"Vacation"

Today is the 2nd and final day of my two day vacation and after trying to rid the yard of more spotted spurge this morning I am now covered in fish poo.  Such is the exciting life of an older white woman living in the Poconos. 

Why a 2 day vacation in the middle of the week?  Well, I'd taken one day off last week so that I could go pick up a plastic folding table and food stuffs for a party I was hosting for my husband's birthday/our housewarming party.  Yes, every ten years or so I host a "bash".  (I can't afford more...the costs were a lot more than I had expected, but what can you do?)  Twenty years ago I hosted a birthday party for my husband which kind of turned into a couple's baby shower.  (Our son was born 13 days later.)  What do I mean by that?  I mean that most of the gifts were baby themed and not exactly what you'd get a man for his birthday, but...

Ten years after that I hosted a party for myself as I was hitting a big number.  (I still don't know how we got to be as old as we are.  Maybe I feel it some days, but in my mind I'm the same as I always was.  Not really young, but not really old...which is pretty much how I have always felt.)  It was an outdoor party (as I try to have all my parties be to try and avoid mess.)  It rained halfway through.

This last weekend, as I said we had another party, this time in the Poconos.  It has rained nearly every day this July (and maybe June?), but I was hopeful.  I shouldn't have been.  There was a drizzle as I set out food.  (People came early, which was fine as I know a lot of people were traveling.)  Then it stopped.  More and more people came.  (And one of our friends mysteriously disappeared, but that's a story for another day.) They were enjoying food and beverages (from the "drinks garage" where I had attempted to set up a "bar area" which was an old tool cabinet that I had covered with a tablecloth...I always keep it classy right?) and then it started to rain again.  It didn't ruin the fun (several people were checking out the loft where the pool table resides), but it was inconvenient.  It made cleaning up a bit of a pain too.  (The other pain was that I had to make my way to the detached garage to turn on the lights.  Then I brought things back to the house.  But on my last trek I had to turn the lights off and make my way back.  There needs to be a better way.  At least I figured out how to turn on 2 of the garage lights...there's still the one HUGE light over the front of the garage that I have no idea how to turn on.  It may need to be plugged in somewhere, but who knows...we're not quite a year in and there are still so many mysteries.)

I had Sunday to "rest" (although I don't know how much I actually rested...still cleaning to do!).  Monday I worked remotely.  Then Tuesday was my husband's "actual'" birthday so I took that off as well as Wednesday so I wouldn't have to run back to NJ for the day.  (Am I a bad mom?  My son has been living on his own in the hour in NJ for over a week.  I feel guilt.  I think he feels freedom!)

So, what have I done on these two days "off?"    I did "sleep in" a bit both days.  ("Sleep in" means after 6 in the morning.)  On my husband's birthday we went to Loew's to get one (of three) replacement lights for under the kitchen counter.  (We could only find one.)  Then we went to ShopRite, where it's senior discount day.  (Confession:  We don't truly qualify, but they give it to us and I'm not complaining.)  I did some gardening/weeding.  (No matter how much I do this, more and more pop up due to the rain and warm weather.)  I am continually battling this relatively pretty, but stinky ivy that has taken over hunks of the yard.  (I let it stay in some areas, but when it starts choking off other plants, I pull, pull, and pull it out!) I am also constantly trying to get rid of (what I believe to be) spotted spurge. 

It grows in the cracks which makes it difficult to pull up.  Every time I think I get one area cleared, another pops up.  This spurge is the scourge of my life!  

My husband put up the light, which should have been easy, but of course was not.  He wanted to turn off the breaker before doing (which is the smart thing to do), but (unsurprisingly), the breaker that was marked "kitchen" turned off everything BUT the under counter lights!  In the basement he turned off and on breaker after breaker, until he finally came across the right one (which was labeled for the front of the house.)  To get out of his hair, I went to our local garden center as I had pulled out a whole bunch of "stuff" (I can't say that if they were weeds or not) and wanted to plant some lavender in its place.  (I really want the lavender to just take over this patch of land which once housed the "portable" greenhouse which collapsed over the winter.)  I purchased two plants (not enough, but a start...if all goes well I will definitely buy more) and amazingly the guy who helped me (and brought them to my car) knew the original owners of our house!  (He referred to the loft as what he thought was Alyssa's bedroom...kind of a scary place to have a bedroom when the only way up or down is via a narrow spiral staircase.)  I gave him my name and number and told him to drop by sometime.  I'm hoping he will follow through, as he said he came to lots of parties at the house.  He probably knows it better than I do and I want to hear stories!

For this birthday, I took my husband out to dinner at (you probably guessed it) the Windsor Dining room at Skytop.  But before that my husband received a call from a friend (and his best man) that he hadn't heard from in a decade.  I think that might have been the best gift he received!  I felt bad that I had to ask him to wrap up the call as it was getting close to our reservation time.

Skytop is usually good in dealing with my food allergies.  Over the past year or so they have gotten even better.  So good that most times I can actually relax. (This is a rarity for me.)   There weren't too many people dining, which made it even nicer.  My husband was gifted with a birthday dessert of his choice.  It was a delicious meal and makes me want to go back again soon.  (Maybe after our son goes back to college.)  We walked around a bit, enjoying the weather.  (NO RAIN!). 

When we got back home, I did some more "light adjustment" outside.  (As I continue to work in the garden and "uncover" the yard lights, I'm doing my best to try and highlight the trees and make the grounds more attractive at night.)  

Wednesday was more "relaxing".  What does that mean?  More weeding.  (I'm NOT a gardener!  What am I doing?)  A walk to the local thrift shop (which was closed...I should have checked).  And, it was time to clean the pond skimmer and leaf net.  I haven't been cleaning it as often as I did last year.  (Less and smaller fish.)  It had been too long and I forgot to put on my apron so...as this post began, I was covered in fish poo. 

When I became a mom, I expected I would have to deal with gross bodily fluids.  It's part of being a parent.   I never expected to be a "fish mom" where I plunge my hands into the mesh netting to pull out the leaves that gather there...along with...yes, poo.  Then I had to rinse off the skimmer and "basket" and in doing so...well it wasn't pretty.  Do the fish appreciate it?  I hope so.  (They certainly don't appreciate when I try to throw them fish treats which they ignore.)

And before I knew it, "vacation" was over.  Back to work, but only for two days and then there's the weekend!  It's the 4th Friday of the month so we'll be going out to hear our friend Scott play at The Pourhouse and on Saturday I'm having some friends over to help "dispose" of some left over wine (and other "munchies") from last week's party.

Summer is quickly passing by...and I think I need more vacation (and not "vacation").