Next...

There's another reunion in the bag. This one was different because Chad was only with us a few days, and he brought his girlfriend and her daughter. They stayed in a hotel, which made my life a lot easier. Actually, it was pretty darn easy all around. Between work and that submission deadline, I was swamped, so Eric did most of the prep work. He even handled all the picking up and dropping off. I went with them to the train station to drop Vicky off, but I didn't see O'Hare at all, which was a real treat.

Having the kid around was, well, it was all right, but I'd like it better if she came back again in ten years or so. She's the only child of divorced parents and acts like it. She thought Vicky was the coolest person ever, which was fine for Vicky for the first three hours or so. After a full day of sight-seeing, she declared the kid birth control. At one point, the kid was fake punching Vicky, and I could see Vicky's BS tolerance plummeting, so I got the kid's attention and said, in my best mom voice, "Let's get something straight. That's my baby." The defiance in her eyes turned to terror in about a nanosecond, and she started the "I didn't do anything" litany, all of which got her mom's attention. It was great! She did listen to all the adults better after that.

So now I'm transitioning again. We hope to close on the house the week of the 26th, and we leave the 1st for Scotland. "Pack" is the watchword for the rest of the month. I also have to find a cat sitter. I've heard our usual sitters will have someone come and stay the night, so that is my back-up plan. I'll call and confirm tomorrow. Ideally, though, I'd like to have someone I trust stay here, or at least come and hang out for several hours a day. Limited human contact for ten days will have my furries neurotic. Boarding them is my worst case scenario. The last time we had to board the girls, it was near impossible to get them in a carrier a year later to move them to the house in Mascoutah. They were completely freaked out about being caged, and I can't have that this time. Not when we have to be out of the apartment by August 31.

I hope to get some writing done. I haven't written this month, and I can feel it. June was amazing--my best writing months in, I dunno, years, probably. I'm not sure I want to dig up the old spreadsheets to check stats. I think I'm going to work on the dragon story again ad try to get that whipped into shape before we go. Or I could review King Or Country and see if I can get the plot(s) for that solidified so I know what to look for in terms of research while we're in Scotland. Our stateside trip coordinator, who is a writer and married to a Scotsman, tells me there are a couple used book stores in Inverness I Must Not Miss. There's a reason I'm mildly obsessive about packing light for this trip!

I'm sure there's more. My brain has been all swirly with details for weeks. Anxiety levels have spiked enough lately I looked up acupressure points and have started drinking Tulsi tea. It's bad enough I have over-caffeinated myself on my second cup of coffee a few times, and that hasn't happened in 20+ years.

Oh! There was a little excitement with the job. I got a $1.00 raise with my promotion a couple of weeks ago, and I just got another raise, courtesy of the City of Chicago. A new city ordinance is raising the minimum wage to $13 by 2017 (I think), so my pay popped up another $1.25. Who knew you could make $11/hour stirring fro yo? So there's another reason to commute to this store instead of inquiring about transferring to the franchise near the house. The house is outside city limits.

So this week, I'm packing and writing. I welcome comments and opinions about what project I should work on immediately. Y'all have a good week!