September 2024

September 1st Avian invited Rose, Lea and Anthony over for a sushi dinner and one last party before they were leaving for college.   I had each of Avian's friend write them a letter to put in an "Open When" box filled with all sorts of surprises for when the were lonely or homesick or broke, or sick of cafeteria food or...  We had fun goofing off during dinner and then they all helped Avian pack up their clothes.  

I feel like I took this picture yesterday and now...

...we are packing up and moving to Savannah for college!

September 2nd we packed up the truck with all Avian's things and headed to Savannah to get them moved into their dorm.  

The truck is all packed and ready to go.  

We are all loaded and ready to head out. 

It is a really pretty ride to Savannah!

Crossing the bridge into Savannah!

We got to Savannah and were too early to check into the hotel so we went to Lowe's to get some plastic storage boxes for under Avian's bed.  We also went to Hobby Lobby and Blick to load up on art supplies they would need for class.  We then checked into the hotel and took a short rest before walking to Jalapenos for dinner.  After dinner, we explored a little bit.  We found the park where Tom Hanks waited for the bus in the movie "Forest Gump."  

September 3rd we were up and ready for move in day!  I gave Avian the Open When box and Steve gave them a necklace to wear when they needed a hug from Dad.  We still had time before our scheduled move in time, so we went to Ex Libre, the SCAD bookstore, and got Avian's packs for their drawing and design classes.  

The move-in process was SLICK!.  We showed up at our assigned time and there were helpers with bins waiting for us.  We got everything unloaded into the bins and Avian and I went up to room 305 with the helpers while Steve parked the truck.  The whole thing from start to finish was maybe 20 minutes.  They have it down to a science.  It probably helped that Avian got to move in a couple of days early since we attended the summer SCAD experience in July.  

Truck unloaded and everything in room 305 in about 20 minutes.  

The view of Forsythe Park from Avian's dorm window. 

Deciding where to put everything.  

We got everything out of the roller bins and started putting stuff away.  We took a lunch break to go to Chick-fil-A for some food and stopped at Target to get a few needed items.  Back at the dorm we walked with Avian to the Campus Security office to get the sticker put on their bike.  

The fountain in Forsythe Park.  

Walking back to Chatham through Forsythe Park

The parking lot under Chatham where Avian will park their bike.  

We spent the rest of the afternoon getting Avian's room rearranged and set up.  Before we knew it, it was time for Steve and I to head back to Charlotte.  We got almost everything put in place before we left.  Avian just needed to add their own special touches to the room.   

Leaving was really hard to do.  

On the way out, we gave the security team some of the homemade oreos to say thank you for taking such good care of the students.   We gave Avian some long hugs goodbye and left them to continue setting up their room.  I really hated leaving them because they would be alone for two days before their roommates moved in.  It gave them time to explore things before the roomies arrived, so I guess it was a good thing. 

Texts we got on the way home:

• The dining hall staff are really nice and the chicken strips and fries are really good. 
• The Krogers was really crowded when Avian went to buy toothpaste, which we totally forgot to get while at Target.  
• They rode their bike to a friend's dorm and spent time there for a bit.  They were back in their dorm before it got dark.  
• The pictures below of their finished room

Avian sent these pictures to us later that night with all their decorations in place.  

It is a nice little room.  

September 4th, Avian used this day to find all their classes and get some pre-class work completed.  

September 5th - Avian's roommates all moved in and they spent the day getting everyone settled in.  I feel better knowing they are not there alone anymore.   

September 6th - Steve got new tires for the Xterra.  Avian finished the animatic they had been working on.  It is based on the song "God Games" from their favorite musical in the works Epic - based on the Odyssey.  https://youtu.be/of_dPxM3py0?si=OeKaQsl28TTHcbqj

Jeremy spent the day planning a huge LAN party for the UNCC gaming club and then worked a night shift.  Steve and I finally did our anniversary dinner at 131 Main.  It was super yummy!

September 7th - Steve spent the morning going to Woodcrafters to get the lathe tools he needed (and they were on sale!!).  I helped Nick clean his apartment.  His roommate was on a two-week business trip and we took this opportunity to get things really cleaned up.  We straightened his room, the living room and the kitchen, got rid of empty boxes and mopped the floor.  We also cleaned out the drain in his bathroom.  It drains really well now.  The place looked and felt and smelled much better when we were all done.  The best part was that Nick felt a lot better now that the apartment was clean and organized.  

I got my new name tag for work.  I like this picture SOOOOO much better than the one last year.  

Back at home, Steve and I drove to Moorseville to see the dachshund races.  There were dachshunds everywhere and it was so much fun.  We stopped at an antique shop on the way home and enjoyed just looking around at the fun things people had collected to sell.  

A Smoking Gun meat smoker.  This was my favorite find of the day.  

Jeremy got home shortly after Steve and I did.  He was fully of excitement about the event he had hosted that day.  It was a huge success with at least 250 people attending.  It was really nice to see how energized and excited this made him.  

September 9th - Avian's first official day of college.  Their drawing professor is really silly and they have a class mascot - a stuffed bear that students take turns dressing up and accessorizing.  

I was also able to finally make it to the court house and find out that the judgement was definitely not me.  I think they took pity on me because I was on crutches, because usually they won't print out a judgement, but since I needed it to prove it was not me so our HELOC could continue AND I came all the way down in person, ON CRUTCHES, they gave me a copy to give to the bank.  The stupidest part is that the judgement was paid back in 2022.  The bank could have found this out, but they didn't.  Oh well.  

September 10th we took Avian's car in for inspection.  The brakes were sitting at 1 mm.  Yikes!  We had them repaired and the car passed inspection.  That night there as a presidential debate between Harris  and Trump.  It was interesting to watch how the questions were and were not answered.  Trump flat out avoided several questions that should have been a no brainer for him.  Part of the reason was that Kamala had made a comment about the size of the crowds at Trump's rallies and how people got bored and were walking out.  That completely derailed Trump and he spent the rest of the debate trying to prove her wrong.  It was very funny and sad at the same time.  

September 11th, Avian took their bike into a local shop to have some repairs done.  In other news, I started full weight-bearing (well tolerated) and PT (not so well tolerated) today.  

My knee was sore from PT and my ankle decided to chime in because of the months of no weight-bearing left it weak and ready to complain.  

September 14th - We got a message from Avian saying thank  you for the "Open When...you are tired of cafeteria food" Doordash card.  The roomies wanted Chick-fil-A and there is not one close to campus.  Doordash to the rescue!!

I went to the temple with the Stake Relief Society Presidency.  It was a fun day.  The last time I was there I ran into Kaylie Willden in the Celestial room. This time I was surprised find her and her mom at the bookstore.   It is always fun to run into your Charlotte neighbor in Columbia, SC.  

Shelly, Rebekah, Nancy and me. 

That night, around 11 pm, Steve and I woke up to someone pounding on the front door.  It was our neighbor from across the street.  He looked terrible.  He and his girl friend had gotten in a fight and she had torn his shirt and bitten his face and scratched his arms.  He left before he hurt her and called 911 from our house.  Steve helped smooth out the situation with the cops when they arrived.  It was a scary situation, but it ended with the cops telling the girl friend she needed to find another place to live as this was not the first time the cops had been called to their house.   (She did move out within a week and the neighborhood is much more peaceful now). 

September 15th I played the piano in the Singles Ward.  It is a good thing I was there because the date of their ward conference had gotten moved at the last minute (to today) and I was the only stake RS rep there.  We all thought it was the following week.  I am glad I was able to be there.  

September 17th I was finally cleared by Matt to resume normal activity as tolerated.  I am on my way to progressing back to full activity.  I did caution me that I should not run for at least the next 2 months.  Not a problem.  

Some of Avian's artwork for school.  

We are closing on the HELOC on Friday so now we will have a way to pay for Avian's school should Federal funding change with the new president.  

September 18th, Melonie came into town on her way to a girl's weekend in Myrtle Beach. It was fun to have her here with us and to catch up.  She wanted to experience Southern BBQ so we took her to Midwood Smokehouse.  YUM. Nick drove up to Birkdale after work to join us.  

Cannon siblings in the house. 

Big, fluffy clouds because they make me happy!

Saw this at the post office - Hi, Dad!!

September 21, I got our bathroom scrubbed and the downstairs floor mopped before my knee started screaming at me.  Jeremy had a friend over to help him clean his room.  Steve took me to Kripsy Kreme to get salted caramel doughnuts.  It helped my knee feel better.  We went out to dinner with the O'Briens that night and had a fantastic time, as usual.  

September 22 We headed down to Savannah to take Avian a list of things they forgot and needed.  They joined the volleyball club and needed their VB backpack and knee pads.  They joined the jazz band and needed their clarinet and reeds.  They also realized they needed their copic markers and the picnic blanket.  We took them a surprise dog bed for under their bed when they wanted to be in a cozy spot.  We ran errands, went to lunch (Sly's Sliders) and met their roommates.  They are all very nice.  Avian also filled us in on the majors fair where they students could ask questions about the different majors offered at SCAD.  Avian was excited about their decision to be a sequential art major.  Think comic book and/or story board.  It made me excited to see them so excited.  It was a good day.  

September 23rd, Steve found out what had caused the big sound in the garage the night before.  The garage door spring had finally sprung.  I didn't notice because I took Avian's car to work to give it some driving time since it has been sitting in the driveway since Avian left.  He called the garage door company we have always used and they came out that day and replaced the spring.  I am glad we figured it out because Steve was leaving for Nashville the following day and I would have been stuck.  

September 24th - Steve left bright and early for his drive to Nashville.  I was out the door early as well for a PT appointment at 7 a.m. then off to a full day of work.  Steve stopped in Sevierville, as usual, but this time the stop involved a Buccees.  Steve is now a Buccees superfan.  It will be the new favorite stop in Sevierville instead of the knife store. That is saying a lot for Steve.  

Jeremy and I went to dinner at Crave, the fun hot dog place.  We were lucky enough to pick a night when they were playing musical bingo.  We had a blast and almost won the game.  All we needed was "Jolene" by Dolly Parton.  

September 26th, Helene, a category 4 hurricane slammed into the Florida coast and quickly made its way up through Western NC.  Avian said the were on lockdown for a tornado drill for about two hours early in the day.  Classes were cancelled and rescheduled for another day because of torrential rain and strong winds.  I was worried about Steve driving home through the rain in the mountains of NC, but and eternally grateful that he insisted on pushing through and coming home on the 26th because the road he needed to get home (1-40) was completely washed out overnight due to the heavy rains Helene brought to the area.  

September 27th was an e-learning day because of the rain and winds.  At 4 am it sounded like a freight train was passing our house and the winds were shaking the house.  It rained really hard the entire morning and was gone by 12:30 p.m.  The aftermath left everything completely soaked in the Charlotte area and Western NC closed due to flooding and roads being out.  The town of Chimney Rock was completely destroyed when the river overflowed and washed it down stream into Lake Lure.  Swannanoa is under water.  Boone is flooded with 2 feet of water everywhere.  A tornado also touched down in Blowing Rock, just outside of Boone.  Communication to Western NC is down.  The Lake Lure Dam is very unstable and could collapse if any more water stress is put on it which would be disastrous.  

The firepit area in the back yard (under construction).  Maybe we should just make it into a pool instead.  It completely filled up with water from Helene)

Avian called in the middle of all this and was upset because they forgot to get a present to Rose for their birthday.  Jeremy and I went out immediately and secured the needed birthday items and dropped them off at the Licastri house, thus averting major catastrophe there.  

The O'Briens came over for dinner that night because Steve had been there most of the afternoon helping them build shelves in their garage and Holly had not fixed dinner yet.  Another fun evening with the O'Briens.  

September 28th - the Lake Lure Dam held and is not in danger of collapse any more.  Phew!  Nick ran in the Feed the 5k and came in 3rd in his age range.  We took him to Bojangles to celebrate afterwards.  

Nick in the starting line crowd.

Nick coming down the homestretch.  

First, second and third in their age range. 

That night we took the boys to see the Transformers One movie.  It was like reliving their childhood.  It was the BEST MOVIE EVER!

The smiles on their faces tell it all.  

After the movie we went and found the puzzle and candy store that had moved locations.  

Ranch dressing flavored soda - Nope!

Dill pickle flavored soda - NOPE!

Meanwhile, in Savannah, Avian attended an impromptu concert in Forsythe Park and finished their fractalization project. Avian is having a great time in college, but they really miss their car and their bed...oh, and you and Dad, too!  (Nice save!)

A fractalization project