School Daze...

The first day of preschool was so typical that I couldn't help but let my inner cynic mock, just a little. There were nervous looks, a few tears, and a little bit of the old "don't leave me!"... but T gave me a good shake, and I cut all that out made my reluctant way back to the car.


Jack was a little nervous, too, but that subsided the moment he was surrounded by pretty high school girls and plenty of legos. By the time I returned to pick him up, he took one look at me and said "I want to go to preschool again! NOW!". I told him he'd be back in 2 days and smiled, while internally I cried, just a little, that my baby was grown up enough to be so independent. But I firmly shook it off because, hey, Toby will benefit from the alone time with me and Jack is already much happier for the experience. And I might actually get to finish a hot cup of coffee in the morning.

Besides, I consoled myself all week with help from my new boyfriend. Yup, I am having a super-hot, steamy, dirty affair. Oh, no worries all... T knows all about it, and he's totally okay with it because he knows that this fling fills a very necessary space in my soul which has stood empty until now.

You see... we bought a SteamVac. (*rimshot*).

I have spent the last week scrubbing every visible piece of carpet in our house. And let me tell you, this is one instance where my intermittent OCD tendencies come in VERY handy. That stain from T's dad and his spill with the Christmas wassail two years ago? GONE. Spot Shot couldn't get it out, OxyClean couldn't get it out, but the SteamVac? Sucked it up like it was dollar margaritas in the last 10 minutes of happy hour. It's a thing of beauty.

And now that the carpets are getting back into condition, I can start working on clearing out the basement for our yard sale in the spring. Because life is too cluttered as it is, and physically making it less so seems to help to clear out the mental clutter as well. And let me tell ya, when it comes to physical clutter? We. Need. Less. Stuff. Or at least, less useless stuff and more of the "good" stuff. More stuff that Maggie would approve of, and less that appears to have fallen off of the back of the bag lady's shopping cart.

Not that the whole house is cluttered - no we've carefully sequestered most of the "miscellaneous" to the unfinished basement. You know, where the SPIDERS live. So going through all the piles down there should be good times... if I can avoid gangrene or the need for a tetanus shot.

Apparently, I'm developing my own "play at home" version of Fear Factor. Pick a scary chore at your house, and join me! Once the intensive Fall cleaning is done, let's meet for Martinis. You know, to wash off the stink. And disinfect the spider bites. And to forget that - the babies? They are growing up. Quickly, and irreversibly. Now if you'll excuse the crying
the watering of my eyes, it appears I need to adjust a contact lens... or ... or... something.

So yeah - about those Martinis.