My Dog Smells Bad, but At Least I Have A Sense of Smell (and a Dog)

I have the job of dog-sitting Molly this weekend. I'd planned on going to Colorado with the family (and about a million friends) but it didn't work out (mostly because I got a cold from Zoey that has left me feeling like poo and I have a million and one things to do and because only two of my friends were gonna be able to make it, and I didn't want to infect them with whatever it was Z was kind enough to pass on to me). So because so much of the stuff on my to-do list is office-related, I offered to spend most of the weekend with smelly, smelly Molly so the fam wouldn't have to tote her to the cabin. She doesn't really like it up there because she gets car sick and ends up with burrs in her fur and she doesn't have easy access to the potty. I, on the other hand, love the cabin, even though I also get carsick. And I'm especially disappointed to miss it this weekend, when the leaves should be at their peak of autumnal splendor. But there's always next year. And there might even be a drive to Fourth of July canyon in a week or two to make up for the foliage withdrawals. That is, if I have time.
The truth of the matter is, I don't really even have time to post right now, but because ancestry.com seems to be frozen at the moment, and because I need to take a break from researching the 547 people on my mom's cousin Michael's GEDCOM file, I decided to mentally unwind for a couple of minutes without leaving the designated workspace. Basically, I've been on one heck of a family history kick, but I'm too poor to afford the fee associated with ancestry.com, and I can't open the file any other way, so I'm printing out records for all 547 of those people before my free two-week trial runs out. I'm not even 25% of the way done, but I've only got through the weekend. I know I sound so cheap right now, but this time of year makes me especially frugal, with home insurance (paid), car insurance (due by the 27th, and I'm just waiting for the bill to come so I can pay it off) and property taxes (early November) all weighing heavily on my mind. But I can't ignore this wonderful gift Michael gave me, so my printer is getting a major workout.
Ramble, ramble, ramble.
Let's see-- to be quick, here are the highlights from the past few days:
* We did have a bit of a close call with Paizlee. She stopped breathing a few times, which is never a good thing. I guess she was emulating her favorite Aunt Rachel, because I also pulled that crap when I first exited the womb. However, I turned out relatively normal and high-functioning, so I think P will be just fine. She and Skye came home today, and I'm so relieved.
* Sad thing: I can't go cuddle little Miss P for a bit, because her older sister infected me with the above-mentioned cold. Poor little Zoey, she's a bit quarantined from her mom and sister, and it makes me feel so awful. Z was a real champ over the past few days, staying with grandparents instead of her own ma and pa. I know she missed them. She was basically well-behaved, but the poor little peanut did throw up in my car on Wednesday. I wasn't mad, but it sure smelled awful. In the background, my mom was gagging from the smell, so I sent her to take care of the child (who I'd basically already cleaned up) while I used countless wet wipes to take care of the damage. But now I've got a great excuse to go to Octopus and have a professional clean my car for me, right?
* Speaking of sadness and Zoey, I have to say my ever-growing admiration and respect for motherhood just expanded exponentially this week. We had Zoey two days, and on Thursday, she felt so awful. She wanted this chair that belongs to my little sister. It's up on a shelf in our old bedroom, and I don't even know why it's still here, but Z saw it. We told her she couldn't play with it because a) it was Aunt Ashley's and b) it was too small for her (it's a doll chair). She cried and cried. And I don't know what it is, but if Z is crying, then I am too. Oh, not about everything. And I'm still the primary disciplinarian when she visits Grandma Bonnie (Nama, as she calls her), but when she wants something that I can't deliver, it breaks my heart. This week I've been reminded of what carrying a baby will do to a mother's body, and then how children's heartaches just about kill ya. Women with children, I salute you.
* Other than tending Little Z, I've not done much. This is not because I'm supremely satisfied just from being with her (though I love her more than anyone or anything else in the world, except her sister, I'd suspect), but because I simply have not had time. This was the other reason for abstaining from vacay time. My house is a wreck. I need to clean out my closet and my pantry. I need to organize my storage room. The whole house needs to be reintroduced to the broom, mop and vac. The bathrooms must be scrubbed from top to bottom. I have myriad projects in every stage of development for the boutique, including but not limited to finishing my dinette chairs, the black-widow veils, Mucha Frames, Peacock pictures, framing my grandfather's diplomas, fixing the moss chairs, painting the antique bed, making a dozen pear coffee cakes, and finishing the literary-inspired decorations. If all goes according to plan, I can finish most of the ancestry stuff tonight, file receipts for the company tomorrow as I listen to Conference (because my office is also a mess, and my mom has several ladies staying with her next week, as do I), and clean and finish the projects between sessions. It's gratifying, but I figure that whole vacation thing (or maybe a day to rest) can come to pass after the dust settles from the boutique and Ben's birthday (got the gifts, need to wrap them; gotta clean the farmhouse and start setting up my displays).
Anyway, sorry this post is basically my to-do list, but I do feel refreshed and ready to get back to the genealogy thing. Mostly. I guess I'll sleep when I'm dead, right?