DH gets Best Dad Ever Award today. D2 received an unexpected invite for an interview for Friday morning at 8:30. She’s in college four hours away and has a Thursday night class ending at 9pm. Husband is going to drive up and get her and drive straight back so she can make the interview. She has a car, but he doesn’t want her driving late at night by herself and hopes she can rest on the drive back. Good job, dad! And yes, I’ve told him.
Oh. My. God. Just when I think my life can’t get any crazier.
I’m packing for our upcoming cruise to the Caribbean - we leave a week from tomorrow, January 25.
I get out our passports. When I open DH’s, I’m horrified to see that OUR COCKATIEL CHEWED A LITTLE HOLE IN THE MAIN PAGE, obliterating two of the numbers in the long string at the very bottom of the page. Oh. My. God. It’s totally my fault, because I left DH’s passport sitting on my desk at some point.
I called the State Department and they said, yes, it will have to be replaced. I was about to cry. But the woman said DH can get an appointment tomorrow in Boston!! So he will make the four-hour round trip and apply for a replacement, for a total cost of $220.89. If he shows proof of our travel dates, they will expedite it and send it to his sister’s house in Florida, where we will be next week. I THINK everything will work out, but it’s certainly not 100% guaranteed. I can’t believe this. I’m about ready to crawl into a hole.
MTA: I am very thankful that the government shutdown is not affecting passport replacement!
Another edit: It turns out that on a “closed loop” cruise, all you need is a birth certificate and driver’s license. If the issue were with MY passport, I would just do that. But DH’s birth certificate is a sealed microfiche copy - handwritten and barely legible (you have to look hard just to make out his name!). He’s been given a hard time in the past about it. I would be nervous that Carnival might not accept it and then he would be stuck. The passport agency said they can process it the application the same day if they have to.
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Where are the grownups???
12 years. 
Hey you two fabulously fit over 55+ gym ladies who between the two of you do physically demanding spin classes, total body classes, boot camp classes, personal training etc… STOP parking in handicap parking at the gym and at the grocery store! At least one of you is a caregiver ( retired nurses aid) who takes care of an elderly man in town and when you’re not working you use his handicap parking tag. Why don’t you save that spot for someone who actually needs it? Aren’t you even a little bit embarrassed or ashamed to walk out of the gym where everyone knows you and get into your car parked right outside the gym doors?
Braggy parent who doesn’t yet know what he’s talking about -
Your kid is awesome. What he does, though, isn’t uncommon…and both my kids accomplished that same thing at an age five years younger than your son. And you know what? I didn’t declare my kids prodigies or brag about them all over social media in terms reserved for Olympic athletes. You act as though your son (who is a nice kid) is better and stronger than everyone else, and you claim he is also going to accomplish something else - a related goal - that takes years and years and effort that, quite frankly, he hasn’t expressed any interest in actually doing. My two are halfway through that other accomplishment, and I didn’t make any announcement about it or claim they are super awesome or wonder women etc. Mainly because it’s a serious goal that takes years, and they won’t announce they did it until it is actually done - and they’ll announce it themselves.
As an analogy - you don’t take two steps out your front door and then immediately tell the world you’re hiking across the country. Maybe walk across at least one state before you start bragging to anyone who will listen…
Is this all for your kid anyway, or is it for YOU…?
Humility, dude. Humility.
Please, oh please, let it be true!!
I had to hide my laughter . Touche.
After several ‘looks’ and even one discussion, you FINALLY offered to make breakfast on the last full day of our vacation. I had to suppress laughter as you were in the kitchen asking where the pans were, where the utensils were, etc. The other three adults on this vacation know where everything is, because we have prepared the last twelve meals we’ve enjoyed at home. Oh, and you could also pull out your credit card a little more often. Phew! I think I will make it now. Thanks CC SIHCYCSID thread!
Well, it’s nice that some of our government is still functioning and competent! DH was told that if he waits in the Boston Passport Agency until 4 pm today, they will give him his replacement passport! I am impressed. Now we won’t have to stress over it coming by mail next week. 
I want the shutdown to end! My work will be impacted in another week and right now we have vet bills because the dog may have to have her leg amputated! At a minimum she will need expensive surgery on her leg again. (Hit by a car last year due to dd’s idiot bf letting her out. Needed plate on front leg, now plate may have moved or have become infected.) Grrrrrr.
A 58 degree temperature in winter is normally welcome. When it is the temperature inside the house, not so much! Come on repair guy,
I can’t believe another young death hitting close to home. This time from a tragic accident in the news! RIP - I feel so sad for your mother who was such a great influence as a teacher on both my kids as well as many others in this town. So very sad.
I’m not quite sure why we did it, but we volunteered to host an exchange student for the full year starting next August… I was kind of enjoying lying on the floor in my pajamas and watching Netflix.
Ds2 asked for a raise and a promotion and is freaking out about it. Please send good thoughts! He totally has earned both things, but you know how kids are.
Stop arguing with people who are Wrong On The Internet, self!
Also, people on the internet should try harder to stop being so Wrong.
I had to cancel trip to drive to Rochester to visit dd, because of the blizzard tomorrow. Boo-hoo!