Well, I had planned to cut grass yesterday, but after several false starts, I just gave up and stayed inside and directed more cleaning efforts. For some reason, I asked Catherine where her GameBoy was. She didn't know. I asked her to find it. She pulled everything she had put into her closet BACK out into the floor. And left it. So her room is trashed again. And she still didn't find her GameBoy.
We did manage to get the upstairs landing vacuumed and dusted, and Oldest finally cleaned her own room after many tears and sullen pouting. And Boy has actually managed to put some of this stuff up, rather than simply relocating it. Which is progress, of a sort. The final tally at this moment is two clean bathrooms, clean den, clean dining room, clean stairs and landing, and clean kid's bedroom. That leaves three bedrooms and the kitchen to finish. We've got until Saturday afternoon, so I doubt it will get done.
OH! And we found some books! Not just any books, though.
Books that went missing from the Trussville Library in June.
Of 2004!
I had brought a bunch back to the library then and put them in the outside bin, and then later got a dun notice for three of them being overdue. I went in and personally spoke to the cute red-headed girl and swore up and down that I had put them in the bin and knew that we no longer had them. So, she marked them down as being lost in the system, but it still bothered me that these three had managed to get lost when none of the others had. Well, now I know why. They had been neatly placed in a giant stack of books in Jonathan's room.
I wonder how much overdue fines for 15 months would be on three books?
Anyway, as for food, we did get some ribs--Reba's mom and dad invited us over for a Labor Day meal, which I ate with much tiredness, and then afterwards promptly lay down in the floor and went to sleep, interrupted only briefly when Catherine put her head on my stomach and went to sleep, too.
Toward home, with the intent of driving by a house we thought we might like to look at, but this was given up on when it got to be obvious that evening was upon us and it was too dark to see anything, so instead we stopped at the bookstore to see if they had a book for Ashley's class. No.
And then to home. But not so fast, there, Sparky! For some reason fathomable only by the mind of a fifteen year old girl, Oldest had brought home ten more coupon books to sell for the DECA club. She'd already sold a pile of them, and was nearly in tears to go sell more yesterday before she went back to school today. ::sigh::
It being DARK, I drove her over to the next neighborhood over (our next door neighborhood?) where the houses are closer together. She walked and I eased along behind her, and by 9:00, she'd sold 7 of the 8 books she had left. I'm certain the DECA club will reward her with hearty congratulation.
For the final wrap-up of the weekend, I got the kids in bed, left Reba upstairs studying, and I grabbed a movie that one of my coworkers had given me and popped it in the DVD player for a little me-time diversion.
It was My Architect, which chronicles the effort by filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn to unravel some of the riddles about his father Louis Kahn, one of the 20th Century's greatest architects. The younger Kahn was illegitimate (and has two other half-sisters, one of whom was also illegitimate) and the story explores his feelings toward the man who drifted in and out of his life, as well as the influence of Kahn's life and architecture on those around him and upon the world. It's a very, very good movie, told with wonderful warmth that still manages to let us see the son's anger and bitterness about being excluded from so much of Kahn's life, but without mawkishness or self-pity. Although it might have been good to hear more about Kahn's influence on the world of architecture, or spend more time exploring the background on his buildings and his artistic ideals, in the end the story isn't so much about those things, but rather about Nathaniel finding out about himself. Good movie.
And then, to bed.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at September 6, 2005 11:02 AMI’m sorry to find out you misplaced the books; I’d already blamed it on Halliburton.
Posted by: jim at September 6, 2005 11:43 AMTwo questions:
What would you fine yourself, putting yourself in the shoes of the "cute red-headed girl" (as if something like that could be possible), for such an aggrevious offense of 15 months tardiness?
Or will you anonymously sneak them into the library (in one of your kid's backpacks of course) and discreetly place them in random spots in the shelves? [Not that I've ever done anything like that before ...]
BONUS QUESTION!!
What was that final score of the SEC representative Auburn's Kittycats vs the ACC representative Ramblin' Wreck? Ouch.
It's their fault, too, Jim. I think that's obvious.
And Marc, I think they stop the fine at the cost of the book--I HOPE they do--but whatever it is, I'll pay it. Mainly just to keep the girl from thinking I'm some kind of sneak thief of children's books.
The final GT-Auburn score was 23-14. Mean man.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at September 6, 2005 12:01 PMCoupon books? Would those be the coupon books from entertainment.com? The nifty ones where you have to buy one and you get the second something friend? (Handy if your out a lot and your companions appreciate a spendthrift.) I had one two years ago and stopped tallying how much I'd saved at around 360 dollars or so. No one has come by to sell me one this year.
Posted by: Kenny at September 7, 2005 08:42 AMI'm not sure who the publisher is, Kenny--it's a large format book with a blue cover and costs 20 bucks. ::sigh::
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at September 7, 2005 08:57 AM