10.18.13 – #6
Gosh – the last few weeks have just been so challenging! By the end of each, I have been mentally exhausted. So – on Saturday, I did the most indulgent thing I could do for myself…and it didn’t cost a dime. For my five-year anniversary with my employer, I was able to choose a gift from a catalog. I chose a hammock. My daughter has much more of an engineering mind than I, so she orchestrated the assembly. We put it under our big maple tree. That tree was the major selling point when we bought our house 20 years ago. We had visions of a tire swing on that tree, and I spent hours pushing our daughter on that tire swing, playing with our dogs under that tree and now getting away from it all under that tree. I grabbed a magazine (Real Simple), and kicked my shoes off. I didn’t even make it through the Ten Ideas for Butternut Squash article before I feel asleep. It was the most peaceful, amazing little vacation I’ve had in a while. In the distance, I could hear kids laughing and playing. I could hear leaves crunching. Pure bliss. For that, I am thankful. Sunday was just as great. I had the time to make a nice family dinner and then watched a Halloween movie with my daughter in her room! It’s not often that a 14-year old invites you into their realm for 90 minutes of gadget-free (almost) quality time.
Caught up in the joy of quality mom/daughter bonding time, I decided to add a little treat to her lunch the next day. I was ready. I had my candy corn. I was going to add one Dove chocolate to make it extra special. I assembled the candy, put it in the baggie, and out shot a burst of orange, yellow and white from the other end. How is it possible that I choose the one baggie in 500 that had a hole in the end?
Damn! I fear that sometimes I fail so miserably at trying to be Super-Mom that I might even get my Pinterest membership revoked.
***If you’re eating, or have a weak stomach, STOP reading now***
Consider yourself warned!
Knee Slappin’
My sister-in-law recently shared this post with me about 20 dogs who were “busted in the act” and their owners shamed them. This pooch reminded me of how this week shaped up:
My week turned stinky early in the week when devil dog decided to roll in the leaves. She was having so much fun, just like a puppy should. And then she rolled in poop – head first. Just like a puppy shouldn’t. She wasn’t amused by a cold shower on the patio followed by a good dose of eau de bad puppy deodorizer. The next night, I got home from work about 30 minutes too late. Our puppy was crated. Soiling their own space is a dog’s last resort, so you had to know it must have been urgent. Poor Luna dropped a deuce, and then ate it to remove the evidence. When I got home, she looked fine. Looks can be deceiving. By the time I got dinner on the table, sat down and lifted the fork for the first bite, she looked at me and projectile vomited liquid poop all over the place. Dinner over.
She did, however, pass her AKC Star Puppy training program the next night. Bravo! She successfully completed 8 different activities and passed the test. She promptly joined her classmates at the side of the room, and pooped. Again. Sigh.
On second thought, I’m glad I selected the defective baggie for candy corn, not my doggie cleanup bag. That would have taken things to a whole different surprising level of wrong. So went a week in my life.