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Why is it that when you have a few relatively innocuous events coming up, they always seem to rally together into the Horrific Week of Doom? I mean it. I will have weeks go by with not much going on (of substance, that is; I always have something going on in general). Then, all of a sudden, it seems that every event that requires a personal action from me and works on a firm deadline is happening at the same exact moment. And then my head explodes.

This week has been one of those cosmic intersections.

Last weekend I worked on gathering, hanging, and pressing clothes for the upcoming consignment sale in which I will be participating. I shopped there last spring and thought I would give consigning a try come fall. You would think that I might have accomplished a lot of the clothing-related work ahead of time. Or not. I entered as much as I could into a spreadsheet knowing that I would have time during the week (cue foreshadowing).

Monday was a loss for getting any of that work done because I had to go straight from work to chorus rehearsal, and since we are Nashville Bound (Hi, Jo!) in October, we don’t actually get done until after 10pm. It makes for a long day. Plus, earlier in the day I added two new specimens to my biopsied moles collection. Just one more stamp on my Frequent Dysplastic Nevi* card, and I get a free bottle of sunscreen, SPF 500!

Tuesday night ended up hosting a much-needed haircut. To give you an idea of how overdue I was for a “trim,” there was more hair on the floor than she left on my head. That’s ok; Wednesday night will work for database entry (dun dun daaaaaaaaaaa).

We did have an appointment scheduled for Wednesday night at 7:30 to meet Boudica’s new teachers** at our house, but 7:30 turned into 8:00 and then into 8:30. To their credit, the teachers called, which can undo many wrongs when one is running late. (Learn from this you who are chronically late! Pick up the phone.) Anyway, the meeting went well, the teachers are fabulous, and most importantly, Boudica didn’t run away from them. Progress! But, with the late time and the kids now wired instead of tired, the night went on for a very long time. But there is always Thursday.

Tonight we will be attending a potluck at the kids’ new school. Kind of a “welcome back” type meal, except that since we are new, it’s just “welcome.” I made my famous chicken spread (if you’re really nice, I’ll share the painfully difficult manageable sinfully easy recipe on the blog). I have already warned Mr. D that when we get home I have to finish up the clothing stuff. Because, well, tonight is the last night to enter my goods on the computer. Period. Yeah.

Tomorrow night I get to start working on the transition for my Savvy Blog (we are all getting a brand new shiny format that rocks!). I have promised all of my changes by Sunday (promises made prior to realizing this was a bad week).

Saturday I will be helping to run a fundraiser for my chorus for the bulk of the day. Then, I will need to actually TAG the consignment items (after going out to get some tags).

Sunday, I have to drop of the consignment stuff, label it onsite (standard, not because I am lame and busy), and then finish up any last-minute school stuff. Sunday night I will gather up the school lunch stuff into the boxes with the exception of the PB&J.

Monday morning I will pack the first of many thousands of school lunches that will leave crumbs on my kitchen counter between now and 2025. I will also need to leave the house nearly an hour earlier than normal to accommodate the new work schedule that accommodates the new school schedule and allows me to stay on full-time. Have I ever mentioned that I am NOT in any way a morning person? Well, I’m not. At all.

Hmmm, seems that next week is going all “Henry the Eighth” on me. Crap.

*I won’t actually know the status of these moles, dysplastic or otherwise, until next week. Last time they were “completely normal” so I didn’t get a stamp.

**The kids are not only going to a new school, they will be attending on that is a language immersion program. Soon, they will be able to chat along with each other and Dora, and I will be none the wiser.

Overheard at 7am

Mr. Moo, upon waking, starts rambling on at 90mph...

Hi Mommy! I'm really hungry! And my mah-keeel-yon is really hungry, too. He would like some fly cereal please.

Not Missing

Just chilling out in Rhode Island with the in-laws. The kids are eating up all of the attention with a spoon (or, as my MIL would say, a "shhhpoon").

Catch you on the return home...

It Was a Matter of Time

This weekend, as we enjoyed our Saturday morning laze-around in our jammies and eat breakfast event (which doesn't happen nearly as often as I'd like), we realized that Mr. Moo can read without pictures. And a lot faster than we thought, too. As we were surfing the TV menu, trying to find something that would not rot the kids' brains but also not make us want to pull out every last strand of hair, we paused for a moment to look at the upcoming selections on Noggin.

"Max and Ruby!" shouted Mr. Moo. "It's coming up next--I love that show. Max and Ruby, please."

Mr. D and I looked at each other in disbelief. We then pulled up the menu again and asked him to identify a few other shows. If the words were four letters or less--he could figure it out pretty easily.

That's it--our days of surfing the menu and declaring, "Gee, none of your shows are on right now," are over. Is it terrible that I'm not sure whether to celebrate the budding reader or mourn the loss of TV autonomy?

Ick Factor

For the last few weeks, our house has been the epicenter of a viral infection* that just won't quit. It's the one that everyone seems to be getting these days--the lingering cough, mild cold-like symptoms, and did I mention the cough? I have been coughing for three weeks now, Mr. D has been coughing for longer, and the kids are following suit. No one is sleeping, everyone is coughing, so it's nice when we get a chance to sit down and actually VEG for a moment.

Last night, I walked back into the TV room after putting SC down for the night and found Mr. D watching a new show on Animal Planet called "The Monsters Inside Me." It's essentially a collection of personal encounters with various parasitic critters. Cool, I thought, this could be really interesting. And, actually, it was really interesting. Guy who had botfly larvae growing on his head? Interesting, but not alarming because I have no plans to visit the tropics. Lung flukes? Gross, but I like my shellfish cooked, thankyouverymuch. But then. Then they got to the piece on bedbugs. ICK. The thought of them makes me feel all creepy-crawly. In fact, every time I stay in a hotel, I check for the little bastards. I am seriously not a fan of bugs and especially not those that want to dine on me while I'm sleeping. But, of course, I keep watching the segment, knowing the mind games that will ensue. Little did I know that when they interviewed the woman further, she revealed that the source of the bugs was most likely a recent trip to Nashville where she stayed in a four-star hotel. At that point, I completely lost my shit because in October I am going to Nashville and will be staying in a four-star hotel. OMFG!!!!!

In no time, Mr. D and I were both online looking for bedbug directories** and such. The hotel I will be staying in does not have any reports of bedbugs anywhere at all. The worst thing said about them was that the staff was rude. I can deal with rude. Rude doesn't suck my blood in the middle of the night. But regardless of what I found online, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be searching my room there with a fine tooth comb and won't sleep until I do.

And it turns out that a few years back we used to stay in one of the listed places for our yearly outing to the Origins gaming convention. Luckily, we switched venues in 2007 and before then had no indication of infestation (typing that just sent a chill down my spine). Guess what site is now bookmarked on my computer?

*Based on the fact that Mr. D went to the doctor after two weeks of coughing, got a round of antibiotics, and the cough is still there. It's getting better, but something bacterial should have been evicted nicely by those meds.

**Go to the Bed Bug Registry or to Trip Advisor to get the scoop on your next destination.