The List

It’s Thursday; thus far today it has rained and hailed intersected with moments of golden, delicious sunlight falling upon the face of the earth…then twenty-nine seconds later, it pours again. Yesterday it snowed. Snowed. In March. At my house. Weird. Granted, the flakes were heavy and wet. They didn’t actually stick to anything, but just seeing them land on my windshield irked me. Snow in Oregon in March is pretty darn rare, at least at my elevation. It would seem that March is in like a lamb and out like a lion as the saying goes. All of which pretty much mirrors my mood for the day.

In 6 days the little girls return to bio mom. I’ve already sent nearly everything back with them. Only a few articles of clothing and a box of toys remain. The house is starting to show signs of being a toddler free zone. One side of me is pleased at how clean the house is going to be. She’s is reveling in the quiet and thinking happy thoughts about writing, etc.

The other side is a bit of a sap. Her tender little heart is sad about the girls leaving. She’s worried for their safety and dreading that her forecast of their future will come true. This side would like to lock the door when the case worker shows up Wednesday morning and not let her take the wee girls. She’s a bit of a drama queen and thankfully, the logical side tries not to let her out very often. After all, she’s been known to make a spectacle of herself. Silly girl.

One of the things that both sides agree on is that we are all irritated at the one question that is continually being thrust our way:

”What are you going to do with yourself when the girls are gone?”

So, in case you are interested or have found yourself locked within the confines of my blog (insert evil laugh here), this is my to-do list for after April 2nd:

Personal List:

Sleep – ahh I remember sleep! It’s that thing I use to do before the girls came. I use to sleep all night. In fact, sometimes I even slept later than (gasp) 5 am.

Workout – while not nearly as much fun as sleep, it does add a certain element of fitness. Exercise makes me feel good, it makes my clothes fit better or (sniffle) makes them too large and then I have to go shopping. It’s a terrible burden, but I’ll manage. Somehow.

Read – One of my favorite things to do. I’ll read my Bible, every day (!), I’ll finish the books I’ve started and begin new ones. I’ll spend time at the library, just me library card and me! And let’s not forget those blogs…all those lovely, lovely blogs in cyber space. They just call my name, you know? I believe it’s Patty that titled her link lists as enablers…yeah enablers…how I love them!

Write – The book must get finished. Must. The stories need to be finished by September. Those essays, yeah, you know the ones, they are long over due. I’ll be writin’ me wee little heart out. Then of course there is that new and very exciting writing news…that I haven’t shared with you yet…soon dahling, soon…

Family, House, and Friends List:

House – I will finish the remodeling we started last spring (you don’t want to know). I think that by the time I finish all the little projects that should have been finished…oh, twelve years ago, we’ll move. Isn’t that the way it works?

Family – My babies are growing up so very fast. I will spend extra special time with the delightful Miss C and make the trek south to have lunch or coffee with my boy. Then of course, there’s that guy who lives here too. He’s the one who makes the money and litters my house with his antique receivers, turntables and tape decks. I’ll be spending me some quality time with him so that when Miss C eventually leaves we will still like each other. Come the end of May, Beloved and I are burnin’ rubber and hittin’ the road. Just the two of us. I CANNOT wait.

Friends – my dear, dear friends. I see coffee in our future and we won’t have to meet at McDonalds (a very special shout out to The Giver and The Writer for meeting me in the second level of hell just so I could see the white of yer eyes!). The future holds many wonderful moments for us and I cannot wait see you again and the beautiful thing is you won’t have to listen to any stories about wee girls, potty training, the Donut Man, or why my left eye twitches. It’s gonna be great, it really, really is.

I think it’s a pretty healthy list the logical side of me is rubbing her hands and eager to get started; the sappy side is dreading Wednesday morning. I think we’ll let her have a good cry and then tackle that list!