a little breathing room

As I mentioned, D has been out of town frequently the past couple weeks. First he was in Seattle for a Hazardous Waste Conference (oh yeah - that's a great one, came home and told me how I can't/shouldn't have any scented candles or fabric softener or ANYTHING anymore...thanks guys!), then following our annual California trip, he headed off to the Association of Oregon Recyclers conference in Eastern Oregon. Today he is headed home from there.

In the meantime, M has completed her school year and is officially on summer break Yesterday was her first day "home" and she spent part of it at Mom's (thanks Mom!) while I ran to work, then she came home with me and entertained herself while I worked from home for a couple hours. After I called it quits for the day, we had some fun playing games, going to the store, watching movies, and otherwise hanging out together. Last night she spent the last night (for awhile, I believe) in my bed which is her treat when D is out of town. I had hoped that all would sleep in this morning, but, alas, 2 of the 3 dogs were up with the sprinklers at 6:30am, and M woke as well. I got her back to sleep till 8:30, but then she was up and rearing to go for the day.

Which leads to today - a "lazy" Saturday...M got invited a few weeks ago to a friends party that was being held in the city park. I hesitantly RSVP'd yes for her to go to it, with the caveat of her allergies possibly causing issues. Well, as of yesterday, her allergies were still causing issues, so I was really leary of sending her to the party. We were just about to have a conversation about it when my phone rang and another friend invited her to a party at an INDOOR play area nearby. Now I wasn't just giving her a choice of party or home, I was telling her one party is OK, the other isn't. Makes me less of a bad Mom, huh? She still wanted to make sure her outdoor party friend got his gift, so I promised to deliver it to him (and did) at the party. In the meantime, she is off with the other group while I attempt to get the house ready for D's arrival.

I feel guilty about "choosing" one party over the other. The outdoor party is for a friend who we used to be fairly close with from her school (I actually went to college with his father), but have grown apart in the past couple years as life has gotten crazy for each of our families. Technically I didn't choose one party over the other, or one kid over the other, I chose INSIDE vs. OUTSIDE with M's allergies in mind. AND, I promised the OUTSIDE party kiddo a playdate (or 2) this summer, which is really preferable to a party at a park anyway, as they will truly get to spend time together that way.

Not a bad Mom, right?

SO - while she has been gone, I've been fighting the urge to take a nap and getting stuff done around the house. I keep telling myself, "I'll lay down after I...", then never get to the laying down part. Not a bad thing, since once I lay down I'm sure I'll be out for the count.

I have been productive - have gotten several loads of laundry done (folded and put nearly away, even), took care of recycling, picked up poop, straightened up the living room, read the paper, made a coffee run, delivered outside party kiddo's gift, pulled a few weeds, discovered ants near our garden, googled "organic ant control", decided to go to the store after M gets back to pick up some "organic ant control" and kill those little buggers,...

Tomorrow we ALL have the day off, so will be hanging out around the houses, doing yardwork in 2 yards, and BBQing at Mom's for dinner. M will spend tomorrow nite with Mom, then all day Monday as well while I work. I'm thinking I need to reschedule the housecleaner for Monday so that I can work from home guilt free (I always feel bad being here while she's cleaning). Tuesday and Wednesday M will go to her former daycare, then Thursday hang out with me until it's time for karate class, then out to the coast for karate camp.

I'm SOOOOO looking forward to karate camp this year! Last year I took part in it as I was actively taking karate at the time. It was an amazing experience, and I will truly miss it, although I can't say that I'm not going to enjoy hanging out in the condo or on the beach while M is taking part in the work out part of camp. I'm debating bringing Pasha along with me - Mom is concerned that having her there will "cramp" my style, but I just know she'd love being there with me, hanging out and such. PLUS, if she's with me, I can't be shopping and spending money, which is a good thing. The condo we're staying in has a full kitchen, so I can cook all my own meals while there and don't even need to go to a restaurant for lunch. BUT, I am a bit concerned as I'm sure Sensei will have at least their puppy with them, and what if Pasha doesn't play well with him? I doubt it - she's pretty laid back most of the time with other dogs, but if HE gets an attitude, she'll fight back.

I don't know...have a couple days to decide on Pasha - got a condo that she's WELCOME in, that way I can play it by ear if she comes or not.

THEN, I feel guilty bringing Pasha and not Romeo (or even Sally, who is technically Mom's dog, but realistically we share custody of all 3 of them). I joke that with Pasha being an older dog, it's kinda like a "Make a Wish" for dogs, that she gets to do almost anything b/c she is older and we don't know how many more years she has with us. BUT, that truly isn't far from the truth. Why NOT take her for a weekend at the beach? She will love it - hell, she'd love sitting in a hotel room with me if that's all we did - she just loves being with me. AND, if she's a hassle with the other dog (which I doubt), we can deal with that as well. Romeo is a pup and has his whole life ahead of him to be dragged along everywhere we go and if I brought both (or all 3), I would go absolutely crazy. One dog is enough for traveling, I think.

Well, now I've blogged into an internal conversation with myself and I'm sure all 2 of you who read this are bored silly, so I'll sign off for now. Sounds like the laundry needs rotating.

Perhaps I'll take a nap after I rotate the laundry...