Catching the Bus

It is 6:45 AM and it is the first day of school for the 2008-2009 academic year. The bus that transports students to the local high school is about to stop a quarter-mile from my house. Thankfully, the school district scheduled two stops; one is a short walk in a northerly direction (6:52 AM); the other is a short walk in a southerly direction (6:50 AM). The distance is the same, regardless.

Do I know the whereabouts of my high school student? Yep. She is in bed! Oh no, she has exactly five minutes to catch the bus! Argh!!! What am I going to do? Well, because classes at the local high school don’t actually begin until 7:30 AM, I am not too worried. I am also not worried because I don’t need to be. You see, my family homeschools and the school year at “Home Education Academy” doesn’t begin until next week; and when classes do get up and running around here, the plan is to hit the math books about the same time the local kids hit the bus so my student can leave for three hours of organ and piano practice at a church 15-20 minutes from my house.

So, you see, the student who lives here still has to catch the bus. It is just that the bus looks more like a kitchen table (or a Subaru). I love homeschooling!

Fortune Cookies

Been away for awhile decluttering my house and preparing for yet another year of homeschooling. Tonight, my husband grabbed Chinese food for dinner and, as usual, the restaurant tossed in those fortune cookies. Now, I am not a believer in fortune telling, but I do wonder about the history of the practice of including fortune cookies with a meal. If anyone has information about that, I would love to hear more. In the meantime, here are the King family fortunes for tonight:

Don't take life too seriously. Laugh and smile at it once in a while.

No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.

Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten.

Courtesy is contagious.

Find any interesting tidbits in your Chinese food lately?

Now My Air Conditioner is Dead

Have you ever experienced one of those months where everything (or almost everything) you own seems to break? A while back it was my laptop computer. Then it was the two Firewire external hard drive enclosures that my husband purchased in an attempt to rescue the hard drive from the deceased laptop. Today, it was the air conditioner...on one of the most humid and uncomfortable days of summer thus far. Ugh!

Since my sinuses abhor humidity and his euthyroid state dislikes heat, it didn’t take long to study the available Internet dirt on the latest air conditioners. A little reading and we were off to Bernie's for a look-see. Nope; that air conditioner was too expensive, even with the Connecticut “Turn in Your Air Conditioner” rebate. Next up: Lowe’s; that air conditioner was the wrong model. Finally, Home Depot; that air conditioner was just right, so Papa Bear and I bought it before Goldilocks could say, “Maybe you should shop around a bit.” One gross, sticky afternoon later and the house is back at 70°F. Praise the Lord!

If civilization ever implodes, I am in big trouble because I am way too dependent on air conditioning. Stay cool.

Avoir, Steak & Ale

My girlfriend from Florida (2ravenhairedbeauties) informed me yesterday that the Bennigans restaurant in her area closed abruptly. I have no Bennigans in my area so I was unaware if the chain was struggling financially. Apparently, they were. As of a few days ago, all the company-owned Bennigans stores closed, as did all of the company-owned Steak & Ale restaurants. The Houston Chronicle had this to say:

... MetroMedia Restaurant Group confirmed that its subsidiary, S&A Restaurant Corp., had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. All corporate locations of its well-known storefronts, including Bennigans, Steak & Ale, and Tavern, will be shuttered for good.

- snip –

MetroMedia will continue to operate its Ponderosa and Bonanza steakhouses, the company said in a statement.

Strangely enough, I lost my local Ponderosa many years ago. It is now a Japanese restaurant.

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