bogus!

The US Postal Service now charges a $1.00 fee to allow you to change your address online. And since not everyone in our family has the same last name, that is $2 I am out. Really, what is the world coming to.

In other news, my 23 year old baby brother has gotten engaged, and they plan to marry next May. She is a rising senior and he is a rising sophomore at a Christian college in Ohio (his teenage rebellion (my father is an atheist) turned out to be Methodism, and he is very devout and studying to be a youth music minister). It isn't that young, really, especially when I consider that I met mr. flea when I was 23 and moved in with him 9 months later, and married him at 25. But consider: I knew this child when he was BORN, and some of my strongest memories of him are from the summer he was about to be two, i.e. Dillo's age. Also, Baby Brother spent ages 18-23 living in his parents' house basically doing nothing (had various part-time jobs that didn't make enough to live on). But I guess he has succeeded in his first year in college, and I hope his intended is a motivated young woman (the underachieving men in my family seem to find themselves bossy and ambitious women, which is a good thing, all told.)

headspinny afternoon

After a weekend of lethargy and overwhelm, I have been getting so much done today I am starting to feel - well, a little overwhelmed.

-emailed some cleaners (who I think are summer-working college students, so pass my ethics test) about helping deep-clean the kitchen and bathroom. This became more necessary after I realized we are going to need to WASH the WALLS in the kitchen. How have I lived in this filth for so long?

-forwarded mail.

-listed for free baby stuff, including the crib Dillo is sleeping in right now (um, oops?). Turns out the graduate student parents list-serv is the way to get rid of baby stuff for free. The crib was a loaner from my coworker and she'd said she wanted it back but this morning when I tried to arrange pickup she said maybe she'd like to give it away as her 15 year old has a serious girlfriend suddenly and she has a weird karmic feeling that to bring the crib back into her house would risk teenage pregnancy (hee!). So I listed it with the other stuff and am getting 1 million emails. Dillo has been napping in it but spending most of every night in our bed, so what the hell. He is 2 and should transition to the double-bed futon pretty well at the new house (my plan of sharing a room in bunk beds is meeting Casper resistance, and he'd fall out of a full-height bed I suspect - fall out of our bed occasionally), and I can set up the pack n play for naps.

-Moo mini-cards came - they are TINY. But cute and I am feeling v. clever. Will hand them out at farewell party at work, farewell cookout, and when we meet new people in Athens. They have our xmas card photo, names, address, cell #, and emails.

-another Bookmooch, package to Mother, packed up. Set Bookmooch to vacation.

-Assembling stuff for a Goodwill run tomorrow AM while we take Dillo for his checkup.

-Need to call TROSA about furniture pickup.