4:34 am – Wake up. Go pee. Today is the day! The Hubs will be home! I’m so excited!! Immediately fall back asleep. Apparently exhaustion is stronger than excitement at this point.

5:50 am – Alarm goes off. Was going in to office today. Decide one more day working from home better plan. Reset alarm to 6:30 am.  Fall back asleep.

6:30 am – Alarm goes off again. Get up, shower. Dry off. Attempt to brush teeth, but toothbrush rolls over while applying toothpaste, which falls on counter. Scoop it up with finger and smear it on. Attempt to rinse toothpaste off of finger. Knock over storage cup with makeup brushes. Scramble to keep them from falling into sink while not getting toothpaste on them. Succeed in turning off water. Towel has come unwrapped around me, falling into toothbrush and also toothpaste. Epic fail. Sigh. Wipe finger on towel. Pick up items and put them back. Think it’s going to be a long day.

7:00 am – Give SD1 & SD2 kibble, with chicken and rice. Neither wants to eat. SD2 will take her pills. SD1 will not take his. Stalk the Hubs and see he hasn’t moved.  Want him home. Now.

7:15 am – Empty dishwasher. Put load of laundry in washer. Try to give SD1 his pills again. No dice. Take clothes from dryer and put them on the stairs in basket.

7:30 am – Start making apple leather. 3 jars of applesauce into the dehydrator trays. Maybe made it too thick. Momma used to make hers thick like this. Hope it turns out.

8:00 am – Bagel made, upstairs at my desk. Starting payroll. SDs are restless. I can’t say “Daddy” without SD2 spazzing out.  SD1 just mopes. He misses the Hubs as much as I do.

8:30 am – Finish payroll preliminaries. Now waiting on other people. Sigh. Story of my life.

9:00 am – SD1 wants out. Go downstairs, let him out. SD2 decides to go out, too. Neighbor is out and so is their dog. Ugh. Let them be stupid for a bit. Empty washing machine, load dryer. Load washing machine, start cycle. Wipe down fridge. Wipe down stove. Wipe down counters. Attempt to retrieve SDs from outside. Fail. Get charcoal bag and bamboo stick. Do lion taming routine again. Really miss the Hubs as he’d just go out and carry them in. Stalk him using Find My iPhone app. He’s still in Oklahoma. Now have ‘Oklahoma! Where the winds come sweeping down the plains…” going through my head. Much better than Tulsa Time.

10:12 am – SD1 one needs his nose bridge cleaned. He runs from me. I smile. It’s probably maniacal at this point. He knows there is nowhere in this house he can run where I can’t get him, except maybe his crate with his butt facing the door. I do not say this out loud, yet that’s exactly where he goes. Now he can read my mind?

10:20 am – Wait patiently. Knows that the need for SD1 to be near me is much more pressing than his abhorrence at the nose-bridge cleaning routine. Right on schedule, he moseys back into my office. I shut the door. Now he’s mine. Evil laugh issues from my mouth.

11:02 am – The Hubs is half way between Tulsa and OKC. Yay!!! Getting closer to home. I might be getting closer to sanity. Working on cleaning up files for work. Still waiting on payroll files to arrive. Sigh.

1:30 pm – Realize it’s after noon and I haven’t had lunch. Could be why I have headache. Go downstairs and make fabulous sandwich with natural, organic lunch meat. Go so far as to slice a tomato and put it on the whole wheat bread. Throw on some all-natural-made-with-sugar-not-corn-syrup bread and butter pickles. Best sandwich I’ve had in a long time. Tomato slice promptly squirts seeds and juice all over me. Really?

1:47 pm – SD2 apparently went downstairs alone. Uh oh.

1:48 pm – Relieved to find that SD2 needs to potty. She can’t figure out the bell. She rarely rings it. Let her and SD1 out, they potty. Then she flops down in the sun. SD1 comes in. I give him a rice krispy treat. Toss a small rice krispy treat to SD2. She comes inside. While I have not abandoned the bribery plan, I haven’t been as full throttle as intended. Still, it appears to have worked as I have not had to chase her all over yard every time.

1:50 pm – SD2 is wandering around kitchen. Maybe she’s hungry. Put their breakfasts down on the floor again. This time, they eat.

1:54 pm – Come upstairs, chilled, juicy sweet nectarine in hand. Ahh. Summer fruit!

1:59 pm – SD1 rings bell. Seriously? I was just down there to feed you again and let you out! I’m beginning to wonder if it’s full court press to make Momma insane before Daddy gets home. I’m on to them now.

2:39 pm – Pet work peeve – someone replying to all when the initial sender is the only one that needs that info. Email filled with ‘reply alls’ that I didn’t need, but read in case there was new info I needed.

3:31 pm – Looks like the Hubs will be home later than planned tonight. There goes dinner plans. I will now be going to Austin Bulldog Club meeting alone. Plug in hot rollers in master bath. Will look good for meeting, and then smokin’ for the Hubs when he gets home. Miss this man so much!

6:45 pm – Apparently so used to saying “we’re” as in the Hubs and I, that I accidentally used that phraseology when it was time for me to leave for meeting. As in, “We’re about to go. I need you guys to go potty outside.” SD1 took it to mean that he was going and went and stood by his leash. Uh oh. Lure him away from leash with rice krispy treat and gently explain that I was the only one going.  Disappointed look on his face broke my heart. Coax SD1 & 2 into crates.

7:10 pm – Arrive at VFW. Scary moment when I realized the Hubs always drives, and I wasn’t super sure which exit to take. Got there fine. Stalk Hubs location throughout meeting.

9:08 pm – SDs seem mixed about seeing me. They know I will feed them now, but they thought Daddy was going to be here. Get them fed, check in with the Hubs.

9:24 pm – Head out to pick up the Hubs. Realize again that he always drives over to the shop and I’m only slightly sure I am taking right exit. I am. Whew. Pull up in front of shop, see the Hubs, very scruffy, working with the Pop in law to put things up. Too hot not to run A/C in car, but fuel low in the ‘burb. Head to gas station. Fill up. Think, “Why am I doing this? He’s home. He takes care of gassing the vehicles!” Am proud that I remembered which side the gas tank is on as I never fill up the ‘burb. Pump exact dollar amount. That never happens to me. One part of OCD is satisfied. Complete transaction. Head back.

10:30 pm – After lots of maneuvering and change of tactics, corvette put up, trailer put up, belongings recovered from the RV. With the Hubs driving, head out to find some form of nourishment, albeit probably fast food. We do live in Texas, so Whataburger it is.

11:34 pm – SDs have been placated with fries and have forgiven Daddy for his absence. ‘Burb unpacked, yummy Whataburger consumed, pups loved on. It’s time for bed.

12:30 am – The Hubs is showered and descruffied.  His scruff was kinda sexy, actually. But prefer his baby face – much nicer to kiss, which I have missed. He is home. The adventure is thankfully over. I’m exhausted. The SDs and I survived, but it’s clear – this life is much easier with the Hubs. We all missed him very much. Close eyes knowing that tonight, I will sleep until my alarm wakes me up. Take the Hubs hand. Missed holding his hand while we sleep. Very blessed.