I'm all alone!

My family has temporarily abandoned me. I feel very alone. Of course, I've still got the dog for company - but it's not the same as hearing my kids squeal with delight when I walk in the door after 9 hours at work. Hubby took Kiddo and Little Bit up to his mother's house in Virginia for a few days. The kids are on Fall Break from school, so Hubby, understandably, wanted to spend some quality time with his mother (GM). This meant he had to bring the kids with him - not that his mother minds. I'm absolutely positive that she's thrilled to have her grandchildren there to spoil. GM has 6 cats (1 adult, 2 teenagers, and 3 kittens) and 2 dogs. The kids are, from what I hear, having a blast with the kittens. (I can only hope that Hubby will see fit to relieve her of one of them, but I know that's not going to happen.) The kittens aren't used to kids and therefore Little Bit, at least, has taken to chasing them around. I'm positive one of them will turn on her before she leaves GM's house on Wednesday. Her first kitty scratch - such a badge of honor. The whole family went up to upper East TN on Saturday so that I could attend my niece's baby shower. I had a wonderful time and, though she was visibly exhausted by the time the party was over, I think she had a good time. She got lots and lots of wonderful stuff! (I posted a couple of pictures of the diaper cake I made for her at the end...she's seen it now, so I can share it without ruining the surprise!) I tried to help out where I could, but other than becoming the official party photographer, there really wasn't much to do. Her mother and aunt had pretty much gotten everything under control by the time GM and I arrived. It was a very lovely party. Then Hubby and the kids put everything in GM's car and they headed up to VA and I took the dog and headed back home. Sunday was a wash. Really - I mean that. I spent the entire day doing laundry. I turned the TV on to a station that was playing decent movies all day and in between laundry cycles, I vegged out on the couch. But, I did manage to get all of the laundry caught up, folded and put away - so it's not like I was completely useless. Of course, I woke up at 7AM yesterday and could not, for the life of me, get back to sleep. So I figured rather than be totally lazy and lounge around in bed hoping that sleep would overtake me again, I got up and started the laundry. When I get home tonight, I am going to clean both kid's rooms. They're messy. I'm going to change the sheets (more laundry...ugh...) and put away the toys. Then run the vacuum over the tiny carpets and under the beds. I'm fighting the Dust Rhinoceri (bigger and more vicious than Dust Bunnies) and a lack of places to put all the damn toys. But I'm sure I can figure it out. My goal is to have the entire house sparkling clean by the time I pick the family up on Wednesday afternoon. Do you think I can do it? Or, will my essential laziness take over and prevent me from accomplishing my goals? Only time will tell! TTFN JMS