Fold My Laundry Please

I’m not sure how I’m going to make up for my absense.  I left all of you in the lurch.  You were probably sitting at home, cravin’ yourself some adventures of Lady Laundry (that’s me, in case you didn’t know), and I selfishly took a blog break.  And I didn’t even warn you first!  Some of you (a shockingly large percentage, actually) even had terrible things happen in your families.  Where was I with my words of comfort?  Not here, that’s where.  And then I had to go and get sick, further postponing my triumphal and much heralded return!  And then!  I went and got lazy and passed it off as making sure I was fully recovered from the POISONING!  Mea culpa!  Mea culpa!  So, in an effort to apologize, allow me to summarize a bit of what has happened in the last, (one, two,….) seven, *gasp* SEVEN DAYS!  I promise to omit the mundane and focus only on the exciting and interesting.  I also promise to use lots of exclamation points!!!  And to gratuitously abuse THE CAPS LOCK KEY!!

Friday I had the chance to meet Allanna!  In real life, even!  Let me just say that she is every bit as fun as I thought she would be (Nerdfighters!) and twice as pretty!  She threw a Pampered Chef party to which she honored me with an invite.  On a side note, between my love for cookbooks and how I paw over cooking gadgets as if they were pretties, you would think I actually enjoyed cooking.  Sadly, I do not.  I think it has something to do with the fact that someone in my house is always hungry and therefore I am ALWAYS. COOKING. SOMETHING.  But the opportunity to drool over expensive kitchen tools, eat food that someone else cooked, and to turn an internet friend into a REAL LIFE friend?  I was so there!  And I had a blast!  I took the girls with me and Aurora turned everyone there into family.  I think that’s her secret mutant power because she can charm the pants off of anyone.  At one point during the evening, I looked over to see her sitting snuggled on the couch with Allanna’s family members and looking totally and comfortably adored! 

The only thing I regret about the evening is this.  I didn’t take a single picture.  Not one.  I blame it on being nervous.  I’m not always good with people in real life because my mouth can get me into trouble.  I’ve gotten better about keeping it shut lest evil escape (especially at church), but occasionally I slip up and prattle on about something or other wishing desperately that I could JUST. SHUT. UP! ALREADY!  I must say that I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to edit my words before hitting publish.  Thank you blogging!  You’ve saved me socially!  Maybe the next time I meet one of you in real life (I’m looking at you, Nicole!) I’ll be a bit more relaxed and actually document the event for everyone else to enjoy as well.

Sunday was my anniversary!  The hubster and I have been married for seven happy years now.  We weren’t really planning on doing anything much more than skipping church.  But on the spur of the moment, we decided to pack all of us into the car and head north to Olympia, Washington to eat at a restaurant that was our favorite when we lived there.  We had a few minor reservations about this trip before we left.  It’s a two and a half hour drive from our house and it was already just past noon.  Also, it was Sunday.  You know?  The Holy Sabbath Day?  Normally, we try to avoid doing anything that would cause anyone else to have to work on a Sunday unless our ox is in the mire.  As is our way.  But!  It was our anniversary!  Of the day we got married!  It was special!  And I reeeeally wanted delicious seafood and beautiful scenery!  And so we threw some extra diapers in my bag and headed out.

The drive up?  Smooth.  Lunch/Dinner?  Linner?  Yummy!  The restaurant is right on the Port of Olympia, so we took a small wander after eating.  As predicted, we saw beautiful scenery…

…and a good time was had by all!

It was the drive home that troubled us. Not until the very end, though.  The beginning was filled with nap time and pleasant conversation, and those are two very good things indeed.  The last five minutes was filled with vomit.  Specifically, mine.  We got home and I spent the next few hours keeping conveniently close to a bathroom, wishing I would HURRY UP AND DIE ALREADY!  At about nine pm, I was feeling good enough to call the restaurant and ask them to reverse the charge on our meal, it having been filled with POISON and all.  They apologized profusely, informed me that food poisoning normally takes about eight hours to kick in, and then removed my meal from our bill.  Which was really all I could honestly ask since I was the only one affected.  Mine was the most expensive meal anyway.  Happy anniversary, my love!  How about a great big kiss?

Since then, I’ve been going about my usual business and  trying to get myself back into my blogging groove.  Apparently, in my world, getting back to normal means making plans to change my daily routine.  I know you missed me.  I missed you, too.  Do you forgive me? 

P.S.  Food poisoning SUCKS!!!  Or should I say, blows?