I should not be here. We are leaving on another 5-night journey tomorrow, this time to the north. I have packed the clothes and toiletries (the upstairs stuff), but none of the downstairs stuff (laptop, shop folder, and a trillion other little things that will make or break my trip - depending whether I remember them!)
So that last post was fun, huh? Quite a few of you wanted the dirt. I admit, while it felt good just to get it all out, it felt even better to have all of you agreeing with me. So thanks for that!
Anyway. I am a little nuts (okay, a lot), but I accepted a bar shop for a meager bonus the other night. Why? Because apparently I wanted to drive an extra 10-12 hours, depending on the routes I take, to see my sister.
Huh, you say?
Let me 'splain you:
After we depart from the resort in Hershey on Friday, we're supposed to do another hotel shop in Mansfield, PA. Welp, the same company that has me doing that hotel called me and asked me if I would do a bar shop they had available in the same hotel.
"Uh... I'm a mother traveling alone with three children," I informed them.
"Please, please?" they begged. (I'm paraphrasing. I do that.) "We'll give you barely enough of a bonus to make it worth your while, but hey, another shop! And you know you can't say 'no'!"
They're right. I can't. The only shops I have turned down involved evaluating, among other things: Catholic church services, funeral services, and McDonald's. (I'm not supposed to tell you what companies have mystery shopping services, but since I've never done the McDonald's ones, and it's pretty obvious that they would have such a service, I feel pretty safe here.)
Anyway. What was I talking about?
Oh yeah, the bar. My sister. I figured, if I'm in northern PA, I can't be too far from where Stacey lives, across the border in New York. I thought it was maybe a two-hour drive. Compared to the dozens of hours I've put in behind the wheel lately, that's a drop in the hat. So, I told the scheduler I'd ask her.
I called her at work. She was delighted to accept. We saw each other last in the summer of '09, which was hardly an eternity ago. But back then, I was only about halfway through my weight loss journey, and she's been dying to see me at goal. (I'm actually below goal, which I like to remind myself about 30-hundred times a day.) (I have a five-year-old, which is why I say numbers like "30-hundred.")
What was I talking about, again? This post is all over the place. Cripes.
Oh yeah, so of course, Stacey wanted to watch the kids for me. She thought I was nuts - and we all agree, I am - for driving that far out of my way (it's actually a THREE-hour drive each way!) for a silly assignment - but deep down (okay, mostly right on the surface), I mostly accepted so I could see my sister, and so my kids could see their cousins!
In the end, we've agreed that I'll drop the kids off on Friday night (and get the girls' and my hair cut in the process), drive back and do the bar shop, and pick them back up on Saturday morning before she leaves for work. At nine. Eek. I just realized I'll definitely be pulling an all-nighter that night, fo' sho'!
The only catch is ... a big one.
It's the birthday weekend of my niece, Karen, so... the ex-stepmother, with whom Stacey maintains a close relationship (no comment from me on that), will be there.
*gulp*
So if you could all think of me Friday night and Saturday morning, when I'll be encountering her, I would appreciate it. Send me ***be strong*** vibes. It's going to take everything I have to put on my big-girl pannies and walk in there, like the 34-year-old grown woman that I am, maybe even smile, and LEAVE my CHILDREN overnight in her presence... and not walk out shaking, crying, panic-attacking, and generally behaving like a very small child having the worst time in her life.
Hold me. I'm skeered.
Fin.
P.S. When I get back, I promise, I'll tell you all about that trip, and the South Carolina one, and the good stuff that happened in Tennessee - yes, there was some! - and what we've been up to in homeschooling, and our Christmas so far (we've started the presents early!), and whatever else you want to know. I'm an open book. Just ask!
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