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Hunting Dogs
This week felt like 3 packed all together. Here are some of the highlights:
Avey has been wisely saving her money that she’s earned from dog-sitting and doing chores at home, so she decided early this week to open up a savings account. She kept some of the cash for some spending money, and the bulk of it is now sitting in her account. That’s a nice milestone for her, and a testament to how she’s been responsible.
To go along with her responsibility, we’ve been looking into getting a dog for the family. We figured we should start now as it may take several weeks to find the right fit. I’ve put out some applications at shelters, and contacted several people about specific animals that would make a good match for us, so stay tuned as we get that adventure going.
The kids were on spring break all week while I had a normal schedule. Kira did a good job getting them out of the house for an outing or two each day, and I did my best to not be too jealous. I am in a busy time in the semester, so I had plenty to keep me busy.
I had a classroom observation from another professor on Tuesday, which went very well, but is always just a tad uncomfortable for me, knowing I’m being formally evaluated. Still, it’s nice to have that done until next time (we do it every semester).
Wednesday was a strange day. I drove all the way to Schaumburg for my course, so Kira was without the car. She and the kids enjoyed the warm weather and walked about 30 minutes to the closest park, and then all came back wiped out. I spent half of my day messing around with computer nonsense. I work from my laptop in Schaumburg, but I hadn’t charged my battery the night before. When I plugged it in to start working, nothing happened. The charger wouldn’t charge. I spent far too long trying to troubleshoot, and even went digging through the electronic waste to see if I could find a charger that would fit, but all to no avail. I ordered a new one that came Friday.
Wednesday night, as we were all getting ready for bed, Avey noticed that part of her back felt like it was sunburned. When Kira looked, she was horrified to find a tick embedded in Avey’s back, just under her shoulder blade area. Hannah grabbed tweezers, and I shone the light while we detached the wretched thing. We all puzzled over where it could have come from, and Kira bathed everyone and checked all of their clothes carefully the next day.
Hannah started a job this week with a gardening service. She left early in the morning to clear leaves and such from properties near the lake shore. She put in a good day of work, but after a lot of thinking about it, decided that it was not a good fit for her. Specifically, it violated two of her criteria for a job, so she’d prefer to spend her time looking for a better one that she can really love.
I had to go to campus on Saturday as I had “volunteered” to give a mock lecture on my specialty to incoming students and some of the parents. It was a sort of orientation day, and so I spoke for 45 minutes on myths about criminal profiling. It went really well, but it was hard to lose about half of the day.
The grownups and Avey are all going to see comedian James Acaster tonight in Chicago, so we’re excited for some variety, and for one last bit of fun before school starts back up.