Mom vs. the Dot: Making it COUNT!

                  (Here my family and I are on a nature walk together - my hubby took the picture) I have been looking forward to this week.  Our kids were all signed up to go to VBS at our former church, bursting at the seams with volunteers and children.  I was ready for a week of free mornings, doing whatever I felt like doing. Tra-la-la! And that's exactly what I've  had: mornings by myself. I've tried to accomplish a few things, but mostly I've had a lot of thinking time.  Not a common occurrence in the land of children.  It's a question-a-minute all day long here. The house was so quiet - it felt peaceful, but not right.  I began to wonder if this is the way moms feel when they've sent their last child off to the first day of school.  The house is suddenly empty. Sure, there are piles of laundry to be folded, mail to be sorted through and phone calls to make, but I missed the interruption...

This weekend, while searching for a particular receipt, (the one I could take back to have my daughter's botched bangs repaired at the hair salon) I made a startling discovery: THE BEACH IN MY PURSE!!!! First, I discovered an OPEN bottle of water - lid MIA. ( and it hadn't spilled.  do you believe that? ) Second, I found sand covering the bottom inch of my purse's interior. (How'd that get there?) (Ooh - and look at all the quarters!  No wonder my purse was so heavy.  Time to fill up the chore money box!) Why didn't they include a beach chair, an umbrella and a book? I would have dove right in and had myself a little vacation. Ah...life with kids! How boring my purse will be when my little minions no longer need me to tote their treasures. UPDATE!!  The stuff in the bottom of my purse was not sand.  I repeat: NOT SAND .  What, pray tell, was the gritty pile of stuff?  It was a collection of...