Four Days Off

For some reason or other, I am much more motivated on days when I do not have to go to work in the evening. I can't explain it. I feel like that four-hour block of time between 5:00 and 9:00 is 'the thing I have to do today'. When there is laundry or dishes or straightening clutter, I do that. But I rarely run extensive errands or begin a project. (On a side note, I am getting much better at prioritizing and withstanding not-so-instant gratification, but more on that in a bit.) That being said, I had four days off, starting with last Friday with which to accomplish so many tasks. I am proud to say this was not time wasted.

On Friday, Aurelia and I took a road trip down to Umatilla, OR to visit Grandma and Grandpa on their boat. This was the last drive down there for us; it is their plan to bring their floating home up to Seattle this week, the next stop on their sight-seeing, ocean-bound retirement. (You can read more about this not-at-all-dangerous plan here: oogachaka.info). Aurelia had a fun time falling all over the boat--baby sea-legs are an awful lot like baby-learning-to-walk-legs. Since she was afflicted with both, it was a chore for her to get around. She played peek-a-boo with Grandpa and read Dr. Seuss with Grandma. I will say she is a pill for long car rides. The three and a half hour trip down made me dread the morning when we would have to do it all over again. The wheels turned, and I decided to leave around her bedtime, drive straight home and be done with it. I'm happy to announce success; we were able to enjoy our regularly-scheduled programming on Saturday morning.

Saturday was Day Two of my Four Day Off Stretch. In the morning, we hung out with Daddy, which is always a treat. He spent most of it in his pajamas; he had to facilitate a wedding in the building that afternoon. No worries, though! We kept ourselves busy running around gathering supplies for my new project--a photo collage gallery on the living room wall! Home Depot, Michael's and an unplanned stop in Ross later, we were back home for afternoon naps. (Hers, not mine...Oddly enough, I don't nap on days off--the weird mentality of motivation.) I was able to paint a bookshelf (something I have been meaning to do for about a year) while she slept. I need to be better at before and after photographs. The After is much more impressive if you could see just how ugly it was Before. More taking things down to reorganize them followed dinner, bathtime and bedtime. Matt was home by 9:30.

Sunday was a day off with Daddy. We went on our usual circuit around Target in the morning. We had the aforementioned picnic at 4:00, and the Unicorn Calamity occurred in the time in between. More work on the wall following Aurelia's early bedtime.

Monday, the last day of the stretch. We totally won our Walgreen's coupon-shop, paying only $6.02 for four Dove hair products, plus receiving a $5 Register Reward (Wag Cash) in return for the purchase. My stupid coupon blogs would say, that's like paying $1.02 for all four items or 0.26 each!! Sort of... It felt like paying $6.02 and getting five bucks off something else, but whatever makes them happy. I enjoyed paying only $1.50 per item anyway. Albertsons was not as impressive. I had $19 in catalinas to spend from a previous trip, and I tend to just buy what I want rather than what's on sale when I have free money like that; I wish I could make the money stretch more. We'll get there. Still only spend $13 when it should have cost $50. Monday afternoon, I spent some time on Pinterest (my newest LOVE) and garnered inspiration for my project(s). Around 6:00, I left a very cranky Aurelia with Daddy to attend a baby shower thrown for me and my baby boy. It turns out, I have more friends than I thought. Five people from work and three people from the Mom's Group were in attendance. It was a lot of fun, and I felt very special.

A successful long weekend, if I do say so myself...