Compass back at true north

It has been a very busy month. I realized yesterday that I have a comittment every day this month. I'm longing for a pajama day, but I don't think that's going to happen until at least the middle of July. The gerbil wheel is spinning faster and faster, and I either have to keep up or get flung off!

I must have neglected to mention that Eric went away on business while I was away collecting my children. I got a fair amount done while he was gone, but it was all in sort of an unplanned haze. I did manage to get to work on time and feed the kids, but that's about it. He got home yesterday, and now I feel like I'm back at true north finally. That's a good thing, too, because I need him to help me stay organized for a few more weeks!

The Boys, whom we sort of adopted in NC (they were single airmen, and our kids were toddlers, so they developed a habit of dropping by around dinnertime) will start arriving Wednesday for our annual reunion. We started the tradition, oh, about six years ago. There are five of them, and everyone who can get the time off comes to our house the week of the 4th of July for however long they can stay. We have plenty to celebrate this year, besides the 4th. We have two milestone birthdays at the end of July and a couple promotions. Scott moved into a better job, and we'll have to drink a round of Jaeger for Technical Sergeant Select Danny. Oh, and well, there's Eric's job, too!

Did I mention the shirts for Rendezvous? The ones with the gussets in step two? I got the pattern pretty well figured out. I was sewing last night and broke two needles. I think I'm destined to hand sew. I hope they hold up in the wash.

Anyway, the treadmill is speeding up, but I'm staying on so far. I'll let you know if I end up in a heap at the end!

Wide Load

I've been doing a lot of driving this month. Even without the two trips to Mom's and back, I've been away from the house every day between work and church. Church and Job 1 aren't that big of a deal; it's all two-lane roads. Job 2, on the other hand, is easiest accessed by taking the freeway.

Or it was, at least, until Construction Season started. About three miles from where we get on, the road narrows to one lane. The other day, the truckers decided to make us merge early. I hit 35 on the on-ramp before I had to hit the brake. I understand they're trying to stop the bottleneck, and get people to quit speeding to the merge point and shove their way in, but three miles at fifteen mph does not make sense to me. Lucky for me I was only going shopping that day. I finished work early and decided to go pick up a few things I needed for projects around the house. It took me a half hour to go ten miles, and I would have been downright angry if they'd made me late for work.

Yesterday, I left Job 2 and there was no way I was taking the freeway home. It was starting to storm and the last thing I wanted was to be stuck in traffic with no way out. When I turned onto the road there was a dump truck ahead of me. We got stuck at a badly timed light, and it took us three cycles to get to the front, but I didn't know that until the third cycle because I couldn't see around the daggone truck. I turned left for another alternate route and found myself behind a moving truck. Curses, foiled again! Luckily, he turned left when I turned right a couple of lights later, but there was a bus in front of me, and HE regulated my speed for me for a few more miles until I turned onto the street my subdivision is on.

I have found that when I encounter the same annoyance over and over, it's because I'm supposed to learn something from it. It seems I've done very little this month other than sit in traffic staring at the back end of a large vehicle. I have no idea what I'm supposed to learn from this, but I hope I figure it out soon.

back

Kids have been collected and we're home. The reunion was good, I saw some friends and family that I haven't seen in a while, etc. The drive was uneventful both ways. Now I need to sort through three days of e-mail, snail mail, clean litter boxes, and get organized to sew shirts.

That's about all I have brain power for at the moment. The good news is that they had a party at work, so the cooking is done, so I get to go in later than normal. *insert sigh of relief*