Does absence really make the heart grow fonder?

Short break. Miss me? Of course you did.

Life has been so busy lately. I feel like I don't have even a moment to stop and catch my breath sometimes. I find it very difficult when my weekends - the only time I can really relax between the weekly insanity - are busier than my week. It's hard enough having just two days to recuperate/prepare, but when there's so much going on I don't even get that. Oh well.

Last weekend (I guess a couple weekends ago now - the one before the one we just had) I was supposed to go to a friend's birthday party Saturday. I was going to get a nice, relaxing mani/pedi, then pick something up at Safeway to bring to the party, and then spend the rest of the night hanging out and having fun. Not what happened. Instead I got a call from the friend I was supposed to meet to get our nails done. Her dog had just accidentally bitten her and she was crying so hard from the shock and the pain that I could hardly understand what she was saying. So I had to gather my stuff and drive out to where she was house sitting. That took about 40 minutes. She was much calmer by the time I got there, but she was still bleeding. So I took her to the emergency room. Luckily it was just a puncture, no stitches needed. It missed her fingernail, but took out a bit of the cuticle and flesh. So that got all cleaned up and bandaged, then she got a tetanus shot just in case, and they gave her antibiotics and a pain pill. She only almost passed out/got sick twice - once when she just had to look at the wound and once when they gave her the shot. Then the pills kicked in and she started getting loopy and sick to her stomach (because she hadn't eaten since about 8 am and it was now 2:15).

So, we went to P.F. Chang because she wanted Chinese, and that took forever. We thought we would never get out of there. It had to have taken well over an hour. Then we went into the mall because I needed to get something (which also took longer than expected) and she insisted on going to Macy's to find a birthday present for our friend even though we weren't staying at the party because she wasn't up to it and by then I was exhausted. Plus I was her ride. So we wandered through Macy's and finally found something, then stood in line for what felt like forever and then eventually made it out. Oh my goodness. I hate the mall so much. Anyway, by then it was almost time for the party. I still needed to stop by another friend's house to pick up the food she was contributing to the party because she was going straight from a workshop. So we did that, and then got over to the party about 45 minutes after it started. And the friend whose food I brought was already there. So then I had to tell the birthday girl what happened and that we couldn't stay. Blah blah blah. Is that the end? Nope.

Because we then had to go to the grocery store so she could get food so she wouldn't need to leave the house while she was recovering. This was after we found out that all the pharmacies were already closed so she would have to pick up her antibiotics the next day. It was as we were leaving the grocery store that my gas light finally came on. My poor baby had been running all day on almost empty. She did great, but she was tired and really needed a refill. So I found a good gas station and filled her up and we finally drove back out to where my friend was house sitting, where we were met by three very hyper dogs. (Did I mention that the house she was staying at has two dogs? No? Well, now you know.) I think we got back there around 7:30. I originally picked her up a little before noon, so we were gone for a long time. We spent the rest of the evening watching a movie and then some TV. I didn't leave there until after 1 in the morning, and then I had to drive all the way back to my house. It was a very long day. I think it goes without saying that I did not get up for church in the morning. I didn't do much of anything that Sunday, including my workout. Partly because I was exhausted and partly because the heat was rising. I just sat like a lump and read a book. It was nice.

I started last week with very little energy and then the mini heat wave hit and that took the rest of it, so I was very much hoping to get some rest this past weekend. How did that go? Not well. I had to get up at 6:30 Saturday so I could take my car in for an oil change and smog certification, which turned into a 50K mile service and smog certification. The good news is it was done about an hour sooner than they predicted when I got there. So I was done at 10:30 and took myself on over to Target to pick up some office supplies, then over to Safeway to do my grocery shopping. That's when my aunt finally called me back about what my cousin wanted to do for her birthday. Here's the thing. I was in Livermore because I take my car to the dealership there since they have all my records. My family lives in Livermore, but I live in Walnut Creek. What that meant is that I needed to drive back home to Walnut Creek to put away my groceries, shower and change so I could drive back to Pleasanton to be at the English Rose Tea House at 3, which is where my cousin wanted to go. She's eight and a little girly girl, so I wore a dress and cute shoes. So by the time that was done and I got back to my car (more than two blocks away because downtown Pleasanton has terrible parking) my feet were killing me and I had about 40 minutes until church. That's fine. But first I had to climb in the back seat of my car and change my clothes. I just really needed out of the dress and shoes. Of course, there was traffic down Main Street, and just as I got past that, guess what happened. You'll never guess. For only the third time ever (and, sadly, the second time in two weeks) my gas light came on. So I had to go to a Shell station and pay about 10 cents more per gallon than if I had been able to go to my normal gas station. :( But the good news is I made it to church in good time, then yummy Chinese food after and ended up getting home a bit after midnight. Not too bad for me. I was completely exhausted though and fell asleep in the middle of my journal entry.

And that still isn't the end because Sunday there was a girls' night at church as kind of a kick off for the bible study starting in September. Of course I woke up with a killer headache that would not go away, so what did I do? I decided to get up and clean my house a bit. This made the headache angrier, so I took one of my pills and went back to bed to catch up on The Closer. I really wanted to go to the church night, but I wasn't feeling great. My lovely friend was nice enough to drive back to pick me up and we had a nice late brunch, a stroll through Target, and a trip to Bath and Body works. And then we went to church and had a great night, despite the pounding in my head. I even managed to get to bed about the same time I usually do during the week, but I had to take Excedrin PM to help with my head which means I woke up groggy and discombobulated. But I'm feeling much better today and I had a great workout last night. I feel like I'm getting back on track which really gives me a boost.

I wrap up this epic post by concluding that I really need to get more rest on the weekends. I'm so glad this weekend is a holiday weekend. And I'm taking an extra day to just have some fun and relax because I have another birthday party this weekend. Hopefully I'll make it to this one! I would like to take this opportunity to rally support for a permanent switch to a four day weekend. Who's with me?