We got up and went to an only-in-Texas-would-you-get-this furniture store which also has an aquarium, a few monkeys, a gorgeous macaw, and a restaurant. Now we are home and planning to spend the rest of the day watching DVDs and relaxing. And possibly plotting vengeance.

Vengeance sounds like a great plan, Dana.

I went for a brisk 7-mile hike in the woods, but had to dodge marathons for part of it, which was annoying. Also, you can smell the fires in Lake County all the way down here: it's really unsettling. However it was a good hike, and I feel like I'm probably going to do okay on my big walking tour, which I was a bit concerned about. I still bought a bunch of moleskin and blister stuff at REI yesterday.

Now to take Dad to lunch, check the progress of my kitchen, and go out for hot tub & massages with a friend. Possibly a hot and smoky day is not the best choice for hot tubs, but it'll still be nice.

It's been years since I've gone hot-tubbing: when you get your own tub, the protocol is still nekkid, right?

Slept in which was lovely. Have shopped with Mac for a few back to school clothes. Failed in finding an open bank to get him a youth account. Now we are getting lunch. Me blowing my calories for the day. Cheat day.

Why does cleaning make me realize how dirty everything is, and how no matter how much I clean, it will still be dirty? This is why I never clean.

Now that I cleaned the apartment enough to let the landlord in, I am now deep cleaning (like washing walls and behind things). I know normal people do this regularly, but it is too onerous.

Sometimes I wish I had a partner to help me take care of myself, but I feel like if I did, I would feel like Burrell and flea because everyone I know with a husband and kids feels like that.

Man, the pollen count today must be setting a record. I was sneezing my head off at the farmer's market this morning, and I just got back from a lunch where it felt like my eyes were watering the whole time.

In my husband's defense he does do a lot of emotional work too, it's just the day-to-day that falls mostly on me. Also I am perhaps needy and demandy, so there's that.

the protocol is still nekkid, right?

If they are nekkid types, then yes. But not everyone who likes hot tubs likes nudity I've noticed.

OMG, why do I read the comments?? In this case, an NPR article about Straight Outta Compton. But I didn't know until yesterday that Aldis Hodge is playing MC Ren!

Hot and oppressive out here (winds across the state are just right to be sweeping smoke and hot air and particulate matter from a forest fire some 200+ miles north of here straight down and across the entire Bay Area). SF is not used to this.

Matilda and I went to the roller-skating pocket park and she skated while I read Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch until it got too muggy and gross, came home to find that Emmett is also feeling gross and not coming for his long-awaited reunion with Matilda until later, and now we are drooping around feeling sticky and futless while Hec makes consolatory smoothies.

It is also hot here, which is actually helping me clean since I am avoiding going outside.

Charlie is also about to get a bath, which means I am as well, so that should help with the hot.

JZ, I hope that Matilda is pleasantly surprised and that the class assignment ends up okay.

Noah was supposed to be in a Korean development program class, where most of his class was in English then he'd have Korean. His teacher is out on maternity though, which is....whatever. The long term sub is a born again christian.

He was instead placed in a dual immersion, Spanish maintenance program where over 75% of his school day will be in Spanish. And his teacher is someone for whom I was her instructor at UCLA for a writing institute. She's a GREAT teacher, though structured and a little strict (which he does fine with...last year was overly loosey goosey). When we told him Spanish instead, he was 100% excited. He's playing with a language app to learn some of basic vocab before school starts, but it will be much harder.

It'll be weird having him at my school. He has his uniform ready (he's never had a uniform before) and this is totally a different population of kids. So I have some anxiety. But I love the idea that he will be just downstairs and that his afterschool program is run by UCLA instead of the county park system and that it's free.