Friday bullets, May 5, 2017

We're still alive. I thought I'd drop by and see what was happening here on the ol' blog. I can't think the last time I let blogging go by the wayside for so long. I'll start my list and you can see why.

• We still have no official contract or significant earnest money in the bank. The lawyers are still in negotiation. I may permanently start to look like Quasimodo, as I carry all my stress in my left shoulder. I also feel more than a little nauseated every time I think about the situation, which would be, oh, every 10 seconds or so.
• Yet I still have to work as though everything is going to work out. I've been calling movers and such and trying to figure out how to move 12 people, 1 dog, 2 cats, 1 quail and all their belongings, what to leave behind, and what to do with what we leave behind, with the least amount of fuss, money, and homelessness in the interim.
• I suppose I should also start to pack. My motivation for packing is incredibly low until that money shows up in the bank, though.
• Did I mention that on top of moving the third week of June, that is also the week that five of my younger people will be at camp. Yes, that means on top of compulsive packing, I will be getting five people ready for sleep away camp, three of whom will be going for the first time.
• I should also mention that June is the month where we have six family birthdays as well as one anniversary. 
• At least one big occasion will be next week... B's graduation from college!
• Other things have been going on around here besides the move, too. K. got his expander out (hooray!), but at the same appointment he got braces put on his upper teeth (boo!) This is all in preparation for his future bone graft surgery.
• I had my annual eye appointment, which always makes me a wee bit nervous leading up to it. I have extremely near-sighted eyes, which means their shape is not optimal for eye health (I've already had retinal surgery on both), so that combined with a dicey family eye history, well, I know what the bad news can be. But, one more year, and one more year of good eye news. Stable is exactly the word you want your eye doctor to use.
• Our good friends the H-S Family are in town for the month! It is fantastic to spend time catching up together.
• Q. the quail is growing, though still pretty cute and fluffy. He will sit in my hand and let me pet him, which is very cute. We also think he now calls the cats when they are not on top of his box. He seems to think they are the right and proper part of his universe, and that they are caring friends. I'm not sure the cats see themselves in quite the same roll. We don't plan on anyone finding out any differently. We did look into seeing if we could find another quail chick or two to keep Q. company, and J. did find a place that sold Bobwhite quail. The only difficulty was that they only sold the chicks in lots of 100. I don't feel the need to live 101 Dalmatians... the quail version, so we didn't get them.
• J. continues to enjoy his new job, though he is officially tired of his commute. Actually the 'tired of his commute' status probably happened a couple of weeks ago.
• To give you a sense of my less-than-terrific mental state, all I should need to tell you is that I have not finished a single book in the past week. For someone who averages two books a week, this is telling.
• Next weekend, along with B.'s graduation, is Thin Ice Theater's production of Fiddler on the Roof. D. is playing Tevye. A nice farewell roll for him with this theater company. It will be bitter sweet. Come out and see it if you can. I'm sure I'll have cast photos at some point this coming week. 
• Local friends, put Sunday, June 4 on your calendar, starting at about 3pm. A friend is hosting a giant good-bye party for us and we'd love to see all of you. It's a potluck, but the main dish in the form of a pig roast will be provided. Email me for the address. 
• Finally, you just never know what you're going to come across when you are cleaning out stuff. For instance, you might find a photograph from nearly 14 years ago from when your history co-op was doing tableau vivant. This photo is actually from the first time we did them, the link is from the second. B. may not be happy with me for sharing it, but it is too funny to miss.

First you have to see the painting we were copying. We chose this one because we had a handy baby in the form of D.

And here's our copy. That's a wig we made B. wear; it's why he doesn't like this. But look at P. and A. They were so little! They were so cute!