I knew there was a mouse in the house. I could hear it scratching and squeaking in my office. So I asked Chuck to set some traps last week. After several days nothing had been caught, so I got sort of lax about checking them. Yesterday evening I was sitting at my desk and I noticed a disagreeable odor. I don't know how long it had been there....eeeeew!

The business trip was, I think, productive. The owner of the company wanted to go back to "the old way," but our sales rep stood firm and said that wasn't going to happen. We are prepared to make a few concessions to get things back on track from two years ago when they went on the program, but they will continue to be a Journal Billing customer. The owner's wife does most of the accounting work, and she seemed reasonable and will be easy to work with to get the differences resolved.

Don, our sales rep, took us to lunch at a German restaurant after the meeting. I was the only one that had anything German - jagerschnitzel. I don't know if that's spelled right, but it's breaded veal with a hunter sauce and mushrooms.

Then came the really serious part of the day-----shopping at the outlet stores. I bought three pairs of shoes at the Naturalizer outlet, a rain jacket at the Totes outlet, and a "Laser Leveler" at the Black and Decker outlet.

I spent the evening reading "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" out on the back porch, even though the air conditioning had been seen to earlier in the day, and the house was cooling off nicely. I just love that porch. I saw the summer stretching out before me with nothing to do in the evenings except sit on the porch and read.........until the phone rang.

It was Flyod, and he offered me the role in "Ten Little Indians" that I would have hoped for had I been able to audition. It's the role of Emily Brent, a "disagreeable spinster". I'm supposed to call him back later today with my decision. Of course it's yes.

I pre-ordered the new Harry Potter book, and it arrived yesterday. I guess Dorothy Parker will have to wait. But so will Harry Potter, until I get back from Milwaukee.

I'm going on my first ever business trip tomorrow with Loretta and Sheila. We're going to Milwaukee to call on a customer that doesn't seem to understand the Journal Billing system, and thus has outstanding debits for money to which he is not entitled. I'm really to be the "silent partner" since I don't know enough to say anything. I'm really just there to learn. And maybe do a little shopping at the outlet malls on the way back.......

I think things may finally be getting somewhat back to normal, whatever that really is. After three weekends in a row of performances (LCC concerts, Strawberry Festival, Will’s Welcome Home party, Miss Geri’s Dance Recital), Ben’s graduation on Tuesday, and working yesterday, I at last have a day with only minor responsibilities. I even skipped church today.

I’m still not used to the new work schedule. That extra hour per day really makes a difference. I used to still have some energy when I got home to do a few domestic chores, but this past week I pretty much let everything slide. I’m so glad Chuck didn’t make me go to “Family Fun Night” at church last night. He had to go because the event was sponsored by the Diaconate, of which he is the chair. Yesterday was my one Saturday per month to work, and when I got home I really felt overwhelmed. The house looked like a bomb had gone off, spewing clothing, papers and dirty dishes everywhere. The last thing I wanted to do was sit for several hours playing board games.

I did the only sensible thing…….I took a nap. And then I had a sandwich. Then I played the 15-minute game. Fifteen minutes clearing up the dishes. (It’s amazing what having a clean sink and counter will do for one’s attitude.) Fifteen minutes reading a book out on the screen porch. I’m reading “The Portable Dorothy Parker”. I don’t really think much of her poetry, but her short stories are right on the mark. Fifteen minutes to make the bed with fresh sheets and get last week’s sheets washing. Fifteen minutes with my feet up, feeling the gentle breeze through the screens, listening to the cardinals in the backyard. Fifteen minutes to vacuum the front room and dining room and empty the trash. And so on. By the time Chuck got home the house looked better and I felt better.

As it got darker on the porch last night, I realized why I hadn’t spent more time in the evenings reading there. The lantern-style swag lamp next to my chair cast strange shadows on the page. It was fine for conversation, but not much good for reading. So this afternoon, we went to Menard’s and got a summery looking white-shaded light with nothing below the bulb to block the light.










Ben graduated Tuesday evening from North Side College Preparatory High School. He started there four years ago in the new school’s first freshman class. The thing that distinguishes this school from many other of the Chicago Public Schools is that the students actually want to be there. They had to score high on tests and apply to get in. None of the students there were just marking time until they barely managed to graduate or dropped out. There was an impressive list of scholarship winners and other academic honors awarded to North Side graduating seniors.







Chuck, his sister Janis, and our friend Jim attended the ceremony, which was held at the gym at Loyola University and was mercifully short. Or as short as it could be with a class of over 330 students. I could have done without the performance of a student-written song, accompanied on guitar, bidding farewell to North Side. But it was obvious the students were proud to have been a part of shaping the character of the school.

Locating Ben after the ceremony took awhile, and getting out of the parking structure took a LONG while. When we finally got home, we had some champagne and gave Ben his presents. Cards with enough money to fund his trip to Arizona to see his family before he leaves for the Air Force on August 5th, and two pieces of luggage. We spoke of going out to dinner today to celebrate, but Ben had an invitation from Jenny (nice name), the girl he took to the prom, to go to Six Flags today.

At dance class Tuesday evening, the last class before the big receital, Miss Carol asked who in the class had a weblog? Apparently, there are a few folks who actually do read my meagre ramblings. She said some lady called Miss Geri's School of Dance and wanted to know if that was still the same Miss Geri that she had taken dance lessons from 20 years ago. She had read my description of the class and the costumes.

Oh, dear......I still have to hem my jazz pants. They were fine with my sparkly gold high heels Saturday night, but they are definitely too long for the jazz shoes.

I think I finally (mostly) have the steps. Now if I can just remember to hold my line and stay in my window. I hope Saturday is really cold.

It's time to play catch up again. Not sure I'll ever feel really caught up.

Will and his family came for dinner a week ago, and it was so wonderful to have them here! (They're staying up north with Donna's folks.) Chuck made his famous spaghetti sauce, of course. Heidi was asleep when they arrived, and slept on through the entire evening. After dinner, Donna and I left both of the girls at home and went to Barnes and Noble. Donna was thrilled to once more be in a book store where the majority of the books are published in English. We got all the "Junie B." books that she hadn't yet read to Heidi.

I missed auditions for the play this year because of Strawberry Festival. Friday night I was helping cut strawberries, and of course Saturday was the show itself. I started off by singing "There's No Business Like Show Business". I was wearing the sequined, beaded jacket that I had let Janis borrow for the fashion show and the pants I'm going to wear for the jazz number in the dance receital on Saturday. The pants have sort of a ladder effect going up the sides, alternating cloth and bare skin. I got lots of comments on that outfit. The show turned out pretty good. Janis and Rick had their solo debuts this year, and both did quite well.

Sunday we had an open house for Will and his family. My boss, Loretta, came and brought a big bouquet of yellow roses. Floyd showed up with a huge potted geranium with three American flags stuck in it. The party started out slow, but gathered momentum later. I was glad I had planned a vacation day for Monday, so I could take my time cleaning up.

My work schedule has changed a bit. A week ago Monday the girl who replaced me when I got promoted came in, picked up her personal items, and left without saying a word to anybody. They say they're going to look for a replacement, but I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, I'm doing 5 hours of overtime a week trying to do two jobs.

WILL IS HOME! He's in the States on leave until the 14th. He called from his in-laws' house about 10:30 last night, and he, his wife Donna, and the girls Heidi and Heather came by where I work. I introduced him to all the people who signed a card that was sent to him when he was out in the desert watching the firefights, and he thanked them all for their support. There were many who thanked him for what he did, to which he replied, "It's my job."

It was so wonderful to feel that rib-cracking bear-hug again and see him face to face. Like when he was born, he has all five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot (I assume---I didn't make him take off his shoes). He was wearing his desert uniform, and he called everyone Sir and Ma'am. He had a long talk with George, my boss's boss, who happened to have a map of Iraq in his office. Will showed him all the places he was.

I hadn't seen Will, Donna or Heidi for two years, and this was the first time I met my newest granddaughter, Heather. The girls are so sweet! Heather smiles and gives everyone "high fives". Donna is so sensible and calm. When the war started, she turned off the television and didn't listen to anything anyone was telling her if he wasn't in uniform.

After they were done at my work, they went to Steinmetz and Chuck introduced him around.