I have randoms today:
1. I have to go OOT for work next Tuesday and Wednesday. I've been in denial about it because I don't want to go, for several reasons ranging from "it's cold there" to "I've never left DS overnight." But I'm menu planning for next week and have to make some stuff ahead of time for everyone to eat, so denial isn't really an option anymore.
2. DH has a ton of vacation time he hasn't been able to use, and it's use it or lose it, he can't roll it over or cash it out or anything. So when I was planning this trip, he said that maybe he'd take vacation that Wednesday (he's off Tuesday for Veterans Day) "because getting the kids ready is going to be a lot of work." Y'all, it's his PTO and he can do what he wants with it, but if I took a day off every time I had to get the kids ready and out the door...I guess I'd be a SAHM. And I'm sure he will still send DS to DC, even though he's not going to work, and I'm fine with that, too--if I were home, DH would be going to work and DS would be at DC anyway. But without being sanctimonious about it, I kind of want to say "Dude, I do this every farking weekday, it's not that hard."
3. We are finally, finally making serious plans to replace my car, after almost 220,000 miles. It actually still runs well, we're just outgrowing it, with DD getting taller, a carseat and a booster in the back, etc. DH is going to take my car for commuting back and forth to the train station, and we're going to keep his truck for truck-related needs. (It's an extended cab, not a crew, so with this plan we will now both have kid-hauling capabilities, which will help with logistics.) My mom is coming to Wooz's soccer game Saturday a.m., and then she's going to watch the kids for a couple of hours while we test drive, and we'll bring back lunch for everyone. DH can't wait to begin negotiating, and more power to him--not my strength at all.
4. DH is being pretty Scrooge-y. With DD starting kindergarten, there have been myriad opportunities to donate money and stuff: some sort of fun run to raise money for the school library, PTA fund drives, hats for kids with cancer, you name it. And with the holidays coming, the food drives are starting, and we're looking ahead to gifts for needy families, Toys for Tots, etc. DH has always sort of grumbled about it, and I just tell him we're not going to starve because Wooz picked out four cans of Spaghettios for the school canned food drive when we were at the store. When we got the thing about the hats for kids with cancer, he picked it apart: surely most of their families could afford a hat, and if not, maybe their oncologists could get together and chip in a dozen hats apiece, and so on. Like, seriously, you are going to begrudge a chemo kid a $5 hat from Old Navy? I seriously said "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?" and at least got him to crack a smile. I think a big part of it is that he grew up fairly-to-pretty poor (the degree of which varied), so charitable donations weren't really a thing they did when he was growing up (understandably), plus now that he's not poor, he kind of wants to hoard his money like a hungry dog with a food bowl. But damn. I don't want the kids to pick up his stingy attitude, and anyway, I don't want some creepy dude in chains showing up at the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve while DH "Bah! Humbug!"s away. God bless us, every one!
ETA one more:
5. I mentioned my photo card love recently. They turned my change of address cards and new address labels around really quick--I should have them tomorrow. I was surprised, so I looked at the tracking, and Shutterfly has a huge new production facility just a few exits down the interstate. This can only feed my addiction, with near-instant gratification. I haven't made a photo book in a while...
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