That Was The Week That Was

OK, so a week has gone by and we're all still on speaking terms. I consider that a good sign! The days are zipping by, and I'm pretty well exhausted at the end of the day, but in a good way.

MisterJones may not have wanted the pool, but it makes my "job" so much easier. We're practically living out there, which kind of cancels out the whole "get dressed" and "take a bath" parts of my daily checklist.

Did I mention the checklist? As part of Camp Mummy, I thought up a little Mad Lib / Weather Report / To Do List / Customer Service Feedback form. First we choose an animal to be for the day (I don't know why but they particularly love being something other than humans on a regular basis) and perhaps we come up with a few facts or draw some pictures. Then we move on to the weather forecast. I have a dummy schedule with checkable bullet points, and it shows them all the important daily milestones like TV/Computer, Lunch, and Pool. It also shows, in writing, the times when Mummy procrastinates while surfing the web and pretends to clean the studio Works.

So far, the littlest coffee beans seem to like it, and it has kept us more or less on the ball. Of course, one of these days we'll just cross out the whole damn thing and go to the beach.

The highlight of the week came today when I was spying checking on them outside and I found them crouched down on the front walk, elbows on knees, having an intimate conversation. For all I know they were plotting a bloodless coup against the Camp Mummy Regime. It was pretty damn cute, though.

Oh, and to celebrate the Solstice, we did the Diet Coke + Mentos experiment with Ann, Eric, and a neighbor child. It was too funny. Of course my poor, DietCoke deprived kids treated it like a soda fountain and helped themselves direct from the geyser.

The downside of the week would be the overpowering guilt I feel for Not Being Productive At Work. And yet I've shipped orders, answered emails, returned (some) phone calls, and picked up my packages. I've blogged (for the business), uploaded product, and stitched, even.

Guilt? What guilt? I think I'll put my feet up, watch some crap telly, and stitch some more....

G'night!

Any Last Requests?

Tommorow is the last day of school for the littlest coffee beans. Coincidentally, it's my first day on the job as full time chauffeur, nutritionist, housekeeper, personal chef, jailer, swim-slash-art-slash-music-slash-literacy coach, and personal assistant. During previous summers I had the luxury of using daycare, camp, or what have you while I toiled away someplace else in air conditioned comfort. Fast forward to 2006, and I'm now "working at home", which loosely translated, means "give up any hope of getting anything done between 9 and 6". Somewhere around New Year's Eve, when summer seemed like a distant mirage, I thought it would be good to actually use that $5K earmarked for summer camp for something more luxurious, like food, and the mortgage, and stuff.

So here I sit, somewhat nervous, but mostly hopeful that it's going to be a good summer for each of us. I've got a carefully planned schedule for each day, which includes a couple of hours for me to attend to work (read: websurfing and taking a nap) , and doesn't rely on Vitamin T (that's Television) for more than, say, 3 or 4 hours a day.

Wish me luck, I think I'm going to need it!

It's Over of Quiet Time

Now what do I do?