42 and Counting…

Tuesdays are always busy and FULL at our house.  I teach a high school history class in the morning while the boys have piano lessons.  Then I take Larisa to piano and have 30 minutes to get my TO-DO list completed.  Today’s list included the library and the post office.  First stop was the US Mail house… and when I pulled in the parking lot I noticed a huge handmade sign of cardboard taped to ropes that were marking off a landscaped area near the front door.  Come to find out, there is a large saguaro cactus about 25 feet tall holding a nest in its arms.  There was a Great Horned owl mama and her fluffy babies.  The sign read:  “Ladders on Post Office grounds prohibited.”  Now, you know me, … wondering if they made that up for the owls or if someone really did think that one day small town citizens would bring their ladders to the post office and cause a disturbance?  Anyway, I enjoyed viewing some of God’s creatures on government land.

Next stop the library.  Now, don’t get me going about the library.  I’ve written here before about the height of my frustration with the county library being in the public high school.  Grrrrrrr.  Anyway, it wasn’t that bad today…. it wasn’t early dismissal, there was no fire alarm, etc.  I was in and out rather quickly.  Wait!  I forgot the good news of the day!  Back track with me for a moment, at the writer’s conference in 2006 I met a budding new author named Allison Pittman who had just signed a contract for a three-book deal with Multnomah publishing house.  Impressive, to say the least.  I bought Ten Thousand Charms, her first book, at the convention and almost finished it on the flight home.  It was truly written with my three loves in mind:  1850s, romance and endless unpredictable peril.  I waited impatiently for #2 to come out in 2007… and today, as I browsed the New Books section of the library I came upon #3!!!  I didn’t realize it was out yet.  It’s titled With Endless Sight.  Can’t wait to dive into it and forget the here and now.

Upon returning to gather my children from piano lessons (the BOYS stayed to have a tea party?????) I decided that they too needed to see the owls, so back to the post office I drove.  Then I discovered that the ONE book that was due today was still in the car…. so back to the library I drove.  Just your typical Tuesday.  Will the thrills never end???

ROAD TRIP!!!!

We leave tonight for California…. in the van… all five of us.  Believe it or not, there are strange families like ours who LOVE road trips!  We’ve discovered that driving through the night is even better than prolonged day trips, if you’re going somewhere fast.  The kids sleep almost the whole time and Rick and I both sleep half the time.  Well, if you ask Rick, he’ll tell you that I never drive more than 45 minutes when it is dark.  I can’t keep my eyes open.  This had been true and good for the past 20 years… until this past summer when we drove through the night to Lake Tahoe.  I took first shift which started at 10:30 p.m.  I still can’t believe it myself, but I drove for 5 1/2 hours before my eyelids started sliding.  Rick woke up and thought I changed the clock to trick him… like I could do that while driving!  I can’t even change the clock when the van is stopped.  So, I’m taking first shift tonight.  Here’s hopin’ I’ll make it past Glendale (that’s 20 minutes away.)

So in preparation for this midnight adventure, I went to the library today to find some books on tape that would fascinate my brain into staying awake.  Last summer I listened to Bill Cosby… I even laughed out loud while the rest of the passengers snored loudly.  Our library is unfortunately hooked onto the public high school, much to the dismay of this homeschooling mom.  So I’ve memorized the schedule so as not to fight pick-up traffic or have to drag my wide-eyed children through drones of long haired boys and barely clad girls.

Without my knowledge, today was a half-day of school.  Oh my.  So I pulled into the parking lot just as the aforementioned kids poured out of the front gate of the school.  This confirmed for me once more exactly why we homeschool.  I braved the crowd and the smoke with my 12 year old son.  We returned books, we found new books, movies and TWO BOOKS ON TAPE!  Wooo Hoooo! 

As I was nearing the end of the rack of books-on-tape, the fire alarm went off.  What next???   Being in an evacuation situation was a great experience for my homeschooled son.  He told me it was actually his second fire alarm; seems one went off at the arena once upon a time.  Soooooo, I left my bag of un-checked-out books at the counter and filed out to the parking lot with 150 high school kids. 

It was a little obvious that I was not in the in-crowd.  They all wear black…. I had on a hot-pink t-shirt, not to mention I’m more than 20 years older than them.  Had I received the memo, I could’ve worn a black t-shirt and been more incognito.  “All clear” was sounded and I retrieved my precious midnight treats.

Happy Trails!

Note to self:  email the school district and get a yearly calendar that lists all half days.  Sheesh.