Day 53

Posted on | October 24, 2007 |

Wendy’s — $2.79
Dinner for The Son.

Unfortunately we had to change our cello lesson schedule. Our initial day (Thursday) was perfect because it was the day after orchestra rehearsal. This allowed The Son and his teacher to discuss points covered in rehearsals that needed to be reinforced and identify tough passages that needed extra work before the next rehearsal. The initial time (1:15 pm) was close to perfect because it had us finishing within 45 minutes of The Daughter’s school release time. The location (the teacher’s apartment) was perfect because it was within a mile of The Daughter’s school and 1.5 miles of a Whole Foods where The Son could munch down an afternoon snack while waiting for school dismissal.

The problem, that simply could not be overcome, was the fact that the teacher and his wife have two cats. I’m allergic to cats. Very allergic. Very. Very. Very. Allergic. Asthma-attack allergic. The first lesson sent me into a pretty good (read: bad) asthma attack. After that I started wearing a mask while in the apartment. But The Son and the cello bag and even my own purse and shoes were tracking cat hair home with us. Plus I was experiencing stronger allergy symptoms after each additional lesson despite wearing the mask. The final blow to the perfect lesson time/date/location was that The Son was exhibiting increasing allergy symptoms.

Now we have a Wednesday lesson. The location (college campus) is further away from home. The time, late afternoon, means that The Husband has to leave work to pick up The Daughter from school and bring her home because I can’t get her and get home in time to get the son to his lesson. Even worse, the commute from the lesson location to the orchestra rehearsal takes us through the very worst part of highway commuter traffic at the very worst time of the day. Luckily, there’s a Wendy’s 2 blocks from the lesson location. This means we can pick up some dinner so he can eat as we make our way from one end of the metro area to the other in stop-and-go traffic. And the 45-minute-lesson-to-rush-hour-traffic-commute-to-hour-long-rehearsal is a bit of a challenge for The Son whose biggest pleasure is entire days when he doesn’t have to leave the house

Some people, The Husband included, would simply say find a new teacher. Out of the question. The Son has formed a real bond with the teacher. The teacher likes the son. This relationship is not to be underestimated nor under-valued!

Vitamin Cottage — $2.59
An Odwalla Strawberry C Monster juice for me to help tide me over until I can get home from our lesson-commute-rehearsal marathon to some real dinner.

Kroger — $19.75
The Husband took The Daughter to the store on the way home from school today. He’s a real push-over. All she has to do is bat her eyes at him and he melts. They bought:

2 cans of hairspray (ostensibly for the use of the girls in the school play to be performed this weekend). I made it clear that the spray will not be used in the house.
pound of butter
chips
tub of prewashed store-brand organic lettuce. I gave The Husband and The Daughter an earful about this purchase; prewashed lettuce is more expensive and doesn’t last as long. I was particularly displeased with this purchase because the lettuce is already bad. I’ll have to return it for a refund tomorrow.

Overall a light day in terms of expenses but heavy on gas usage and frustration level. Getting home to a 13-to-1 loss in the first game in The World Series did not improve my mood. Tomorrow’s a heavy commuting day as well. Let’s hope the Rockies can get their stuff together for Game 2.

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