Another busy week

I was just sitting here looking through my agenda and it is going to be another busy week. I am getting exhausted just thinking about it.
I should be getting ready to go to a conference this afternoon about Women CEO's but I was just on the phone with B and it sounds like he is not going to make it home in time for the hand-off. Irritating. Its partly because he is busy at work and partly because he doesn't want to get into it with his brother. Working with family can be nice and flexible but also hugely constraining and today is one of the bad days. Its not that I ABSOLUTELY had to go to this conference, I mainly wanted to use it as a networking opportunity and since my cards were messed up once again by the printer, its was probably going to be fairly unsuccessful in that sense. I just would really like to dress in clean clothes and leave the house to talk intelligently with adults after 4 days of Hell with Ella.
She has been very good for how sick she probably was. She will sit down and take all her medicine without a fuss, even the 2 nose sprays. Well, with the exception of the eye drops which she hates. I honestly have to sit on her and pin her arms down with my knees otherwise there is no way to get the stuff anywhere near her face. I hate it. She does stop crying immediately afterwards so I suspect it is not so much that it hurts but that she hates getting water in her eyes.
The cleaning lady cancelled AGAIN. I have told her that I will keep her on til the end of the month, so give her a bit of notice, and we would talk about what would happen after that. Obviously she figures she is fired and isn't bothering with coming any more. I haven't paid her for the days she did come, so if she never comes back, atleast I won't have to pay for that. And since I am gone most of December for holidays in the States I won't have to worry about paying her for my vacation time. What a disaster she turned out to be! And since she works for a friend of mine as well, the friend has been sending me mails apologizing for the cleaning lady and saying that it must be a misunderstanding, etc etc. This is the 4th time she has cancelled since the 20th of October. I understand that she is completely unreliable, but other than that, I understand nothing.
So naturally, our ad went up on the Internet today and B is being deluged with calls to make an appointment to visit. I will have to try and keep the house fairly spotless, which is a real chore with Ella developing inventive new ways to make messes everytime I leave the room. Today I gave her some apple slices (because she specifically pointed to the apple and said please) and while I was cleaning up the peel in the kitchen, she took a slice in each hand and started rubbing them on the furniture. Why? I have no idea. After I shouted, she gave them to me and then ate the rest. Did those two pieces maybe smell like lemon Pledge? She gave me a very long explanation but since we still don't understand a word she says, it will have to remain a mystery.
I got an email from an old school friend saying that some friends of his from Wisconsin were going to be in town this week and maybe I could meet up with them? I immediately said yes and shot off an email but actually its going to be tough to figure something out since I don't have much time. I feel really flakey backing out when I agree to stuff like this, but it takes up so much time to try and meet people who don't know their way around the city. On the bright side, they are just on rue Rosiers, so atleast its not too far.
I have visits to the apartment every morning this week,which is good, I know. I just have very little hope about it actually resulting in a sale. Lets be honest- this is France and everything takes 10 times as long as it ought to. But it could happen. Of course, then I would be frantic about leaving for a month and not being able to visit apartments for us to move in to. Basically, if we sell quickly, it kind of sucks, and if we sell after months of visits, it sucks. I'm starting to sound a bit cranky. I must need a nap.
OK- I'll focus on the positive stuff. I have my best friend from uni coming to visit this weekend. We are going to have a fantastic time even if she is only here about 24 hours. Must remember to reserve dinner somewhere fun on Saturday night for all of us. Maybe Cab? Haven't been there in ages. Maybe ManRay? They have a new chef since last time I was there. I'll need to check on which club nights there are on Saturday. Don't want it to be like last time I was at Manray, Asian Student Night. Somehow, I wasn't spotting the man of my dreams in the crowd...
I have some other friends coming to Paris on Sunday to have brunch at the house and in the afternoon will be going to the jewelery show at the Bourse de Commerce. I went last year (with no money, how stupid.) and it was so much fun. I found dozens of things to lust after but sadly could not convince my dear husband to come along so actually buy something. Then he spent the next 4 weeks moaning about how difficult it was to find me a present. This year I am going with my checkbook and if I love something, I am bringing it home and telling him to wrap it up nice and put it under the tree. He'll cry at first, but he'll thank me later.
I am supposed to meet my Apec job search advisor tomorrow but I may cancel because I haven't done a single thing all month and seems like such a waste to go all the way to the 14th just to say that. Besides, I would love to have the time to go to the spa for a facial. I need my bangs trimmed and I would like to get my legs waxed.
And of course, Thursday is Thanksgiving. I know, I promised B that I wouldn't do a huge dinner party, but that doesn't mean I can't do something a bit special just for us (and maybe maybe one or two friends...). I saw a suggestion to cook a coquelet in place of a turkey for a small Thanksgiving dinner on some website and that has inspired me. Besides, I have cranberries in the freezer, cornbread mix (for stuffing) and canned pumpkin- how could I ignore Thanksgiving?