The Return

Meeting agent at National Conference -- good idea.
Traveling with baby -- bad idea.
Leaving husband alone with four year old -- very, very bad idea.

Now that we've all finished the big yearly conference, we have to settle back into our real lives. My settling process includes the following:

1) Residual tension from the baby's nonstop 2 hour screaming fit as she protested the carseat when I made the final leg of the journey with just the two of us

2) Sore arm from attempting to soothe said baby in the carseat behind the driver's seat as I drove

3) Overflowing inbox

4) Broken air conditioning unit during nasty heatwave (the repairman came last week and gave us a clean bill of mechanical health, how suspicious....)

5) Totally wrecked house (Ok, it was pretty clean when I got home but then I halfway unpacked and gave up due to the extreme heat)

6) No clean clothes -- for anyone except the cats, who are "wash and wear"

7) Four year old with a "But Daddy let me..." attitude and so many mosquito bites her legs look sunburned

8) Husband with a "But on vacation I got to..." attitude and sleep deprivation because he stayed up too late playing online poker every night

Thus begins my first entire week alone with the girls since Nanny Slave has gone to a retreat with her future employers. Not very auspicious! I know a lot of bloggers are raving about how energized and excited they feel about their writing upon their return from the conference, but I just feel sweaty.

What does your settling process after this or other vacations include? Feel free to chime in if you're a cat and your humans return but have some issues with reassuming their required feeding/petting/worship routines!

Sincerely,
Typing Slave