Busy Days Ahead

Summer is finally upon us here in Connecticut and, boy, do we have our work cut out for us!

Normally, my daughter has a pretty relaxing summer with only a little bit of schoolwork. Being homeschooled, she sometimes takes time off during the “academic year” and makes it up later. This year, however, we are fully involved with school clear through July (at least). You see, she has the opportunity for an internship with the Salt Marsh Opera Company in Stonington, Connecticut. In preparation for this job (because it is a paid position), she will be taking dance lessons, etiquette classes, and instruction in how to apply makeup. The latter is necessary for two reasons: one, my daughter is a “naturalist” who doesn’t wear makeup and needs to know how to wear it; and two, she needs to determine if she is allergic to anything that may be used on her face before the opera performances in October. The former classes are to improve her ease with people since she is rather shy around folks she doesn’t know, and to gain experience with “stage presence,” if you will.

We will also be taking to the road for a week or so to attend the first wedding of my daughter’s homeschool friends, a young man who lived in Connecticut for awhile before his family moved to the Washington, D.C. area. Katherine the Great was pals with his younger brother, but they all used to hang together playing computer games in their elementary years. The last time our families got together was several years ago; we met up one morning at a Krispy Kreme donut shop in near their home, while we were returning to our home for Thanksgiving. My husband was working a job in the Tidewater area at the time, and my daughter and I had gone down to visit while checking out the latest exhibits at Colonial Williamsburg.

Third on our list for the summer is planning for winter. The last time the Midwest had major flooding (see The Great USA Flood of 1993), Connecticut followed up with more than a half-dozen snowstorms from January-March 1994. My husband was enduring thyroid cancer at the time and Katherine the Great was only three years old (yikes!). I already locked in my heating oil at $3.799/gallon. Now, I would like to replace our family room windows and make certain we are well outfitted with insulating window treatments, not to mention winter clothes, before the snow flies. Lacking the cash flow to pay a contractor, my husband and I may end up doing the work ourselves (ugh!). Hey, we put a roof on our house, so a few windows shouldn’t be too much of a challenge, right? :-)

So, are you relaxing this summer or are your days as busy as mine?