This will be short so that I can hunker down in bed and pursue my new favorite hobby, which is sleeping. (Sleeping is also my old favorite hobby, and inbetween the old and the new is a hobby I don't get to pursue often enough and also can't talk about here without causing several people close to me experience spontaneous immolation.) The good news is that the toothearache has gone away. The bad news is that it was, apparently, a harbinger of something awry in the sinuses. Now I just have a yucky cold. Summer is officially over! So I was all curled up on the couch, tonight, with the kids....
I am home! Again! Jiggedy jig, or something. (Clearly I am thrilled to be back.) You know, they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. I say that absence makes for a pretty fantastic weekend here and there, but the rest of the time it still just pretty much sucks. My version isn't as pithy, but it's more true. Many exciting, harrowing, and thrilling things happened this weekend. I thought it would be fun to share some of the highlights and maybe make up a thing or two, in the process, to encourage reader participation. Your job is to read on and determine which of these things...
So. The reunion-thingie on Saturday. Where to begin? How to tell you all about it? Oh! I know! Let's start with how all of these people in my family---most of whom I didn't know existed until this weekend---Have been READING THIS BLOG unbeknownst to me and courtesy of a cousin who sent EVERYONE the link. They were all SUPER! And PRETTY! All of them! I swear! And they promised not to read the entries about my boobs! Actually, they really were all great, otherwise that might be, well, you know, awkward. Still. Newfound relations. Reading the blog. Not that I'm bitter about none of them piping...
So, my dad and stepmom arrived last night, and today we're going to a little family reunion gathering. I know that people usually dread these things, but I'm actually looking forward to it. My father comes from a largish family. But for various reasons, I haven't met most of these people. Last night we were sitting around chatting after I put the kids to bed, and the phone rang. I answered, and heard "Aloha!" My dad's brother and his wife live in Hawaii. Obviously we don't see each other very often. We're going to see them today, and they'd called to discuss plans. We swapped pleasantries....
Well, I've been 35 for nearly a whole day, and it doesn't feel much different. Then again, I felt about 50 before today, so... make of that what you will. Things I did not have to clean up today: Vomit, pee. Thing I did have to clean up today: Poop. (Dog, you have overstayed your welcome. I don't care how cute you are, you have defiled my home repeatedly. Begone.) Traditional dessert I did not have today: Cake. (Maybe tomorrow.) Traditional dessert I did have today: Ice cream. Woohoo! Food we ate that was cooked today: Nothing. Leftovers, baybee. Food that was cooked today that won't be...
As much fun as it was when the basement flooded, everything that went along with it, and the recovery afterwards, I think it's fair to say that I'm pretty much ready to be all done with that chapter of my life, now. Really. I'd like to move on. But the government just won't let me. Why? After convincing me that FEMA had experienced a dramatic turnaround--- resulting, at the very least, in a record-speed disaster relief grant for me---all their hard work was undone, yesterday. I spent an hour on the phone with FEMA employees, explaining and re-explaining that yes, you sent me some money, and...
In a fitting return to the east coast and my life, I got to take my children with me to the gynecologist this morning. Because nothing says welcome home like the nurse practitioner trying to ask about your sex life in a way that the kids won't understand. Hooboy, that was fun. Will definitely fill you in tomorrow. Anyway, while I try to get back on eastern time, you can go read about me over here if you're a new reader. Or an old reader. Or really just anyone who maybe needs more hobbies. Whatever.
I am home! I am exhausted! And I am (apparently) still on Pacific time, so here I am. I am RIGHT AT THIS VERY MOMENT licking my cable modem, because it's just so goshdarned nice to, you know, HAVE INTERNET. (My favorite internet-connectivity---or lack thereof---moment from this weekend: Someone leaning over to me and saying, "You know, even at a conference that isn't ABOUT THE INTERNET I can CHECK MY EMAIL.") We brought the system to its knees, I guess, and it turns out that I really CAN live for a few days without checking my email or blogging, though it was touch-and-go there for a little...
One week from yesterday I will be departing for BlogHer, and two weeks from tomorrow I will be embarking on the 3-Day. Six months ago both events sounded wonderful and I couldn't wait. One month ago both events sounded terrifying and I wondered if I could get out of them. I can make no promises about tomorrow, but today I am on top of the world; I'm staring down the barrel of two very different experiences and I feel... ready. Sassy. Myself. But I'm a little bit worried that it's just because my hair looks so damn good. In a move of strategy and power usually employed by the likes of Barbie...
