When my kid is away, this mom will P L A Y !

disclaimer...  I don't control Google ads... retesting my title... oy!!

 Who am I?

I am a full time mom.

I'm a full time homeowner.

I run a business.

I'm a writer with 101 things to write about. And nothing published. Yet.

I'm a junk designer with no projects done up to sell. Yet.

I'm a photographer fanatic with just a point and shoot.

I have a TON of undone projects laying around the homestead that yell for attention.

I blog.

And... I'm a sole parent.

All those areas? Lately, I'm not doing any of them to their full potential. Quite simply, it's because I have too much on my plate. Well, except for the blogging. I think I do that too much at times. :)

How to free up some time? Cut something out. Learn to say no. Figure out the balance.

 Yeah yeah yeah. We all know THAT. But that's alot easier said than done.

As for me, what tends to happen is, I spin 'round and 'round, and I get to the point of just getting flat out dizzy from it all. And when I start doing a lousy job at ALL of the above, it's time to take a breather. I call it a reset. I think some even dare to call it a vacation. :)

My son just left for camp for 10 overnights. Do you understand what this means? Any parent gets it. It's one full time job tucked away for 10 days!

Imagine being a mom that is alone with her child/children 24/7 without the aid of a sig other, family or even grandparent for that matter. You cannot quickly zip to the store without everyone in tow. Or go for a walk kidless (which really means complainless) to free up your thoughts. You do what you have to do and you do it with your kiddo/s in tow. No matter what. Unless you pay someone to care for them of course.

I'm not complaining. I'm just laying out some facts so you get where I'm heading.

I generally don't play my sole parent card alot in life because, first and foremost, I don't see myself as a sole parent. First I am a mom, business owner, homeowner, decorator, and blogger. Then I remember the rest when I'm near a nervous breakdown. :)

So when your kiddo goes to camp...

 (picture from last year)

... things change for a short duration. I'm kid batchin'  it for 10 day, and I don't know which direction to sprint! I think I need 10 days of freedom for each of those things mentioned. Now wouldn't that be the cat's meow?!?

 (picture from last year)

 Don't get me wrong. I'll miss my boy terribly. He's great company and we have alot in common. And I will ache to hear his sweet voice when he's gone. ( we aren't allowed contact unless in an emergency)

But now it's time to switch off the mommy pining and fully appreciate my break. Because my boy just flew out of the province for 10 days.

Where?

This is no small potatoes. This is a kid's version of a lottery win.

While this wonderful foundation is serving a kid benefit purpose, they have no idea what they are doing for me as well.

The Tim Horton's Children's Foundation is a non-profit foundation that sponsors a camping experience like no other, for lower income family kids, to designated camps all over. Because of our location, my son was flown out of BC Canada to the Tim Horton's Children's Ranch, in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada. For an amazing 10 days! Isn't this place incredible?!?

 This is a tremendous growing up experience. For many of these kids, it's their first flight, and first trip away from their parents!  Where they get to do alot of different things they've never done before.

My son has been fortunate to have experienced this camp just last year. However, it was during the H1N1 season. Any ill symptom was immediately quarantined. Well, he got a sore throat from the flight. So to be safe, he was quarantined, then sadly, flown home. Because he only got 1 day with the kids, they wanted him back again!

And just to let you know, he was thrilled with the quarantined headquarters. Are you kidding? One on one attention, movies, you name it. He was treated like a KING. So you can imagine how excited he was to return with the hopes of enjoying it again in a different way.

How?

My son got into the camp through the non profit organization, Big Brothers, Big Sisters. I signed him up for a (free) male mentor a year ago which was an amazing experience in itself.  BB BS receives all kinds of funding, such as this camp. Tim Hortons Org selects the organization, then BB BS selects kids that would qualify. You then go through a health/behavior check in order to qualify. This is just to ensure your child is in a healthy and safe environment. I had NO idea that getting involved with BB BS would have led to something even bigger. No idea.

Am I worried?!?

Wait! Am I not one of those mothers that should be crying hysterically that her child is out of her reach?!? I admit, last year was really tough. And the thought that my son is so far away is equally tough. Add in no contact and you think you might die. But I know from experience now, after around 4 days, it changes. You go from fretting and missing to starting to capture a glimmer of sunlight for yourself. You start to feel trust that your child is ok and you finally give yourself permission to have some fun and actually ENJOY the quiet around you for a few short days.

At the bus stop today, I comforted two rather weepy moms. I know from a mom perspective, it's ok if we KNOW our kids are ok. And they WILL be ok. I know first hand.

Knowing how my emotions will work, I'm deciding NOW to make it a good thing rather than wait those 4 days. I'm not going to waste a moment this round!

My own vacation agenda

So for those of you curious as to what a girl does all alone for 10 days when trying not to spend wads of non existent cash,  here's my wanna do list.

My 10 day kid free-nearly cost free vacation goal list:

rent girlie movies
go for my morning dike walks with my dog and just listen to the gravel crunching
go beachin'
go junkin'
decorate and build a little
work for a living
make a delicious stir fry
pray
sing and dance alongside blaring music
pack the travel trailer in case we scurry off for a weekend when kidlet gets back
snooze on a floaty lounger in my backyard pool
take in live music at a local beach with an iced coffee in hand
read
get some cookies (with icing!) to eat while lounging in the sunshine
light up the propane fire pit in the evenings and close my eyes and just rest in the quiet
sleep in
get up early and get to bed late to make a special day super duper LONG
take naps
get my hair done (oh my gosh you ought to (NOT) see it!!)
get my first pedicure maybe?
take deep bubble baths
miss and reflect
go to my fav log cabin pub (I said the P word!!) at a resort for a big fat burger and fries and THIS time own my table, not letting any guy chatters scare me away.  :)
stay in pj's all day while in my creative mode
write deep
browse retail stores and scoff, "I can make that for FREE!"

I think I'm going to be too busy to miss my kiddo! But when I start to pine for him, I'll revert to my list and just get busy again, reminding myself it's for a short duration and go forth and have as good of a time as he is. Because it's ok. All of it. Guilt free!

Oh... right. And I just may share on occasion how my girly vacation is going. If you'd like updates on that sort of thing that is... would you?

Just curious.

What would you do with 10 days of kidless/spouseless/nearly workless freedom?