Sit with me, sit with me

Ok, ok, it's not a competition. Apparently I'm hosting a lunch table at the CyberMummy conference on July 3rd. My "theme" is "Finding blog/life balance" so I'm hoping to learn a lot from anyone who has anything to say on the matter. I have a hard time finding any kind of balance never mind just with blogging.

As I said, it's not a competition. I won't be glancing at name badges to see who's walking past my table to join Di from PowderRoomGrafitti at the humo(u)r table or Iota at the Anonymity table. Really. I won't hold it against you and I'll still read your blogs.

So I'm busily getting ready for my one week SOLO trip to London next week. (SOLO - meaning on my own. No kids. For a whole week.) Well, "getting ready" is a bit of a stretch. The suitcase has been yanked down from the top of the linen cupboard and placed on my bedroom floor. I stare at it thoughtfully when I pass it and thoughtfully think "I must start putting outfits together." Needless to say, an under-abundance of mis-matched items will be flung into it the night before, and I will have to go out shopping when I get to London. What a shame.

 I have spied conversations on the BMB ning site about what people are planning to wear during the day and then for the socializing afterwards. What? People are changing outfits? Oh no.  (Thought bubble - Stick to your original plans you wimp - you're not changing unless you spill something down your front.)

"Getting ready" in my lexicon means ensuring things will run smoothly during my absence.  As any mother who's daring to take off on her own knows, sometimes it's more trouble than it's worth. This time, it's almost that much trouble, and my to-do list goes something like:

- get key cut for dog lady
- leave payment for dog lady
- get key cut for child minder (because of course, the Queenager is off on a month's residential fling so no free babysitting)
- leave payment for childminder
- pack Queenager's suitcase
- photocopy all relevant health forms for Queenager
- drive Queenager to Northwestern University campus
- organise car pool for Man-child's three days at Rock School Boot Camp
- make sure there's packed lunch stuff for man-child's lunches
- fill the fridge and freezer
- print off CyberMummy ticket (where the hell did I file that?)
- entertain mother for part of each day
- assemble examples of written work for meeting with london agent
- change bed linens for arrival of friend's son in my absence
- remind the Ball & Chain to pick up said teen from airport
- buy dogfood
- give dog flea and tick treatment
- organize lift/ride for man-child's baseball game which co-incides with my flight check in time
- pack

Forgot to mention that the Ball & Chain will not even be in the country during my last few days here. Oh no. That would be far too straightforward. He is actually coming back from an international  business trip an hour after I take off.

Aaghh....I will do what I always do when faced with such an Everest. Lie down and read.

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