Life's Moving Along

This week has been rather full. I’m still trying to get back into the purging closets mode, but life keeps getting in the way. I’ve spent more time than I’d like, overseeing Kaleb’s school work. As of today, though, he’s done with his web design class and his website has finally been posted! It would be cause for great celebration but we’ve discovered it looks totally different in Internet Explorer than it does in Mozilla Firefox (the one we use). So there is still work ahead as he tweeks certain things, but the big push is off. He also took his final exam in that class today and we’ll be anxiously awaiting his grade. We were up against the gun because his time ran out TODAY so everything had to be done and submitted or he’d get an incomplete or we’d have to pay extra to extend his time with Johns Hopkins, but he made it. Hallelujah. I feel like I need a nap.
Kaleb has been the source of much angst this past week as he was supposed to be doing school work last Thursday, and come to find out, he was playing Pokemon games on a website, instead. I only discovered it because I accidentally checked the history of my internet usage, and there it was. It’s a good thing he was sleeping at the time so I had the night to cool off and figure out a game plan for his consequences, otherwise it might have gotten ugly. But the worst thing was, the next day when I confronted him with it – he denied it. He’s not one to lie to me, so it really hurt that he wouldn’t fess up. I was bummed out for days over that one. Thanks to modern technology, his sins found him out, and I don’t think he’ll be doing that again anytime soon.
Our house has smelled like fresh paint all week, as that business meeting Kory and I had last week produced good fruit and after he finished painting the bathroom he started the process of setting tile on our porch. For twelve years we’ve just had the underlayment plywood on the porch because we could never agree on a surface for it, but last Saturday we went to Seattle and found some rough slate that we think is just the ticket. Kory is going to do all the work (he’s not a tile setter), so I hope it turns out as planned. He was complaining tonight about having so many jobs to do (both at home and at our apartment building), and Kaleb piped right up and reminded him about how miserable he was lying on the couch all those weeks last Fall with a broken back and not able to do anything. Kory just smirked, and then stopped whining.
I joined a gym last week and have committed to going three times a week until we leave for Norway. I need to make room for all the mouth-watering cakes that I know are in my future. If I don’t drop a few pounds now, I’ll have no clothes to wear when we get there as we left all our clothes in Norway so we wouldn’t have to pack much luggage every year when we go. I also bought tickets a few days ago to fly to Spain while we are in Norway. One of Kory’s aunts moved there and invited us to come visit, so that is something to look forward to as none of us have ever been to that country.
Aunt Ruth has been in and out of our condo these last few weeks. She’s back home from the hospital but has applied to go live in a nursing home as she is afraid to live alone now that she realizes she can’t take care of herself. They have found some blood clots on her lungs, so that’s cause for concern. I hope she’ll still be around when we arrive in May, but it seems most certain we’ll be able to stay in our condo when we are there. Whew.
I’m glad now we aren’t traveling anywhere this winter to get warm. We’ve had such warm days here that I’ve even gotten some yard work done. I love being outside when the trumpeter swans fly overhead – they put on a better show than the Blue Angels. And on the way to Kaleb’s piano lesson last week I passed eleven bald eagles. The snow geese are even taking up residence in the field in front of our house from time to time so spending the winter on Pleasant Ridge this year has really been rather pleasant.