Not lost!

 Sorry guys, I'm kindergarten tired, haha. It's back to school! I'm thrilled to say that I'm also back at school, both subbing and for the month of September at least, being an aide. I'm having a ball in the wing that holds our youngest students, but I also do not have the same energy allotment as the 5 year olds. Attention span, maybe, but definitely not the energy! 

Unfair that kids who fight naps get to have them and adults who need them don't. 

Suck it up, buttercup, I guess.

Anyhoo, our high school home team has lost all three of their football games thus far. The band sure is having a good time, and our kid in particular, who is mainlining Pixie Sticks and sour Skittles and God alone knows what else. Dada and I watched in fascination as he dumped sugar into his mouth, washed it down with Coke, played a snatch of a song, and repeated the cycle with more Pixie Sticks. I'm still amazed the entire bleacher section wasn't vibrating from the vast amount of sugar coursing through just him, but then seeing more Pixie Sticks being launched through the air from one section to another and I can't even imagine how they ever sleep. I bet dentists everywhere rejoice; job security fo' sho'.

My Mommeeee came out for a visit and the weather cooperated so we got to run some errands with blue skies and puffy clouds. September is a favorite of hers. I always wish they could stay longer, but she had good traveling weather and made it back home safe. Thanks for all our treats and Wendy's and your company!

Dada and I putzed our way through the Black Swamp Arts Fest (which we call Dark Arts) both on Saturday and Sunday, perusing all the wares, meeting up with friends, making some fun purchases. Tons of fair food, fun live music, and a Main Street full of vendors, we give it two thumbs up! PLUS, there was a book sale at the library so guess who got more books even though she's already at least 6 books behind her reading goal for 2025... yay! New friends!

Labor Day weekend brought yard work, much to the chagrin of the boys, including chopping off tree limbs and burning them, pulling many weeds and yanking out small honeysuckle bushes. Also got as many small saplings of our zillions of trees out as I could, and gingerly removed dead black raspberry canes. Miraculously, I stayed out of the poison ivy! Soon enough we will be raking leaves or mulching them into the grass, I suppose, but for now we are enjoying the cool mornings and warm afternoons. Especially at recess! Any chance to play outside is a chance I'll take!

My PET scan showed nothing, which is a good thing! My EKG also must have been normal because I didn't hear otherwise. Next month I'll have another oncology check up, and later this week is my 8 week post-op visit from my hysterectomy. I'm fairly certain she will sign me off. 

My two new meds seem to be doing their thing and only causing dried out eyes and nasal membranes. I hope the week off each month from one of them (planned, so that my lowered blood cell counts can recover. You know, important things like platelets) will bring some relief- I'm a little nervous going into the cold season with all the drying effects of furnaces on top of the side effects. I don't want to have to switch meds. One of these I'll be on for forever and the other is a 3 year gig. I'm almost 2/36ths done! Woohoo! I'll let you math nerds reduce that. 

Already had my first back-to-school germs, so I can check that off my list. I had a head cold before the kids even started back. Definitely must be allergic to school. Hehe!

Enjoy the beautiful autumn weather even if it hasn't officially started yet. I refuse to break out my cold weather clothes until the calendar declares it, so I'll be over here in my sundresses with sweaters and leggings. 

Kilauea, chemo, and the dishwasher that wasn't

Today is the first day of school which means summer as we know it is over, never mind that there is still an entire month to go before autumn officially begins. Apparently nobody told Mother Nature to check her calendar, or else she also runs on school schedules, because it was a brisk 62 degrees with a playful breeze this morning. Liam made a quick change from shorts to sweat pants, all the kids left in hoodies, and I just about froze my poor naked bean my first trip out to the bus.

Which was understandably late by a few minutes. First day of school often has hiccups, I get it. The big kids had almost declared, "we missed it; it's too late" when I sent them back down the driveway. Within two more minutes, their bus trundled up to take them away.

We have a sophomore this year.

And a seventh grader.

No, PaPa, they're not 10 and 7. We can just hear you laughing.

Then it was the third grader's turn to catch his bus. 

Someone was absolutely delighted to learn the nature trick of using a stem to pop the flower off of a plant (and into unsuspecting victim's hair, face, etc) and was practicing earnestly. His bus is supposed to collect him at about quarter after 8 and we were out there before 10 after. We waited until twenty til 9 when Dada, bless his heart, decided to take him to school. I have no idea if we missed it because it was really early despite being late the first round or if it was really late from being stuck farther back in the queue. Again, first day is rife with snafus, I get it, but tomorrow is my last chemo and I will be half an hour away and therefore unable to take him if the bus fails...

When we look back on this summer, especially as I am terrible at remembering dates, it will be the summer Kilauea erupted and kept going, the summer I had chemo (which also felt at times like it would be never ending; I would swear it has been 100 days since the last round when tomorrow will be exactly 3 weeks, like every other round has been), and the summer we were without a dishwasher. The one that was part of the house when we bought it almost five years ago started limping along this winter and early spring. The button for "smart wash" stopped working, so I switched to using "normal wash." That one was next to give up the ghost, but "light wash" would light up... alas, then the "start" button quit. 

*sigh* 

Nothing to be done once your "start" button goes, folks.

So there we were at the  Memorial Day weekend sales. We picked out a spiffy (we thought) new black one with a towel bar which would be delivered in a reasonable time as it was a special order. Said day comes and goes, no dishwasher. Eventually one shows up and has no towel bar, but at this point we decided we didn't care that much and we were happy to have assistance washing dishes for a family of five plus visitors. It's installed, installers leave, I load it, add soap, push buttons, and get "E 24". Google tells us that's an error regarding draining. Great.

After some phone calls and more days, that dishwasher is unloaded, dishes washed by hand, and the installers eventually come to remove it. They realize that the second new dishwasher they've brought to our home is not black but stainless steel. Oh dear. They don't even unload that one but do take the new/old black one sans towel bar which doesn't drain and apologize.

We go back and peruse more dishwashers, select a different brand and model, and now still have the gaping hole in the kitchen where a dishwasher belongs. Carrie is incredulous that she's been washing dishes all summer. First world problems. 

Feel free to place your bets as to whether we will have one by Labor Day or not. I never would have believed that all my chemo would be done before we received a working dishwasher. I guess time is relative. 

*Update* Ugh, sorry all the photos spewed into the middle. I guess that's why I don't blog after bedtime generally! Apparently they tweaked the bus schedule and Damon is to be picked up at 8:04 instead of 8:14. Now we know. Cross your fingers tomorrow is smoother! And while you're praying over my hopefully very last chemo ever, toss in some prayers for the good folks in Hawaii that Hurricane Lane downgrades and isn't as absolutely awful as it could be, please. It hasn't been the best year, that's for sure.