Big Ol' Bundle of Nerves

Eep! I had NO idea how long it had been since I posted! I am so sorry. I have been up to a bunch of things, most importantly a major decluttering effort in my kitchen. It is starting to look like people live here again, finally, so good progress is being made. Since I don't have a lot of time, here are some cop-out bullets about things I was up to in the last week.

• I got together with two of my oldest friends in the world on Wednesday and we took our collective 11 kids to a somewhat local cave/caverns, maybe 1/5 the size of Luray. Sunny was scared but the others enjoyed themselves (I wore Nemo in the Mei Tai), and on the way home I asked if they'd had fun. Trout responded "Mommy, that was awesome! I want to come here EVERY DAY!"
• I went shopping with a friend of mine last weekend to get clothes for BlogHer that don't make me look completely like the day-to-day frump that I am. It was my friend whose mother passed away about the time that my grandfather did, and this was the first time we'd had to really spend time together just the two of us since then. We talked a lot about how we are coping with our losses and stresses in our lives, and just had good bonding time. We ate well, we talked, we shopped and she is a bargain hunter extraordinaire, so my wallet was relatively happy.
• I got the first checks in the settlement of my grandfather's estate, and was just so torn up I couldn't speak for a couple of days. I'd rather have him, whole, instead of all the money in the world, and I am not handling tangible and intangible reminders that he's gone very well at all. I just really, really miss him.
• Nemo got a couple more teeth (he now has 4) and has learned to both stand up and sit back down. He's crawling everywhere and I'm getting a whole lot more exercise on a daily basis.
• Oh, yeah, and I turned 37 yesterday. I had a nice dinner with BigDaddyFish last night, but otherwise the day was a wash.

Aside from all that, I will be leaving on Wednesday for the very first trip I've ever taken by myself in my life, and I'm taking the baby with me. I am more than a little nervous, but I am tremendously excited and looking forward to meeting my friends in the computer, in real life, plus get a chance to see those who I look up to. We all know I'm going to make an awkward mess of myself, so hopefully I won't scare anyone. I am going by train, since we know how I feel about flying, and I'm worrying myself all into a tizzy about how I'm going to go to the bathroom on the train, since it is a 17 hour journey (it actually isn't bad - I've taken the auto train to Orlando and it is about the same time frame - you spend a good portion of it asleep since it's overnight), and how the baby is going to do. Combine that with worries about what my family is going to be up to while I'm gone (there is a possibility they may come out, too, only later) and I'm just a mess.

So how have I been coping with this?

Reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Is there any other way?

Comments

[Kristen]

So glad you're going. I do way better flying w/ the kid because I'm distracted :) Hope that works -- looking forward to meeting you!

[Redneck Mommy]

Can't wait to meet you too!!!

Now tell me, does that Harry kid kick the bucket in the book?

I'm dying to wreck the surprise for my kids.

(Parenting at it's finest.)

[Her Bad Mother]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

(And - looking forward to meeting you, too!)

[angi]

Happy Birthday!
I wish I was going, it sounds like such fun. I do not think we are terribly far away either, I was trying to convince hubby that we needed a vacation to Chicago :)
Have a WONDERFUL time!!

[carmen]

I can't wait to meet you too!

Good luck on the trip!