"ME" Time

Our trip to Denver was fun and successful . . . and you can tell it's been busy since then because I'm just now getting around to catching up on blogging.

I had a fun time in Denver. I had several days for just "me." We were in Denver for over a week, and the kids showed on two days, and sold their cattle another evening. Since there's nothing I can do (well, never LEARNED to do--by design, LOL!) with the cattle, and quickly get bored watching the others work on them, I stayed at the hotel except for the days the kids actually showed, or sold, their cattle.

I knew I'd have several days to myself, so took several plastic boxes of scrapbooking stuff and pictures along. It was WONDERFUN to spend DAYS scrapbooking, without the interruption of animals wanting into or out of the house, clothes needing to be washed, dried, folded, or put away, dinner needing to be cooked up or cleaned up after . . . you moms all know the drill!

There was a shopping complex nearby, with a WalMart, Sam's Club, and several restaurants. The first day were were in Denver I stocked up on snacks so I didn't have to eat "out" for every meal. I got take out once a day, and usually picked up something for Tim and the kids, too. By the time they got back from the show, they were usually tired and didn't want to have to go out again (although we did go out for supper twice while we were there). It was such a treat to not have to cook, and to eat food we usually don't get to enjoy--Panera Bread, a yummy chinese place . . . and already I don't remember what else we enjoyed.

The hotel had an exercise room, and believe it or not I ENJOYED having the time to exercise every day. I've resolved to save money for a treadmill, exercise bike, and/or elliptical machine. It will probably be quite a while before I can afford any one of them, but will be on the look out for used ones.

I was proud of myself for venturing out one day to an Archiver's--a huge scrapbook store. I didn't "need" anything, but needed some fresh air, and it was 70 degrees there! I Googled the store and directions for getting there . . . I'm usually not brave enough to drive anywhere I'm not familiar with . . . but that day I did it! I'm very "good" at going the wrong direction (I have NO sense of direction) or taking a wrong turn . . . I guess knowing that if I did that, "I" would have to solve it myself made me very conscious of where I was going and what I was doing, because I made it there and back without a wrong turn!

I want to encourage every mom reading this to TAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF! It makes you a better mom, person . . . better in every role in your life. NO ONE is going to say to you, "You've been working really hard--why don't you take tomorrow off? I'll take care of the kids, laundry, cooking, and so on; you just relax!" (If someone in my family said that to me I'd hurt myself falling over in shock . . . )

Anyway, YOU have to take care of YOURSELF--take the time to do so! And enjoy it like I did in Denver.