Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Vacation all I ever wanted

With the redwood stump at a rest stop in
Bellingham, WA
So this year has been kind of crappy in the vacation department.

I’m really disappointed because we built our house six years ago and I was so excited to be in charge of the pretty and I haven’t painted or decorated or even put up any curtains or anything. We were only in the house a year when Dewey got sick and that turned our lives up-side-down for a long time, so everything that didn’t involve surviving or breathing or anything got put on the back burner.

I have three weeks of vacation every year. I take a week for Spring Break because we usually go somewhere, a week in the summer so that I can visit Vancouver, and the week of my birthday so that I can get all the Christmas stuff wrapped up and complete.

This year DH had to work the entire week at his freelance job in addition to his regular job, so we had no plans to go anywhere this year. I decided this would be the year that I decorate the house and paint some walls or at least a bathroom and get curtains hung.

Well, with the boys off the same week and DH nowhere to be seen as he was working so much, nothing got done. Not a thing. I didn’t even get caught up with housework. Grr. Frustrating. Then to top it all off, I tripped DH and he broke his wrist. Awesome.

We had no plans in June for the week I scheduled off. There was a reunion for anyone who had ever attended my high school that week and I had planned to go in addition to taking my family to visit my family, but no firm plans were made. No condo reserved, no driving plans, DH hadn’t scheduled the time off. I thought that instead of taking off that I would make up for my April vacation and get things done around the house. I crapped out on my friends at the last minute after telling them all that I was going to be there and stayed home with delusions of grandeur that I was going to get so much done. I got nothing done. Nothing.  At least this time no bones were broken.

I had this last week scheduled off. I had written off getting anything done around the house as that was a major fail this year, but I was looking forward to getting the house ready for Christmas, getting all the shopping done, getting some rest, and resetting for next year.

I ended up in Canada for my vacation which was really good, but now I’m even further behind and more tired. I really needed some time off to do nothing and I did the opposite of nothing.

When I was debating with my mum whether I should go up there or stay home because I had so much to do and a lot to get done, she said, “Who are you fooling? You have said the same thing all year long and you haven’t gotten a thing done. Just come up here.” She was right, and it was good that I took the trip, but I regret it too.

I don’t know what my problem is. I get so excited to have a whole week off and make all these awesome to-do lists. I try to be realistic and schedule in relaxing time, but the relaxing time tends to take over until I have two days left and realize that nothing got done and all that gets done is the house gets cleaned and the laundry caught up.

I guess we really do need vacations to take time off, not to do more stuff. This is the first year in as long as I can remember that we didn’t go away while I was on vacation. When we travel, we go, go, go, and go some more. There is no relaxing time unless I stomp my feet and say we need to chill!

I had come to the point where I hated to go on vacation because nothing got done around the house and I would get so behind on things that it would take me weeks to get caught up. I thought that this year would be different because no plans were made. Guess not.

I guess I thought that since we weren’t travelling that I would be able to get the things done that never get done because I’m so tired from travelling.

We really create good memories when we travel though, and the boys just keep growing up.

With the boys home while I’m on vacation, it’s hard to get any projects done because I want to spend time with them and be like a mom, but I also just want to relax. I’m not a machine. The reverse is true where when I’m home the boys want my attention and I can’t get any projects done.

Also, my bed is really comfortable.

I don’t have any time to just randomly watch tv and it’s nice to be able to turn my brain off and watch mindless television or movies, so I always try to take advantage of that when I’m off.

The day to day things tend to take over and I’m never done with those things so I have no room in my life for additional projects.

Next year I already have plans to go to Hawaii with my brother and sister-in-law so that I can watch their kids while they attend a wedding. I’ve decided that vacations are not for honey-do projects, they’re for fun, so no more projects for next year!

Maybe this way I really will get something done.

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