Dear Kids,
      I’m visiting Grandma and Grandpa at the Seville this morning. We walked Grandma to the beauty shop to have her hair done, and then Grandpa and I went down to the 2nd floor game room to check out the magical ice cream machine. Naturally we both had to put money in, just for the fun of watching it work, and then of course we had to eat the ice cream. There’s a pool table there in the game room, and Grandpa racked up the balls, and we played. He’s really good! I had never played before, but still I managed to get a few balls in the pockets. Grandma and Grandpa seem to be settling in pretty well here. Their house hasn’t sold yet, so they’ve dropped the price to $329,000. It’s being painted right now, and Bonnie says they might have to put in new carpet, but she thinks it will sell pretty soon. Lots of people are interested–they’re probably just waiting for the right price.
      Speaking of buying and selling, the Harvard Classics topped out at $152.50 on e-bay. It was really exciting, watching the price go up in the last few seconds. Dad and I were at the cabin, and I was watching the end of the bid on one of Tom’s laptops. Tom was watching on the other one. We both kept hitting our refresh buttons, and the price kept jumping up. I had no idea anybody wanted those books so badly! When I was little, we used them like bricks to build our playhouse. It’s a miracle they weren’t totally beaten up. Well, now I’m so excited about e-bay, I’ve listed another set of old books that’s been on our shelves for years, “A Picturesque Tale of Progress.” The last full set went for $102.00. And then there’s “My Book House,” which went for $162.00. It sure beats sending them to the D.I.
      Little Stuart James Mair seems to be doing fine. He turned a little yellow, so they’ve been putting him in the sun, on the floor in Ben’s room, for a little while every day. Addie and Ben supervise, to make sure he’s OK. Paige isn’t sure about this whole new development in her little life. She thought the status quo was just fine, when she was the baby. Too bad this little upstart had to arrive.
      Donna’s been studying hard for her landscape architect’s licensing test, which she’ll be taking on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. She’s been reading books like “Construction Contracting,” about 500 pages of small print that doesn’t have much to do with landscaping, but she says she needs to know it all. I’m sure she’ll do fine. Tom has been knocking his head against a brick wall, trying to pass a computer-networking competency test. His boss says it takes several tries. Tom has a good attitude, though, and he says he’s learning a lot. He’ll surprise himself and pass one of these days.
      I’m in the market for some dead sod. Donna thinks we can get some from Park City nursery, since they usually just throw it away. Only now that I need it, there hasn’t been any for a while. I want to use it at the cabin, on the sledding hill, for erosion control. I know they make erosion batting, but this would be thicker and cheaper. And the deer would like walking on it better.
      Dad and I are leaving for Florida on September 28th and coming back October 4th. So we’ll be here for conference weekend. We hope to see at least some of you then, if not before.
      Lots of love, Mom