How long are you there for, meara? I thought this was a tour-type trip, but is this one with a residency for a while?! If so, cool!

The Big Bus still makes me a bit nervous. I set my phone alarm so that I wouldn't miss going back in for a scheduled trip, and when it went off, I immediately thought it was something Going Wrong with the bus itself.

(Note that it has a LOUD backup beeping, which is nervous-making in itself.)

Theo, I was on a tour the first week and now I have two weeks where I'm on my own and signed up for classes

Neat! I wish I could do something like that, but I'd probably need at least a month before I'd really start to retain enough. I keep plugging away with Duolingo Spanish so at least I can say I recognize words.

There's a tour group bus that I see driving around Boston that I'm quite envious of -- Don Quixote Tours, which give Spanish tours of Boston. I'd give my eye teeth to be able to talk about local history in a foreign language.

Timelies all!

Sigh...today was not a great day for Mr. S. There was no PEP, because the county schools were closed, but his preschool was open. We had the aide take him to school and stay with him, but he acted up and she had to take him out of school. Tomorrow there is PEP, so hopefully the familiar routine will help.

Gronk. Woke up this morning feeling like I'd swallowed a broken glass/sandpaper cocktail, so I'm home sick (working) and have a doctor's appointment for this afternoon.

My babysitter quit 2 weeks ago (tomorrow is her last day) and so far my search for a replacement has turned up nothing (most sitters with after-school availability are booked by late August) so I'm seriously contemplating applying for a permanent telecommuting arrangement.

I was accepted into BOTH study-away programs I applied to for the spring semester, which I wasn't expecting, and now have to make a choice about which one I want to go to. (One is in January and one is in March so technically I could attend both, but I don't have that kind of vacation time banked.)

In short, time and money and immune systems are all huge problems why do we even have them the end.

I ope you can get that figured out, Jess. How exciting about he study away programs! I kind of remember the descriptions from when you applied, well, I remember thinking they sounded amazing.

That's a lot of good news/bad news, Jess!

Well, I made Alexandra Petri laugh in her WaPo chat, so shouldn't that be enough of an accomplishment for the day??

Getting Alexandra Petri, Golden Gift to the Masses, to laugh is a bucket-list level accomplishment!

In short, time and money and immune systems are all huge problems why do we even have them the end.

So much this.

Just found Catherine, the owner of the bakery where I worked (and still sometimes pitch in) has cancer in one eye, a large-ish tumor. She asked me to come in tomorrow to figure out how to handle some things while she goes back to France for surgery and treatment, and I'm stuck between worry and FUCK CANCER right now.

So I'm...cleaning? I don't even know.