The First Day…

... of school.  For both kids.  The Daughter is a senior.  The Son is a freshman.

... of my new life?  I'm unemployed.  My days as an educator are done.  My lone pupil, The Son, decided to follow in his sister's footsteps and not homeschool through high school.  And my job as secretary for The Husband's company is done.  The company is gone; dissolved.  All of the paperwork is now in the hands of the accountants.

Don't get me wrong.  I have plenty to do.  But it's such a drastic change.  And relatively sudden.  I've been homeschooling for 12+ years.  I've worked for The Husband for 10 years.  Now suddenly, both jobs have evaporated.  At the same time!

I cannot even begin to imagine how much I'm going to miss The Son.  I refuse to even let myself think about it.  Not having him around all day; the conversations, the field trips, the movies and documentaries.  The company.  The cultural activities.  The jokes and laughter.  His constant need for physical contact -- leaning on me, hugging me, and leaning on me some more.

Not only will he be in school all day, he'll be buried with homework at night and on weekends.  What am I going to do without him?

I haven't given up my pursuit of employment (well, more specifically the one job I really want and supposedly was in close running for but ended up losing to someone with more experience in the field) but, honestly, I'm not in a huge hurry to tie myself down to another job right now.  There's so much work to be done around the house.  Years' worth of odd jobs and unfinished projects and all the things I've dreamed of doing when I had the time.

Plus there's the help The Son will need as he transitions into being a full-time student at an academically-strenuous high school.  This is high school and these grades count.  Big Time.  Especially since he has grand plans for college and law school.  I expect this year will be the most challenging yet in terms of giving my lovable Aspie patience and understanding and support; getting him through this year in one piece will, I fear, be a task of epic proportions.

Anyway, as for money spent today -- despite my best efforts to stay at home and keep my credit card in my wallet, school means school lunches and school lunches meant a trip to the grocery store.

Walgreens -- $11.59

• Walgreen's Advanced Lotion -- $1.99 (mid-sized bottle with snap-top lid to be kept in The Son's locker at school)*
• Walgreen's Advanced Lotion -- $0.99 (small squeeze tube to be kept in The Son's backpack)*
• Head & Shoulder's 2-in-1 shampoo & conditioner -- $7.79

*Part of The Son's sensory issues is an almost obsessive need for lotion use; this Walgreen's lotion is by far the least greasy option we've found to date and I'm thrilled with the reduction in greasy, sticky residue left on my computer keyboards, door handles, and lately, car steering wheel.

Kroger -- $67.03

• Bob's unbleached flour -- $4.59
• 4 Amy's Frozen Pocket sandwiches -- $2.00/ea.
• Kroger medium cheddar -- $1.99
• Kroger colby/jack cheese -- $1.99
• fresh mozzarella cheese log -- $9.99 (ouch!)
• Cascadian Farms frozen french fries -- $4.49 (delighted to find I can eat these! no allergy ingredients)
• Dole juice -- $2.49
• Horizon chocolate milk -- $3.77
• Rudi's whole wheat bread -- $4.59
• 3 boxes Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal -- $3.49/ea.
• Kroger Raisin Bran cereal -- $1.67
• 2.59# bananas -- $1.53
• 2.51# organic gala apples -- $4.99
• 1.32# tomatoes -- $3.29
• 2 navel oranges -- $1.00
• 0.93# anjou pears -- $1.85

The Amy's pockets, Dole juice, and Kashi cereal were all on sale.

Kroger -- $1.00

• head of red leaf lettuce -- $1.00

Just as I was leaving the store with all of my purchases, I realized that I'd forgotten lettuce and since The Son, who until recently was deathly "allergic" to vegetables, especially green vegetables, has taken to preferring lettuce on his sandwiches and since I planned to make him a sandwich for school tomorrow, I put my first batch of groceries in the car and then went back inside for the second purchase -- a lone, and might I add, rather small, head of lettuce.  Thank goodness he didn't develop the dreaded suburban preference for watery cellulose called Iceberg lettuce.

Related posts:

1. Day 216: Towels, Make-up, Lotion, and Groceries
2. $$: Meat and Potatoes
3. $$: Just Another Sunday in the ‘Burbs
4. Catching Up on Daily $$ & Doing
5. Day 8