Dark Side of the Fridge

Relaxing?

Really?

Why has no one mentioned this before now?

My vacation timing is all screwed up – it kind of always has been, but it’s worse in recent years.  I do know that most people, when they take a vacation, actually, you know, go on vacation.

How do they do that?

Who feeds the cat?  Walks the dog? Checks the mail?  Deals with my clients?  Who would keep my desk from getting buried? I can’t go take a vacation – I have responsibilities!

That’s not to say I never go anywhere – I have.  Just not lately.

Between Peeps’s work responsibilities and my own, it’s virtually impossible for us to get a chunk of time off work – at the same time.

Heck, last time we went to New Jersey, he had to call in sick one day of our “vacation” because the company he worked for wouldn’t let him take a Friday and a Monday off.  To visit his mom.  His poor, lonely old mother.  Whom he hadn’t seen in a couple of years.

Does anyone wonder why he doesn’t work there anymore?

So.  You’ll recall that Peeps had a week off in July, and after all the fun of our little holiday gathering, he got some extra smoking in, but, unfortunately, the first week of July, it’s virtually impossible for me to take any time off.  Mid-May through mid-July is crazy around my office.  I mean, I could take the time off – it’s not a rule or anything.  Just my over-developed sense of responsibility, I guess.

So anyway.  I’ve always preferred to “hoard” my vacation time and use it bit by bit – a day here, a long weekend there. . . or maybe a trip to the Place.  But then I realized that, after the number of years I’ve been with the same firm, I’m entitled to a lot of vacation time.  And I doubt I’ve ever used all of it in any given year, either.  (No, no one actually keeps track.  I know, right?)

And then I realized that the last time I’d actually taken a whole entire consecutive week off was the year I bought the house – I just sort of puttered around my “new” house.  So I decided I was about due and I decided to take a Thursday through the following Wednesday off as my vacation.

I do know that most people like to take their basic Monday-Friday week, with the weekends kind of acting like vacation bookends, and that’s great.  Me, though, I like to start and end my vacation in the middle of the week – the weekends will still be there, plus there’s the advantage of coming back to work, after a week off, to a two-day week!  Always thinking, I am.

So I know, you’re dying to know – what wild and crazy exciting things did I do on my vacation while Peeps was hard at work?

Did I go somewhere?  What, alone?

Go out clubbing?  In Rochester?  Have you ever BEEN to Rochester?

Maybe take in a show or two?  Then get up at 4 to walk the dog?

Sleep half the day and lounge around eating bon bons the other half?    Uh, yeah, picture that!  And also – I’m not even exactly sure I know quite what a bon bon is!

You know, it’s actually sort of embarrassing, but there’s kind of a problem with vacations for me.  Because I tend to stay home and not really go anywhere, I plan lots and lots of “stuff” to “accomplish.”  I’m always either doing something, cleaning up my mess after doing something else, or getting ready to do some other thing.

And I forget to shower.

Not completely – and certainly not for the entire week! – but I will often start upstairs to take a shower, then decide to do it “as soon as I finish _________.”  But then I’ll finish the first thing, and before I know it, I’m involved in something else, when I remember that I was going to take a shower!  I really am a creature of habit, and when I break my regular routine, I’m kind of at a loss.

So, between showers, I went to the farmer’s market one day and bought a quarter bushel of grapes.  They started out like this:

And ended up looking like this:

Yup, that’s right.  An entire market basket of grapes – cleaned, seeded and chopped is now 4 quart bags in the freezer.

Oh, but fear not – I did make a batch of muffins!

And a fine batch of muffins they were, too.

They were good – even “very good” – but not perfect.

Once I get them perfected, don’t worry, I’ll be happy to share !

So hmmm. . . what else did I do?

Well, I dragged Peeps out to pick some apples – 20 pounds of Granny Smiths and 20 pounds of . . . some others.  Hey, apples are good for you!

I tried my hand at making some bagels, too!

I will definitely be telling you more about that before too long – after all, it’s on my 101 List!

I would definitely like to try these again – once more, they were good but not great.

And they took all stinking day!

Oh, and I did some more painting in the kitchen, too.

After all, once the walls were painted, there was still the door. . .

I cut some fresh rosemary and sage – before it’s too late – to dry, along with some garlic.  I don’t remember where I first saw it, but I’ve been chopping and drying this combination and absolutely love it!  It’s great on pizza, or with pasta, or pretty much any time you’d want an herb blend.

I’ll tell you about that later on, too.  It’s awesome!

And finally, one thing that I’d been most looking forward to, I put off until my last day of vacation – a big dish of moussaka!  That is DEFINITELY worth telling you about!

And so here I am, back to work after a week’s vacation, with very little to show for it, other than some circles under my eyes, a couple of extra pounds (probably!), and a freshly painted kitchen.

I’m good with that – after all, I’m back to showering regularly!