vacation countdown and organizational madness

5 days until vacation. Which means I am now obsessively checking weather reports (it's not looking great, folks) while alternating with obsessively making lists. And it seems like these lists never get shorter.

The most stressful thing, as it is on any given day of my life, is the work situation. Trying to be sure everything is in place and ready for the girls so they have a stress-free week (or as stress-free as possible), which involves heavily coaching our clients to get their acts together and make things as uncomplicated as possible.

But this time, we have the added fun factor that The Woodge is basically half croaked, so SB's brother may come home to a dead dog at any moment. What's happening is that he is in congestive heart failure. This is surprising to me because I didn't think he had a heart, then come to find out it's about three times regulation size. He's taking three different drugs which seemed to have regulated his breathing a bit, and he's back to eating his normal meal, so that's good, but the vet gives him 4-8 months. Now, I'm not sure if we're doing the right thing by medicating him, or if it would be better to put him down, but we both have a whole lot on our plates at the moment, and medicine is easy to administer (albeit not CHEAP, by any means) so that's what we've decided to do for now. Hopefully he will be okay while we're gone, because I would feel horrible if Ren had to go through that. Even though we're expecting it to happen, I know he would feel pretty poopy about it.

And as if all that weren't enough to worry about, today I have to go for a wax. Ugh. Vacation is killing me.

an unresolved resolution?

I have been avoiding the requisite "It's a new year, and this year will be different" post. I rarely make resolutions, and this year is no exception. I just can't. It seems so artificial.

That being said, one of our clients has given me an idea that I quite like. She makes lists, on Post-It notes, and sticks them to her fridge. Lists of things she wants to have. Things she wants to do. Places she wants to see. And because they are on her fridge, she sees them every day (I'm assuming. Unless she doesn't eat or drink.) And as she gets things, or sees things, or does things she crosses them off her lists. Some items are completely materialistic and frivolous, and some are really meaningful experiences - a whole mishmash.

It seems so simple. I have tons of lists of stuff that I want to have or do that are knocking around in my mushy brain. But I love the idea of having that visual every day, and I also love the idea of crossing stuff off, and seeing all the things I've achieved, and also all the items I have been lucky enough to receive. I think it would not only help me feel a sense of worth, but also increase the gratitude I feel to others for sharing their worth with me.

So I want to get on that. But it's not a resolution, really.