Wasted Days and Wasted Nights

Welcome to Day Five of my first vacation of 2011.

So far I've done nothing. Read that? N O T H I N G

Oh I had grand ideas when I first asked for this week; clean out the garage, weed thru my wardrobe and donate the unflattering clothes, read a book, get a little rest and just relax.

But instead, I got a snowtastrophy.

My children, both teenagers, were snowed in with me, and with only one computer and only one DVD player, entertainment was limited.

I know what you are thinking. Everything on the list could have been accomplished while snowed in. Not really. Let's look at these items one by one.

Cleaning out the garage
The garage (still) contains boxes of things we moved from our old house (eleven years ago) as well as things we've thrown in there (for the past eleven years.) In order to effectively clean out the garage, I must be able to move them out into the driveway, which until today, was a sheet of ice. It would also be helpful if I could take the extra trash away and donate the unused items, neither of which I could do because of the road conditions.

Weed Thru My Wardrobe
Okay, I've been putting this off for a really long time. I really try not to worry about fashion or name brands or trends. I stick to classics so I won't have to buy new clothes all the time. I go through cycles where I don't buy anything new for myself followed by short spurts when I am suddenly compelled to buy something new. I try to look on them as an investment. There are a variety of sizes, kind of my like a security blanket, so that I have them should I need them. I KNOW there are things in my wardrobe that need to go for one reason or another, but I just can't part with them, for one reason or another. From the size 8 jeans I was wearing when I met Darling Hubby, to the size 18 pants suit that I got so many compliments in, they all represent a significant investment I had made in myself. I haven't moved one thread of clothing. Not even to do laundry.

Read a Book
This should have been fairly easy to do, but my early morning trip to Books-A-Million on Saturday was unfruitful. And that I am indecisive. I carried several books around the store and thumbed through them, but never quite hit on one that I'd want to be snowed in with. I eventually had to abandon that mission, because our monthly classmate dinner was that evening. I settled on a bag full of magazines instead, but today, day five, I've read them all.

Get a little Rest and Relax
Well, I guess if anything was accomplished I did rest. I've slept late everyday. Okay, I've slept late for me everyday. Considering I have to get up at 4:30 to shower every day for work, anything past that is oversleeping for me. And I've napped every day after lunch (except today when I watched "Marley and Me," big mistake). My sleep schedule is so messed up at this point that it will take me a week to get back to normal.

I understand that it's been a little rough at the office during our snowtastrophy. Thankfully, I didn't have to be there for that. The thought of just trying to drive over to the office made my heart race. I was at the end of my rope, coming off a holiday month where customer demand was increased and staffing was low due to vacation and illness. Coupled with fighting off some illnesses myself, I was pulled in several directions and wasn't really high on anyone's list of favorite people. I was so mentally exhausted every day, that I'd come home each evening and collapse in a heap. What's odd is, in the nearly twenty years I've worked there, every vacation I've taken, I've worried about work, but not this time. Part of this vacation was to get away from work. I did that.

But I traded in one set of stresses for another. The stress of plans and schedules and expectaions. Every day someone has asked me what I had planned to do for the day and every day I've answered that I haven't really thought about it. But I had thought about it, sorta like I'm thinking about it now. I had so many good plans, but never really executed any of them, and for that I feel kinda guilty.

I guess I need to look at the bright side, I haven't failed to do anything, I've succeeded at doing nothing!