Good morning.

I’ve returned from a week of vacation and I’m feeling better.

Every year we get together with a group of long-time friends at a couple of century homes in Grand Beach Michigan. I’ve been doing this since 2013 and it is always one of the highlights of my year. A week away just before school starts is welcome pallette-cleaner. We hang out, visit the beach, read, talk late into the night, and visit the local disillery for supplies and provisions.

This year the heat was amazing. The humidity was thick. several days we went to the cinema or into town to the public library to get some respite. Sleeping was challenging. Still…it was great to see everyone and to tune out the rest of the work for a while.

The Accident

While we were gone, my seventeen-year-old son was in his first car accident as a driver. He’s fine, thank goodness, but his car is in the shop and may be totalled. He’s understandbly upset…part of being a high school senior was supposed to be having his own wheels, but now that’s very much in doubt.

I’m heading up to the body shop today to sign the paperwork and get the estimate going.

Cleaning House

While on vacation, my wife read How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind: Dealing with Your House’s Dirty Little Secrets and found a number of tips that will help us keep on top of things around here.

Three of the four inhabitants of this house have ADHD (I’m the only neurotypical one here). As such, they all need a different way of approaching the problem of house cleaning due to how distactable their attention is. I say this not as a criticism, but as a the result of a months-long conversation we’ve been having the way I approach these things versus their tendancies. It took me a long time to understand that when they leave dishes around the house, or piles of stuff dropped in a corner, or the trash doesn’t go out, they are not just leaving for me to do (as the guy who is retired and is handling much of the household stuff). It’s that they honestly forget about it and do not notice these things.

This was very frustrating to me for a long time. It led to more than one shouting match. Finally, when they were able to make me understand, and I was able to make them understand why I was so angry, we were able to work out some processes that work for them and that I do not need necessarily. Chore charts and checklists, routines and rituals.

It turns out it’s not all about me. Who knew?

I’m relieved that the book had some things that they really latched on to. I’m looking forward to a cleaner house.

Quick Hits

• Read the new Dragonlance novel, Dragons of Deceit on vacation. 2.5 of 5 stars, mostly because it’s a ham-handed, contrived storyline to support the 5th-editionaization of the Dragonlance setting. I’m looking forward to the new setting sourcebook, but this novel was..meh. It was ok.
• Saw Bullet Train this weekend. SO GOOD. It’s like Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino had a Japanese film baby. Go see it.
• Buggy Whip Wheat whiskey from Journeyman Distillary is divine and is only made better by the addition of Luxardo cherries.

That’s it for me for today. Be careful out there.