Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Summer Time

I'm sitting on the front porch of my parents house watching my mom and my children gradually turn it into a lovely English garden, suitable for attracting various birds.

It got up over 90 today. My parent's teeny, tiny house does not have central air. I worked on my laptop for 8 hours straight, which got incredibly hot on my lap.

Now, close to 8 pm, the temperature is perfect and the wonderful thing about Washington is that there is relatively low humidity and no bugs. So it is very pleasant sitting on the front porch of my parent's teeny tiny house.

The negative in this whole serene situation is that I'm absolutely DYING from allergies.

At about 10:00 a.m. this morning I took a Zyrtec, which did help some, but now it seems to have lost its effect and every time I stand up I sneeze like 8 times in a row.

The bottle tells me I cannot take two pills in a 24 hour period. So I'm sitting as still as possible feeling the guilt of a first-born daughter who "should" be helping with SOMETHING.

But, regardless, sitting on the front porch is a very pleasant experience.


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Location:Mom's Front Porch

Sunday, July 03, 2011

Rikka's Lost Identity

This story starts yesterday, July 2nd, in the morning. Saturday was planned to be spent getting the house ready to be gone for the month and packing for two weeks in Washington. Because I was to be gone the whole month we had an impromptu PTA meeting at Los Agaves on Friday night. While at this meeting we realized that I am the only person left on the PTA who has access to the checking account. We decided Kimberly should also have access, so we agreed to meet at the bank on Saturday at 9:30 to add her as a signer to our account and also to remove the other two who are currently on the account but no longer in PTA.

Oh, also at this meeting I found out that we do, in fact, have a Dunkin' Donuts. So at 8:30 the next morning I went to get donuts for Aron, Jordan and Eric who were going to be helping me clean and pack all day. Bribery will get you EVERYWHERE!!!

So I went to get the donuts for them and an egg-white flatbread breakfast sandwich for me (not bad, but still 7 points). Then while they started the whole cleaning/sorting/packing process I went to the bank with Kim.

We had to wait at the bank for about 20 minutes or so before we were seen. Then we were told that it would take a few days for the paperwork to be processed and sent to us for our signatures and THEN she can sign the checkbook. We also asked for debit cards, which will be mailed to the school.

So while we are getting this all ready I realize that I don't have my ID in my purse. It's just not there. I'm on a plane the next morning and I cannot find my ID. This is not good. I think for a second and realize that I do have a passport so I'll be able to fly, but still... driver's license... and I'm driving.

We remember that the DMV or whatever it's called in IOWA is open on Saturday mornings... she needs tags for her car anyway, so we head there next. It's closed because they close on Mondays anyway and Monday is a holiday.

I'm still not totally freaked out because I do have my Passport.

I go home and start packing/sorting/cleaning. I go about doing it while listening to my husband do a WONDERFUL job motivating our children to clean and sort.

I remembered that my cards sometimes fall out of my purse so I went to look under all the seats in all the cars and I found it in the Prius (the car we were in at the bank).

So yay, I now have my DL AND my passport. We go through making sure the three passports in my possession are Aron, Jordan's and mine. Eric wants his too for his trip. All four of them are together (mistake number one).

So fast forward to this morning. I'm doing the last minute things and realize that i should have done more the night before or gotten up earlier, cuz we are cutting it CLOSE!

I take my ID and my credit card out of my purse to put in my bag to have ready. I lay them on the dining room table and... I get sidetracked.

In the car Eric says "do you have the passports?" I say yes. I look at them and they are: Aron's, Jordan's and.... ERIC'S. Damn.

But, it's okay, I think, cuz I found my driver's license. Eric says, "but you have your ID, right?" Yes, I say.

I look through my bag and it's not there... I think maybe it's still in my purse, I'll check at the airport.

Eric drops us at the airport and we get in and sure enough, I do not have any form of ID.

I call Eric to turn around and get us and get in line to change my flight. I talk with the lady who says "It'll be $50/person to change your flight." I say, "Do I have a choice? I do not have ID." She says, "let me call security." Which she does.

The tell her that I'll need to go through "extra screening" but yes, I can go. I call Eric back and tell him to mail my ID (and credit card) to my parents.

We go to Security and they ask for a piece of mail with my address. fortunately I have one of these, a bill I intend to pay once I get paid on Thursday.

They let us through, and we make it on the flight (they paged us, but we made it).

Now we are sitting at Minneapolis while I try to type this and the kids each say of their DS games "Mom, I need help!"

Fun times!


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Location:Airplanes