Summertime and the Livin' Is Easy....

Another 2 weeks have flown by….and what have I been doing? Trying to keep myself & the child sane. Seriously, it’s summertime which can only mean one thing in my book: TRAVEL!

This past week, kiddo & I drove to the Finger Lakes in New York. Every year the Mother-in-Law spends two weeks at the lake with her best friend of 40+ years. They host a reunion party for their high school friends. They visit family. They cook. They read. They lounge. And for one of the weeks, they gave me a break, helped me with kiddo and provided him the opportunity to create happy childhood memories! His favorite memory of the lake is taking the paddleboat across the lake with Gamie. My favorite memory is him telling stories with his new friends (fellow 4 & 7 yr olds) around the campfire while we made s’mores. Of course, he doesn’t remember the temper tantrum when he couldn’t go on the lake because the water was too rough. Or his whining to go home after day 2. Or anything unpleasant. I remember that all vacations with child in tow always tend to be more work that I anticipate! But we did have fun, even if it was cold & rainy most of the days we were there. (I am a wannabe Southern gal at heart. Give me 90+ degree weather, frizzy hair, and I am happy.)

We returned just in time to visit with out-of-town friends and spent a lovely day on the National Mall. We started at the Museum of Natural History, took a ride on the Carousel, got balloons, popped balloons 10 minutes later, walked to the WWII Memorial, saw the preparations for the Glenn Beck “Restoring Honor” rally, and then called it a day.

With such good days as these, I will keep the grumbling about the move to a minimum. I am thankful to finally live in a place that people want to visit. I expect round 2 of visitors next month. Good times!

I’m Avoiding Housework This Afternoon….and Now This Post Has Turned into a Rant That Spoiled Wifey Doesn’t Feel Spoiled in DC….

But really avoiding housework is an EVERYDAY occurence. My house gets embarrassingly dirty, to the point that I can’t stand it and the thought of unexpected visitors seeing the effect of my laziness motivates me to clean. Of course, I now have triple the workload which makes cleaning so incredibly labor-intensive. Specifically, I am avoiding the dishes from last night, the week of laundry growing exponentially downstairs, the little boy’s bathroom (true filth, why is aiming so difficult?!) and once again sweeping the mounds of dog hair. I feel like I just swept but my time sensor for cleaning is broken. It feels like it was yesterday but it might just as easily have been last week. Either way, there is visible hair which needs to be removed. *sigh*

To top it all off, today is napping weather. It rained hard earlier in the morning and has been overcast and dreary ever since. I got Little Man to nap easily this afternoon. I thought I’d follow suit, but for some reason I am all worked up today. So blogging it is.

Today I learned that if heavy rain is in the forecast, I probably should plan to stay at home. Or at least not leave Arlington. I had a doctor’s appointment this morning at 0900 in Bethesda, Maryland, a mere 9 miles away. I never made it. Even after trying 2 different routes. Finally after 45 minutes and still sitting in traffic in Virginia, I gave up. I cancelled my appointment and rescheduled for another day. Listening to the traffic report just confirmed my decision, too. Radio announcers advised those who could telecommute to do so.

Now I definitely do not feel like Spoiled Wifey living here in the DC/NoVa area. Granted it’s only been 6 weeks and I am still trying to adjust to the rhythm & nuances of this area, but this move has been the most challenging to date. Everything is challenging. I get aggravated easily. There are too many people. Too many choices. Too fast-paced. Too many waiting lists. Just too, too, too! Give me back my middle-sized suburbia town where I can get everywhere I need to be within 20 minutes. I’d really like to see my friends in Alexandria without having to leave 45 minutes before our meeting time. It’s just tiring me out. Maybe too much thinking about details that shouldn’t enter the equation: What route? What’s the traffic? What time do I need to leave to get there reasonably on time? And essentially every time, I’m late, very late. I’m aggravated, very aggravated.

I just want to breeze on through, get somewhere on time without feeling frazzled, and then maybe I’d feel spoiled once again.