Chapter 78

The meeting started out bad right from the beginning. The participants didn't like the seating, then the room was too hot. Finally the real work started with the architect, who at first could do no wrong. After four hours with Mr. Bozman he agreed to redraw the blueprints. He also agreed to them being reviewed by our committee before a final printing for the construction team. The architect was the easy part.

I took lunch orders from the group to have it delivered. There was a local restaurant that had great food and fast delivery service. That would make the day go faster rather than everyone drifting off for lunch and waiting for them to return.

The builder was livid. His argument was that he has already spent a substantial amount of money and time forming a bid on the existing plans. He insisted that he be compensated for doing the second bid.

The College Board countered that he currently had the inside track on the bid. It was unnecessary to reevaluate the whole project, only the areas where corrections were made and reduce the bid by that amount, or use the figures that Mr. Bozman had projected.

At the end of the meeting the builder asked for a copy of the blueprints showing the corrections and for two days to review them with their engineers. We agreed to have them copied today. We had a big copier at the main office that could do that job easily.

The students that were going home for Thanksgiving were loading cars. Some professors were ending classes today and some were going to have classes on Wednesday morning. Security had asked that all students that were leaving sign out and leave a contact number at the security desk, then sign back in when they returned from the holiday. We were getting a steady line of students doing that.

The girls finished all their classes early so they were at home by 2 pm. I called to remind them that the bedding store was to deliver the beds and that they needed to be on the look out for them. I had explained the night before where I wanted the things put.

I called Mom and asked for a list of things we needed to get at the store for the turkey fixings. If she was going to cook the least we could do was supply everything. The girls had been putting a list together for two days. Every one had a favorite food that they wanted to prepare. I certainly was no cook but I was going to take notes.

I was - for one - looking forward to it. This would be my first Turkey day with family in ten years. Too many of them in the last few years had been an MRE in a foxhole in body armor.

I arrived home in time to watch the delivery truck back up the driveway. It took an hour for the delivery guys to put the beds together and get the rest of the accessories into each room. I gave each of them a fifty dollar tip.

The girls went right to work making beds and getting the rooms to look nice. We decided that we needed to get a medium sized chair to place in each room in case someone wanted read. They hung some pictures and placed some appreciate knickknacks on the dressers. I had them set the temperature at 70 just to check out the new heaters.

We set up the bathroom. Since it was to do all three rooms we put plenty of towels, wash cloths, and hand towels in the storage cabinet. Vicky made a list of things she thought should be in the medicine cabinet. She added a clothes hamper to that list. Tomorrow morning we would have to split up to do all the shopping.

The girls had a class to teach tonight. While they were doing that Jenny and I would clean the general areas of the house and run the wash. The more immediate issue was what to do for supper. It had to be a quick, light meal tonight. I decided on a small salad with vegetable beef soup and a sandwich. Everyone liked the idea. Jenny and I fixed it for everyone.

Wendy arrived and joined in for supper. She was a little quiet. It came to me that neither she nor her Dad had been officially invited to turkey. Everyone just assumed that she understood that she was invited.