T-minus Nine Days, 31 May 2013

Hi there!  Tonight I'm putting away my to-do list for a few minutes and sitting down to write.  Hard to believe the month of May slipped by without a single post prior to this one.  Blogger slacker!

A couple weeks ago, I started a post about plaid, and it was going to be very charming and amusing, but I got interrupted and the moment passed.  Now you'll just have to wonder how all those stripes and squares ended up in my closet.

There were other May "todays" that I could have blogged about if I'd had the time or energy: My mom's birthday, Mother's Day, the passing of our pet bunny Bunjy, making too much spaghetti, weeding my garden and enjoying it (sounds unlikely, doesn't it?), cooking with fresh herbs, exploring new music and worship styles, a bad cold, a packed weekend visit with extended family.

But if I spend tonight's few minutes writing about all that stuff, I'll never get to today, which is the very premise my blog centers around, so you'll have to limp through your life never knowing how many pounds of spaghetti I cooked or how long my stuffy-nosed naps were.  How will you ever survive?  (Quite well, I imagine.)

And so, on to the present.

Today marks the 9-day countdown to the beginning of our 10th Wedding Anniversary Trip!!  And in a few hours today will be tomorrow, which will mean 8 days until the trip!!  Oops, back to today.

I keep skipping between chomping-at-the-bit excitement, to-do list near-panic, bursts of creative energy, and glassy-eyed fatigue.  This week, I've been concentrating on organizing things for the people who will be watching G and Z while we're gone.

What's that, you say?  You're not taking your kids?  NO WAY, JOSE!  We love our children dearly, but for this anniversary we really prefer to not manage bedtime schedules or short legs or demands for attention.  But leaving one's children for 16 days takes some organization and forethought.  They'll be passed around between the FILs, Grammy G, my dad, and Bernie and Clare.  Sweet Bernie is taking a whole week off work to stay at our house and help Clare watch my two boys, plus their baby K.  Can I get a hoo-rah for my bro-in-law???  Truly though, hoo-rahs are warranted all around.

This week's accomplishments include writing and signing permission slips; hanging--and labeling--keys near the door; looking up open hours at library, zoo, community pool, etc; drawing out a large calendar that includes those open hours and who will be where when; listing indoor activity options; copying insurance cards...  Wait a minute, I'm beginning to bore myself.

The point is, the to-dos add up fast, but I'm trying to get them done as fast as they present themselves.  Or at least, make notes of them as fast as they present themselves.

Oh dear.  I started writing this post during one of those creative energy bursts, and I have now transitioned to glassy-eyed fatigue.  I think I'd better end here with a to be continued...

But I'm not going to add it to my to-do list.  At least, not today's list.

**EDIT: While I made a specific shout-out to my bro-in-law, please let me make it crystal clear that everyone watching our kids is sacrificially taking time off from their regularly-scheduled lives, and more than one is taking time away from work.  You are ALL my heroes!

Plaid Attack, 21 May 2013 [draft]

Plaid.  Apparently, it's made a comeback since the turn of the century (the 20th, that is), and I have succumbed.  Or perhaps it's been there all along, but I turned a blind eye to it because I grew up equating plaid::flannel.

If Jennifer Aniston wears it, it must be in style!

At any rate, I didn't mean to succumb!  It was practically an accident.  You may well ask how two plaid dresses and four plaid tops ended up in my closet this week by accident, but I can explain.

It all started last Tuesday when I had a clothing crisis.