I took yesterday off from work while my folks were still here. We went to Parker's Maple Barn for breakfast. My folks did some shopping at the local consignment galleries. My mom found a nice set of maple dressers and gave Michelle the lead. Michelle drove over to see them and liked them. Within the hour my dad and I were back with the van and bringing the pieces home.
It's funny to joke about the money that gets spent when my mom is here because of the "discoveries" she finds at our local antique and consignment shops. Dad says that's why he's nervous about ever buying another van. He and mom would have one less excuse when shopping. I said that in my job lingo a van would be "an enabling technology". He said in military lingo, getting a van would be a "force multiplier". I'd forgotten how much the Air Force liked to use that expression.
While we were out dad and I stopped at Photographix and dropped off some pictures to be processed. On the way back we vacuumed out the minivan since the seats had been removed to handle the dressers. Unknown to me, when we put the seats back into the van, I left the van's interior dome lights on by accident. When Michelle wanted to pick up Claire this afternoon from school, the van wouldn't start. Doh! I'm still kicking myself over that one...
Today I went back to work. It is my folks last day here. It's sad when any relative is about to head back home. The visit seemed to just fly by. At work I led some training and assisted in the afternoon. I'm getting so tired of talking about USB. I picked up the photographs on the way home. There were some great shots and I already have them in a photo album. Mom and dad will be bringing home a few shots of us as well. Dad had also dropped off a handful of color slides from 1960. Considering how old and washed out 40 year old slides can get, Photographix did a decent job compensating the color. I'll try to put some pictures online this weekend.
I got a few new books from Scepter Publishing yesterday in the mail. I'm looking forward to reading them in the weeks ahead. I picked up this book on spiritual lukewarmness, this book on marriage, and this book on raising children.
Tomorrow is going to be such a sad day for Claire. She's always so bummed when visitor have to go. I hope she can get distracted as soon as possible.