the long week-end

THE long week-end in May. Kind of a yearly Canadian rite of passage. The official onset of the summer season which for winter logged folks like us Canadians is a big deal.

Ours was OK. Basically nothing went as planned so we had to go with the flow. And for a control freak like me, its unsettling and puts me in a weird place. Don't like it.

The kids had been invited to a birthday party on Saturday, but the mom moved it up to the Friday as most of the kids had a PD day anyways. So this saw me scrambling last minute to find gifts.

The pool guy was supposed to come on Saturday to open it up. The kids had been counting down the days on the calendar for weeks. He called in sick. Postponed by another week. Didn't help that some friends called and gloated that THEY went swimming over the week-end, kids were perturbed. Great. So we set out to buy their trampoline instead and installed it a few weeks before anticipated. They certainly had fun with it though.

Friends were supposed to come over for a BBQ and watch the Sens game. They canceled last minute. Bummer. Kids disappointed. We still had the BBQ, stuffed ourselves silly and the Sens won which was awesome.

On the hormonal front, things are better. I'm giving her some space and we now talking more maturely and politely with each other. Feels so much better. Went out with her to a show this week-end, very nice mother-daughter time. Three 17 year-olds from her high school are magicians/illusionists and put on four sold-out shows over the weekend at a local high school. It. Was. Incredible. They are truly professionals in this field and put on a performance worthy of seasoned artists.

Having everyone here over 4 days made me realize how little "me" time I'll get over the upcoming summer. My exercise routine will go bonkers for sure. So Saturday, after hubby came back from his golf game (yep, he golfs 3 times every week-end), I finally headed out for my walk. I mapped out a 5K course around here and set out with chronometer in hand. I signed up with some friends for a 5K walk happening next week-end and I've been working on decreasing my time. Listening to my MP3, I was reaching my halfway point and quite happy with my time so far, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw this little mutt of a dog run from this house, cross the lawn, cross the street and before I knew what was happening, he bit me on the back of my right ankle and wouldn't let go. The owners who ran after him, grabbed him and asked if I was OK. I was in shock and mad "your dog should be on a leash, he bites!" Good thing I put on some socks that go up higher so he actually bite through them. I finished my walk, Told hubby what happened when I got home. He was furious. Called the city and within half an hour, City By LAw and someone from the health unit were here. Filled a report, they took pictures of the bite mark, told me to go get a tetanus shot. They paid the owners of the dog a visit and put the dog in house quarantine and assured me that he had up to date vaccinations. What an ordeal. Now they want to know if I want to press charges...they can get ticketed for over $600 for biting and over $100 for running off its property. Hmmm, still pondering this one. Still can't believe how fast they responded. They do take this stuff seriously.

Then Sunday afternoon, hubby tells me that with all the excitement of Sens and bites and all, he forgot to tell me he invited this couple over for supper. What? An old friend of ours who remarried and coming over with his new wife. A little weird as we also keep in touch with the first wife. Thank god for wine, it compensated for the lousy meal as I didn't have much left around the house to come up with anything extravagant. Still, was nice to see him happy in his new life.

So with all that, my gardening is way behind. Weeds are taking over as we speak. Better go pluck some...