Walking Backwards

Busy, crazy week. This coming week doesn't look to empty either. In fact, this coming week I have finals that I'm supposed to be studying for right now, so I can't reminisce for too long. I've got to make an A in this class. Last week:

- Tuesday I hosted a playgroup for Nicholas' preschool class at Deep Eddy pool. I was sad that a lot of people had to cancel because they have little, little ones that they can't take around large bodies of water by themselves. However, we still had several families show up to play. One thing really pissed me off about the whole thing, though. People did not seem to realize that when I said the playdate was at 10 in the morning that that meant that they should be there somewhere close to that time. About the time I was ready to leave the first time, someone else showed up. Once I was ready to leave again, someone else would show up. I was there for about two-and-a-half hours when I had only intended to be the for about an hour. I was so sunburned by the time I got home and Nicholas was cranky. We have another playdate hosted by someone else tomorrow and I don't know how keen my little one is going to be on doing this all over again.

- Wednesday, Nico and I went out with some friends to a peach orchard and picked peaches. This is the last weekend the place is open, so despite being exhausted from the day before, we went. The peach orchard is run by the Buddhist temple next door and you can tour the grounds after you've filled your basket with peach goodness. There were peacocks and beautiful gardens. It was great. The only problem we ran into was that it was very hot and very humid outside and Nicholas wanted me to carry him the entire time because of it. Nicholas and I have been eating peaches all week and made peach chutney and we still have peaches left over. I'm wondering how long they're going to last.

- Thursday was not fun. Nico had to get a hepatitis A vaccination so he can enroll in preschool this year and I had to take him. I hate it when my baby gets shots. Joe was kind enough to come along and he held Nicholas while the nurse shot him up. He cried bloody murder until the nurse offered him a Blue's Clues sticker and then all was fine. We then went out to lunch with some friends and Nico had a cookie and a gumball. I think the little guy ended up satisfied for the day. I did not. The fact that we got our new passports in the mail and my photo ended up making me look like a drug-addicted criminal didn't help.

- Friday, nothing. Really. It rained all day and our plans to go out were cancelled.

- Saturday I made soap. It was so cool. My friend Annie picked me up in the morning and we went over to other friend Geoff's house and he taught us how to make soap. Not the melt and pour junk. Real soap. With lye. We spent most of the day over there and I had a great time. Between batches of soap we ate olives and looked at the new IKEA catalogue and talked about being grown-ups. My soap mix was lavender, lemongrass, and rosemary. Annie did a mix of peppermint, spearmint, and eucalyptus. Geoff ended up with clove, cinnamon, and orange. We unmold sometime this week. Geoff's neighbors must have thought we were running a meth lab or something because we had to mix the lye-water in the breezeway. There we were with a big stainless steel bucket that smelled incredibly caustic and was smoking in rubber gloves and goggles. Crazy.

- Sunday, cleaned and tried to get the house in order. My house is still a mess even though we spent most of the day working on it.

That was my last week. Now I really have to get my act together because I have essays to write and my book group is meeting tonight and I have my final to finish up and we are going to San Antonio on Wednesday. In addition, my brother is coming home this weekend and I need to get his car's oil changed since I borrowed it so much while he was gone and finish steam cleaning the carpets in his room. AND . . . my sister-in-law's engagement party is this weekend in Houston, so gifts must be bought and cards made and luggage packed. Crap I'm busy sometimes.

Of course, this isn't normal. I am a pretty boring person after all. I think everything happens at once in my life; it isn't kind enough to spread itself out over a reasonable period of time.