And 50 centavos

I had a pretty productive day yesterday. I had an appointment to get my hair cut and colored at 11:00, and it usually takes an hour and a half. I also needed to go pick up my new glasses, and I wanted to get some change turned into bills at the bank. But the bank lobby closes at noon on Saturday, and the optometrist's office (which is on the other side of town) closes at 1:00, so I couldn't count on being able to do either of those things after the haircut, and I couldn't realistically expect to be up and out of the house in time to do both before the haircut appointment, either.

So I figured I wouldn't get either one done. I'm taking Thursday off to pack and do everything I need to do before we leave at the crack of dawn on Friday (we're staying at a hotel by the airport on Thursday night), so I figured I'd just wait and pick up the glasses and go to the bank then.

But after I got up and got dressed and fixed Bob's lunch, and checked my email, it was just a little after 10:00, so I dashed off to the bank to get that task done.

We usually turn in our change for vacations; I know that both of us occasionally take a handful of quarters for the car wash, but other than that, I guess we've been throwing our change in the jar for about a year, since we haven't taken a vacation together since last February. I handed the incredibly heavy bag to the teller, and she went off to put it through the machine. When she came back, she said, "Want to guess how much?" I guessed $124. She said, "No, more." Figuring we could be there all day, I asked her how much it was. "$235.90, and 50 centavos."

I was surprised, and pleased -- that will help with vacation expenses! Even the 50 centavos.

Then I rushed off to the salon and spent a little over an hour relaxing and being taken care of. I get face-framing highlights every other time, but I did that last time, so this time was just touch-up color and cut, so it didn't take as long. I'm not sure how I've accompllished it, but I do manage to turn off all my stress there, and treat it as just sort of . . . I don't know. Time out of time. I can't rush it, it's scheduled on my calendar every six weeks rain or shine, and I just kind of turn off my brain, read People or a paperback, or knit, and enjoy talking to my hairdresser.

She's a knitter, too, so it's always nice to talk about our latest projects, and she has two sweet little dogs, and sometimes she has pictures of them to share. It's just a nice time.

Yesterday I was at a bad spot in my current sock knitting--the middle of the heel flap, and that takes more concentration--so I took a book (Firestorm, by Rachel Caine). And flipped through most of an issue of People, too. I never read it except at the beauty salon and when I travel, which is my short attention span time.

Anyway, when I got out of the salon it was about ten after twelve, so I thought I'd try getting to the optometrist's office, and just see if I could get my glasses. I figured I could get there by 1:00, but didn't know how busy they would be. It turned out that they were very busy, but I waited, and got them. I think they could maybe stand being tightened up a little, but the technician really didn't have time to spend on fine-tuning, so I may take them back and see about it later.

So then, it was still fairly early in the day, and Bob was working until 7:30, so I decided to get my oil changed. I took it to the full service car wash place, where, if you get an oil change, you get a discounted car wash, which I also really needed. And that's also kind of "time out of time;" you can't rush it, you just have to wait. Oh, on the way there I stopped at the library to pick up a book that I had on hold (You Suck, by Christopher Moore), in case I finished my current one waiting for the oil change, which I did. Foreward thinking! Then I went to Jason's to get a salad for lunch, and read some more there, then went to the bookstore and bought books for vacation (a couple of Jodi Picoult novels-- Vanishing Acts and Salem Falls), and went to the office supply store to buy printer paper, and Target for groceries, and Blockbuster to get a couple of movies with a Christmas gift card that had been burning a hole in my pocket (The Devil Wears Prada and Firewall).

And then I didn't even watch them.

I came home and did some freelance web work, and when Bob got home I decided to go up and take a bath and try to relax. After a long, hot bath I went in the bedroom, got dressed in sweat pants and a t-shirt and a sweater, and, still feeling stressed out, I laid down "just for a few minutes," and of course fell asleep and, apart from getting up and getting out of the sweatpants and under the covers, basically slept all night, twelve hours more or less.

I think I needed it.

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Weekend

We slept in this morning 'til almost 10, I think. Bob got up for a couple of hours sometime around dawn; I was awake, but after lying there awhile, I went back to sleep. He made pancakes for breakfast, and now he's outside shoveling snow while the kitties and I stay inside.

Now that he's working a regular schedule, I've pretty much lost my "personal chef," so it was nice to be cooked for this morning. Even though I probably should feel guilty about it, I do enjoy the perks of being the girl--getting to park in the garage, being let out at the store doors so I don't have to walk in the rain, not having to shovel snow, etc. In fact, I don't think I've ever shoveled snow in my life! If it was up to me, I'd just walk/drive through it if possible; I certainly wouldn't be out there shoveling the sidewalk. I'm very grateful that he is, though.

I had planned on working this weekend. I'm winding up a big job at work, and I'd like to have it finished before we leave on vacation, and not leave it for someone else. I had to go out to the client's office and exchange some things -- they'd been proofing and had stuff for me to pick up, and I'd been correcting and had stuff to leave for them -- but I had information that the doors would be locked at 6:00. But I was waiting for a process to run at the office, and wasn't able to leave until a little after 6:00, so I just came home. As I left, I said to Shane, who had been running a search index for me, "Well, I guess I'll just have to have a regular weekend."

I had planned on working on the stuff I was to pick up, but without that, I didn't have any work to do, so: regular weekend, i.e., shopping, sleeping in, reading, etc.

Sometime Friday evening I checked my work email; the POP service was down, and I had to check it on webmail. I found an email from someone at the client's office saying that while the guard does lock the doors at 6:00, he's still there, and if I would just pound on the door, he'd come and open up for me. She had sent it at 5:30; I'm not sure why I didn't get it before I left, but I do know I shut my email down a little while after that and spent some time doing busywork stuff, cleaning up my desktop, filing things away, stuff like that. And since the POP service was down when I got home, it could have been down while I was still at work and I didn't notice it; Shane and I were the only ones there after 5:00.

Anyway, it doesn't matter. Lately, i.e., the last few months, if I'm not working, I feel guilty. Right now, there's nothing I can do, so the reason for the guilt has been taken away, and I spent the weekend doing things I wanted to do, relaxing and sleeping. It started snowing yesterday, so I ran errands in wet, slushy snow, but it wasn't too bad. I made "hobo dinners" for dinner when Bob around 8:00 -- pie pans with a layer of sliced potatoes, then diced onions, a few cut up carrots, and a hamburger patty or two on top, then covered tightly with aluminum foil and baked for about an hour at 425° (It's something that my mom used to make. The original inspiration was from Girl Scout camp, when we made packets out of aluminum foil with the same kind of stuff inside, and put them in the fire to cook.)

Anyway, it turned out to be a pretty quiet weekend. I didn't go out today at all. I went upstairs at around 4:30 to take a nap with Dinah, and Bob and Pye joined us a little later. We ended up sleeping for about an hour, then we got up and went out to the grocery store for stuff to make lunches with this week. A nice weekend.

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Lunch

Bob's really enjoying his new job. His schedule is all over the place--one day he went in at 6:00 a.m.; today I think he's going in in the afternoon and working until 10:00 p.m. It will be interesting getting used to that again. When we were first married, he was managing an appliance store and working until 9:00 p.m. most nights. I would do my own thing in the evening, and then at about 8:30 or so I'd get up and go in and make dinner. Not that I'm going to be doing that again.

He's been taking a lunch/dinner to work with him, and I've been enjoying packing it for him. Sometimes a salad, sometimes a sandwich, and I try to put in something that's a little bit of a surprise. Today he got a chicken sandwich, a few potato chips, a little container of coleslaw, and two Hershey's kisses. He normally doesn't eat during the day, but we decided it was probably important, something to keep him going. And also it forces him to take a break and go sit down for a few minutes.

So I'm making two lunches most mornings. We don't usually have the same things, except for the day I made us both salads. Today he had a sandwich lunch and I had tortilla/chicken/cream cheese roll-ups. That was kind of fun, and they were more filling than I'd expected. I also had an apple, and some coleslaw. Kind of a weird lunch, but fun.

Since he's working until 10:00 tonight, I'll have the evening to myself. And it's my good television night--the season premiere of Monk, and Psych starts up again tonight, and then after that is a repeat of the Tuesday House, MD episode, but I haven't seen it, so it's all new to me. I'll probably sit in front of the television all evening and knit, which sounds like a perfect evening to me.

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Brrr

Three weeks from tonight we'll be in Mexico. I can't wait! Especially since it's turned cold here and I had to fight my way home. We got sleet or freezing rain or something, and I left the office at 4:00. It normally takes me less than a half hour to get home, but tonight it took over an hour. The highway wasn't really bad at all, but it was about 5 MPH all the way. I wouldn't have wanted to slam on my brakes--it was slick--but I think we could have gone a little faster.

I have to get up very early in the morning and take Dinah to the vet at 7:30. Bob's off work tomorrow, so he said he'd get up and go with me, then take me out to breakfast, then go buy him some new jeans for work. Then at 11:30 I have an appointment to get my eyes examined and get new glasses. I've needed them for awhile, but it's one of those things that I keep putting off. But it's one of my resolutions, so I bit the bullet.

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Busy busy

Bob started work this week. He really seems to be enjoying it. So he's been working all week, and I'm working, too, of course, and have been so busy. I have a big project that's supposed to be winding up, but doesn't really show any signs of slowing down. I have to have it finished before we go on vacation in three weeks, so there's a lot of pressure. And I have freelance stuff that's going on that needs to be finished, too. So we're both working pretty hard. But that's good, of course!

Today is the third anniversary of my surgery -- I got an email reminder this morning from HysterSisters, the message board where I spent a lot of time in the weeks before. As I went to find that journal link, I saw the quote that I put on the page: "To know the road ahead, ask those coming back," which was certainly appropriate.

I frankly haven't felt any lingering effects or problems at all from the surgery. I feel better -- I no longer have the hip pain that I was having at night, which (whether rightly or wrongly) I attributed to the fibroids (although it could just as easily have been the extra weight I was carrying at the time), I get up less in the night to use the bathroom, etc.

I was worried at the time about whether I would feel differently, but I really don't. Except better, of course. Nothing different except that I feel better physically. Of course, right afterwards it was something of an emotional rollercoaster, but that's all behind me now.

We're going to Cabo San Lucas this time for our Mexico trip. I probably would have chosen Puerto Vallarta again -- I see a lot of value in going to a place that you're familiar with -- but our friends always make the plans, and tell us where we're going. I don't mind that, really. Sometimes it's nice to have the choice taken away from you, and just be told where to show up. Although in this case, "where to show up" is the airport at about 4:30 in the morning! The flight leaves at 6:30 a.m., and the airport is about 45 minutes away, so we've decided to get a room at a hotel near the airport for the night before.

We don't know yet how late Bob will have to work that night, but I'm planning on taking the day off, so I should have plenty of time to pack and get ready. I only took one week of vacation last year, so I figure no one's going to object if I take seven days in a row. I do plan to get more vacation in this year, even if I have to take it a day at a time . . .

We had been practicing our Spanish lying in bed getting ready to go to sleep, but the last few days we've both been so tired, we haven't done it. But we have three weeks, so hopefully we can learn a few more phrases in that time. We've got "where is the bathroom?" "how much does it cost?" "what is your name?" "where is my wife (husband?" down pat.

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Another holiday weekend

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

It seems like I always make the same resolutions, probably the same ones that everyone makes. Last year's were sort of unique:

• Spend less
• Nap more
• Knit more
• Watch more movies
• Read more books
• Eat less
• Exercise more
• Moisturize more
• Wear rubber gloves when I wash dishes
• Be more assertive--stand up for myself more
• Make more art
• Listen to more music
• Take more pictures
• Waste less time

I don't think I really accomplished much on that list. Maybe "watch more movies," I guess I did that. "Exercise more?" Well, I did, until the gym closed. I did remember to "wear rubber gloves" most of the time when I washed dishes. "Make more art?" Nope, not really. I don't think I probably spent any less, or knitted any more, or ate less. I'm pretty sure I didn't waste any less time. So, maybe a list that I'm more apt to follow.

Resolutions:

1. Send birthday cards and gifts (cash or gift cards) to all nieces and nephews, and cards (or e-cards) to other relatives and friends. I used to be really good at this, but I've become lax the last couple of years.
2. Give something, no matter how small, to charity every month (my favorite charity is the City Union Mission in Kansas City)
3. Get an eye exam and new glasses
4. Instead of sitting down at the computer first thing in the morning, sit down at the table and write Morning Pages (from The Artist's Way). I enjoy this when I do it, I just have to make myself do it.
5. While at the table, pick a tarot "Card of the Day" to write about at Rarepeace.
6. Read at least 50 books (I read 60 in 2006, so this is doable)
7. Work on my tarot deck -- I don't think I worked on it at all in 2006. Create at least one card a month. Did I mention I bought a new domain name? I got a promotional email from a registrar offering $3.99 domain names, so I bought rarepeacetarot.com. Just in case I ever get to the point of actually publishing it some day.
8. Knit 6 pairs of socks -- one sock every month. Totally doable.
9. Learn a little bit of Spanish. I don't expect to be fluent, but learn some useful words and phrases (Bob and I have been working on it this week -- we have a month before we go to Mexico)

We had a nice Christmas and New Years Eve -- we spent Christmas Eve at Bob's parents' and Christmas day with my family; my sister and brother-in-law were in town, which was nice, but they live in Denver and weren't able to get out when they had planned, so their trip was cut short, unfortunately.

My sister gave me a really beautiful flowered antique teapot stand -- a ceramic piece to sit a hot teapot on -- and my other sister gave me a really cool pewter lamp that I took to work for my office. I got a gift certificate for a pair of Converse All Stars (I've been wanting some forever!) from my niece Mallory; I ordered a pair of pink ones yesterday! I can't wait 'til I get them.

Bob gave me a beautiful blue robe with moons and stars on it, and a pair of peridot earrings, and my folks gave me gold earrings, and Bob's folks gave us cash -- always appropriate! We also got Blockbuster and Best Buy gift certificates from my niece and my brother, and Bob got a couple of gift certificates for sporting goods from Barb and his brother, so we've had a lot of fun cashing them in.

Barb was in town for the week to see her family, so we got together one night for dinner with a couple of other friends, then she came out and had lunch with Bob and me on Sunday and we exchanged Christmas gifts (among other things, she gave me a pair of really cool battery operated candles. They're made out of real wax, so they have the look, feel and smell of real candles, and they flicker. I was concerned about leaving them on, figuring it would run down the battery, but the instructions say that regular batteries will last about 350 hours! Barb says she has one that she uses as a nightlight in the bathroom, so I'm doing that, too. They cast a really soft, pretty light, and you don't have to worry about blowing them out!

Afterwards, Barb took off to spend New Year's Eve with a friend; Bob and I stayed home and had our usual, quiet evening. I ran out at about 6:00 to go to the grocery store to get black eyed peas. I thought I had a can, but they turned out to be "purple hull peas," and I didn't want to take any chances.

I ended up going up to bed around 10:00, and Bob woke me up at 11:30 with a bottle of sparkling wine and our special wine glasses.

And we started the year with some good news -- Bob has a new job. He's going to work at a brand new Bass Pro Shop that's opening about ten minutes away from us. The job sounds like it will be perfect for Bob, and he's really looking forward to it. He took me out last night to show me where it is. It's still under construction, but it looks like it's close to being finished.

Even thought I don't do any kind of hunting or fishing or anything like that, I love the Bass Pro store in Springfield (which is the only one I've ever been to), so I'm excited about the new one here. Especially since Bob's going to working there!

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