Week 48 - Enjoying Time Off

Monday dawned bright and shiny. Day one of my vacation and it was going to be gorgeous and warm. I was still resisting making a list but had in my head that I should do something inside each morning and some yard work in the afternoon.  Well, I can’t say I did anything project like on Monday morning but I did make a bunch of phone calls and ran some errands. Then it was right outside after lunch to tackle the parking strip. I took a ridiculous amount of time to trim all the perennials and haul them to the compost pile but I felt great when I came in for a shower and tea with yummy cookies from the St. Wenc cookie sale. Then it was on to knitting. What a nice day with the perfect combo of relaxing and productivity. Now to keep that up.

I had made vet appointments for Wrennie and Pixel on Tuesday morning. They both got shots and a clean bill of health. FYI, it’s really hard to get blood out of a cat. I wasn’t home 5 minutes from the vet and the Windstream man was at my door. Guess what – I need a new phone! Not a new old phone like the one I got from my sisters but a new new phone. At least I know my problems aren’t the line. But between the vet dismissing my worries and the phone guy’s eye rolling, it wasn’t a banner morning. But I had lunch at Rezac’s (the little country café 6 miles west of Wahoo) with Nancy Meyer and then we hit the country gift shop, where I scored a few stocking stuffers. I gave Nancy the socks I’d knitted for her and they fit. After she left, I got a call from Lori. She was at Andrea’s shop with 3 turkeys – 1 for each of us. Now I wouldn’t have to drive to Omaha for a cheap turkey. I know, it’s not cheap if you spend $6 in gas but I just couldn’t pay full price in Wahoo. Problem solved though. Thanks Lori. I took the 14 pounder and headed home to mow, which was more about chopping up the leaves than mowing but it looked great when I was done. Then more tea and cookies. I could totally get used to this. And I’d decided to get Billy back to help with the heavy yard work so kept calling all afternoon but wasn’t getting through. Hmmm….

Since it was Wednesday and I hadn’t done anything substantial inside, I decide to tackle the cabinets under the bar, which were loaded with stuff I don’t use and a tangled mess of Tupperware and assorted plastic. It took longer than I’d thought it would but I had more space and big Goodwill pile when I was done. But all the bending didn’t do my knees any favors. Oh well. And since I still hadn’t gotten through on Billy’s cell, I went to Burger King on the way home from the market (bought everything for Thanksgiving dinner, which was going to be on Sunday) and left a note on my neighbor’s car, hoping she’d get in touch with Billy’s mom who works here with her. But since it was going to be the last warm afternoon, I couldn’t wait so went home to more yard clean up. I pulled all the weeds from the veg beds and started schlepping all the dead pots and emptying them into the beds. After a couple of hours, my knees were singing so I decided to stop. Within minutes, Billy showed up at my door and he picked up where I left off, weeding until it was too dark to see. He left at 5:30 and I called Pizza Hut. The whole world was having pizza because they were busy prepping for Thanksgiving on Thursday. I was just being lazy. Oh well. It was fast and yummy and I was tired.

I was warm again on Thursday morning but it wouldn’t last so I went outside to disconnect and drain the hoses. The front came through just before noon with a cold north wind. I headed inside figuring the temp would plummet like they’d predicted. But when I went outside mid afternoon, it was still warm so I cleaned up the deck and set up the birdfeeders. My yard was looking better than it ever had at the end of the season and Billy and his partner Amanda were coming back on Friday. Yay! It was only slightly weird to be not doing Thanksgiving on the day but I talked to both of my sisters and Carolyn so gave thanks for family and friends and ate some leftover pizza. I could wait until Sunday for my turkey.

It was butt cold on Friday so I enjoyed a day inside. Lots of knitting and I decided to dye some yarn to commemorate my last day of vacation. Billy and Amanda came at 3:30 and cleaned my gutters, finished weeding, shifted the big brush to the edge of the alley and moved the compost pile from the back of the garage so I can have my compost bins built. Done! I can’t imagine what else I’d have them do the yard looks so good. What a nice way to end my official vacation days.

OK, at this point I’d been in Wahoo for seven days and was ready to get out of Dodge. I picked Andrea up at 1:00 and we headed to Omaha. I had a big Penzey’s list for Carolyn and wanted to hit Aldi for a big stock up.  We hit a few other stores in between but not too many so were home just after 5:00. I put 2 pies in the oven – pumpkin and blueberry – before sitting down to the last of the pizza and an evening of chopping veggies. By the time I went to bed, everything was ready for Sunday except the broccoli. There was no way I was going to chance having stress dreams.

I was up before 6:00 Sunday (I woke up most days at my regular time, despite being on vacation) and made a nice breakfast of pancakes and eggs before sitting down with the paper. My goal was to have the turkey stuffed and in the oven by 10:00. It was in by 10:02 so I was happy. I put in the leaf and set the table before getting into the shower. Lorri stopped by after church and then Helen came early to help with last minute stuff. Brenda, Michael and Charlie arrived and dinner was on the table right on time at 1:30. Everything was yummy. We played games after dinner – Farkle (I lost) and Fishing Monopoly, which I won. But sheesh, talk about a four hour commitment! Everyone packed up leftovers and headed out. It was a nice end to a wonderful week off. And now I have leftovers to eat all week. While the rest of the world is getting sick of theirs, mine are just beginning. I’ll say it again – Life is Good!