Monday, July 18, 2011

Less Than a Week Now

Things are coming together, and not.

I have a couple pairs of shorts that I love. They're unfashionable as all get out, but comfy, with pockets, and cool. They have mesh in the pockets, so when you get dunked kayaking or whatever, the water drains quickly. Unfortunately, the mesh got holes in places, because I tend to put my car keys in the front pocket, and change in the other.

So today, I went to the fabric store and asked for advice, and the woman there recommended some iron-on patches. You can see where this is going, right? I put a bigger hole in one of the nylon pockets with the iron than had been there before. And, how is it that my body heat trying to cut patches can make the patches stick together, but an iron not quite hot enough to melt nylon can't? I think I finally succeeded, and I hope the patches last a while.

I'm trying to eat down the stuff in my freezer, so that the housesitter can fill it with his own stuff. (Though he's welcome to eat whatever I've left, too.) It's educational to realize that I have several bags of frozen veggie things that have been there a while, because I keep intending to eat more veggies, but then don't eat as much as I intended to, and then forget.

A semester is both a long time, and not at all much time. When you're figuring out stuff, it seems like there's so much to take care of and figure out. And it seems like there's so much happening here that I'll miss. But when I come back, it seems like I haven't been gone more than a tiny bit of time. Packing for distinct seasons takes some thought, I've noticed.

I need to put together the books I'm taking, and figure out what to do with them packing-wise. Books get heavy fast.

I need to send in a picture and a short bio. I found a picture that's less horrible than most, but I hate writing bios. I wish I could just write a totally fictional bio about being a pumpkin rancher or something.

Heck, we should all figure out the best fictional bio to write!


PS. Today is a rest day on the Tour. I'm now officially rooting for Thomas Voeckler all the way. Wouldn't that be fun!

7 comments:

  1. I don't know if you can do media mail for international shipping, but you might look into it. I shipped 19 boxes of books to school for about 330 dollars, and those boxes were 60 pounds a piece. Anyway - it might be a good option. If the US postal service won't do media mail for shipping overseas, you might see if UPS or FedEx would.

    Good luck with everything!

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  2. the fabric store person said iron-on patches for mesh? bah. somebody with a sewing machine could just replace the pockets with appropriate fabric, wouldn't take long.

    good luck with the packing and shipping! try USPS for the books. it might take a while for them to get there.

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  3. I can relate to the veggie thing. I'm alway so virtuous about buying them but not so much about making them...

    Sorry about the new shorts hole.

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  4. Thanks, friends. The shorts are repaired, thanks to the iron on things.

    I don't have that many books to take, just ones I'll be teaching from and a couple more.

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  5. I live in those mesh-pocket shorts all summer long. They are great!

    Books: If you have a Kindle/iPad, it might be worthwhile to buy some of the more important ones and save on the weight.

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  6. Oooh, a pumpkin rancher! Love it!

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