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bon voyage
July 25, 2016
Well, after an...interesting...week, we got the kid to his flight yesterday, and said our goodbyes. And I, for one, was exhausted by the time that rolled around.
A week of sleeping on the loveseat (and in a nightgown!), a week of extra running around, trying to keep up with Spouse's endless litany of shit he needed me to do, and cramming 4 and a half days of work into three so I could be off on Thursday and Friday, no 'me time' to speak of, and--of course--taking the kid sightseeing. All in brutal, suffocating heat & humidity, of course.
The first part of the week, Spouse and I had to work, so I came home, took the kid to the northside library for his sessions, made dinners, and did chores. Spouse picked the kid up, came home, ate the dinners, and went to bed. Fortunately, the kid likes to geek out by himself in his room, so it wasn't like I had to entertain him in the evenings.
Kid had good sessions with the 3-D printer guy, and it must have been fruitful, because he was able to make several items on it--where he hadn't before.
Spouse and I were both off on Thursday and Friday. So naturally, Spouse decided that he just HAD to take his car to the garage, and just HAD to go get a rental car--meaning I had to go pick him up and take him to enterprise and rent the car because he doesn't own a credit card. Then he decided we should go do the grocery shopping, of course. He pretty much sucked up my whole Thursday. I did get a bit of a reprieve on Thursday evening--he and the kid went out to dinner with the printer guy. I used my time to haul the old, heavy vacuum out of the basement, then use it to clean up the dog hair, and when that was done, break it down and clean it out thoroughly because it smelled bad, and if I am going to have to use it for a while, a thorough cleaning was necessary.
Oh...didn't I mention that right before the kid came, our 1-year-old vacuum and our 20-year old kitchen wastebasket both gave up the ghost? We replaced the wastebasket, but the vacuum is going to have to wait a few weeks. I rather like the new wastebasket. I wish it wasn't white (it was that or black), but I like that it is rectangular, slim profile, covered, and has a foot pedal. It fits very well in the wastebasket spot.
Here's the thing. Up until about noon on Wednesday, he was going to be working on Thursday. Him working, and me off. He never once even thought to ask me if there was anything I had planned. Guess what? I HAD PLANS. Long story short--my fingernails are back to being as bad as they ever have been, my toenails are ridiculous, and I am still out of my favorite moisturzier because he never gives me a minute to myself if he can help it.
On Friday, I rebelled and had a do-nothing day, which I sorely needed. Kid and I went for a Lake Michigan cruise on a two-masted schooner called The Red Witch, and that was very interesting. The "seats" were the hatches, the sun was broiling (even at six in the evening!), and we didn't have enough wind, but otherwise it was very interesting and informative. A good experience. We all went to LaFogata after, because the Kid wanted Mexican food. We had a long wait, but it is always worth it there.
On Saturday, drove down to Waukegan to catch the Metra train into the city. Stopped for coffee and donuts at the incomparable CJs in Beach Park on the way. Caught the train with no hitches, and got into the city about 9:30. After seeing the weather, Spouse tried to get the kid to agree to driving down and just going to the Museum of Science and Industry, but he was adamant that he wanted to see downtown, and go to the Apple Store. I had already told Spouse I didn't think I was equal to walking from the train station all the way to N. Michigan Avenue, so I came up with a solution that actually worked out really well--we walked over a couple blocks, to the river, and took a water taxi from the opera house to the Wrigley Building. Cheap, fast, and reasonably comfortable.
Once we got over to the Mag Mile, we walked down a few blocks to the Apple Store. Kid was in heaven, I was hot, sweating, and miserable. Once he was done there, we walked back up to the river, stopped at the Ghirardelli store in the Wrigley building for a cool off and some ice cream, then got tickets for a double-decker bus tour of Downtown. I was not thrilled, but I guess it beat walking.
The tour was guided, but you could jump off your bus if you wanted to check something out, and just grab the next tour bus that came by when you were ready to go. We'd planned to get off for the Sears Tower, but the wait for the observation deck was almost three hours, and it was so hazy, you weren't going to see much anyway. So we stayed on the bus. I did, however, climb down and ride indoors about halfway, because I was getting seriously fried. I actually enjoyed that, because I was the only one on the lower level, and there were wide, upholstered, comfy seats in the shade. (And I didn't have to listen to the snotty tourists poking fun of Chicago in French, either.)
After two hours on the bus, we were beat, so we headed over to the water taxi stand to head back down the river. Ended up having to wait about a half hour in the sun, because they had a boat break down, though. I was glad I took an umbrella; I used it for a sunshade.
Once we finally got back to the train station, we had almost an hour to the next train, so we grabbed a cold drink and a bite to eat at the food court, stopped at Garrett's for caramel corn, of course, and cooled off a bit. The train back to Waukegan was a limited, but there was a slight delay on the tracks due to problems with an earlier train. We got in about 5:00, and I called Roma and ordered pizza as soon as we got in the car, because we had to go right by there on the way home, we were all completely wrung out from the heat (and in my case, quite sunburned), and there was a thunderstorm bearing down hard on us. Home, food, showers, and an early bed, because damn, it was an exhausting day. Plus, we had to get up in the morning and get the kid to the airport. I think he stayed up long enough to do some packing, though.
We got up fairly early on Sunday, went to breakfast at the Melrose in Oak Creek, and then took the kid to the airport. Once we had him safely to the security line, we came home. Stopped at the new northside festival for a few odds and ends on the way. I put away the groceries, did laundry, cooked off some chicken breasts, and made a batch of Jello for Spouse to have during the week. And I stretched out on my bed and took a much-needed nap. Spouse gassed up my car and made dinner--"chop suey" cooked in the pressure cooker, and served over rice.
We shared dish duty, and I ran around getting all my stuff ready for Monday--unfortunately, I forgot to change my badge over to the purse I was carrying, so I had to go way out of my way this morning to get into the building via the downstairs entrance by the security desk. But that was par for the course--this day has been a shitshow from the gitgo, and I am ready to die.
Reading: Still reading "A Prairie Courtship" (1910), by Harold Bindloss. Also--"That Affair at Elizabeth" (1907), by Burton Egbert Stevenson
Listening: Kaleo, The Killers, The Decembrists, Steve Goodman, Talking Heads
Inked Up: STILL nothing new--no time and/or no energy to deal with them this week. Levenger Facets Fine/Blu Mare, Ohto Tasche Fine/Pelikan 4001 Pink, Jetpens Chibi 2/J. Herbin Orange Indien, Conklin Duragraph/Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown, and Sheaffer Javelin/Scrip Blue-Black.
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