Bits for Sunday, October 12, 2008

One beautiful week of vacation…done. Sigh of combination sadness/excitement.

I try very hard not to take an entire week off work at one time. I don’t like being away from my desk that long. But I was quite worn down (thankyouverymuch, daylight savings) and I needed sleep desperately. So last week I took an entire week off. Well, sort of. I have a bad habit of not knowing how to stay away from checking my email while I’m not at work. But at least I managed to not go in to the office – though it was sorely tempting on Friday.

I kicked off the vacation with a six hour scrap-fest at the church where I attend Bible study. I had a whole round table to myself and got all caught up on my regular album. There were many snacks, but they were all super-sweet, so I tried not to work my way into a sugar coma on the drive home. And there I sat, in the living room, at 12:30 in the morning, eating dinner. Now that’s vacation.

Monday evening I got a new haircut – because I needed change in my life. Of course, as all women know, new haircuts bring on a new life of their own. Days of trying it this way and that to see what works, buying new product for it, because the 18 bottles already in the bathroom don’t quite give it the pizzazz it needs. It’s tiring, really.

Tuesday I managed to tackle the granddaddy of all projects looming over my head. I switched the clothes in the closet from summer to winter. The fall closet switch always brings me a combination of joy and sorrow. Joy because it’s a brand new (free!) wardrobe. Sorrow because I so hate bulky clothing. I have enough bulk. I don’t need to wear it too.

And Tuesday night I went to a jewelry-making party at my friend Rachel’s house (pictures in the post below). I was scared to death of all the little tools. Never made jewelry before. But I had a lot of fun and now own a very cute black bracelet and a pair of black earrings.

Wednesday I headed up to Shipshewana for my annual “personal retreat.” I will write more about that next week. But it was a very fun and relaxing time complete with those unexpected, unplanned moments that I love so much.

When I left Shipshewana the next day, I headed a couple of hours away to visit my friends Jon and Julie, who are about to have their first baby. They used to be my neighbors, so it’s very different to not see them all the time anymore! All of you who know me well will be SO PROUD to know that I drove by myself, on an interstate, through a city, in construction, on a road I’d never been on before, sandwiched between two semis, reading a very tiny Mapquest printout, and I did not get lost or throw up. That is major.

By Friday, the stress of not being at work had gotten the best of me. I was a wreck. I tried to figure out how to best channel my frustration without causing permanent damage to anyone or anything. I found just the thing.

Furniture rearrangement.

For SIX HOURS I rearranged furniture in four rooms. And since I know someone will ask, yes, it was by myself. I move my furniture all the time. One of Mom’s friends told me this morning that I change the furniture more than anyone she knows. I told her it’s cheaper than moving and it still gives that new house feel.

Anyway, I pushed and pulled and emptied and refilled and rearranged. We’re talking bookcases and TV and couches and the whole nine yards. And of course – I had to be on the lookout for tiny paws and tails the whole time.

I had two near disasters. Both happened while I tried to push and pull a full size couch through a very tiny doorway without scratching any paint or ripping any fabric. The first “oops” happened when I accidentally backed into an empty bookcase and toppled it over, very narrowly missing a window with the corner of the bookcase. The second was when I was so focused on not scratching the paint that I forgot I had a hand in the way. Totally smashed my hand in the door with the couch. It left a little fat bump and a bruise. And then this morning I whacked it on the table in Sunday School. That felt fabulous.

But for the most part the great overhaul is complete, and work resumes this week. If you need me for the next eight business days, you’ll find me glued to my emails.