I am one of those weird people who love being alone and hanging out around the house. I have not been on any trips for the past 5 weeks of my vacation and i have loved it! Here's what i did:
1. This summer i became obsessed with two shows: Tabatha's Salon Takeover and Rescue Me. I love Tabatha and Denis Leary. (I seem to be attracted to harder personalities who take no prisoners and do what they think is the right thing even if they step on toes.)
2. I read about 13 books. No kidding. I could breeze though a book a day if it was good enough and some books i did read in one day: Room, Prayers for Sale, and names of others i have already forgotten. I need to start keeping a list! But i can't figure out this new iMac Excel, which pisses me off because i am an Excel whore. I'm going to have to take some of those classes that Brian signed us up for.
3. I didn't go to the pool that much this summer, and if i did, i never put on a swim suit, but i did manage to get tanned enough from running. I actually made myself go for a swim today (only because it was hair wash day anyway and no one was in the pool). It was my first time in the water in two years. I was trying to figure out how hard it would be to swim 20 minutes (which is what Brian had to do for his mini-triathalon. I could only manage 5 minutes. It's hard! )
4. Each morning i would start my day by watching the news on the Debt Ceiling. Brian brings me coffee and newspaper in the morning before he goes to work and it's incentive for me to wake up early enough so the coffee is still fresh. Then i would put a couple of episodes of Rescue Me from the netflixed DVDs or watch Tabatha. After that, i would go for a run, tend to my patio plants, and shower. Then i would check my emails, (work and home) and Facebook and blog (though that never took very long). And by the time i was done with all this it would be past noon and almost time for my nap!
I am the most responsible and organized slacker you will ever meet.
5. My summer uniform is an Eddie Bauer tank top, Eddie Bauer flip flops, and a switch between my Eddie Bauer cargo pants with the zipper pocket at the ankle (so i don't have to carry a purse if i don't want to) or my Old Navy pants i've had for over 10 years that i just love because they are so comfortable.
6. Besides Tabatha and Denis i also got hooked watching Shark Week and the ME TV station. Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart are my most favorite shows on there, and also MASH. Its a great channel!
7. I didn't ONLY watch TV. My first day of vacation was helping Kylee move to her new place in Seattle. And I did get together with different friends over the month. I even spent 6 hours with my mom Elodie yesterday for her birthday. I cooked a lot. (One of my new recipes was chicken breasts stuffed with goat cheese and sage with a brown butter sage sauce.) I drank a lot of wine and discovered some new ones i really like. I sewed my brother's pillows with louie and beat my husband at many games of Yahtzee on the patio. I even had a good time meeting the neighbors at the pool at the annual Neighbors Night Out earlier this week.
Normally we would have gone somewhere. But the rivers are too high for flyfishing now because of all of our snowpack (so we probably won't get to it until mid-September or October when it's better fishing anyway) so that's why i've been home. But i don't mind. It seemed to be a longer vacation that way.
And now it's over. I go back to work on Monday. At least i have a month before the teachers go back so it will be quieter and i can wear the same slacker clothes i've been wearing at home since not many people are around. I might even ride my new bike to work!
17 comments:
The husband is out on a weekend hike trip with an old college buddy from Bellingham so i am having steamed clams tonight with a viognier/roussanne blend wind called le deux by Darby Vinyards and some fresh French bread. I'll probably put on Joni Mitchell and Brandi Carlile cds and have myself a little party! I love parties with myself. The conversation is always scintillating especially because i don't have to worry about what i might say!
It;s only 66 degrees and cloudy outside but i think i'm going to bring my new book i bought yesterday "Dark Places" i think is the title (I finished The Last Child this morning) and sit by the pool because nobody is there and i won't need sunglasses to read.
I thought you and Brian went to your beach place at some point? Or was that before vacation started?
I love that Darby! I can't find it around here.
Hey! You're posting pix!
My summer is flying by. Lots of things scheduled and things to do. The house is starting to come together. In the past week, I put on a new door (well, hired someone to do it!), changed the locks, hung a bunch of pictures, got my bedroom painted, and a bunch of other odds and ends. The more it comes together, the more I like it.
I fell off my horse riding this week. Hard fall. But I got back on and rode the course of nine jumps, and nailed it. Makes me feel tough! I finally stopped ignoring the sore muscles this morning and hung out in the jacuzzi, and it helped a lot.
Mel will be going back to school in about three weeks. I'm really going to miss her.
JoJo - you summer sounds wonderful...
Eque- I hate to hear you fell off your horse but glad you toughed it out. Amanda fell really hard during her last competition which was years ago. It was so scary but she was fine and finished it out. But I'm never comfortable watching her ride again.
In a week and a half I'll be in Seattle. JoJo..I'll email you my phone number. The group I'm going with has scheduled us pretty tight but I think Wednesday evening and Sunday are free. Maybe Saturday afternoon..I'll let you know.
I've been MIA..had a horrible tooth ache..the week my dentist went on vacation. He did call me though and sent me for a root canal. The crown cracked and now I need a new one which I'm scheduling for next week.
susie, i was just thinking about you today and your trip out here. I am going to email you through Facebook to find out where you are staying and how to contact you. i know you are on a group trip so we will have to work around that. I am back to work on Monday but could probably be in Seattle by 6:00 ish or later if it's a weekday. I hope you won't be in pain with your tooth issue when you get here. Hopefully it should clear up.
Barbara are you okay?
That damn book "Dark Places" was a book i already own in hardback. I read so much i cannot remember until i get to about page 35 and i realize it. So i took it back to Barnes and Noble and bought "Cutting for Stone".
My clams were great. But they cost $20. I sort of think i could buy them cheaper going OUT to dinner. But they were indeed great and only four of them didn't open out of four whole pounds, so that's pretty good. ''
The Darby wine i am drinking cost $21 bucks. Barbara, you and i had this at Vashon Island. You do have a great memory! If i had your memory i would not be buying books in paperback that i already have bought and read in hardback!
ooh, i wish i could come to seattle and hang with you both! of course it would probably be easier to just come down to atlanta. maybe sometime.
i am okay. have you ever been in a car accident and you feel okay at the time but later you kind of ache all over. that's what it's like. better though after a few days and a soak in the jacuzzi. i'll do it again in the morning. melanie told me she was proud of me when she saw me cruise around those jumps. :) i was proud of me, too. i can't even remember the last time i fell off a horse. it's been years.
susie, i hope you tooth is better.
jo, i'm glad your clams were good! i made a caprese salad and a spinach rice casserole tonight and ate in the dining room with melanie.
looking forward to the weekend! ;)
Today:
Slept in
Sat on the balcony in the sun completed a Sudoku and a crossword
Finished my third novel of this trip
Walked down the beach and back
Added to my sunburn
Made some Thai soup – vegetarian version cause Em’s friend Kiersten joined us
Did some plenty of nuthin’
Tonight:
Watched Steel Magnolias on TV. I haven't seen that movie in 10 years. Can't believe it made me cry.
I slept in too. Yesterday i was up at 6:30 am. Today it was 9:00 am.
Sarah it was cloudy here ALL day so you are lucky to add to your sunburn in Cannon Beach. Did you read Faithless?
eque, too bad you can't sue your horse for whiplash! i hope your ache doesn't get worse. I can't imagine falling off a horse or a bicycle for that matter. P.S. Your spinach rice casserole sounds good!
By the way, louie. I keep thinking this as i watch Steel Magnolias. Tom Skerritt reminds me of your brother John and Shirley McClain reminds me of your mom! Has anyone else mentioned this?
My back is doing better, but yesterday I slid down a steep flight of stairs and bruised my tailbone. ouch! I have been really clutzy lately!
I do remember the Darby well!! Wonderful memories!
I had a really great weekend. I got all of my house chores done before I went away, so now I can lay on the couch and be lazy. I will probably be napping soon. :)
Listening to Jackie Greene's Santa Fe Girl....
Eque,
Sorry to hear of your falls, I have a falling down stairs phobia. Maybe because I have a tendency to fall down stairs. And on level ground for that matter.
I think I inherited it from my mother. However, it was not her fault she fell last night leaving the wedding. As she was getting into our backseat, my husband started to drive off and she fell in the ditch. This morning my brother in-law claimed she had revised her will.
she is fine
he was kidding
LOL....Maybe you aren't even in the will in the first place!
I have to set my alarm for 6:45 am and get up tomorrow. This is the first year i am so not ready to go back. Brian asked me why and i summed it up like this.
I went in to work Monday and our UniServ Rep (who is still new and took over for my friend Toni a year ago) told me that one of our problem teachers was no longer working. I said. 'GOOD, did they fire him? ' because i know this guy and he is a creep and needed to be fired years ago. She replied no, they let him resign (which means he can go out and get a job pretending he never got fired, which is what the district really wanted him to do).
Then she added that she got him a good deal. She got his health benefits paid up by the District up until he finds a job or 6 months (whichever comes first). I congratulated her because she did her job and that is what she i supposed to do and i know she felt good about it.
But i went back to my office and thought , fuck, why can't i get that same kind of deal if i decided to quit my job just because. Why do i have to be a screw up to get that deal? And what poor district is going to have these same problems with this freaking asshole?
And that is why i am not wanting to go back to work. I LOVE the duties of my job. I feel very confident in the job i do and i am paid well for it and i have many benefits, including this amazing long vacation time.
But i no longer believe in the big picture of what we are all about. And it is fucking with my values and principles. And it's started making me not want to be around people as much as i used to want to be around them.
So i think that is it in a nutshell. I just don't know what else would be a better fit for me. I'm not sure it is out there. Because wackos work everywhere.
I don’t want to write about, talk about, or think about why I don’t want to go back to work – so here are some totally nonrelated thoughts -
My Vacation Reading:
I read The Help, Faith, and Everything Changes (a Jonathan Tropper book of Jo’s I’ve had forever) liked them all. Em took The Help with her to read. She carries her novels with her in her giant purse so was worried about taking it. When she found out it belonged to my sister in-law, not Jo, she was relieved.
My Sunday:
I am knee deep in a pile of laundry and have ironing to do, wanted to sit on the deck with the Sunday crossword instead of my weekend chores. I had to wait until Ron was done mowing the lawn though; the noise and smell irritate me. So I was forced to pre-prep for dinner, do another load of laundry and my exercises. Now it's dark and we are trying to watch a Paul Giamatti, "American Splendor" not so sure... Sheesh
I am back to work tomorrow. One week of vacation is not enough.
News about my kids:
I am secretly glad my son’s ankle injury kept him from qualifying to be a Navy SEAL. He was working to meet the extra physical standards for SEALs when he got hurt. It broke his heart to not be able to qualify for the SEALs or to be a pilot. I only feel bad about the pilot option.
He will be home for a couple of weeks in September. We are going back to Cannon Beach for a long weekend when he is here. He said he wanted to go on family vacation ☺
Check this out:
” On 7th Aug 2011, a manuscript entitled "The Dorsomedial Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Times Ovulation through Regulation of Kiss1 Neurons" by Benjamin Smarr, Emma Morris, and Horacio de la Iglesia was submitted to the Journal of Neuroscience by Dr. de la Iglesia…”
It’s from all the work Em did in the lab with ovulating rats and Circadian Rhythms. I understand a very small part of it She didn’t get paid for her hours and hours of work (but she did get several nice related scholarships) and once The Journal of Neuroscience accepts the paper, she will be published. I'm impressed.
That’s all for now. Can't bear to edit
omg, Emma's ovulating rats - good for her!
louie, i thought of Nick right away and almost email you when i heard about the Afghanistan Navy Seals, but then i didn't think you needed to hear news like that while on vacation.
OK. i'm off to work. :( - i actually have a sort of heaviness about it. I guess if i expect the worst feeling about going back and it's okay then that's a good thing.
I forgot to have Brian DVR Tabatha for me, Dammit. (I don't know how to program the DVR myself).
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