I'm Back--and Still Hot and Grumpy!! LOL!!

What's more depressing than working, working, working all week, then spending your weekend chainsawing a dead tree and deep-cleaning? Doing all of that, then waking Monday morning to find Hubby spent half of his weekend at Niagra Falls!!!!! Then lounging in his fabulous Toronto, Canada hotel!!!!!

Here's an excerpt of his e-mail hotel description, so you can be sick along with me:

"The hotel is really nice. I'm on the 10th floor, and it is sort of like a suite. I have a separate living area and bedroom. The bathroom has the same marble that our master does, only it is gray instead of tan. There is even a vanity mirror with lights all around it next to the closet that you girls could use to preen if you were with me. And there is a live Bamboo tree next to my bed that is probably at least 10 feet tall." --Hubby

Instead of waking beside a lovely, ten-foot bamboo tree, I had two dog butts in my face, and a nest of wild Daughter hair!! LOL!!! Anyway, I am glad he's having fun, but sad for me!! LOL!!! Since my Harlequin editor's in Toronto, we talked about me going, too, but decided to be responsible and save $$$. Aren't there days you just hate being a grown-up??

Oh--with all his Gold-Club-Flying-Bonus-Wonder-Boy Points, he got to fly First Class, too!! If I'd didn't love him so much, I'd seriously hate him!! LOL!!!

Nothing much new to report. The tree in front of the kitchen window died and fell. Swell. As did another in the pond. I'm starting to feel creepy about all the tree deaths around the house--like the Tree FBI may come for a visit!! LOL!! Seriously, the one by the pond was pretty much a dead, leaning trunk when we got here. It has a few straggly branches and used to sport a bushy poison ivy vine before Hubby sprayed it. The tree in front of the kitchen was an odd, straight, TALL, branchless oak that has looked half-dead for the past year. I glanced out the window Sunday morning and noticed it'd tipped. Like it'd broken off at the base. Very odd. Not sure how to tackle removing it, as it's leaning against another tree.

Daughter had her first football game to cheer at Thursday night, so that was fun!! Despite the kick-off temp of 105, she looked amazingly perky!! I, on the other hand, felt--and no doubt, looked--amazingly bedraggled!! This was a pre-season tournie, and since our team won their first game, we stayed for a second game that didn't start till 9:30!!! We didn't get in bed till close to midnight!!

Knock-on-wood, but both kids seem incredibly happy and well-adjusted to high school. I'm talking so happy, there's been virtually no angst at all. I'm not sure what to make of this, but am sooo happy that for once, they're happy!!!

What's not happy is that I'm already getting a stomachache from worrying about getting the house clean enough for our Chinese exchange student who will be here on September 30th. Figuring he'll want to e-mail his parents, I'm starting with my office. Seeing how due to heat, this space has been abandoned for the past month, the cat has taken it over. There's cat hair EVERYWHERE!!!! I don't know what she's been doing up there, but it's nasty, and needs to stop!! I did get quite a bit done, but there's still a lot to go. I going to paint this morning until it gets too hot, then work on my anthology.

I talked with Editor Jen about the anthology's opening chapters on Friday morning, and she said it's off to a good start, so that was cool news!! She also extended my deadline to October 1st. That's nice, but seeing how I'll be cleaning 24/7 the week before our student gets here, I need to finish by the 18th--which was the original date.

It's my week to carpool, so guess I'd better find some shoes . . .