Back in the U.S.A.

Actually, we've been back about two weeks. The first week I spent catching up at work: not too bad; apparently it was rather slow. Only one report didn't get sent out, which I took care of. Fortunately, the customer is not too demanding. I also spent that week catching up at home: unbelievable! And not in a good way.

DS#1 moved most of his stuff to his new apartment but left behind notes on the message board of what items he still needs. One of the items was socks. Now socks are a sore subject with me because unwashed socks are plentiful in this house. Clean socks neatly stowed in drawers are, in fact, scarce. But tackling the socks issue meant going into The Boys' Room.

Cue spooky music.

After doing three loads of just towels found in their room, I then washed everything that was red. It's our Boy Scout troop's color, so we have an abundance of red t-shirts, red-sweatshirts, and red jackets. That eliminated about 60% of the detrius on their floor. It was time to go sock-hunting.

I drew the line at actually going underneath the bunk bed. I did search the gap between the bed and the wall. I found, in addition to men's socks, some women's socks, and a pair of my pants that have been missing for six months and that all four kids swore was not in their room.

Now everybody has socks. DS#2 has more t-shirts than he can use. My plan was to finish and fold all the laundry in the room before Hubs and DS#2 came back, but they returned on Friday and not on Sunday as I had originally thought.

Not that The Boys' Room was the only room to get that treatments. I also went through the clothes scattered on the floor of The Parents' Room. Among other things, including socks, I found Hubs' swim trunks--all three pairs! I also found one of the legs of his cargo pants that zip off.

And then there was the kitchen... Neither DS#1 nor DD#1 felt the need to run the dishwasher. Their excuse? They weren't home much.

However, the house was still standing, all automobiles were in operating condition, and the neighbors haven't mentioned anything.

DD#1 started classes at the local community college. DD#2 registered for classes and made some friends at Freshman Orientation (she's the only one from her parochial school attending this high school). DS#2 is already sweating about his English teacher. DS#1 is home for the weekend because he's bored--classes haven't started and he doesn't know anyone in town yet.

We've also gone clothes shopping. DS#2 was done in 30 minutes. DD#2 took much longer. Thank goodness there was a Home Depot nearby.

Life is settling back into September routines. We're trying to enjoy these last few days as well as prepare for the coming onslaught.

How many shopping days until Christmas?