Odd things you think of during all nighters

The last paper is 4/5ths of the way done and now just to get it that last fifth. I really shouldn't have let it slide this long but anyway... almost done.

But on another track, does anyone from the west coast remember the Nut Tree in Vacaville, CA? For YEARS the memories of that place have been ticking the edge of my brain but I couldn't remember the name. Red Oak was my most guessed yet consistently wrong attempt. It makes sense, looking at it. Two short words, treeish in nature... anyway, it finally clicked and I was able to find pictures and stories of that old tourist place. And dear heavens the 80s were ugly. And almost nostalgic in the way only childhood memories can be. Children of the 90s and millennium, hug your parents to thank them for the far better designed (if slightly more depressing and overcrowded) world they gave you.

Anyway, back to the Nut Tree, anyone else remember the rocking horses, playground mirrors, little train, and toy shop there? We never did eat at the restaurant, at least not as I remember since my family was still living rather meager on a lower ranked officer's pay. My little brother has no idea how good he has it, being born later into a less transient, more wealthy family. Funny how a few years can make such a difference.

And that's really all. The musings of a brain on too much caffeine, too little sleep, and worn out from a long semester. And my in laws arrive tomorrow. And the living room needs only a pizza box to look like the worst stereotype of a bachelor pad. Ok, if bachelor pads had sewing machines, fabric scraps, and a dress form. Still, messy doesn't begin to describe the disaster of papers and fabric that bear testimony to all I've gotten finished in the last week. Fortunately my in-laws are fab ... but it's still annoying that their first view of the apartment can't be a little nicer. And DH has a funeral to go to tomorrow morning (no one close, but a 95 year old woman he got to know through church) so he's out for cleaning duty. Oh well. I'll try to see the mess as one of accomplishment. Four finals, five papers, and a SWAP all finished and turned in. That's something to be proud of.