Happy (not) Flag Day

So yeah, it's Flag Day. Not a day we are celebrating, how about you? We just have our Pride flag up. That's the only flag I'm comfortable with right now.

This was another busy week, maybe not quite so busy as the week before. Both boys made progress on getting ready for college, which is of course very important. 

Tuesday, we knew Teen A was scheduled for some sort of orientation, in person, but we didn't remember anything about it. And he couldn't get into his Metro email because the app that says his phone is OK to use (or something like that) wasn't working. 

On Monday afternoon I sat down with him in the living room (he was playing a game on his phone) and suggested he call Metro. "I've gotten two phone calls from a strange number today," he said. "Maybe that's related." Hmm. "Did you check to see if they left voicemails?" "No." "Could you check now?" "I don't know how to check my voicemail." Oh, great. "Why don't I just call the number and see what it was," I suggested. I pushed buttons to do that. Some Muzak came on, and then a voice said something like "Metro orientation department." I explained that someone had called us, and yes, it turned out that they were trying to reach Teen A to be sure he was still coming on Tuesday. Phew.

Teen A seemed nervous about driving to Metro, couldn't remember how to get there or where the building was, etc., etc., so I offered to come too. But in the end, he brought his girlfriend, which seemed a little weird, but probably less embarrassing than bringing your mom. And he apparently met with a counselor and chose his classes for fall. He won't tell me what they are, but that's OK too. (I'm sure I'll find out in the fall, when he asks me and Rocket Boy for help with assignments.) He also got the email problem sorted out, though not in time to find the code for free parking that they had sent him. La la la.

Teen B had his Zoom meeting with a CSU counselor on Wednesday at noon. Teen A's girlfriend slept over on the couch Tuesday night, which always annoys Teen B (it means we have to be quiet and not go in the living room until they wake up, which might not be until 12 or 1). But I warned Teen A the night before that I was going to wake them up at 11 and they needed to get up and out so that Teen B could have his Zoom meeting in peace. 

And that's how it worked out. Teen B wanted me to leave the house too, but I argued that since I'm losing my hearing, I wouldn't be able to hear anything that was said if he was in the living room and I was in the desk room with the door partially closed (it couldn't be fully closed because that would make Sillers meow). He met with the counselor for about an hour and a half, I didn't hear a thing, and they got his schedule partially done, but he still needs to choose two more classes. They're meeting again this coming Wednesday to finish up.

Anyway, progress is being made, little by little. Teen A has his real orientation this week, on Tuesday, which I might attend (or maybe his girlfriend will, lol).

On Tuesday night it was very windy, and around midnight we heard a loud THUMP, which usually means that our Siberian elm has dropped another branch on the house. Rocket Boy and I were in bed, about to turn out our lights, but Teen B came in to get me, so he and I looked out various windows with a flashlight until we spotted a lot of leaves and branches hanging over the window by my desk. It didn't look too bad. Teen A was in the shower at the time, and the bathroom is right next to that window, so the THUMP must have been loud in the shower. He came out in a towel, his eyes wide. 

I know it doesn't look that bad in the picture, but it really was a very large branch. I think it was probably damaged in our heavy wet May snowstorm and just finally finished detaching from the tree due to the wind. I pulled it off the roof yesterday, cut off all the little branches and put them in a leaf bag, and dragged the main log around to the front yard. Rocket Boy, after watching me struggle with it (he was weeding), went up on the roof and removed the residue. He also fixed the tarp that covers the hole in the patio roof, so that the finches won't get rained on. Because yes, the stupid finches are trying again. I warned them, but do they listen to me? No. The lady finch appears to be sitting on eggs. Twitter twitter tweet! So on we go.

I'm struggling with cooking again these days, just do NOT want to do it. No NY Times recipes appeal to me, so I've been trying a trick that sometimes works, picking one old cookbook each week to find recipes in. The week before last I picked the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, which was a terrible choice because (a) the recipes all have meat in them and (b) they're SO old-fashioned. But anyway, one recipe in the "Jiffy Cooking" section jumped out at me: baked beans and Boston brown bread (the kind that comes in a can). I'd forgotten all about Boston brown bread!

I put it on my grocery list, but it turns out that grocery stores don't carry it anymore, it's too weird. I even made a trek out to Walmart because Google seemed to think they would carry it (they don't). Finally I decided to order it online. It arrived this week, and so on Friday that was our dinner. Boston brown bread, toasted and spread with cream cheese. I decided not to heat up a can of baked beans to go with it because (a) it was hot and (b) nobody but me wanted to eat the Boston brown bread anyway.

It was OK, but kind of strange. Has a lot of molasses in it. I don't know what I'll do with the other can (it was sold in packages of two).

Yesterday, when I was doing dishes, I was trying to get the bits of molassesy-bread off one of the can lids and I cut myself REALLY badly. Blood spurted out. Rocket Boy ran to get me a bandaid, which I should really change today because the cut is probably going to get infected. Stupid can. Let this be a lesson to me not to order Boston brown bread again.

This week I cooked out of Laurel's Kitchen, which was better, but still not great. I made veggie enchiladas and quiche. Monday night we had Brenda's tofu, because it's a new month and I make it every month, and Tuesday Rocket Boy brought home a pizza because I couldn't bring myself to cook. Wednesday was the enchiladas, which didn't turn out very well (I used canned enchilada sauce, which is just nasty), and Thursday was the quiche, which is always good, and Friday the weird Boston brown bread. The fridge is STUFFED with leftovers, none of which I want to eat.

The Boston brown bread wasn't the only online order that arrived this week. For some reason I had ordered about nine different things that all came at the same time. 

For Rocket Boy's brother I had ordered two bottles of vitamins with iron from Whole Foods (he called me early one morning to beg me to order them -- he gets very panicky when he's running low). I also ordered him a new landline phone a couple of weeks ago because he keeps breaking his phones. 

For Teen A, I had ordered that new computer part he needed. He got right to work, taking his computer apart and putting in the new power supply or whatever it was. 

For myself I had ordered a new (actually used) tablecloth from eBay and it arrived this week. I also ordered a Barbie that I've been wanting for a while, but I'm not going to open the box until my birthday, so I'll show her to you later. I also ordered a book from Amazon that interested me (it wasn't available at the library or from Prospector), and I ordered a print of the kids' graduation pictures which also came this week (now I need to get a frame). I guess the one thing I ordered that DIDN'T come this week was another sundress. It's supposed to arrive this coming Tuesday, just in time for the heat wave.

If I sound rather extravagant, ordering all these things, well, none of them were expensive. The computer part was probably the worst, and it was like $88 or something. Most of the things were in the $10-20 range, including shipping. Oh, well, OK, the dress was more. But still. Rocket Boy continues to make so much money that I don't quite know what to do with it all. I put $500/week in a money market account, pay all our bills on time, and wonder what I should be doing with the rest.

When we start paying for Teen A's flight lessons, THAT will use up our money. It's fine. 

I am still spending a lot of time on genealogy. On Friday I had to take back Volume I of the big reference books on "The Palatine Families of New York" which I've had out of the library for six weeks, so I spent all week desperately looking for information in it. The book is a treasure trove, but you have to study it carefully. Many people on Ancestry.com have obviously already looked at it and entered information, but they're not always careful. For instance, I saw that someone had entered someone's confirmation date as their birthdate. You're typically a teenager when you're confirmed, so putting that date as someone's birthdate is a serious mistake. 

I worked and worked all week, several hours a day. It's so addictive. I have 2133 people in my tree now, and I can see how I can easily get to 3000 or 4000, just by filling in the gaps. Today, taking a break from the Palatines, I found some interesting (more recent) relatives (in Minnesota again). One young woman (a third cousin) married a man several years older than herself and I found a newspaper article about how he and she had been accused of operating a prostitution ring. Later they had a child, she divorced him, and then he died fairly young. Her sister married a younger man, who was already divorced with a child at age 23, but seven years later in his father's obituary it mentioned that he was engaged to someone else already, so she must have divorced him too. I busily entered all this interesting information in my tree, and then Ancestry asked me if I would like to contact some of these people (which means they're on Ancestry too). Oops. I always say no, but I wondered if I should remove some of the details from my tree. I think my tree is public, not sure. Oh well. Not like I made any of this up, it's all public record. People's lives, OMG.

What else happened this week? Rocket Boy had his orthopedics appointment, which was followed by an MRI on Thursday, but we don't have the results yet. He said they think it's not a rotator cuff tear, but we shall see.

On Thursday, Teen B and I both had our eye exams. His eyesight hadn't changed, but I let him get new glasses so that he could look cool for college. He chose the identical frames but in a different color, so he can mix and match depending on his outfit, lol. 

MY eyesight, on the other hand, had changed. I'm now a little more farsighted, possibly due to my diabetes drug keeping my blood sugar regulated. So I had to get new glasses too, and of course they didn't have my style anymore. I tried on frame after frame, getting more and more tired of looking in the mirror at myself and my gray t-shirt with the butterflies on it. But the woman who helps people choose frames worked with me and we finally found something that seemed acceptable. Both pairs of new glasses will be ready in a week or two.

This coming week, what's ahead?

• Monday evening at 7 pm there's a free concert by the Boulder Symphonic Band at our neighborhood park. We went to some of those last summer and it was so fun. It should be perfect weather for it. Also, maybe I can get out of cooking that night because we usually eat around 7 pm.
• Tuesday is Teen A's orientation at Metro, 8-5, which I may or may not attend with him. (Another excuse not to cook.)
• Wednesday, whew. Teen A has a haircut at 12, followed by his first flight lesson at 2 pm. At 2:45 I meet with MY orthopedist to talk about my torn meniscus, and at 3:30 Teen B has his follow-up advising appointment. (I probably have to cook that day. It's supposed to be hot. Maybe I'll make a salad.)
• Thursday Teen B finally gets his driver's license! And I'll have to cook. Sigh.
• Friday is Juneteenth, which I never really know how to celebrate, but we'll try, if only to annoy Drumpf. Maybe something like baked beans and deviled eggs, with watermelon for dessert (you're supposed to eat red things).
• And Saturday morning I have a Zoom call with my old Michigan friends. 

Probably there will be more than that, but that's all I have on the calendar right now. Maybe I'll finally hear back from the specialist vet about Sillers (I should contact them again) or my dentist, about the fake tooth. Another thing I need to do is drop off Teen B's clarinet at the repair shop in Broomfield, maybe I'll get to that this week. It's first come, first served, and they probably already have a thousand kids' instruments in the pile in the closet (I've seen it) to be worked on.

There are other things on my master summer to-do list that I haven't even started yet, like the files and piles in the desk room and cleaning out the kids' room. Maybe I could do a little on that this week. One idea I had was to put all (or most) of Teen A's toy car collection in a free box on the driveway. Maybe I'll do that this week. Or next week. We'll see.

As June marches on.