Our drive home yesterday was relatively uneventful. The corn fields on the way out of town have been harvested, although the ones on our road are still standing. Our yard is still a mess, overgrown beds and construction litter (scaffolding, lumber, etc.) reminding me that I have a "to-do" list a mile long, even before walking in the front door. But walking through that door gave me the same sense of pleasure, relief, and joy as it always does. After several weeks of absence, I am home.
Leo and I decided to go to the movies last night. "Hancock" started off a bit slow and unimpressive, but once the twist was tossed in, it turned out to be not bad at all. "Wanted" in next on our list, but we'll have to drive to Victoria for that one.
This past week had me working on four different projects at work. We finished up the training (a total 78 people attended the four sessions) on the ProSteward database, although I have a very long list of changes, upgrades, and fixes to tackle. I had to rebuild a broken Preventive Maintenance database at URC, after one of the forms failed then refused to allow me to delete it. I continue to struggle with slow but steady progress through the BAR Data Warehouse project which has an important deadline approaching this week. I have one month in which to squeeze in a rebuild of an old OIMS Assessment database, a project that utilizes an intricate merging of multiple databases into a final Word document report. A separate important but time-consuming and detailed Project Management tool is sitting in the wings, waiting for me to have a chance to dedicate some time and effort to it since it is little more than the spark of an idea at the moment. So...I am DEFINITELY not lacking for work these days.
I woke up this morning to the sound of Leo on the lawn tractor, but less than 30 minutes later, we are getting a much needed downpour. I need to put in 8 hours of work today, so the rain is not disrupting my plans at all. Still, I hope to see it rain much of the day, then clear out by evening so the families can have their fun with firecrackers at the boat ramp, and we can watch the show for free.
Fireworks were always a big part of our holidays, growing up, but I abandoned the practice years ago, when the girls were teenagers, after accidentally setting one of my daughter's hair on fire. It's a story oft repeated at family get-togethers amid much laughter and joking, but it is also the reason I stopped participating in such activities (bad luck, and all that).
I've had the good fortune to be in contact with several friends this week, via email. It's a bit odd for me as, with my lifestyle, I can often go for weeks without any personal interaction outside of Leo, my sister, and my daughters. It's a nice thought that I will need to dedicate a couple of hours this evening to updating friends on my recent goings-on and find out more about what's going on in their lives.
Leo's preparations for Nigeria continue to be the primary "diversion" in our lives at the moment. This week he got all his shots, three in each arm and one in that other typical spot. He's just getting over the soreness now. We have purchased all the clothing and work shoes he will need, made sure he is equipped with a laptop and printer, and have practiced all kinds of things to ensure we will be able to keep in touch and that he will be able to carry out all of the technological tasks that I generally handle (file manipulations, document creation, faxing, scanning, photo manipulation, electronic drawings, texting, and more) while he's gone. We are both excited (not nervous) about the work, but both continue to downplay the fact that we would 1000x rather be together for this than apart. That's just something we're going to have to live with for the moment.
Yikes! It appears I have gone ON AND ON once again. My apologies! I'll try to write more frequently and less lengthily in the future!
MOM
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