Another lovely cool morning--and I don't have to go to work! Ray's grades are entered for the summer semester and he doesn't teach again until mid-August. Yesterday was a little wild for me. I worked in the morning, with the usual pattern. A little bit of activity early (the residents are supposed to leave by 9) and then a good quiet stretch when I can get some hard stuff done, and then it gets crazy again with the case manager and Americorps volunteers arriving, and then Alison. The residents can come back for lunch, too.

The thing that I do that takes up most of my time is submit expenses for reimbursement by grants. There are 7 main grants. One reimburses the shelter case manager's salary, up to a certain amount. Three reimburse Job TREC expenses, with slight variations. One pays for all of some salaries and a percentage of others. Some require copies of reciepts to be attached. Alison has to sign all of them before they are submitted. Anyway, keeping track of what can be reimbursed by whom, making copies and mailing them off is my biggest job. After I get it down, it may take a little less time, but at the moment, it's pretty intense. Five of the grants run from July 1 - June 30, so the grant years just ended and we have to submit everything we can to use them up. There was $28.50 left in one that covers child care, so that is only part of one bill. Some things can't be reimbursed, like buying dish soap, so individual donations cover those.

Yesterday, I had a quick lunch with Janna, picked Ray up to take him to his doctor's appointment and then go back to work. He figured out it made more sense for him to take the car and come back for me. So we were home by 4. Vanessa and the Captain had made vichysoisse, with a lot of cream and homemade chicken stock. It was really yummy. She had also made blueberry muffins. I think they were a little offended that I suggested some pasta as well. He peeled some tomatoes for me and I made a tomato-garlic sauce to go with pasta and sliced up some cucumbers with a dill dressing. Also fresh oregano in the tomato sauce. It was a lovely meal.

Some who know me know that Overboad and The Matrix are two of my favorite movies, while quite different. They were both on last night, so I had to switch back and forth for a while!

I have chiggers again--I think I had them about this time last year. The way for me not to get chiggers is always take a shower after I have been outside in the grass at all. The other night Ray and I looked at where the fence will go for the strawberry patch. At first, I thought it was mosquitoes, but now I realize they are concentrated behind my knees. They will eventually go away.

I've been working for over a month!