California Dreamin'

Well, here it is Monday, mid-morning.

If I was in Colorado, at home, I'd be tidying my house, picking up used glasses, discarded newspapers, recycling envelopes from mail, putting out empty milk bottles, taking trash to the can, washing, folding and putting away clothes, towels, sheets and the like...I'd be planning menus for the next weeks, creating a shopping list, and playing with Captain Chaos, while teaching him things like letters, numbers, colors, shapes, and reasoning and decision-making skills as Tiny Princess slumbered in her crib, under the spinning blades of her ceiling fan, which are covered with pink and purple butterflies and flowers.

I'd be planning a meal or three with my parents, chatting with my neighbors, talking on the phone to my friends, planning a trip to the library for some books, a visit to the playground if weather permitted to allow Captain Chaos to run off some energy and play on the slides and swings.

Rather, I'm sitting in a hotel suite (albeit a really snazzy one), in San Jose, California, staring out the window at the leaden skies, watching the rain alternate between sprinkling softly and pelting the pavement, listening to the cars race by on the freeway a mile or so from our room, wondering just how I'm going to occupy a 2 1/2 year old and a 13 month old with a handful of toys, some paper and crayons. I'm excited about the prospect that this hotel has suites that are like apartments, with the benefits of an upscale hotel chain, and the comforts of home (to a lesser degree).

I've got a housekeeping staff coming sometime today with clean towels, to make the beds. I've got a "Deluxe Continental Breakfast" with bagels, toast, fresh fruit, yogurt, bacon, scrambled eggs, cereal, milk, juice, coffee, soda, tea, cocoa, oatmeal, none of which I have to prepare, all of which I can eat and feed my children, and then just take my dishes to a pan, and leave them for someone else to wash, dry and put away. I'm enjoying a cup of hot coffee made in the coffeemaker in my galley-style kitchen, savoring the dark roast of overpriced Wolf.gang P.uck brand coffee, listening to Ses.ame Stre.et in the background as the children wrestle and play. I'm enjoying knowing that I've got some fresh bananas, cantaloupe, and a couple cartons of yogurt, bagels and cream cheese in my full-size fridge. We've got leftovers from the dinner we had delivered last night, and BB is stopping by a grocery store on the way back from the office so that we can have food for lunches, and possibly some dinners that I can cook, knowing that we'll have healthy ingredients, and not be wasteful of our money or of food.

I'm wondering just what I'm going to do when the kids nap this afternoon, and am trying to get over the guilt of the excitement I feel over the idea that I've got NOTHING to do but study, read, and nap while they are sleeping...I'm looking forward to a big fat salad with crumbled bleu cheese, bacon, avocado, cheese, green onions, and tomatoes, a toasted bagel with cream cheese, and yogurt, while the kids nosh on the noodles and veggies in the soup from dinner last night.

I'm also looking forward to just hanging out for awhile with no place to be, no place to go, no errands that need running...

Now, if only it wasn't the rainy season, and we could go outside and visit the ocean without being frozen by the blowing wind and rain...

SIGH