OMG it's August!

The summer's been dragging along -- or can I think of a more pleasant word? Meandering along, maybe. It hasn't been terrible. Stressful because of the money issues, boring because of no travel and the twins home all day, but not terrible. But ACK! now it's August! Two and a half weeks until the kids' school starts, and just under three weeks until I stand up in the classroom again. I am SO not ready for this!

One of the bloggers I follow wrote a post about this yesterday and it made me laugh. Oh-shit-it's-August syndrome is apparently a common experience. But she's in better shape than usual, while I, on the other hand, am in my usual awful shape. (She doesn't have kids.) A few weeks ago I decided to spend an hour on my classes each night...a plan that went exactly nowhere. Occasionally I do have a thought that grabs me, and then I'll work on a syllabus or whatever, but mostly not.

I really do need to spend some time on class prep, because I need to rethink one of the classes I'm teaching. But when will this happen? There are no free days. The kids go back to school on August 18th, and that day I have meetings from 10:00 to 3:00. On August 19th the meetings are over at 1:00, so I might be able to grab an hour before the kids come home. Really, it's not much!

In addition to panicking about school starting, we have the following things scheduled:

• Tomorrow: take Kid A to the orthodontist to get his first BRACES (he's nervous). Deal with all that, getting him used to them, etc.
• Friday the 5th: see the eye doctor -- why couldn't I have done this a month ago?
• Monday the 8th: appointment at the Kaiser weight-loss clinic. Must try to think of reason why I have not lost any weight the past six weeks.
• Tuesday the 9th: get my hearing checked. Another thing I could have scheduled a long time ago. I can't afford a hearing aid, but I thought it would be nice to know whether I need one. Also that day we're having Clifford's house's ducts cleaned, and my book group meets (note to self: read the darn book!).
• Wednesday the 10th: take the car in for a check-up, figure out really cheap way to celebrate our 14th anniversary.

I'm sure more things will fit themselves into the next 16-19 days, but these are what I'm looking at now.

Sort of to kick all this panic off, we did take a little vacation this weekend, the only one of the summer. We had two conflicting things scheduled and we decided to attend both. The people who own the gorgeous house "next door" to our tiny cabin (see the green roof of our cabin peeping through the trees?) in South Park have a big party each summer and we're always invited. This might be their last party up there, because they've put their house on the market. They're selling (or trying to) because the wife can't breathe up at 10,500 feet without supplemental oxygen. I of course am totally sympathetic, since I can't breathe up there either. So anyway, on Saturday morning we all piled into the Subaru and drove to Alma. We were there from about 1:30 to 4:45. When we got up to go, Barb said "Oh, I was just going to pull the food out!" but we left anyway. Dumb, because we ended up eating on the road -- might as well have stayed another 45 minutes and eaten for free.

Instead, we piled back into the car and drove another 100 miles to Snow Mountain Ranch YMCA camp, where the twins club was having its annual camping trip. We were not actually part of the trip, because it filled up really quickly this year and I didn't get a spot. But Rocket Boy thought it would be nice if we went up there anyway and stayed in the lodge. We arrived at the camp after 8 pm -- stopped by the campground to see if we could find some twins, but their festivities were pretty much over. So we enjoyed the camp on our own, beginning with mini golf that night, and continuing with more mini golf, plus swimming, in the morning.

Snow Mountain Ranch is a beautiful camp, but staying in the lodge is pricey. $180 for one room for the night. Ouch! One more thing on the credit card. Of course, the price includes all the activities at the camp, but if you're just staying one night and you arrive late... let's just say $180 seems like a lot to pay for a few rounds of mini golf! Oh well, it was our one big splurge this summer. We drove home through Rocky Mountain National Park, and the ranger and I enjoyed a laugh at the fact that my annual pass expired the next day. But it got us in!

So that was our one vacation and I'm not inclined to repeat it, even if we had the money, which we don't. Rocket Boy's paying off our mortgage was wonderful -- and it has gone through now. I looked at my credit union account on line and the mortgage was just -- gone -- gone as though it had never been. I called the number just to be sure, and a robot voice told me "Your loan is paid in full." So that was exciting. But we still have no income. Pray for me that our tax return money comes soon, and/or that Clifford's house gets rented soon. I went to the grocery store yesterday and had only $6 left on the gift card that I use to pay for things there -- the kids' school gets a cut. I had to put the other $101 dollars on my credit card. "Do you want to reload your gift card?" the checker asked me, and I had to say no. We'll get through this, but any time now would be good.

And so, my August panic is tempered somewhat by the anticipation of my first paycheck in four months (not until September 30th, but later is better than never). I don't care how scary teaching is -- it pays! So I'll survive. Somehow. Wish us luck.