Cursing myself, most likely, but who cares.

I'm so dang excited about this that I have to write about it even though it's Thursday and anything between today and Monday could ruin my plans: I'm taking one week off next week!

I know, big whoop. And when I tell you what I plan to do and what I plan to do with my child, you may think, like I said, big whoop and why are you a horrible mother?

I have not had one week off (it's really four days) ALONE, and that means no kid and no husband, in about three years. And yes, yes, I know, a lot of people don't get this, moms or dads, so you might be thinking why should I be happy for you? I don't know why you should, and maybe you shouldn't and that's okay because I'm on a "I get a week off" high and don't really care what anyone thinks! (I think that's a lie.)

Not only the above, but I haven't had a week off in over a year. I had Mateo with me the whole week, so it was just like my maternity leave except that he was bigger and cuter and goofier than he was during my leave.

Most of my time off has gone to sick days, first for me and him, then mostly for him, but as he's gotten older, his immune system has gotten better, and once we all figured out he has asthma (got that from me, lucky kid), he suddenly stopped getting "sick" all the time (because, wouldn't you know, he really wasn't sick....) After last year's sudden days off left and right because of illnesses, I made the decision to not plan a full week off until I felt I was in the clear. Some time in the middle of the summer I felt it would be okay, so I tacked on four days to my already one day that was planned off (holiday and Mateo's daycare is closed, and our cats aren't the best babysitters). I knew from the point I decided to do that that I was running the risk of losing that week if Mateo got ill some time before my week off. But low and behold, that boy has stayed healthy and is giving his momma the best gift ever: Time alone.

He and I will be spending Monday together, and most of Sunday as well (my husband will be watching football most of the day at a friend's house), and come Tuesday that boy is going right back to daycare.

Sucking in breath - how could she!???

He loves daycare. He gets more out of daycare than he does stuck with me all day. And I have to pay for it regardless if he's there or not, so he might as well go.

Here are my plans for the week:

Home improvements and cleaning. I plan to go from one corner of our condo to the other, hitting every closet, every shelf, every bookcase, and dump anything that hasn't been touched in a year. My husband likes to tidy up a lot, but he's afraid to throw anything out (thank goodness), and instead "squirrels" stuff away. I've written about this many times, so I won't go into the oddness known as my squirrely husband. I tend to be a piler, so if you walked into our condo right now, you'd see piles of papers and mail and books on tables and dressers and desks. He's a squirreler and puts things in bags and boxes, and then stores them places. My goal is to eliminate all piles and go through all squirrelly stashes.

The home improvement things I would like to do (and shall, oh yes, I shall): Buy and then put up a curtain rod and then hang up the curtain that I bought weeks ago (it's in a pile on the table, if you must know). Patch holes in our kitchen ceiling from our old light fixture (it was replaced way over a year ago) and repaint the ceiling (which involves first cleaning the ceiling, patching, priming, then painting - oh what fun!). Change all lightbulbs that have died (there are many, we live in darkness). Rehang pictures that have been removed from walls or are off-kilter from furniture moving. Um...man, I had a list. Good thing I wrote out a list because I can't remember anything else right now. I know I want to go through Mateo's room and get rid of old stuff, but that falls under the cleaning category. I also want to find him some "big boy" decor and redo his room a bit.

Oh! Caulking. Yes. I must caulk our kitchen sink, something that will put our kitchen sink out of service for a bit, but it needs to be done. Like two years ago. I'm surprised the sink hasn't fallen through the counter.

During all this fun, I plan on finishing one book of the three I'm reading since I borrowed it from work and it's technically due this Monday, but since I won't be there, I'm going to hold it hostage for another week, work on school stuff (we have a mid-term soon), write, plan my future, watch TV, nap, IM people, read blogs, shop for xmas presents, and make a big holiday-ish dinner!

I really don't expect to get all this done. But it's nice to have plans. I have to make this one week the most productive week ever because who knows when I'll get another one.