Skipping Town

Late in August, as the school year approached, a couple of things happened: First, I finished a revision of my new novel, three-hole-punched it for a binder, and gave it to Andrew to read--the first and only person to lay eyes on this thing. And second, without a messy trashpile of a draft to actively work on, I thought it might be an interesting idea to take on a job outside the house. Gasp! I applied to a couple of temp organizations at Pitt and CMU, and as of today I have a job with Pitt through the middle of December, and the prospect of temp work with CMU starting in January. If I want it. If I want any of it! I was filled with instant regret the second I agreed to the Pitt job. But I'm in it now, and I'll see it through. I mean, it's a good job--office admin at the Writing Center--and the hours are pretty much perfect for still being able to pick up the kids from their after-school activities. And it's about seven minutes from home. Can't complain about any of

The kids had off today so I had them try on all their fall clothes. I always put this off and am then blindsided when the temperature suddenly drops and they have nothing to wear. The state of their fall clothes is a pretty good window into how last fall/winter went: they had almost no 'real' clothes, just some lounge pants and a bunch of long-sleeve t-shirts I'd gotten at a rummage sale two (three?) years ago. None of it fit. Did these clothes even fit last year? Did it matter? No one saw the kids but us, and they really only wanted to wear pj's when they got home from school. It's a startling reminder that we really did not leave the house last fall/winter to do anything at all.  We have to start their wardrobes from scratch this fall. They don't need a ton of clothes, since they wear uniforms to school, but they need more than what they have, which is nothing. So: online shopping we go. 

Another school year is underway, and, like last year, we're so grateful to have landed here, at such an amazing school. Greta's in fourth grade, with a fantastic teacher; Lucia's in sixth grade, her first year in the Middle School. She has a lot more independence, a lot more time to manager herself, and a lot of choices in the classes she takes. She had to choose electives this week, ranking 13 choices for each of three days; I can't wait to see which three she gets.  Lucia's doing cross-country this trimester, which lacks the organization and transparency of the rest of the school; I had to put Andrew in charge of trying to get information. Lucia was not a fan of the practices that took place during the super-hot days this week, but she did much better yesterday and today when she got to run in rain/cooler temps. Greta's going to do cross-country too. Though I myself loathe running, I would like the girls to love it. We'll see how they fare. Perhaps cross-c