weekends (and extended weekends) of fun. In fact, just about every weekend has been filled with day trips or trips up north to clean Mom's house.
I have had vacation time, though. During my first week off I did a lot of running around, and Annalisse FINALLY had her road test (she passed by a hair...). We did a couple of historic house tours, but Mark and the kids were tied up most of the week with work commitments. I also did not get as much porch reading done as I might have liked, and am feeling pressure to finish at least one or two of the fall bookclub selections. The good news: I have another week of vacation coming up in a week so maybe I can make some headway with those. There hasn't been a lot of family time when all four of us have done something together, but that will be coming up this weekend when we venture down to DC to visit Mom (Complete with a trip to IKEA. YAY!).
Cam wrapped up the majority of his research job on Friday, ending with a research symposium at RIT (check out this clip from Channel 10...Cam is in the opening sequence in the background), so that was kind of cool. We had a nice chat with his research advisor; he's been very impressed by the work Cam has done this summer. Now, he'll focus on his thesis with him hopefully finishing his masters in the spring or summer of next year. Today we brought some stuff over to his new apartment (actually, a house) and, let's just say, it's obvious a bunch of guys have lived there and will be living there. Y.U.C.K. It's not somewhere I could live but you know kids - it doesn't bother them.
Both kids will be heading back to school the weekend of August 21 (probably on Sunday). Cam's classes start on August 24, but Annalisse's don't start until August 31. She's going back early to begin work on her nutrition job for the year. The last time we stopped by her apartment a couple of weeks ago it was totally trashed by her obnoxious roommate who has been there all summer. It was seriously a mess. Our original intent was to do some cleaning, but there is no way I was going to clean someone else's extreme mess. The roommate in question is moving out on August 15, and I hope she does some picking up/cleaning before she leaves ~ but I'm not holding my breath based on her previous behavior. We plan on giving the apartment the "once over" when we bring her back. While we were there last week we also looked at a possible different apartment for her senior year. It's on the other side of campus closer to the building where she takes most of her classes, and is very nice (and a little cheaper than her current apartment). We'll see how that goes. I think both kids are ready to get back into the swing of things, academically speaking.
As for Mark, he starts a new job at Harris Corp on Monday so, for a couple of days it's kind of fun to say "Mark is between jobs." With his skill set he's constantly getting calls from headhunters, and, while he was not intentionally planning to leave his consulting business, he felt Harris was a good opportunity.
So that's the report from the porch on a glorious summer day. Have a great week, everyone!
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