On Monday June 30th at 2:45 p.m. our summer school session will be over. The staff at Parkland Preparatory Academy will flee for their cars as if we’re trying to catch the last chopper out of Saigon in 1975. It’s been a very rough year but we’re almost to the finish line. Whew!
To ensure my time off is as restful as possible, I’ve spent the last two weeks taking care of things around the house. I put together a list of tasks and titled it, “Getting Shit Done.” Doing these things now will help free up my time off. Here’s what I’ve been ‘getting done.’
Got the good people at Jim Dhamer plumbing in to fix a slow running drain in my shower. I hired a handyman to post up new address numbers on my house and fit one of my gutters with a new downspout. My car’s oil got a changing at Jiffy Lube and I swept out the leaves and litter in my garage. My PC got its annual clean-up from my computer expert Luis Corrado. (Great guy, by the way) Add to this I finished my 40 GCN modules for school. It’s an annual thing we school staffers have to endure and while not due until the end of September, it feels great to have that stuff done.
Another thing I did was re-new my membership to AARP because I want some assistance into looking for the right Medicare plan for me when I turn 65 on January 20th 2026. There was also a check sent to cover my admission into a WLS reunion event that I’ll be attending in July. One appointment I still need to make in July is to have a new sleep study done.
My ‘To Do’ list was fully loaded and most tasks are done.
But wait, there’s more. Instead of calling a maid service (which I do a couple times a year) I did the top to bottom dusting, vacuuming and overall scrubbing of my house. It’s best to start the vacation with a house smelling of Pine Sol.
I got my landscaper to do some weed whacking of growths by my garage, which he’s been missing and I clipped three garbage cans worth of shrub growth and weeds with a little more to go. The wet spring and lack of cut maintenance had things grow a bit out of control.
My front steps got a good scrubbing and new water sealing and I’ll get to the back steps in the next few days. My driveway is about to get a new coat of sealant by a local business but first I need to cover over some cracks with this really effective tar-like tape. The only other job I have left is to do is scrape and paint the front trim on my garage.
Actress Hilary Duff relaxing in her pool. She’s always welcome to be one of my guests at East End.
After that, it’s nothing but early morning lap swims at East End Pool, breakfast then writing and resting followed by mid-day swims with my ‘Summer Family’ at the pool and just taking it easy. As I’ve often said, the best part of our time off is I am not on a clock. I can do what I want, when I want. And that’s exactly what I plan to do.
From the Elmhurst Park District Facebook page, some but not all of my summer family.
NEXT BLOG- Remembering the Great Chicago Heatwave of 1995 and the band I saw that wilted during their set.