No trip to the beach next month; we'll be staying home instead. I guess that solves the problem of what to do with the dogs while we're gone. We were offered the use of someone's house; I just feel odd about staying at a person's house while they are out of town (or while they are there, to be precise) if I'm not their sister or their daughter so I declined that offer (although it was quite nicely made). I also declined the offer of another work weekend (really, I hate my house every day when I go home and pull up in the driveway and am reminded of how really ugly my house is, how horrid the yard looks, and how embarassing my house looks right now?). And declined another offer to make a road trip elsewhere.