Possumblog

Part Four

Forgot one thing--before bathtime on Saturday night, after we’d gotten all the food put away, I made the dash through the house resetting all the clocks. There’s one thing I like about setting the clocks up early like that--it’s a further inducement to get the kids ready for bed. They were already tired anyway, so it wasn’t that hard, but it was much easier after they saw how VERY LATE it had suddenly gotten.

And then, there was the issue of homework. Seems Middle Girl had an assignment she’d gotten on Monday, and it was due today. And by Saturday, she’d done exactly none of it, because it required Internet access to find information, and we’d been down since Wednesday, and she hasn’t been able to get anything done at school. The project? For Social Studies, she was tasked with coming up with a travel itinerary describing a three-day European trip--locations, travel times, events, information about the countries, finding lodging, all that crap. And now it was bedtime on Saturday. Which meant Sunday was going to be quite fun, trying to get all that done between church services. We thought maybe, possibly, she could use Grandad’s computer.

So, there was that, and then scrubbing off the day’s grime, and then sleep, and then time to get right back up again.

Up, take another quick shower just to wet my hair (it’s at that stage of growth where it’s long enough so that it stands up in all sorts of stupid-looking ways when I get up in the mornings, but too grizzled and short to be forced to lay down without getting it all wet again and starting over). Dress, breakfast, load the van with Bibles and class books, leave almost on time, which seemed to delight Rebecca for some reason. I think she might be coming down my obsession with punctuality.

It’s good for her--the letdown caused by the constant non-punctuality from other members of her family will build deep wells of character in her and make her a stronger person. Just like it’s done for me.

Off to church. New quarter started Sunday, so I had to scurry around and make sure that everyone was in place, which was a bit harder than usual since I had a class to teach as well. Got Reba to watch them for a while until I got back. Thankfully, everyone showed up, including our youth minister, who I was afraid had overslept like he’d done two years ago when the time changed.

Class time. I have Catherine’s class of 3rd to 5th graders again. They’re a pretty good group, although my teaching style might be a bit overwhelming for them--I tend to offer a lot of commentary, and like to draw explanatory drawings on the board, and teach them stuff about some of the hard words they come across. They listen pretty well, though, all things considered. The bell rang, and I wasn’t even close to being through, but unlike some kids who bolt for the door, they hung around for a while and asked questions until I got things wrapped up and stapled their papers together.

On to the auditorium, and a good lesson which was made all the better by the fact that the people who usually sit behind us and allow their three children to constantly kick the back of our pew were sitting elsewhere.

Somewhere close to the end of the sermon, the thought occurred to me--with all that Rebecca had to do on her report, and the fact that Grandad’s computer still doesn’t have a printer hooked up to it, and with all the time that would be wasted going back and forth over there to their house, what we really needed was for me to get our dial-up service working again, at least temporarily, so she could do her work at home and not have to worry about moving around.

Yes, that means what you think it means.

I had another AOL free trial disc around the house, and despite the fact that I had just cancelled it and uninstalled the last program from the computer, I needed it again. ::sigh::

We got home, and I got the new access set up. Again.

We worked on it for the next three hours or so--found train and airline prices and schedules, found hotels, found information. She decided (after I talked her into it) of visiting Milan, Geneva, and Lyon. For some reason, her teacher had asked them to visit a country in three of the five different regions they were discussing in their textbooks, and with only three days, it seemed best to try to find a border area where three different regions came together. Worked out pretty well, although you’d have to be crazy to really try to do it.

Had to stop to go to evening services and an early meeting--during this time, Reba and Ashley and Catherine had gone to the store to return some things, and they weren’t back yet. The phone rang the moment I shut down AOL, and it was them. ::sigh:: Told them to meet us at the church building.

Jumped in the van, headed out, got to the building just in time for our meeting, and about 20 minutes ahead of Mom and the other girls. And then I remembered something--our treasurer is meeting with the bank about a loan for our new addition to the church, and I was supposed to bring the drawings and specs, and I’d left them at home. Grr.

We live 25 minutes from church. If I am a bad person and drive over the speed limit in certain areas, I can make it in 20. It was now exactly 40 minutes before church was supposed to start. I made it back in 40 minutes. I must admit that it constituted a highly sinful 40 minutes, in that a large portion of it was devoted to being a scofflaw. BUT I GOT THOSE DRAWINGS TO THE TREASURER!

Another good sermon that evening, and then, the next event--the teenagers were having a meal and devotional at someone’s house. Rebecca wanted to go to it, but couldn’t because of all the work she still had to do, but Ashley still wanted to go. Which, of course, meant that SOMEone would have to come back and pick her up, since she still does not have her license.

I blame myself.

So, on to the house with us. Everyone else ate supper while I did a bit more information gathering, then got Rebecca upstairs so she could start putting it in order. Then I got the call to come be chauffeur and went back the same way I’d already come three times previously that day.

Home, work some more on the title page and dividers, started printing it out and sent Middle Girl to bed.

Finally got to bed about 11:30. Sometime in there, a storm came through, and I think it hailed, and I know it thundered because one of them sounded like a bomb going off and it actually woke me up. One second later, I was sound asleep again.

And now?

It’s lunchtime!

Posted by Terry Oglesby at April 3, 2006 11:59 AM