In Which We Find Some Random Things...

Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes for Ms. Thang. She is home now, showered and sound asleep up in her room. My mom is coming in for a visit and arriving tomorrow, so we had to free up the guest bed. We dragged A's mattress back into her room and set up a "make shift" bed. (you'll remember that we are waiting (notsopatientlyonmypart) for her floor to be sanded and refinished. She's excited to be in her "new purple room" even if it is on the floor. I'm happy to have her home. She had a great time at camp. She's a very social child and I didn't doubt for one second that camp wouldn't be right up her ally. I would love nothing more than to be able to send them both to camp next year (Mr. Man loved his week there for 6th grade environmental camp).. But $640 per kid is a lot of money, even if it would be for 2 weeks.


These rates, even with the discounts, are high IMO. So anyhow.. moving on.
This photo is the view I see when I walk out through my hedges and turn right. The sidewalk hasn't been maintained well in the last 50 years since it was put in. The view the other way is awful and the sidewalk is falling apart. It's become an obstacle course to overcome on the way to school (School's at the end of the street the other way) and it's a nightmare in the winter. This summer the town is replacing the sidewalk. We are getting granite curbs and the whole bit. They started down by the school, and are working their way towards our house where they will end at the corner of our hedges. They started the first week of July and are half way done. This makes me nervous as it takes 7 days for the concrete to cure after they pour it. We are taking bets on if our section will be done before school starts.

Last week, while A was off kayaking, making dream catchers and fishing at 4:30 in the morning (my friend Barb, her counselor is a nut!).. Mr. Man and I walked down to school and watched them demolish our old playground. I'll post photos of it next week, as they are on my camera still. When we started fund raising for our new playground, the plan was to have it removed and do something else with the space. A group of students started an S.O.S campaign (Save Our Structure) and we decided to keep it. Maintenance has been doing repairs on it this past year.. and when it was inspected at the end of the school year they told us it had to go. It was sad to watch them level the thing and toss it into the dumpster like a pile of useless trash. The current plan is to put 3 picnic tables in it's place. I don't know how well that is going to go over, and I'm already dreading the kids reactions when they come back to school.

Mom is coming tomorrow, we have a party for Ms. Thang Sunday, and Wednesday I'll drive to my brother S's house for a cookout lunch and leave mom with him for the rest of her stay (till Sunday). The Boy took M-W off, and hopefully the weather will be better than they are calling for and we can do some fun stuff. So if you don't hear from me for a few days.. that's what I'll be doing.