Spring cleaned my little heart out and now I can't find anything

It is another grey and rainy day in Paris and I wanted to go to a playgroup this afternoon but I can't find the raincover for Georgia's stroller. I had packed it away in the fall because I figured that between the hood and the foot muff, Georgia was fully protected from the elements. But where did I put it? It so big I don't see where I could have hidden it away. And I don't see how it could have gotten mistaken for a random piece of plastic and put in the trash, since it is so stiff and impossible to fold up. It has GOT to be somewhere. But where?!! There are not alot of hiding spots in our teeny tiny apartment.

And missing this playgroup is out of the question. Its been a battle to keep this group going. There was a nice group last spring, but I think three of the moms moved back to their home country and since they were three regulars, it really shook things up. Suddenly there were only two of us who went regularly. Then this fall, it seemed to pick up and then suddenly, there were quite a few moms who went back to work, which makes the group suddenly much smaller. Now, its spring again and with all the holidays and school breaks, its been impossible to get on a regular schedule. Before Georgia was born, I didn't know if I would be interested in joining a playgroup because I already had a group of mom friends, which had been my original goal when I joined after Ella's birth. But now I realize that it adds a bit of structure to my week and gets me out among people which sometimes doesn't happen when I am busy at the house, lost in the eternal struggle to get Georgia napping and fed. It bums me out when no one seems interested in hosting or meeting up. I don't take it personally, because I get it. Somedays, its just hard to get your shit together and even to commit to something fun. But I do wish that there were atleast a few people willing to make the effort.

Which is why I cannot miss today. I have been harrassing the group with emails every week and now that someone else is hosting, I need to actually go, rain cover or no rain cover. I'll wrap the stroller in SaranWrap if I have to.

Hmm, I wonder if all this angst over a rain cover is not a sign that I am in more desperate need of that beach holiday than I originally suspected? Must keep doing the countdown in my head as we FINALLY have everything booked: On the 29th we leave for a week's holiday at this gorgeous hotel!

Last week was a rollercoaster trying to finish booking everything, and probably 50% of the reason that I need this break. I would find a hotel and be ready to book and then discover a reason why it was totally the wrong place for us or something else would go wrong with the booking. I even had to borrow my FIL credit card (I was like being 15 again! 'which hotel? are you sure its a real hotel and not a scam to get my credit card number? how much does it cost? Are you sure that it is a good price? what does it include?' and on and on.) due to a last minute snafu. BUT I think it will all be worth it- there is a Kids Club! and a nursery! and babysitters! and a heated pool! and a spa! and a family room so that we don't have to sleep next to both girls snuffling and flopping around all night! Which all means, this may actually be relaxing.

I'm not even going to do a quick comparison with last year's 'vacation' to Crete, organized by my dear clueless husband. I just want that experience to fade from my memory as quickly as possible. Booking the hotel this year nearly sent me into PTSD and I had to force myself to push through the panic and trust that no vacation could ever be as bad as that one. (For one, the girls cannot get the chicken pox a second time, right!)

So now all that I have to do is pack our bags. And pray that our favorite Icelandic volcano calms down- although I have already looked into the ferry routes to Sardinia because I am not kidding when I say that I am going on vacation come hell or high water.

The anti-organiser

While she did that, I did this:

which made me so happy that I didn't even mind having to spend 15 minutes sorting out her mess.

A very productive weekend

Despite having spent the weekend fighting off a cold, I actually got lots done. I suppose that it what happens when you are stuck in the house for hours on end and can't go out and waste time on pointless errands. Exactly what I needed.

Now, the number one task on the to-do list was the ski holiday. Booked! B extended an olive branch (after laughing heartily at my suggestion that I fly with the two girls to Phoenix , "15 hours on a plane? For fun? Sounds like a great vacation. Feel free to book the tickets." Ok, maybe that was such a brilliant idea after all...) and called his stepmom to see if she would babysit Georgia while we were skiing. She said that she would be glad to and that immediately made planning so much easier. Then B told me that he had spoken to his SIL who suggested La Clusaz as a really family friendly ski station. I actually trust her advice, so I looked on line, we found some really nice hotels that do demi-pension and had pools/spas, and B immediately phoned up to check for vacancies. In a half hour, it was sorted. Ahhh. Now all that remains is the small question of packing our bags- of course, I realized that Ella has no snow gear so this afternoon I am off to try and buy a ski suit. I don't have a jacket this year so I also have to do some hunting. I was thinking of one of these from Alex Mabille for Pyrenex, but I need to try one on before I can really decide. Despite being from a cold climate (or maybe because of it, I suppose) its hard for me to work up enthusiasm for snow sports and the clothing it involves. Now, bikini/sunhat/beach bag shopping, that is stuff I can get behind.

Only one hiccup- I realized, once we had it all sorted out that we would be gone on Georgia's first birthday. Does that make me a HORRIBLE mother or just a horrible mother? We are going to try and fix this somehow but as B pointed out, Georgia won't know the difference if we celebrate a day late. Good point. Why doesn't that make me feel better?

The next big job that I promised to do was the photo albums. Well, I made good progress, but there are ALOT of photos. Even more than I thought there were. I finished up album #4 and am well into album #5, but I still have a stack of photos 2 inches high that need to be stuck in the book. That can't be more than 75 photos, right? 100, tops. Slim possibility that it is actually 150 and I don't dare count or I may have to kill myself. And this is only for Ella. Then I have to do my album, which is much smaller project, and finally, get started on Georgia's. Dios Mio.

I did continue with my cupboard clean-up/out. I attacked my make-up bag. Small in size, big in irritation factor since everyday involves digging around and getting my hands covered in purple powder from that one time an eyeshadow lid came off. I swiped an organizer out of B's nightstand- it was supposed to be for electronics but he never used it and it looked just the right size for me. I wiped everything down and fit it in to the little compartments. Success! And can I just tell me what secret joy I get every morning when I pull it out of the cupboard, all the little pots arranged neatly in rows, the lipsticks ready to grab with my spotlessly clean hands. Ahhh. Its the small pleasures that make life worth living.

Meanwhile, Georgia makes sure that is one step forward, two steps back... Photos to follow.