Nicole feels

Home again. Well, back to what is our home for about 5.5 more days.

And as you can imagine, there is a butt-ton to do. But I was so whooped from driving most of the day yesterday, I slept in anyway.

Sunday after church, we drove up to MD to drop off the kids, then on to the airport to drop off Rob. As far as I know, he is in Honolulu now, likely sleeping since it is a mere 4:45 AM there.

His body clocked should be good and screwed by the time he returns Friday night. Perfect for finishing the packing and loading a truck.

Still trying not to be bitter... *wry grin*

Went out to Naptown to hang out with Batten and a few of her friends. It is always great to see her. She wraps you in a big bear hug and you just feel right at home, no matter where you are or who's around. And the folks she introduced me to were just so warm and sweet. I didn't even feel an iota out of place sitting at a bar (remember, folks, my background is B@ptist pastor's wife), sipping my diet coke, and listening to them talk about Neil Diamond, Jazz, and B-movies, none of which I know a bit about.

(So thanks, sweetie, again, for inviting me out to hang with you; it was totally cool.)

I drove up to DE Monday morning for the home inspection. Got there about 1.5 hour early, so I grabbed a bagel and coffee at P@nera and utilized their free WiFi.

The inspection went great. No major issues, just a few things we are asking them to fix. But no deal-breakers should they say no. I took some pics of the inside as well; will try to post a few later. After seeing it again, I love it even more, especially the kitchen, though I think I will have to eventually replace the oven unit since it is not self-cleaning or convection (yeah, I'm spoiled like that).

Finally met our loan officer when the realtor and I went back to fill out some paperwork. Offloaded a bunch of moolah, all of which goes toward closing, but was still a bit shocking to part ways with.

Checked into my hotel. Now, you all are probably going to be like, "what!?", but this was the first time I ever stayed in a hotel alone. It was weirdly nice. A bit lonely, but I enjoyed the quiet. I filled the evening with some school shopping, Six Feet Under, and a late night run to a D3nny's that had some amazingly good food for 11:15 at night.

I don't think I will ever get used to eating at a restaurant alone. I forgot to bring a book, so I was relegated to people watching. Which was interesting, but I still felt a bit conspicuous. Ah, well, I survived, and the pancakes were tasty.

Yesterday morning I headed to the school for part of the orientation. Mostly going over their employment policies. I guess it is official that Rob is part of the staff, albeit part time, as his name was in the manual as a pastoral/administrative contact, and the pastor told everyone what his responsibilities would be.

I was also given my grammar and composition curriculum, as well as a schedule. I will actually have two classrooms: one for my grammar classes and one for the computer lab, and they are right next to each other. Sounds like they want to focus hard on compostion - yippee! That will be fun, and I am already thinking of journaling activities and such (and hey, if you wonderful writers out there have any suggestions, please send them on!!).

The computer stuff is a little less organized, and I will likely be developing stuff as I go along. I am going to try to get some materials/info from some of the public school websites. Looks like my focus with the older kids will be keyboarding, Windows, Office, and some web design. I am glad that the web design aspect comes later in the school year; gives me time to brush up on that stuff.

I left there after lunch, did some more school shopping (no sales tax in DE), and then headed to J's to get my brood and head home. Lots o' rain on the way, so didn't get here till close to 11 PM.

Have I sufficiently bored you all to tears? Rob always teases me about how I have to ease into my day, taking 2-3 hours before I am even ready. I guess that is kind of what I am doing now, though it doesn't work quite as well when the day begins at 10.

Ah, well, he shouldn't complain too much since I am here and he's on an emerald island, now should he?