Sorry I’m a little late with this. I had one VR entry to transcribe and it’s really just an epilogue. After I do this I think I will be taking a break from STalk for a while. We’re all back to work/back to school so there's a crap-load of stuff to do to get ready. Work has piled up to the second floor ceiling and I have the arduous task of explaining to my boss why my assigned work wasn’t being addressed while I was on vacation (gotta love managers).

4:40pm, August 23rd.

We are finally home!

I am sooooo glad.

The sun is shining. This is the driest I have ever felt all week. I’m sitting in the parking lot of the drug store. I’m about to go in to get some meds for me and SS, plus about a gallon of laundry detergent.

*sound of keys rattling*

The kids seem happy to be home. They’re already playing with their toys. BS is actually grooming the dog.

One thing I failed to mention in my previous VRs which I thought was pretty amusing was that both MIL and FIL were first-hand witnesses to SS’s ineptitude and lack of skills. I remember MIL handing SS a block of cheese and a knife and asking him to cut up some slices for the kids. SS just said, “I can’t do that, I don’t know how”. The look on MIL’s face was utterly priceless!

FIL got a little pissed at SS when he asked him to help put the bikes in the truck. SS just ignored him and just ran off to do his own thing.

I want to stress that this is not an experience I want to have gain. I was absolutely miserable, but whatever enjoyment DW and the kids got out of it, I am thankful for – I mean – that’s great, good for them….but….I can’t help thinking that for an extra $100 I could have taken them to a beach and an amusement park out of state and stayed in a hotel for a couple of days. This camping trip was WAY too much for me to handle especially with the freakish torrential monsoon that we had.

Heh…This morning, we were hosing down the tarps and DW accidentally sprayed me. I yelled “Thanks! I was *just* getting used to the feeling of being dry!”…People around us laughed!

As for FIL – I know the man probably means well, and he’s got a very gregarious nature, but there is only so much of him I can take. Every time I sat down next to him he starts talking to me about things that - uh -that I really don’t care about. For example he’ll go “You know, back when I was living in XYZ town, I had a neighbor who had a daughter. A very lovely girl. She worked in this hardware store. One day I walked into the store because I was buying wood to refurbish my deck and…” and I am thinking ‘Dude! Where are you going with this? Are you telling me a joke? A story? An anecdote of your life? Is there a point? Seriously, all his stories were so long-winded; and this is when he’s sober. When he gets a little tipsy, it’s even worse! And with the kids around, FIL didn’t finish a single one of these stories of his before one of the kids needed our attention.

Okay, I am done now. I am going to walk into that store, get what we need, then go home and order pizza! Yeah! That sounds like a good plan.