My summer plans changed

This was suppose to be the summer I started decorating our home.  You know, the fun kind of decorating where you spend money and you actually see it (unlike redoing the roof, replacing a drain for the bathtub).  This was the summer we were going to do some road trips now that we were out of the newborn phase.  This was the summer I was going to try a DIY project (painting a bed frame for Louis), compost in our backyard and make sure that my garden would live.  I was so looking forward to hosting dinners in our backyard. It's August now and not only am I not decorating, cooking or watering the plants at home, i'm  not even living there.  We're living at the Marriott Residence Inn, across from Ikea, while our home is being repaired. Our house got flooded.  I always loved staying at hotels (ok, I don't love the three-star ones off an Interstate highway in the US) but never in a million years did I think we would be hotel living for a month. It's kind of comfy here except for the bed (can't get a good night sleep) and despite having just two burners and no oven to cook with. And the laundry machines are in the basement and are coin operated.  In fact, those have been my excuses to cut down on cooking and laundry. Hubby says that the only people doing laundry downstairs is him & the other Chinese ladies.  I guess he married the wrong Chinese lady. Housekeeping cleans our rooms (yes, rooms...we have three here) every day. There's a sign that says they will do our dishes (by switching on the dishwasher and I can do that!) but for some

reason, we keep this place tidier than our own house. Just seems silly to waste the cleaning ladies' time & nasty intoxicating cleaning products every day.  I must admit though, I love getting our bed made. God knows I won't do it! We are testing a long term plan here: the boys are sharing a room.  It seems to be working out.  The other night, they must have said goodnight to each other 50 times while giggling away... Pretty adorable.  When Sammy screams for milk in the morning, we have Louis trained to run to the fridge to get his bottle but he still doesn't fully get the not-coming-to-wake-us-up part.  In a short period of time, Sammy is becoming the clown in this place.  He stands by the automatic front doors of the hotel and screams," Hoy moon!" which means open the door in Cantonese.  He can do that forever, really.  And when the sensor doesn't catch him, we get this deep Scooby-Doo- I'm-stumped sound coming out of his little body... pretty cute. Biggest annoyance this week is having to keep track of all our expenses.  We have to report every little spending to the losers.  Oh, the losers are otherwise known as the insurance people.  I feel like I need to justify why we buy wild blueberries, why my four year old prefers sushi hand rolls over McDonald's, why we go to Starbuck's more than we go grocery shopping (we're not proud but there's no other coffee option out here other than Starbuck's). It's like someone is watching our every move and it creeps me out!  We're suppose to expense everything that is costing us because we are out of our home.  Does a hair dye and facial count because since all this has happened, I am getting so much white hair and pimples due to stress.  I am resting more being here as I'm ignoring chores.  I feel like I'm a battery that is being recharged now so I can go back to fighting with the losers.  For now though, i will try and focus my energy on finding my husband a 40th birthday gift, doing some reading for my upcoming start of a new job (after 5 years of not working) and trying not to be too depressed when my best friend skips town on Wednesday.  So much to do before the end of summer.