My children are gone for the weekend. They have taken a sweet ride on the all spoiling express that is grandma’s house and Chris and I have thought very hard about all of the hugely productive things we could be doing. After all that thought, I think I spent most of the weekend asleep, which, wow, is so the way to be! I forgot how fulfilling a life filled with sleep can be. I wish I got to sleep every weekend like this! Lap of luxury, I tell you.

The cats are also tickled pink about our childless weekend. Gus, who can usually be found hiding, is luxuriating on the couch, sprawled for all the world to see and Lissy, who usually heads outside after breakfast, has been quite content inside, away from the nasty hundred degree weather she has preferred over the kids this past week. Clearly the cats think we should trade in the kids for this newfound peace and quiet. Just two more years then the kids are off at school and the house is ours, my pets! Don’t think I’m not counting down just as carefully as you are.

I did accomplish a bit of cleaning, the garage and some closets got sorted out- so from the outside, we’re average, but on the inside? Wow! Those are some tidy storage spaces! I had huge plans to paint the walls from the waist down to cover the evidence of Maggie’s crayon fixation, but the housing guy who knows the paint numbers was away from the office for a few days so I’ll have to squeeze that in some morning this week.

I wish every weekend was like this. I adore my children, and have missed them a lot (evidence shown in the new Tinker Bell doll and Meet the Robinson’s play set on their beds- the Disney store has a crazy sale going on) but seriously- it amazes me how productive you can be when you clean the house and it stays that way so you can move on to more rewarding tasks. I’m stunned by how my brain slows down to normal when I’m not forced into an internal panic over what the children will destroy while I’m in the shower. For the first time in months I shaved my legs and didn’t miss several spots in my usual rush. I was beginning to think I needed a new razor- turns out I just need five uninterrupted minutes.

I love that I can set out a huge stack of DVDs or lay a knife on the counter or leave the refrigerator unlocked and nothing bad happens. No mother guilt. No horrific fantasies about a kid somehow poking his eye out, squirting mustard all over the couch or scratching every movie we own. I love that I haven’t had to repeat myself all weekend. No stream of no no no nonono, stop it stop it stop it, don’t don’t don’t. . .all of this exhausting nonsense is not coming out of my mouth, and I love it. I haven’t threatened to throw every toy in the house and the television away for three whole days!

Despite all of this- I am so excited to get them back tomorrow morning! I miss their hugs and laughter. I miss the happy moments where they play together and like each other. If we could just work something out to where I had two days off per week to relax and rejuvenate , we coudl have a really good thing going.

We are having cat issues. Gus is peeing in places other than the litter box and it has got to stop. We’ve tried everything it seems. The cat box is clean, there is one for each cat, we’ve tried a few different litters, Gus is perfectly healthy. We’ve tried the Feliway system, and it works perfectly for acclimating the two cats, but did nothing for the urine issue. Gus is fixed. I’ve gotten rid of a few of his more frequent targets (a potted tree, laundry left on the floor, and his cat bed). He just finds new places. Yesterday and today it was the kids’ beds. GROSS.

We got Gus from a rescue, and this rescue makes it a point to let people know if the cat has a spraying issue. No one ever mentioned it about Gus, but he had just been returned to the rescue for the second time. The previous owners just said he needed too much attention. I wonder if maybe they weren’t covering up a nasty little problem.

Now, I am re-training him, based on the suggestion of a friend who has quite a few cats. Gus is now living in the bathroom. He’s going to be in there for at least a week with his litter box, food and basket. He will try to escape every single time we open the door, so I know I’m going to be catching the cat a lot this week. If it were just Chris and I, it wouldn’t be so bad, but we’ve got one bathroom and Jonas and Maggie are in and out all day. At least Gus won’t get lonely.

I feel badly about all of this because Gus is a total sweetheart. He is cuddly and cute and gentle, but man, the cat pee issue can really trump all of these wonderful personality traits. If this doesn’t work, the only thing left to try is daily anxiety medication that may or may not work. After that, he has to go back to rescue, and then- oh the guilt! Not to mention I would really miss him and his catnip addiction.

Anyone have any advice?