Coffee. Wine. Blue Corn Chips.

Yep. It's the last day of July. Sunday. How often do we start the first of the month on a Monday, right? I'm determined. Very, very determined. I have a stack of notes, to-do lists, deadlines and stuff to catch up on. Tomorrow is Monday. I'm giving myself until end of day on Sunday to get everything caught up and, hopefully, a little ahead. Why? Lisa's is taking a full week of vacation the 2nd week of August.

Although I still have to get work and blog and get writing stuff done throughout that week, I don't want to be bogged down with stacks o' lists and notes. The week Lisa has off, we have no plans. It's going to be a week of spontaneity.

There's a ton of stuff that we want to get done around the house. There's lots of stuff we want to do with and for the kids. There's a few things we'd like to do...just Lisa and I. The ideas are on the table, but to keep with the theme of spontaneity, we haven't pinned down what, when, or where.

It'll be interesting to see how the kids react to Lisa being home for 9 days. It's crazy enough going from weekday schedule to weekend schedule and back to weekday schedule.

Our kids like their schedule. They don't like it when it's disrupted. Saturdays are the worst because it's the first day after their weekday schedule. It's noisy. They're restless. By noon I'm usually in my office, door locked, in the corner with my Chromebook, sipping from a bottle of wine, and stuffing my ears with scraps of paper from my tiny wicker trash bin.

Sundays are a lot better. 

Mondays kind of suck like Saturdays do, but Lisa is at work. I'm home. The option to lock myself in the home office with wine is not an option.

This will be very, very interesting. Nine. Whole. Days.

In addition to my stacks of notes, to-do lists, deadlines, and stuff to catch up on, I have a secret list of ways I'm going to cope with this 9 days of total utter schedule chaos...

1. Keep my wine stash stocked.

2. Lisa and kids in bed by 11 p.m. Up at 8 a.m.

3. Strong coffee all week. Two extra scoops.

4. Keep my wine stash stocked.

5. When the home office door is shut, do not disturb unless it's an emergency.

6. Blue corn chips can be slid under the door if I get hungry.

7. I like fresh made Mojitos too.

8. No plans. Compete spontaneity.

9. Coffee. Wine.

10. Wine. Coffee.

Exhale.