My Vacation

I took the last week off. I had a long list of items on my to-do list. I've been in this house for almost a year and haven't started any projects. I was decompressing with the changes in my life. I gave myself mercy and time.

So, I took a staycation, planned a few outings, and plenty of projects. I tried four, and I failed at all four.

During the weekend, I used a utility knife to pry my windows open. After the first window, it occurred to me that it would be harder than anticipated. As of now, I have one window in my entire house that I can open: my sliding glass door.

Day one of vacation, I opened my eyes in the morning and scratched my cornea (health issues). I was out for the count and couldn't see for the day as I lay on the couch in a bit of pain.

When I could see again, on day two, I ran old fabric to a fabric recycling center. After a forty-minute drive, the one I had picked was no longer there. Oy.

On day three, I went to the Chicago Botanic Gardens. It was beautiful weather, and I felt good. We smelled the corpse flower before we saw it, took plenty of pictures to give myself ideas for my deck, ate a delicious meal, and received a free sunflower from the gardens. It grew twice its small size in three days.

Day four started well. I went to the eye doctor to make sure my eye was healing because even without pain, it still felt irritated. The eye dryness is worse than it was seven months ago. I spent the day hydrating my eyes with eye drops. More health issues.

On day five, I went to the Milwaukee Zoo with my mom and my kids. Had a great time. My eye felt great. I was exhausted when I got home. But the animals had been animated and fun to watch.

The weekend passed with my buying items to complete my projects, and the last day before going back to work, Memorial Day, I decided on two things. First, I needed to find the instructions on how to change the code for the garage keypad. I found it and the code. But it doesn't work, because it needs a new battery. Of course. The second thing I decided to do is finally figure out which screwdriver to use to take off my really boring builder-grade towel racks, so I can finally paint my bathroom and vanity. It took all week of trying various options when I finally figured out how to use the tool with multiple heads and got the darn thing off, only to discover the previous owners had painted over the hardware that the racks hung from. After loosening one of them, I discovered that the second screw is stripped, and the rest are still painted on. I gave up that day and chose to sit on the couch and watch TV.

And that was my vacation. The lesson I learned is something I've known all along. Life, no matter how much you plan, doesn't always go the way you want. Sometimes you need to slow down. Sometimes injuries or health issues stop you in your tracks. It's not what happens to you, but how you handle it.

For now, I'll spend a little time every day finishing the projects I wanted to do but didn't complete, and starting the ones I didn't get to. It'll get done, just not on my timeline.