Swimming, Dog Sitting, Socializing & Packing (oh, and Writing!!)

My summer is going swimmingly, literally.  My kids and I are at the pool every other day taking advantage of the community pool membership we bought for the summer.  It's a great pool and we've been going there for the past 5 summers.  Often times, we arrive later in the day (4 PMish) and stay a few hours when the sun isn't at its peak hours, my 2 year old has napped and when I've finally had a chance to break away from writing.  Plus, we avoid the mid-day crowd, another bonus.

This week my neighbors waited till the last minute to find someone to watch their dog before they went on vacation.  I don't know about you, but one of the first things we plan before going away is who will watch our cats.  The fact that they were scrambling at the last minute for someone to watch their dog before they left for 10 days had me shaking my head.  They found someone, in another state(!), to watch the dog and I graciously accepted to watch her for 2 days before the couple could drive in and pick her up for the rest of the week.  I couldn't watch her the whole 10 days because I'm not going to be here (off to NY tonight).  In summary, this little dog was a BIG problem - we didn't sleep, she barked the whole time, and growled at anyone who dared to come over to our house...

The kids have been happy because we've had so many different families over to the house lately - for BBQ's, drinks, board games, and outdoor games (family vs. family wiffle ball).  I have to admit that I'm having a blast with it too.  I know the reason why we're socializing more too - and it may seem silly - but I was embarrassed to have people over to my house because my carpet was THAT UGLY.  Yes, we got new floors in our house several months ago and it's made such a difference in our lives. Best investment we've made to the house.

Finally, I'm leaving for NY tonight (Michele is already there as of last night).  We'll both be attending the RWA conference and I'm personally looking forward to the networking & socializing.  Writing from home is great, but I am looking forward to being around people for a week who are involved with the same craft. 

Will have photos to share from the conference & twitter updates as well so stay tuned!!! 

Elena