We've celebrated life around here the past week. In addition to the Seven Year Old's birthday last week, this week we celebrated Dad's birthday (he got new clothes for civilian life and... something I still need to buy) and the dog's birthday (he got an extra treat and a long walk) and a big football game and a first track meet and a last swim meet. We also made a trip to a local community farm - and paid $20 to do stuff we did for free a couple weeks ago at Nana and Pop's farm, but this was educational.
After having six weeks off from teaching for Quad 1, I am not hastily updating my syllabus and Canvas course for teaching Quad 2. I have been trying to finish a book review that I started in December (how can this be so slow? I can only write about 2 sentences at a time before I get distracted. The problem is NO DEADLINE. Although at this point, the book is no longer new and the editors may no longer want a review. It's about postsecular representations of faith in young adult literature, and was actually a very interesting read - both in terms of defining postsecular and in reading about the ways YAL grapples with faith - in addition to all the contemporary hot button issues that YAL often features. The book is called Teens and the New Religious Landscape and is edited by Jacob Stratman if anyone is interested in checking it out.
I also have not finished our taxes, quelle horreur! I have never been this late before; I'm usually done by February or March. I actually had them almost finished before 4/15, but I got hung up on whether our oldest can still be considered a dependent since he was in school full time in the spring of 20. Since he filed for himself this year, I have to revise and take him off as a dependent. And that just didn't get done this weekend in between sports and class prep.
And the other thing that is absorbing too much attention: Shopping for a mother of the groom dress. Can I complain about this? I don't want a formal - the wedding is at 1:30 on a Saturday in June. I don't want black, white, red, for obvious reasons, or pink, because I look terrible in most shades of pink, especially blush, which seems to be reserved for Mother of the Bride/Groom type dresses. I keep looking at vintagey styles, but my husband has nixed the few I've found in colors I like because of big bows or large collars or too many flounces. Since I've been searching all over the internet and physically shopped at Nordstrom's, Macy's, Nordstrom Rack, TJ Maxx, and Ross -because I hate spending a bunch of money - I'm hoping an ad one day will show up in my sidebar with just the right thing. In the meantime, I also need to nail down the rehearsal dinner plans - I think we are hosting two events: one for the wedding party and grandparents who will be at the actual rehearsal, and then an "open house" type happy hour at the hotel for all of the out of town cousins who may be arriving. Since Covid numbers are down (and I have my first vaccine and my husband 2 doses. He got the "posh" Pfizer version. I got Moderna before I realized it wasn't as elite as Pfizer according to an article I read this morning. Who knew? But I suspected in the way everyone asks "Which one did you get?" a tone of superiority from the Pfizer recipients...), the wedding will be normal sized, but I'm not sure how many of our out of town family will travel, particularly the cousins in Germany and the other cousins who rarely travel even when we aren't at the tail end of a global pandemic.
Then we jump right into planning the Change of Command/retirement ceremony. Still no changes from last week, although he had an interview with a university hiring a facilities director. The university opportunities have been slim - several have advertised positions but are in a hiring freeze because of the unusual situation of the past year. A friend who works with veterans commented that so much changes in the year after transitioning that sometimes staying in the same place reduces stress. And granted, there are many pleasant things about living here, aside from the great weather, most comfortingly friends and a good parish. But we will never be able to buy a house in this neighborhood, unless some rundown 1 bedroom shows up for less than a million dollars, and we add a cardboard structure to the back to house the kids. But I don't want to move to another neighborhood if we aren't planning on staying more than a year or two, especially in this high-demand market. So we'll see. Practicing Trust. Calling on Divine Mercy. Hoping for a sign or at least a sense of peace.
These are maybes in the MOG dress category. Will florals be too distracting in photos?
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