Thursday, August 25, 2011

Jane's Fantabulous Summer Staycation

I took a couple days of vacation last week – not to go anywhere or do anything – and I have to say that I really enjoyed myself! It has been a long, long time since I’ve taken a couple days off just to hang out at home.

Normally, any vacation days I take are preceded by frantic scrambling to get twice as much handled in half as much time at work before I leave. And at home there is an inordinate amount of cleaning, packing, schedule arranging, pre-trip automotive maintenance handling or dealing with airline travel. Usually, I feel like I need a vacation to recover from my vacation.

And, heck, the stress alone from trying to get all my lotions and potions into 2 oz containers and into one small Zip-Loc baggie so it will clear airport security is enough to warrant an extra few days of recovery.

So I decided to chuck my “normal” behavior and just take a couple days off to relax at home.

Of course, at the beginning of it, four whole days stretching in front of me seemed like a lifetime. I figured I’d have SO much time to do SO many things.

Yeah, not so much.

The first thing I planned to do was clear out some of the clutter that always seems to build up at home. I was going to separate items to take to charity and go through the closets that are rarely pruned.

Fortunately, I came to my senses before I even opened the door of the first closet. Instead, I plopped myself down in the easy chair with a novel and a strawberry margarita and had myself a good old-fashioned read. Even better, I didn’t have to watch the clock to make sure I was back at work on time after my lunch break – even if it usually means stopping right at a good part.

Oh, and truthfully, I just threw the margarita in there for effect. I didn’t really have a margarita. Mostly because we don’t have any tequila at home. Perhaps I should’ve made an effort to go booze shopping, but it seemed like too much trouble.

So I had a beer.

No, still, I joke. Alcohol played such a minor role in my long weekend off, that, well, frankly, I’m a little surprised. I usually enjoy a good glass of wine every now and then, and four days off in a row should have warranted opening at least one decent bottle of Cab.

Ah well. Something to keep in mind for next time.

Instead of sleeping in, though, I did get up in the mornings with Vince to make his breakfast and pack his lunch. I thought that was a nice, wifely thing to do, especially considering that sleeping in is one of my favorite pastimes.

But it's not like I did absolutely nothing around the house during my time off. I did the normal daily clean-up stuff in the kitchen and bathrooms, and I even did some laundry. I cleaned the kitty litter box out every day because, well, there are simply some things that cannot be delayed – and we cannot abide a stinky kitty litter box.

Oh, and – hey – I did scrub the grout in the shower.

Swishing some scrubbing bubbles around the tub every week is pretty much the attention that area gets…but seeing the shower walls in full daylight was a little shocking. Let’s just say that jumping in the shower every morning in the dark sans eyeglasses doesn’t allow a legally blind person to fully appreciate the condition of the shower. Yucky. So I donned the hazmat suit and gloves and went to work with the heavy-duty cleaner and the scrub brush. Forty-five sweat-filled and spaghetti arms minutes later, I realized I didn’t need to go to the gym after all. But we had gleaming grout.

And how did you spend your summer vacation?!

Probably I should have made an effort to write a blog or two during my time off. It is, after all, a whole week later, and I can barely remember the rest of the stuff I did with my four days. All I know for sure is that the time went by way too fast. I think there was a little grocery shopping in there. We did manage to see a movie one night. I vaguely recall returning something at Macy’s. And I did watch a little TV and took a nap or two.

Exciting, no? On the other hand, the point of taking a staycation isn’t really about cramming lots of activities in a short period of time at some sand- and sun-filled paradise – it’s more about relaxing and rejuvenating. And that’s exactly what I did. So I’m not sorry I took the time off. I needed the break.

Only now – looking back – I wish I’d gone to the store for that bottle of tequila. Cleaning the grout in a margarita-induced haze might have been a little more fun.

Or maybe not. I’m guessing that there isn’t enough alcohol in the world that could ever make cleaning grout “fun.”

Yeah. Next vacation is probably gonna have to involve a sand- and sun-filled paradise.

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