What Goes Up...Must Come Down

My van stinks. It has that kid-infested smell that used to gag me in my sister's van when I was in college. I would never have a minivan, I thought.
Ha. I'm laughing a little at that self-righteous girl.
The van-stink is just one source of the irritation I feel right now - irritation that my kids keep getting sick, irritation that I can't seem to get the faces right on a drawing I need to finish for someone (someone who actually tracked me down and purchased from my dormant shop, bless her...), irritation that my backyard is an unfriendly mass of overgrown cactus, sagebrush, and brown, irritation that my clean, new running shoes hold much less appeal than the sweet-stuffed recipe book in my head...Nothing is safe, from the visible dirt on my floor to Jacob's newfound ability to move slower and whine more than ever.
I think it's fallout. Whiplash. Let-down...from my awesome adults-only girls trip with my mom and sisters in Chandler last weekend. While Rus was heroically dealing with kids (who unbeknownst to him were coming down with bronchitis - Beau - and the flu - Marianne), I was shopping, eating, sleeping, hot tubbing, movie watching, and traumatizing a middle-aged balding big guy in the elevator.
(Dark elevator. Said Man. Enter Amy and I. Lights flicker.
I turn to Amy and teasingly say. "Don't worry, I won't take advantage of you."
Man replies, "Oh, okay."
Amy says, "No she was talking to me."
Situation deteriorates beyond capacity to save.)

I managed to eat at Paradise Bakery and Cafe twice, try Chipotle for the first time, make it to the dessert menu at Olive Garden, and buy four pencil skirts and bright red heels. I also almost made it through a full box of lotion added tissues, thankyouverymuch pollen-filled Chandler air. Ooh and did I mention we got lost on the way to Target and thus found a couple of rewarding garage sales. Bonus. Amanda cut her hair in a drastic but successful fashion, I literally added a blonde streak to mine (don't judge), Amy found some great work/church clothes and my mom, as usual, practically walked away with nothing. How does she do that? We visited my Grandma and Grandpa in their super cute new mobile home - she had oreos for us how cute is that? Amy and I fell in love with our cousin's almost-five-year-old daughter and interrogated her thoroughly. She dealt with us very graciously. Oh and on top of all that we saw the Hunger Games. (eek!) I loved the book and I loved that the movie was well made and didn't severely butcher the book.
Can you see why coming down is hard? And irritating? If Rus was being irritating I would at least have some time away from him during the day. (Not that he ever, ever is. Irritating, I mean.) But I can't really get away from myself, which means *sigh* that I have to just fix the problem. Go to work. Get up. Stop being lazy. Stop hiding. Stop thinking of which would be better - snickerdoodles or lemon monkey bread. Rent a bobcat. Tear out the plants I don't want. Inject gardening/landscaping wisdom into my brain, Matrix style. Ug. I think I'll just go fold laundry instead. ;)
Um...here is my hair in a wandering reverse braid

...and here is my blonde streak. :)