(no subject)
Well, after much deliberation, I decided to take the elementary job. I'm really excited,and also quite nervous. It's a school with a pretty high population of Spanish speakers, so I need to brush up on my Spanish skills. I'm not really sure of the best way to do that, but whatever.
On an only slightly related note, the City of Austin's payroll department sucks major ass. It's been 6 weeks since the paperwork for my paycheck from working at the DAC was sent in, and they still haven't paid me. Thank GOD I have a regular paycheck to rely upon, but I want my money, dammit! I have plans for it! I'm going to find out who I need to call and bitch at in order to get paid.
I need the money so I can get some work done on my car, and also to pay the dentist for the major amount of work I'm about to have to get done. Part of one of my back teeth (I think it was a filling) fell out a while back. It hasn't been hurting or anything, so I've been putting it off because I knew it would be expensive as hell to get fixed. It's the side of my tooth - not the top...so at the bare minimum, I'm going to have to get a crown. I wouldn't be surprised if it wound up being a root canal...which is what the dentist said today. They're going to try for just a crown, but it may not be possible because of where it is on my tooth.
I seriously hope that my teeth are not going to be like Mom's were - just randomly crack for no apparent reason. She had to get crowns on most of her molars because of that.
Anyway - I'm really enjoying my summer thus far. I can't believe it's going by so quickly. Three weeks working at the DAC - gone. Two weeks with my dad - gone. A week of vacation at home - here already. Next week I'll be at Mo Ranch with Kate. After that, I'll only have about 2 weeks left - most of which I'll be working in my new room in order to get it set up.
Speaking of the 2 weeks with my dad - it was pretty nice. He came out here to visit - and we went around town a bit. Unfortunately, he didn't get to do a whole hell of a lot because he wasn't feeling great. The man's 70 years old - it's not like we would have done all that much anyway. We went sightseeing a little, we went out to eat a couple of times, and we tried to see the bats. They didn't cooperate, though. Dad and I waited and waited, but they didn't really start moving around until after it was dark. It was disappointing.
We left Austin and drove to Fredricksburg to see the WWII museum dedicated Nimitz. That was actually a really nice museum - much better than I had expected. I actually enjoyed myself there. After that museum, we drove to Midland. The next morning, we went to the Confederate Air Force museum - which was also pretty interesting. The museum part was huge, and a lot of it was a repeat of the museum from the day before. The part I enjoyed the most was the airplane nose art gallery. They had the actual painted sections of the planes on display - about 30 of them. The part Dad enjoyed the most was the hangar with the actual planes in it. He could name everything in it. He'd try telling me all this random stuff he knew about the planes, but most of it was like a foreign language to me. "This is an old blahblahblah plane, made in Canada. It has these blahblahblah wings, with this special blahblahblah part...which makes it yaddayaddayadda." You get the idea.
More amazing to me, though, was that him talking about what we'd seen with Uncle Mike, Marley, and Charlie (Marley's dad). Dad could name the plane, and they actually knew what the hell he was talking about. "They had a real XYZ250 bomber...you know...the one with the blahblahblah..." And they'd oooh and aaaah and ask questions about it. Real, logical questions. Not just random questions like when you're playing along with someone. I'd seen the damn planes myself, and I still didn't know what the hell he was saying when he was describing them to other people.
After the Confederate AF museum, we made a pit stop in Abilene to see Jack's sculpture on campus, and to go to the bookstore. The sculpture was breathtaking. Soooooo amazing. Even Dad loved it, and he's not an art person.
After drabilene, which wasn't really all that drab this time (probably because we didn't really go into the town), Dad and I drove the rest of the way to VA. We stopped a couple of times for the night, but we didn't do any more sightseeing. Once in VA, I proceeded to put myself to work. I washed everything washable in the house - rugs, curtains, bedding, etc. I cleaned the bathrooms and the kitchen. I packed up all of Mom's stuff that I could, That was really hard at first, but I found a way to turn that part of my brain off. It was much easier to focus on the task when I didn't think about whose stuff it was. I didn't get to the cookbooks (of which there are literally hundreds)...but that's ok. I cleaned out the linen closet.
After I'd done as much in the actual house as I could, then I started working in the yard. I really hope Dad gets rid of that house. The yard is just way too much work for him. Shit...it's way too much work for anyone who isn't a gardening freak. It's got flowerbeds around all 4 sides of the house itself, along the entire edge of one side of the property, around the outlying garage, along the back edge of the property, and random islands of flowerbeds in the front and back yards. I don't think any of this (except the front ones) had been weeded or cut back in YEARS. Even if it had been maintained, that many flower bends and plants would require almost constant attention in order to not get out of hand. Dad certainly doesn't have that level of energy. Anyway, for someone who pretty much hates yardwork, I actually enjoyed the effort this time around because I knew it was so desperately needed. Hell, I even inspired/guilted my sister into action. She says she just came over to help because it needed to be done...but she's NEVER been one to do that before. I think she felt kind of guilty that I was spending my vacation doing this when she LIVES there, and hasn't bothered helping him any. I really should have taken before and after pictures...but I didn't think of it until it was too late.
After 3 days of work, one of which I was joined by my sister and the boys, the yard finally doesn't look like the house is abandoned. It sure as hell isn't perfect, but at least it doesn't look vacant.
I got super sunburned the last day of working in the yard...I'm still peeling a week later.
Well...there you go. the massive update.
On an only slightly related note, the City of Austin's payroll department sucks major ass. It's been 6 weeks since the paperwork for my paycheck from working at the DAC was sent in, and they still haven't paid me. Thank GOD I have a regular paycheck to rely upon, but I want my money, dammit! I have plans for it! I'm going to find out who I need to call and bitch at in order to get paid.
I need the money so I can get some work done on my car, and also to pay the dentist for the major amount of work I'm about to have to get done. Part of one of my back teeth (I think it was a filling) fell out a while back. It hasn't been hurting or anything, so I've been putting it off because I knew it would be expensive as hell to get fixed. It's the side of my tooth - not the top...so at the bare minimum, I'm going to have to get a crown. I wouldn't be surprised if it wound up being a root canal...which is what the dentist said today. They're going to try for just a crown, but it may not be possible because of where it is on my tooth.
I seriously hope that my teeth are not going to be like Mom's were - just randomly crack for no apparent reason. She had to get crowns on most of her molars because of that.
Anyway - I'm really enjoying my summer thus far. I can't believe it's going by so quickly. Three weeks working at the DAC - gone. Two weeks with my dad - gone. A week of vacation at home - here already. Next week I'll be at Mo Ranch with Kate. After that, I'll only have about 2 weeks left - most of which I'll be working in my new room in order to get it set up.
Speaking of the 2 weeks with my dad - it was pretty nice. He came out here to visit - and we went around town a bit. Unfortunately, he didn't get to do a whole hell of a lot because he wasn't feeling great. The man's 70 years old - it's not like we would have done all that much anyway. We went sightseeing a little, we went out to eat a couple of times, and we tried to see the bats. They didn't cooperate, though. Dad and I waited and waited, but they didn't really start moving around until after it was dark. It was disappointing.
We left Austin and drove to Fredricksburg to see the WWII museum dedicated Nimitz. That was actually a really nice museum - much better than I had expected. I actually enjoyed myself there. After that museum, we drove to Midland. The next morning, we went to the Confederate Air Force museum - which was also pretty interesting. The museum part was huge, and a lot of it was a repeat of the museum from the day before. The part I enjoyed the most was the airplane nose art gallery. They had the actual painted sections of the planes on display - about 30 of them. The part Dad enjoyed the most was the hangar with the actual planes in it. He could name everything in it. He'd try telling me all this random stuff he knew about the planes, but most of it was like a foreign language to me. "This is an old blahblahblah plane, made in Canada. It has these blahblahblah wings, with this special blahblahblah part...which makes it yaddayaddayadda." You get the idea.
More amazing to me, though, was that him talking about what we'd seen with Uncle Mike, Marley, and Charlie (Marley's dad). Dad could name the plane, and they actually knew what the hell he was talking about. "They had a real XYZ250 bomber...you know...the one with the blahblahblah..." And they'd oooh and aaaah and ask questions about it. Real, logical questions. Not just random questions like when you're playing along with someone. I'd seen the damn planes myself, and I still didn't know what the hell he was saying when he was describing them to other people.
After the Confederate AF museum, we made a pit stop in Abilene to see Jack's sculpture on campus, and to go to the bookstore. The sculpture was breathtaking. Soooooo amazing. Even Dad loved it, and he's not an art person.
After drabilene, which wasn't really all that drab this time (probably because we didn't really go into the town), Dad and I drove the rest of the way to VA. We stopped a couple of times for the night, but we didn't do any more sightseeing. Once in VA, I proceeded to put myself to work. I washed everything washable in the house - rugs, curtains, bedding, etc. I cleaned the bathrooms and the kitchen. I packed up all of Mom's stuff that I could, That was really hard at first, but I found a way to turn that part of my brain off. It was much easier to focus on the task when I didn't think about whose stuff it was. I didn't get to the cookbooks (of which there are literally hundreds)...but that's ok. I cleaned out the linen closet.
After I'd done as much in the actual house as I could, then I started working in the yard. I really hope Dad gets rid of that house. The yard is just way too much work for him. Shit...it's way too much work for anyone who isn't a gardening freak. It's got flowerbeds around all 4 sides of the house itself, along the entire edge of one side of the property, around the outlying garage, along the back edge of the property, and random islands of flowerbeds in the front and back yards. I don't think any of this (except the front ones) had been weeded or cut back in YEARS. Even if it had been maintained, that many flower bends and plants would require almost constant attention in order to not get out of hand. Dad certainly doesn't have that level of energy. Anyway, for someone who pretty much hates yardwork, I actually enjoyed the effort this time around because I knew it was so desperately needed. Hell, I even inspired/guilted my sister into action. She says she just came over to help because it needed to be done...but she's NEVER been one to do that before. I think she felt kind of guilty that I was spending my vacation doing this when she LIVES there, and hasn't bothered helping him any. I really should have taken before and after pictures...but I didn't think of it until it was too late.
After 3 days of work, one of which I was joined by my sister and the boys, the yard finally doesn't look like the house is abandoned. It sure as hell isn't perfect, but at least it doesn't look vacant.
I got super sunburned the last day of working in the yard...I'm still peeling a week later.
Well...there you go. the massive update.