Frantic, Frenzied, Frenetic February First; France Flight Fixation

Two days until Youngest Son leaves for France. Chaos reigns, both at home and at work. This has been my week:

Monday - When we went on our REI shopping spree for clothes for YS's trip, we bought him two new pair of pants. They are made of fabric that is lightweight, wrinkle resistant, and that will dry quickly when washed. Of course, they couldn't have both pair (one khaki, one charcoal) in the same exact size. The khaki pair is the right length, the charcoal pair is two inches longer. Task 1 for Monday - take charcoal pants to be hemmed. Task 2 - call bank and order euros. Task 3 - get new tags for Audi. Task 4 - file forms for obtaining e-rate funds from the feds for our telecommunication and internet access expenses. These funds represent a 60% discount on the fees we pay for telephone, broadband, and ISP charges, and are given to schools and libraries across the nation. The amount of the discount is based upon the percentage of students receiving free/reduced lunches in the school district. The amount we receive annually is beteween $8,000 and $14,000, but it's a royal pain in the bum to get this money, and it has all sorts of strings attached - the kind of strings to which libraries are reluctant to agree. Deadilne is 5PM today. Task 1, accomplished. Pants will be ready Friday. Task 2 - the bank wants a $10 fee, on top of the exchange, to order euros. That's 10%! Forget that. He will buy euros at O'Hare during 6 hour layover, or wait and get them from ATM in France. Task 3 - unaccomplished. Task 4 - accomplished with much frustration and swearing. Also had to spend an hour working at the information desk as we were short-staffed. Today of all days.

Tuesday - Supervisors' meeting at work to discuss filtering of internet computers and compliance with CIPA/NCIPA (Childhood Internet Protection Act/Neighborhood Childhood Protection Act), or lack thereof, all relative to e-rate funding. Spouse's boss was riding with him for the day, so he was going to be inaccessible. He has to be out today. It is my best friend's 60th birthday. We always take each other to lunch for our birthdays, so she and I go to lunch at 11:30. We go to the Beach House Restaurant, hoping to watch the bald eagles that usually perch in the leafless cottonwoods in front of the restaurant this time of year. But the lake is frozen so far out that the eagles are somewhere else, somewhere where they can get closer to the water, and the fish they eat. It's a beautiful, sunny day, though, and lunch is terrific (I have pasta pescadore, which is fettucine with mussels, clams, and shrimp. YUM!) On the way back to work, YS calls to tell me he realized he can't fit everything from his dorm room in his car (he forgot to take his subwoofers out when he was home last weekend), so I need to go over to help him ASAP. I drop BF off at work, gather my belongings, and head to Spokane. I arrive at 3PM. YS has not packed a single thing yet (studying for his final kept him up all night). We dig in and start packing. Fortunately, his RD (resident director) has approved the kid YS wanted to move into his room, meaning we don't have to move his refrigerator, microwave, stereo, TV, or sofa home until May. Even his posters are staying. This kid is a good kid and YS trusts him with his stuff. And even better, the housing director, after a conversation with the RD, has agreed to assign YS the same room next year. Apparently, he had studied abroad and had come back to a "horrible housing situation", so he sympathized with YS's concerns, and was willing to bend the rules a bit. That's a big relief, as YS was stressing about next year's living situation. By 5:30 PM, we were packed up and on the road. The Spouse had a very long day. He didn't get home until almost 8:30.

Wednesday - YS has a dentist appointment at 8:30 AM, then a chiropractor visit at 10:00. He is supposed to unpack his stuff from school and start packing for his trip. I get to work and am instantly set upon by staffers complaining they can't get online. Some can, some can't. I haven't even made it to my office yet. I am carrying my purse, my lunch, my backpack, and I'm still wearing my coat. The staff thinks that if they restart their computers when they can't "get online" it will somehow magically solve all their problems. It doesn't. They're online. The problem isn't that they're not online. It's that they can't get to Yahoo. That's why some think they are online and some think they are not "online". Some have Yahoo as their start page, most don't. Those who don't, are "on the 'net", those who do, don't think they are "on the 'net." So they restart their computers, and then complain that it didn't solve the problem. Grrrrr. I explain the problem, then head to my office.

I had gotten a call at about 7:30 last night from a coworker. My boss's mother had passed away. It had been coming and expected for some time. She wasn't expected to last until Christmas, but she did. She didn't think she was going to last the night just a couple of weeks ago, but she rallied again. Today would have been her 65th wedding anniversary. I think she was trying to make it until today. She almost did. She was 80-something. She had time to make her peace with everyone, to plan her funeral, and her family was able to prepare for her departure. But are you ever really prepared? My boss will be sad for a long time. I am sad for him. I don't know when the funeral is, and though I didn't know her well, I will go to support my boss and his family - unless it's Saturday, when we are taking YS to the airport for his trip.

YS slept most of the day. No unpacking was accomplished. I will take Friday off to help him finish, to go over the list of things he needs to take, to do last minute shopping for items he will need. We will spend the night in Spokane Friday, as he has to be at the airport at 5:00 AM, and it's a 90 minute drive from home to the airport. I'm wondering where we will wait until he boards the plane, since with the new security measures in place, the only people who can go to the gates are those with tickets. I am sure all us parents will want to spend time with our kids before they leave for three months. The Spokane airport is not setup very well for waiting anywhere but at the gates. It's going to be strange. I'm starting to miss YS already. He is getting very nervous about being gone for so long, and not being fluent in French.

Thursday - Follow-up doctor's appointment for me at 9:40 AM. Nothing big - just pre-menopausal female crap I've been dealing with for a few months. I saw him for the first time in years (I've been doing my annuals with a nurse practitioner) about 6 weeks ago, because of some of these stupid female pre-menopausal issues I was having. Turns out I was anemic. I started taking iron supplements. I don't think I am anemic now. I have the world's best OB/GYN. He delivered YS. When I delivered YS, my best friend at the time was also pregnant, delivering her daughter exactly one week later. Her daughter is also a student at Whitworth. We don't see each other a lot any more - work and family obligations took us in different directions - but when we do, it's as if we just had coffee yesterday. She now works for the OB/GYN (she's a nurse), so I get to see her, and that's another perk of going to see him. Then, to work, working on projects that seem to be never-ending, getting last-minute stuff accomplished in preparation for YS's trip, then home to help with unpacking/packing, laundry, etc.

As I said, Frenzied, Frantic, Frenetic February First.

And in the news, this: French smokers say c'est la vie to to ban. That's good news for YS. He hates cigarette smoke.