Here we go again, with another post about how my hobbies and real life overlap and sometimes interfere with eachother. But, this blog isn’t really “gun news” so much as my public “journal” anyway, so I don’t feel too bad about it. Hopefully my life mirrors your life, and you can relate.

I’m sure you all have the same problems. (Didn’t JulieG just miss a big match because one of her little ones was sick?) We are women (and men) who are versatile, and wear many hats in our lives. It’s inevitable that there will be juggling involved to fit it all in.

I had just such a conflict a few weeks ago. I had been planning for months to attend a Babes With Bullets Camp that was being held at a club in my part of the country. It was a camp that I had agitated for and helped promote. I was hoping for my daughter to be able to attend with me again – just like last year. Those plans were scuttled however, when the fall marching band schedule came out. There were not just one, but two big band events that weekend that my daughter could not miss. Also, with this being her senior year, I as a mom couldn’t miss them either. We had a great time and she did a fantastic job, but we had to miss Babes Camp. We got to have a fun visit with all the gals on that Sunday night though, so there was at least that compromise!!

Then there was last weekend. Saturday was my daughter’s Homecoming dance. There I was Saturday morning, reinforcing a hook and eye that was loose on the dress — my mad sewing skillz (and my old gal cheater glasses) were defintely in play. I was also working on a new sewing project involving guns, (which I can’t tell you about, because it might be “marketable” and I don’t want to spoil the surprise). So, even though I had a club level match the next day, I wasn’t doing any shooting practice.

While that was going on, I was also in a baking mood and threw together both a peach cobbler and some pumpkin muffins. Then, with fifteen minutes’ notice my daughter tells me that her boyfriend’s mother and grandmother would be coming by to take pictures before the dance. Eeeek! If you saw the photo of my kitchen table at Christmastime, you know what my house usually looks like. Housekeeping just isn’t a priority in my life. We meet health codes (barely), but clutter and dust are another matter entirely. So, I dropped everything, told my daughter to take her 47 pairs of shoes out of the entryway and back up to her room, swiffered the birdseed from the feeder can off the floor by the front door, swept the porch, cleaned the spiderwebs off of the broken doorbell button, dragged the vacuum cleaner out of the “good” living room and hid it upstairs, and hoped for the best.

The “good” living room was a concession that I won when we were hashing out building this house 16 years ago. It’s really just a sitting room size alcove off the rest of the family room/kitchen that can be closed off with folding doors. The idea being, that with 3 small children (at the time), I could have ONE small corner of the house that was always relatively clean and free of legos, plastic dinosaurs, and juice box stains, into which I could usher unexpected guests straight from the front door.

And this is exactly what we did. My daughter was gorgeous, her boyfriend looked very dashing … and his mom and grandma were completely unaware of the gun cleaning supplies, fabric scraps, and other detritus that lay just beyond the folding doors!

Once we got Cinderella off to the ball, (and a few tissues later), I finally had time to gather my gear for the pistol match the next morning. I don’t know about you, but I have to lay out my gear the night before. I can’t really trust my morning pre-coffee brain to remember small details like …. ohhh mag pouches for instance. LOL

         Thanks to my friend Scott for the photo – at least I didn’t have plumbers’ pants!

I’m going to be doing even more juggling this next weekend. This Saturday I have my last club IDPA match of the season, and there is usually a picnic/dinner afterwards. But my quartet is also singing in a chorus show that evening in another city north of here, so even if I can finish the match, I can’t stay for the food. (Boooo)  The quartet is staying overnight in a hotel, and then I have a level II pistol match to shoot the next day on Sunday, up in that area.

So, I’ve got some deciding and planning to do. Do I shoot the same pistol both days? Or would it be easier to shoot the Glock on Saturday, leave it at home, and have the M&P all pre-packed and ready to go with my singing gear? If I shoot the M&P both days, then I should clean it Saturday night in-between. But would that wierd-out my quartet mates (who know nothing of guns) that I’m cleaning my pistol in the hotel room? Or maybe I should just get my own room? Or just shoot a dirty gun? (wouldn’t be the first time)

I’ll let y’all know how it turns out. Suggestions appreciated LOL!