Who Needs Calgon?

Ahhhhh.

That was the sound of me as I got to breathe easier this weekend, away from sick kids and a broken dog. Away from cooking, cleaning and laundry. Away from bad weather and responsibilities.

It was good.

Sure, we went to a horse conference. (The Horse World Expo in Harrisburg, for anyone who cares.) Sure we had back-to-back seminars to sit through with just one hour per day to browse the many, many shops of fun horsey things to steal the money directly from our checking account. Sure our cheap hotel smelled like cheap cleaners and was nearly overpowering. But I got away and it was wonderful.

I'm so glad we headed out Thursday evening instead of Friday morning. I got to sleep in two days in a row. Truly, sleeping in is something I get to do when we are at a hotel with no children. You know how often this happens? If I'm lucky, once a year. I am in the wonderful position of having grandparents near that take the kids (sometimes all of them!) for a night. But I still have dogs that insist on being let out at precisely 6:57 AM and once I'm up I cannot go back to sleep. It's a sad fact of life. So sleeping in is a luxury reserved for things like horse seminars. And it's so nice.

And you know what else is nice? Having one-on-one time with the man that I married. We get to talk to each other with no interruptions. We get to eat at restaurants and not have to yell at kids. Or share our food. Or finish theirs. We get to sleep in a king sized bed and never touch each other if we don't want. And we don't have kids kicking us in the back. We get to take long, hot showers and never once worry about the toddler. And we can watch anything that we want on television and not have to worry that the kids really shouldn't see it.

Ahhhhhhhh.

Know what else was great? The fact that we got there before the bad weather hit and didn't have to travel in it. And that Harrisburg calls one inch of snow an emergency and cancels school. Old Navy even closed mid-afternoon due to weather. (Who knew?!) Where I'm from, that kind of weather wouldn't have registered on the scale. We felt so 4-wheel-drive-ish in our bad mini-van. Because nobody else really wanted to drive anywhere. And we were laughing.

In all fairness, though, there was just the thinnest veneer of ice on sidewalks and such. As I was walking up to read the sign on the Old Navy door I was thinking, wow, that pattern on the sidewalk looks so pretty. I got a closer look as I contorted myself closer and farther, closer and farther, trying desperately not to fall because that pretty pattern was actually ice. Weird, I know. But my husband got a kick out of me dancing for him.

Yep, it's nice to get away.

15 comments:

Pam said...

hey! You were in my neck of the woods! I had no idea that your getaway was to my part of this world!! How cool!

Yeah- we had off on Friday. In our defense, we were supposed to get more of that icy stuff and since the day they didn't give us a late start and 7 teachers got stranded- they tend to be a bit more hesitant and rely on the weather man a bit more. Heck, I don't care how, I got a day off work (yes, yes, I know I have to make it up, but I will deal with that when it comes!).

I'm so glad that you had a great time and could enjoy sleeping in and eating out. That much needed time to refresh and recharge is so important!

Ever since you posted your girl shirt proposition, I have been thinking of girl shirt ideas. May I email you some in case you are interested? I won't be offended if you tell me the ideas are crap, but if you could use some, why keep it in my crazy brain, right?

Have a good day!!

caramama said...

That sounds like heaven! I'm glad you two had such a good time.

kari and kijsa said...

Sounds like a wonderful time...just wanted to stop by and say thank you...thank you...thank you for all of your sweet birthday wishes!

Hope your day is as wonderful as you have made mine.

smiles, kari (& kijsa)

Suburban Correspondent said...

Oh, boy, now I am feeling jealous. Sleeping in...long hot showers...it's the simple things, isn't it?

Burgh Baby said...

So glad you were able to get away, even if it was to that glamorous place called Harrisburg. (FYI--I like Harrisburg just fine, but it's not real high on my list of vacation hot spots!)

Next time, how about you take me with instead of your husband? I could use a day of sleeping in, TV choices, and relaxing myself. :-)

Andrea said...

OH it sounded so lovely! I would have loved just the hotel!! But a Horse Expo too!! Fun!! Glad you had a great time!

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you guys had a nice weekend away. I, like you, am up once I'm "up" regardless of time. And, the toddler thinks sleeping in is 6:30.

Karen said...

Burgh - we didn't choose to vacation in H-burg. If we'd have gone for the tourist attractions we'd have headed for somewhere warmer. It was the lure of horses indoors in February that got us there. That, and a hotel with no kids. It truly was romantic. ;)

AFF - I feel the pain. We've finally got Micah to sleep in until 7. Yippee.

The Sports Mama said...

Honestly? I'd go just across town to be able to sleep in two days in a row, with no kids and no dogs! :)

And the built in alarm that kids seem to have? Totally defunct by the time they're 13. My 14 year old could sleep 'til at least noon every day, then go back for a two hour nap at 2.

Welcome back!

Tootsie Farklepants said...

Welcome home!

AutoSysGene said...

Glad you guys had a nice trip (you maybe more than your hubby;))

We went to SanFran last year and it was the same for us. We called it a trip to reconnect!!

Send your Calgon my way!!

Wineplz said...

so glad you got away and got some sleep. :)
schools closed here, along with my daycare...so instead of getting up, fighting everyone to get ready, sit in bad traffic for 2 hours, just to turn around and pick them back up 2 hours later (and screw up napping schedules), I just sent Gavin to school for a few hours so I could get some work done from home...Cooper was nice enough to take a nice nap in the morning and was happy to sit in his exersaucer for a while, too. Kind of nice to have a day "off"...at least from getting ready for work and going into the office.

Spammon said...

Horse conference? I've never even heard of anything like that before. It would be cool if all the chairs were saddles though...and occasionally the seat would buck you off.

Irene said...

That sounds so nice. My husband and I haven't had a night away like that since before we had kids...7 years ago. We are hoping to try it soon though. I can't even imagine how nice it would be to sleep in. We are half tempted to just go somewhere local for the night!

Shellie said...

Sounds like a great trip! I want one of those.