Welcome Back to the Land of the Living.

I am fully recuperated and recharged. I'm crediting the fact that I feel like a new person to:

a) Sleeping ten (okay, really eleven, but I don't want to brag) hours a night for the last three nights. It's weeks like this I'm glad my children look like this:

Can you even handle this cuteness?

so when they wake up in the middle of the night, all I have to do is be very still and not open my eyes and they will go back to sleep.

It's also weeks like this when I am grateful I work from home most of the week and to start my day at 8:30 I need to wake up at 8:25, allowing myself time to find my glasses and fix my coffee. Or, even better, Hugh's home on Friday and I wake up at 8:35 to my coffee and glasses and Nexium waiting for me at my desk with my computer already logged in. Have I mentioned that I adore him?

b) This meal plan. While I have some modifications I will make next week (yes, we are soldiering on with the detox eating plan), I will say I am sleeping better, feeling more energized, and eating more vegetables than I have in a long time. The looseness of my pants is a side benefit, really. But this (the meal plan, not the looseness) calls for a whole separate post, so stay tuned for that this weekend.

And, let us not forget that it is Friday! Weekend plans include:

• The new Martha Stewart (Thanksgiving edition, my favorite!) and House Beautiful waiting for me, unopened, in the living room. Saturday morning, I have a date with the couch, the magazines, and several cups of coffee.
• Cleaning the house. I know this is a chore and most people dread it. But here's my dirty little secret: I. love. to. clean. It's an obsession really. I vacuum at least twice a week. When I was little, I would mess up my room just so I could clean and reorganize it. We had a plumbing crisis on Monday, and when the plumber was leaving, he said he wanted to submit us to a local magazine as the cleanest house in the city. I think only Hugh would realize how happy that made me. Call me crazy, but nothing peps me up like a freshly cleaned house.
• Blogging. I have a backlog of things I want to share with you, sweet readers, so I will be typing away this weekend to keep you entertained in the coming weeks. I know you are excited.
• Soaking up what is sure to be the last warm and sunny weekend by playing in the yard with the world's best dog and composting the remains of my summer garden.
  
• Relaxing. Starting next weekend, we will be going basically non-stop through the holidays with trips, company, parties, work, and tests, so I will be taking full advantage of this calm before the storm.
  

With that, I'm off to make some work calls and strip the beds! I hope you get some sleep and do what you love this weekend, friends.