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Smoke and Lenses
Plenty is going on here at the Ricks household. I finished the semester, so now have to simply upload all of the grades and I can start worrying about other things. I attended commencement on Friday, which was rather strange. It was nice to see so many of my students walk across the stage, sad to lose so much of my morning for the ceremony, and strange to have so many people on the streets of Chicago congratulate me because I was in the robes. I wasn’t sure what to say, as I was not graduating, so I just smiled and thanked them. I suppose I should be flattered that I can still pass as a graduate student.
Both Avey and Carver got their glasses this week. Avey’s are a slightly different shape from her old ones, with more purple. She got transition lenses, so is learning how to deal with the dark lenses for a few minutes after coming inside.
Carver has been excited to show his glasses off. He looks about 5 years older now that he’s got them.
We had a bit of a scare on Friday. I was working from the local library while Kira was home with the two youngest boys. She noticed a strange smell, like something was burning. She did not find any smoke, or any obvious source, but the smell was still there. She told the landlady and me about it, so we tried to figure out what to do, and the landlady just called the non-emergency number for the fire department. They brought out a truck and everything, arriving just before Kira got home from picking Carver up from preschool. They found no traces of natural gas or carbon monoxide, but we did some troubleshooting and could not get the furnace to turn on. We figured something had shorted out with the thermostat or the furnace. The HVAC guy came and, sure enough, something on the circuit board for the furnace had shorted and melted. He got it fixed that day, but the smell lingered for about another 24 hours. We’re glad it didn’t turn out to be something worse!
We enjoyed Avey’s last concert of the school year this week. We took the whole family, which may have been a mistake because Carver started melting down as soon as we left for home. Avey did a great job, and because the concert was on May the Fourth, Star Wars Day, their first song was the “Imperial March” from the movies, and they had the lights low and red or blue glow sticks attached to their bows to imitate light sabers. The conductors used green and red light sabers as their batons, too.
I’d had a bee in my bonnet for some time now to convert the boys’ beds into bunk beds. It would simultaneously free up space in their room to move some of the toys from our living area to their den, give them something novel to enjoy, and get them used to the sleeping arrangement in case Merritt is ready move into their room with them in the next several months. So, I made the transition yesterday. It’s worked out well so far, but I’m a little nervous that they will try jumping from the top bunk soon.
Kira and I went on a rare date last night, thanks to a generous neighbor who volunteered her time to babysit. We chose to check out a shooting range nearby. It’s an indoor range, which neither of us had ever tried, but we had a grand time.
Avey is counting down the days until she’s out of school, and we are all counting down the days until my sister comes to visit!