Uff-Da!!!

I realized today with frustration and sadness that it's been TWO MONTHS since my last post. I am exhausted -- I have been on the road non-stop since Sept. I'm presenting at a conference next week and I think that will be my last trip for a bit. In the meantime, I'm feeling overwhelmed and depressed. You know that feeling, where you just have SOOOOOO much to do, but you're so exhausted, you can't even expend the emotional energy to be stressed out about it all?

I'm trying to finish a giant report and also whip my presentation (which I'm doing with 2 other people, one of whom will be conferenced-in virtually) into shape by the end of the day Tuesday. This is because on Wed. I'm leaving for the conference, which is being held in Charleston, and DC is coming with me!!!! The conference is held in a beautiful historic hotel in downtown Charleston. Our first get-away for just the two of us! I'm looking forward to it even though I'll be working during the days.

I'm not attending any preconference workshops, so we'll have part of Wed. to do fun stuff (IF I finish all my urgent crap in time). Thursday and Friday I'll be in sessions all day, but in the evenings we plan to sample Charleston's fine cuisine-- and I am going to enjoy it without worrying too much about the no-dairy, no-sugar thing. DC is excited about visiting Charleston and we're hoping to do a "haunted Charleston" kind of tour one evening.

Is this not the cruelest thing ever? Our presentation has been scheduled for the very last concurrent session, FRIDAY AFTERNOON from 4:30-5:15 p.m. And this truly is the conference that fights back-- we even have sessions during breakfast and lunch-- so by the time Friday afternoon rolls around, I don't know if anyone will even have the energy to attend, since they will already have attended 500 other presentations by that time. Plus, we aren't speaking at the main venue, but at the "overflow" hotel across the street. We will have a dress rehearsal on Thursday, and be praying to the AV gods that all the technology works so that we can hear our friend Nancy and see her slides and she can hear us and see our slides. OTOH, if we have AV problems and no one shows up, end of problem!

The other kind of weird thing is that my son AND HIS DAD are going to take care of our 2 cats and 1 enormous dog while we're in Charleston from Wed-Sat. Yes, my ex-husband will be staying in my house. And since we haven't been able to set up the guest room yet, guess where he'll be bunking? That's right, in the master bedroom. I always take care of his cats (they were OUR cats) when he's out of town so he's just returning the favor, but it's weird nonetheless. Honestly, I was surprised that DC didn't have a giant freakout about it. But when you compare FREE to the cost of boarding the dog for 4 days, it just seemed silly not to take him up on the offer. Especially since we needed someone to come to our house to feed the cats anyway.

We have a relative who manages a chain of uh, shall we say, adult toy stores. Last time we visited, unbeknownst to us, he tucked a few little goodies into our luggage for us to find when we got home-- luckily, just tasteless stuff like the Last Supper After Dinner Mints

and a Teddy Scares (the zombie teddy bear) keychain. I was relieved we didn't end up with the giant pimp cloak and hat set from the costume section... at any rate, I was thinking it would be amusing to fill the bedroom with all kinds of exotic toys, since our privacy is going to be infringed on anyhoo. DC didn't share my amusement however-- and there isn't time to "stock up" anyway.

My house is practically a superfund site, since I've been on the road so much. It's embarrassing. Not the least of which is the giant "Hooverville" of discarded clothes piled up on the floor by DC's side of the bed. (I have no idea why he no longer sees fit to use the laundry hamper.) But I know I'm not going to have time to clean before our, uh, visitor, arrives.

Once I recuperate from my Charleston trip, I hope to get back to posting more regularly... maybe I'll even find a way to create no-dairy, no-sugar foods that taste good. I am heartily sick of plain meat and veggies.

In the meantime, Happy Halloween/All Saints Day to all!