Hmm...I didn't even realise I forgot to title this one...

You know how you go away for a couple of days, and it's relaxing and fun and everything you want it to be? But then you come back and spend the next week catching up on everything you didn't get done while you were away?

Yeah.

It's been that kind of week. I've been running around like a maniac it seems, trying to get caught up on the cleaning, shopping and both part time jobs. Oh, and of course--a missions committee meeting.

We got back from our "mini-break" Monday night. I spent all day* Tuesday working on a powerpoint presentation we ended up not using, and then quickly putting together booklets to hand out with information on our project.

*Because of Wiggle Man, "all day" naturally refers to whatever time I could squeeze in between chasing him down, giving him hugs, feeding him, changing him and checking on him. And a flute lesson. Oh, and I picked up groceries.

I don't remember Wednesday.

At least, not much of it. I do remember that it was busy. And I roasted a chicken for dinner, which my in-laws were happy to help us eat. We were happy to have them eat it, especially since my father-in-law had spent all day re-siding part of the house, and my mother-in-law had come to cut Wiggle Man's hair during Jeopardy.

Yes, Jeopardy. Ever since he was little, Wiggle Man has loved Jeopardy, and the Wheel. He becomes a baby zombie. Perhaps this is bad parenting, but we totally took advantage of that. My mother-in-law came over, shears in hand, and we strapped him into his chair and turned on Jeopardy.

It worked so well my mother-in-law was even able to use the clippers a bit on his baby sideburns.

That brings us to Thursday, which is, of course, known as Crazy Thursday around here. Not much happened besides a lot of music teaching. And I ate lunch.

Hopefully today I can finally get caught up--at least on the piles of laundry. Seriously. I have no idea what I'm even going to wear today.

There's A Clarinet In My Bathroom...

There really is. Or, at least, there really was. Wiggle Man has found an old clarinet we had lying around (for my music studio...decor, not for actually playing, heaven forbid...) and has adopted it as his own. He marches around with it on a regular basis. You could say it has replaced the spatula for him. I had to step over his beloved clarinet to leave the bathroom this morning, as he'd brought in it, then left it.

Our weekend away was wonderful, even if it did require two trips back into town. It's about an hour drive. Unless you're me. Sunday morning.

I am what you might call directionally challenged. I chalk it up to learning to drive later in life. But really, maybe it's genetic or something.

At any rate, there I was, leaving the beach very very very early Sunday morning. I left 2 hours before I needed to be at church. (I always give myself extra "getting lost time" if it's the first time I've driven somewhere. Even if I've been there lots--if I've never actually been the one driving, I tend to get lost.)

Not surprisingly, I missed the very first exit. Or rather, I exited before I even got on the parkway. Long story. The gist of it is that I thought an arrow pointing to my right referred to where I needed to go. Not so much.

After a half an hour's "detour", I got onto the parkway, and everything was going swimmingly. Until I got to the next route I needed to take. There was a detour. Again, the signage was a little confusing, and I ended up backtracking for a bit, before realising that no, I was going the right way all along.

I like to think I'm a good driver. Directionally challenged, yes. But a good, safe driver over all. So, I'm carefully checking the speed limit. I see it's 35, so I slow down to 35. Eventually, I start getting nervous about how late it's getting, and with no other traffic to help me gauge my speed, I'm going 50. I don't realise this until I see another car coming down the road towards me. At the same time I realise I'm going 50, I realise this car coming towards me is a cop. Crap.

Crap, crap, crap.

He goes past me. I see him brake, then make a u-turn and start following me. I'm sweating like a pig, hoping and praying he decides to cut me a break since I'm now going exactly the speed limit. I get hopeful as he keeps following me, sans lights and nerve-wracking siren. Until I realise he's just waiting for a good spot to pull me over. Which he eventually does.

I have never, ever, ever, ever been pulled over before. Never. I've been in cars when other people have, but never have I been a driver pulled over.

I may have been shaking to the point that it was difficult to give the officer my license and registration, but I did not cry. Waiting for him to check my license and registration took forever and I was suddenly afraid the registration was expired (it wasn't) but I did not cry. I thanked him kindly when he just gave me a warning, and I still did not cry.

Not until after the officer left, anyway.

No Rest For The Wicked...Well, Maybe A Little...

Hubba Hubba and I are trying very hard to find some time to get away, just the two of us. This is the best we could come up with.

We leave tonight to go stay at a friend's beach house. (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!) Wiggle Man will stay with his Auntie and Uncle, or rather, they'll stay with him. Tomorrow morning I drive back to town to lead worship, then head back to the beach to spend the rest of the day with Hubba Hubba. Monday morning he drives back to town to work, and then back to the beach. Then we both head back to town so I can lead my worship team rehearsal Monday night.

Doesn't that sound like a relaxing way to spend a weekend? Yup.

Hey, don't get me wrong--I'll take it!

I may or may not get a Not Me! Monday post in--I won't have internet, so it will depend on whether I get it written and scheduled before I leave. Considering all the laundry and packing still to do, not to mention the grades I have to have in for Monday, and the plan for Monday's rehearsal, it may not happen. Or it may. You'll have to check in Monday morning to see for yourself!

Grab A Shoe...Preferably Fee-Fee's....

It started innocently enough. Early one morning, I decided to get a head start on some laundry. I went downstairs to our very unpleasant cellar, where the washer and dryer live. (I fought like the dickens to keep them upstairs, but I lost. There's really nowhere else to put them, so several times a week I must trudge down to my "scary basement.")

I started the washer, filling it with water. I added my bleach, looked down, and there was the most disgusting cricket-spider. What are those things? They're not crickets, they're not spiders...I have no choice but to hyphenate. Can anyone help me out?

Here's what it looks like, drowned, slightly disintegrated in bleach, and thrown with disgust (and a little fear that it wasn't dead, I'll admit) onto our driveway:

Worldless Wednesday

It's Not Me! Monday!

I really is Monday morning again. This week just flew by for me--I'm still a little exhausted from it all. Good thing Hubba Hubba and I are planning a little overnight getaway next weekend--hopefully it works out!

Well, with Monday morning come the Not Me! Mondays. As always, check out MckMama for the ultimate NM!M fun. She may or may not be posting today--after all, she did just arrive home from giving birth to the most precious miracle baby. So, check out her blog either way--you can join the NM!M party, or read about Stellan's miracle.

This week:

*I did not ask myself on Thursday where the week had gone, because I had nothing done!

*I do not still have a pile of laundry in the bathroom sitting where the hamper should be, simply because said hamper is still in the basement from my laundry attempt a few days ago. There is also not a wet load sitting in the washer that will have to be re-washed for the second time.

*I did not bake a dozen cookies for Hubba Hubba and I to enjoy during our movie night. I did not eat most of them myself.

*I do not have a watermelon sitting on the counter that Wiggle Man managed to pull onto the floor and subsequently crack open. I was not too lazy to take it out to the chickens last night. I am not secretly hoping someone else just takes the darn thing out so I don't have to deal with it.

I am not still tired from the Phillies parade/Citizens Band Park extravaganza on Friday. I do not want to figure out a way to post my picture of the streaker without being offensive.

*I am not typing this with Wiggle Man's fireman's hat on. It is not the only hat he will wear. He is not, for reasons unbeknownst to me, smelling that hat right now. And, ironically, the fire hall's siren did not just go off.

*I am not debating having chocolate Pop Tarts for breakfast. I will eat Cheerios. Like the grown up that I am.

*I am not going to go work out now, just so I can feel better about the Pop Tarts I will not be eating.

So tired...so worth it.

It's been a couple of days since I posted, and they've been doozies! Most of you know that Thursdays are "Crazy Thursdays" for me, so I don't usually get to post. But yesterday--yesterday took the cake. If you saw the Phillies Parade on your news at all, you likely saw a huge mass of humanity crowding Broad Street in Philadelphia. I was in that blob! We stood and waited for 3 hours for the parade to pass by, then ran like the dickens to make it to Citizen's Bank Park, just in time for the ceremony there.

Hubba Hubba, like all Phillies phans, had been waiting for this day his whole life. (He was too small to remember the 1980 World Series.) I, of course, got to have the fun of back-to-back Series wins, thanks to my Jays, so I wanted him to be able to enjoy yesterday to the fullest. Plus, it was my first World Series parade--I was so not allowed to go in '92 or '93.
It was the ultimate Philadelphia day--cheesesteak for breakfast/lunch, a streaker at the parade, a close call with some angry fans nearby, and Utley's "vocalisation malfunction." It doesn't get more Philly than that.

I have more photos posted on facebook, but for the rest of you, here's a sampling!