Dog Found, Organized Chaos Reigns Supreme

Ainsley is home, safe and sound. She didn't make it far before someone took her in for the night on Wednesday and delivered her to the Humane Society on Thursday just moments before I went down there to look for her. She was so happy to see me, and I don't blame her. So how did she thank me? By leaving lovely little doggy doodles (crap) in my studio this morning. Why do I have a dog? Oh yeah, because she brings such joy to my life and when she disappears, I feel like I've lost a child (almost). I just remind myself of that as I spray Resolve on the carpet and scrub away.

So today caps off the ultimate week of snow/ice storms, canceled school, lost doggies, stomach flu, and cleaning up vomit, cleaning up vomit, cleaning up dog poo, and cleaning up vomit. It's no wonder that everyone overslept this morning, so I dropped off my kiddies instead of making them rush for the bus, while helping Lydia study some last minute spelling words for the spelling bee today. Then I rushed to the gym for a hurried workout, ran home to shower and dress, then rushed over to the school for the spelling bee. Second round, Lydia was out on the word "tongue" (she spelled it "toungue"), and she was pretty devastated. We studied together, but she really did put some pressure on herself to perform. More than I had expected, considering her laid-back personality. I watched her sit among the audience, sobbing quietly, and my heart just broke for her. After it was all over, I could only do so much to console her. My mommy's heart has a hard time with moments like this. One side of me thought the words the other kids got were all much easier... what bad luck to get "tongue". Then the other side of me wanted her to bounce back, congratulate the winner, take her lumps, and realize that 10 other kids were in her shoes as well. All I could do was hug her and tell her I was as proud of her as I could possibly be, that it wouldn't matter if she won or went out on the first word. Here she is with the other kids who competed. Her friend Fareth was the winner, and won on the word "constitutional". Lydia is in the turquoise, 2nd from the left on the front, and Fareth is 2nd from the right, with the headband.


Today I head out of town for Fort Smith, AR, where I play with the Fort Smith Symphony. It's my very favorite music gig I've ever had. It's also my guaranteed "me" time, cause I leave for the weekend, my kids go stay with Nana and Papa, and I just enjoy being a musician, I get to hang out with friends, stay out late, sleep in, and do what I love... and get paid.

In the meantime, the rest of my day includes cleaning house, packing, getting ready for the delivery of my NEW high-efficiency washer and dryer (Christmas present from my mom and dad, it's finally HERE!), looking over my music one last time, running to the bank, gassing up my car, and whatever else I can squeeze in. There's always more to do than there is time to do it, but it somehow all gets done if it's really important. Hence the reason I feel my life is Organized Chaos. My schedule runs like a clock, but there's always something random occurring (see the 2nd paragraph above). I wouldn't have it any other way. It suits me.

We've lost our dog.

I took a late trip tonight to the the gym and the grocery store and came home to discover that our dog, Ainsley, is missing. It looks like someone left the back gate open today while playing out in the snow, and she took the opportunity to explore. With the snow and the cold weather, I expect someone found her and took her into their home or garage. It has happened before, but Ainsley lost her tag a few months ago and I have neglected to replace it. If she was just out and about, she'd likely find her way home, but I drove all over the neighborhood tonight calling her name and I didn't hear one single dog barking... anywhere. It's just too cold for a dog to be out, so she's probably found a warm place. I hope. She's a good dog. I'm going to say a prayer... again.

I'm finally writing a blog.

I'm rarely the first to do something, but I loathe being the last. So I'm finally blogging. If you have a blog, send it to me, because I need to know what blogs are supposed to be. Is it like a diary or like a news article? I expect this will be just a collection of random thoughts that someday might take on an organized form.

Today is a snow day. The kids are home from school, and we've cancelled everything that resembles normal life around here. Among all the out-of-character-for-a-Tuesday activities that are happening here are sleeping in, breakfast for lunch, video games, and baking cookies. And it's all guilt-free, because when moments like this occur, you take them and run, without worrying about all the work you'll have to do later to make up for time spent doing "nothing".

A little about me and my life. I'm a single mom to 4 fabulous kids. Matthew, age 13; Lydia, age 10; Michael, age 8; and David, age 5. They're smart, funny, cute, and from time to time exhibit wisdom, but most of the time act like normal kids. They fight each other, but they're fiercely loyal beneath the contention.

I'm 34. I feel like I'm about 34. I like being 34, cause I don't get treated like a kid, but I can still get away with doing fun things. Last year I enjoyed skiing, surfing, camping, hiking, and I am happier and physically stronger than I have been at any point in my life so far. There are days, though, that I start to feel my age, especially when I've worked out beyond my body's tolerance the day before, or when I notice the grey hairs in the mirror. Today I'm not going to write about music, because I expect the majority of my blogs to be music-related. Just know for now, it's my life.

So... my first blog. And hopefully not my last.