We're getting ready for a lot of different things this week.
Thursday morning, Deb heads off on her Disney trip with the band and orchestra groups.
Next Monday, James heads off to Germany.
Cheryl needs to find some other Band parent to take over as president of the Band and Orchestra Boosters group.
We're putting together a preliminary schedule for the trip down to Austin in April.
I'm treating the rust on the Camry windshield frame so we can get the glass installed and Deb can start driving it.
I'm also completing the framing in the basement so we can get that inspection done and commence with the insulation and drywall.
Oh, and there's work, too.
It's one of those weeks.
::
The band and orchestra performed their Disney concert last night for the parents so we could all hear what we will not be able to hear all the way from Florida. Deb is playing with the Wind Ensemble and Orchestra. She claims it is all "easy" music and not very challenging. Of course, she knows what she is doing. It sounded a bit more than easy to me, but then I can only play guitar.
Thursday morning, bright and early at oh-dark-thirty, they will be gathering at the school and packing all their luggage into the luxury buses and making themselves as comfortable as it is possible to get while sitting in a bus for twenty-four hours, then drive off into the sunrise for a few days of fun and frolic (and intense musical seminars) while the rest of us continue our drab, dreary lives in the Michigan winter. They'll come back with tans; we'll get frostbite from the blizzard that is supposed to come in on Saturday.
Deb's big worry? She's going to miss a couple college classes. She's really enjoying being a college student, even if it's only half-time.
She'll have to say good-bye to James before she goes because he's leaving on Monday and the bands won't be returning from Florida til Tuesday. And he's all excited about it. Won't stop talking about it. His smile gets bigger every day with anticipation. Oh, to be young and in love!
(Yeah, I'm old and in love, but it's not quite the same thing. I've a lot less energy than I used to, for one thing. Plus I'm not as fashionable.)
Now we'll just have to wait and see how things go out there when his classes start and it comes time for him to convert from a tourist visa to a student visa. I'm still worried about it. But then I worry about everything.
::
Cheryl has been president of the Band and Orchestra Boosters for a year or so now and is quite ready to give the privilege to someone else. (It's in the bylaws that the president has to be the parent of an active Band student, so even if she wasn't ready, she has no choice once Deb graduates.) But she is having great difficulty finding someone willing to take over. In fact, she's been having trouble finding parents who are willing to volunteer for any of the open positions in the organization. There's lots of jobs that need someone to manage them, from the little one-day events to the big fundraisers. Most of the people we work with are parents of seniors and they'll all be gone next year. But everyone is so busy these days ...
I still haven't found anyone to take over my position as Pit Crew Chief. But that's because I've been trying to find someone as obsessed with perfection as myself, doing everything the Right Way, not doing anything half-way. It was so frustrating with my crew this past year trying to motivate them to look past the needs of the moment and work on things that would help us in years to come -- like installing storage shelves in the trailer so all our gear wasn't just scattered all over the floor (as it has been in years past). Most of them were content to just show up for the events and load the gear on the carts and get it out to the field and then bring it back and load it back onto the trailer and then call it a night and go home. Most of the repairs and fixes we did were last-minute, just enough to get things working for that evening. It was so frustrating. But everyone is so busy these days ...
The keys will be handed to someone else before the end of the school year. That's the rule. I'm just not sure to whom yet.
::
We decided not to fly down to Austin for the wedding after checking prices. $400 per ticket adds up very quickly when it is multiplied by the number of people in our family. Apparently, too, there's something about traveling during Spring Break that tends to drive up prices. Oh, if only the train was affordable!
After the last trip down to Abilene, though, a little drive down to Austin should be no big shakes, especially if the weather is decent. Seriously. After driving two days through the pouring rain, not being able to see anything in front of us, a nice jaunt in early Spring will be a piece of cake.
We hope.
Looking over the route, we decided to venture a little more eastward than usual, putting us in close proximity to Nashville, which means we FINALLY get a chance to drop in on Aunt Judy and Uncle Clyde. Which hasn't happened. Ever. And since my favorite memories of my childhood trips with my family involved dropping in on friends and relatives (which Mom and Dad seem to have everywhere), I decided it would be the thing to do. Of course, we could also add stops in Huntsville and Bloomington and Edwardsburg, but if there are too many stops, the kids will start freaking out because they're afraid of missing school. Not sure where they get that from. But anyway it will be nice to visit some family along the way.
::
The Camry is still sitting in the garage with the halogen lamp strategically placed on the hood facing the windshield frame, keeping the frame relatively warm while the rust converter & rust primer treatments cure.
Once those are cured and ready, it'll be time for 2 coats of enamel (with a bit of sanding in-between) to get the metal ready to support the urethane sealer they'll be using when they mount the new windshield.
I hope.
::
The basement is still not going as quickly as I had hoped, but there are issues almost every time I start working on it again. This time, it was the bathroom door. I was hanging the door so as to get the proper measurements for the header and having a difficult time of it because the door wasn't lining up correctly. The top of the opening was measuring 29-1/2" and the bottom was 31-1/4". Um. That doesn't make any sense. Especially when both the studs along the sides of the door were perfectly level. What is the issue?
Turns out it was the wall next to the bathroom door. Not the mechanical room wall that Dad did -- that one was rock solid. No, it was the back wall that I did a few years ago. It was actually twisted so that the bottom plate didn't line up with the top plate. So the 1-foot extension I had added to the wall to form the door frame was out-of-line with the run of the wall. Ended up having to detach the back wall and re-attach it correctly, then everything lined up. And voila! The bathroom door works now.
Thursday morning, Deb heads off on her Disney trip with the band and orchestra groups.
Next Monday, James heads off to Germany.
Cheryl needs to find some other Band parent to take over as president of the Band and Orchestra Boosters group.
We're putting together a preliminary schedule for the trip down to Austin in April.
I'm treating the rust on the Camry windshield frame so we can get the glass installed and Deb can start driving it.
I'm also completing the framing in the basement so we can get that inspection done and commence with the insulation and drywall.
Oh, and there's work, too.
It's one of those weeks.
::
The band and orchestra performed their Disney concert last night for the parents so we could all hear what we will not be able to hear all the way from Florida. Deb is playing with the Wind Ensemble and Orchestra. She claims it is all "easy" music and not very challenging. Of course, she knows what she is doing. It sounded a bit more than easy to me, but then I can only play guitar.
 |
| Deb Practices for the Performance |
Thursday morning, bright and early at oh-dark-thirty, they will be gathering at the school and packing all their luggage into the luxury buses and making themselves as comfortable as it is possible to get while sitting in a bus for twenty-four hours, then drive off into the sunrise for a few days of fun and frolic (and intense musical seminars) while the rest of us continue our drab, dreary lives in the Michigan winter. They'll come back with tans; we'll get frostbite from the blizzard that is supposed to come in on Saturday.
Deb's big worry? She's going to miss a couple college classes. She's really enjoying being a college student, even if it's only half-time.
She'll have to say good-bye to James before she goes because he's leaving on Monday and the bands won't be returning from Florida til Tuesday. And he's all excited about it. Won't stop talking about it. His smile gets bigger every day with anticipation. Oh, to be young and in love!
(Yeah, I'm old and in love, but it's not quite the same thing. I've a lot less energy than I used to, for one thing. Plus I'm not as fashionable.)
Now we'll just have to wait and see how things go out there when his classes start and it comes time for him to convert from a tourist visa to a student visa. I'm still worried about it. But then I worry about everything.
::
Cheryl has been president of the Band and Orchestra Boosters for a year or so now and is quite ready to give the privilege to someone else. (It's in the bylaws that the president has to be the parent of an active Band student, so even if she wasn't ready, she has no choice once Deb graduates.) But she is having great difficulty finding someone willing to take over. In fact, she's been having trouble finding parents who are willing to volunteer for any of the open positions in the organization. There's lots of jobs that need someone to manage them, from the little one-day events to the big fundraisers. Most of the people we work with are parents of seniors and they'll all be gone next year. But everyone is so busy these days ...
I still haven't found anyone to take over my position as Pit Crew Chief. But that's because I've been trying to find someone as obsessed with perfection as myself, doing everything the Right Way, not doing anything half-way. It was so frustrating with my crew this past year trying to motivate them to look past the needs of the moment and work on things that would help us in years to come -- like installing storage shelves in the trailer so all our gear wasn't just scattered all over the floor (as it has been in years past). Most of them were content to just show up for the events and load the gear on the carts and get it out to the field and then bring it back and load it back onto the trailer and then call it a night and go home. Most of the repairs and fixes we did were last-minute, just enough to get things working for that evening. It was so frustrating. But everyone is so busy these days ...
The keys will be handed to someone else before the end of the school year. That's the rule. I'm just not sure to whom yet.
::
We decided not to fly down to Austin for the wedding after checking prices. $400 per ticket adds up very quickly when it is multiplied by the number of people in our family. Apparently, too, there's something about traveling during Spring Break that tends to drive up prices. Oh, if only the train was affordable!
After the last trip down to Abilene, though, a little drive down to Austin should be no big shakes, especially if the weather is decent. Seriously. After driving two days through the pouring rain, not being able to see anything in front of us, a nice jaunt in early Spring will be a piece of cake.
We hope.
Looking over the route, we decided to venture a little more eastward than usual, putting us in close proximity to Nashville, which means we FINALLY get a chance to drop in on Aunt Judy and Uncle Clyde. Which hasn't happened. Ever. And since my favorite memories of my childhood trips with my family involved dropping in on friends and relatives (which Mom and Dad seem to have everywhere), I decided it would be the thing to do. Of course, we could also add stops in Huntsville and Bloomington and Edwardsburg, but if there are too many stops, the kids will start freaking out because they're afraid of missing school. Not sure where they get that from. But anyway it will be nice to visit some family along the way.
::
The Camry is still sitting in the garage with the halogen lamp strategically placed on the hood facing the windshield frame, keeping the frame relatively warm while the rust converter & rust primer treatments cure.
 |
| Curing the Problem? |
Once those are cured and ready, it'll be time for 2 coats of enamel (with a bit of sanding in-between) to get the metal ready to support the urethane sealer they'll be using when they mount the new windshield.
I hope.
::
The basement is still not going as quickly as I had hoped, but there are issues almost every time I start working on it again. This time, it was the bathroom door. I was hanging the door so as to get the proper measurements for the header and having a difficult time of it because the door wasn't lining up correctly. The top of the opening was measuring 29-1/2" and the bottom was 31-1/4". Um. That doesn't make any sense. Especially when both the studs along the sides of the door were perfectly level. What is the issue?
Turns out it was the wall next to the bathroom door. Not the mechanical room wall that Dad did -- that one was rock solid. No, it was the back wall that I did a few years ago. It was actually twisted so that the bottom plate didn't line up with the top plate. So the 1-foot extension I had added to the wall to form the door frame was out-of-line with the run of the wall. Ended up having to detach the back wall and re-attach it correctly, then everything lined up. And voila! The bathroom door works now.
1 comment:
Yay for doors that hang well! Glad you figured that out.
I feel your pain on the "getting someone to take over" thing. Reminds me of the story about the guy who was trapped in the boat until he could get someone to take the oar.
It's hard to walk away and say, "Not my circus, not my monkeys" after you've put so much time and effort into something. And everyone is so busy!!! So many parents are not involved with their kids, just wanting to let the "pros" handle it. Even potty training is left to the day care these days. But the next group will be a way to make it work. After all, how many parents did we have helping in our drama productions in high school? Maybe there is place for a student "tech crew" who is non-musical but still wants to work behind the scenes. I'm sure they'll figure it out.
Can't wait to see you in April!
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