Home again, home again
We're back in one piece, having arrived in these parts around 5:45 this evening. And the first words my sister said to me upon our arrival were, "They still have strawberry!"
Exactly what I needed to hear after five days at the parents', including two large family barbecues, two dinners out, two separate trips to the Italian ice place, pizza at the beach, etc. etc. So, needless to say, I just polished off a strawberry sundae with hot fudge.
An update on the trip will come tomorrow, but tonight my presence has been requested in the living room, where I will watch an episode or two of The Sopranos with my jittery husband, who has a job interview at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. They couldn't have ruined his vacation more expertly: They called his cell phone to schedule the interview literally as I was rounding the on-ramp to the Maine Turnpike Friday afternoon. By the time we were five miles down the road, he was jotting notes about the presentation they've asked him to make at the interview. "Since you're going to be on vacation the whole time, you don't have to have it in writing," they said. "Just be prepared to present it orally."
We're both on vacation the rest of the week, which gives us time to:
1. Finish painting the garage, if the weather cooperates. We had the house painted last summer, but decided to do the garage ourselves to save money. By the time it was too cold to paint anymore last fall, we'd done most of the front. Since it faces the street, it's the most important side anyway. While I was in Detroit last month, Darren finished the front... so there are three sides left to go.
2. Apply for a home equity loan. We finally have a contractor lined up to totally re-do our bathroom, which means we must next mortgage ourselves to the hilt. Also, must compare rates between home equity and auto loans, because I am dying to replace my trusty 1990 Honda Civic hatchback with something with a few more doors... and a CD player... and power windows. Oh, and nice safety devices such as airbags. I have dreams of buying a hybrid, but suspect I'll end up with something much more prosaic. (Link is not actually my car -- thanks, sea air, for the extra rust -- but a reasonable facsimile thereof.)
3. Unpack. Ugh. And perhaps also clean up what has become the permanent clothes bomb situation in the spare bedroom.
4. Write my latest freelance assignment. It's due Monday. I'm being paid a large sum of money for it, which is fabulous (see #2). But it also makes me nervous, as does the fancypants editor I'm working with. (Then again, I pitched them the piece -- and they liked it. So I should just chill out.) The story is only 750-1,000 words, so I figure I can bang out a draft pretty quickly and then spend lots of time polishing it to a glossy sheen... i.e., deleting any phrases such as "polishing it to a glossy sheen."
5. Buy groceries. Pay bills.
6. Recreate, relax, run, catch up with friends, etc.
Here's hoping I actually reach #6 before Sunday afternoon.
Exactly what I needed to hear after five days at the parents', including two large family barbecues, two dinners out, two separate trips to the Italian ice place, pizza at the beach, etc. etc. So, needless to say, I just polished off a strawberry sundae with hot fudge.
An update on the trip will come tomorrow, but tonight my presence has been requested in the living room, where I will watch an episode or two of The Sopranos with my jittery husband, who has a job interview at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. They couldn't have ruined his vacation more expertly: They called his cell phone to schedule the interview literally as I was rounding the on-ramp to the Maine Turnpike Friday afternoon. By the time we were five miles down the road, he was jotting notes about the presentation they've asked him to make at the interview. "Since you're going to be on vacation the whole time, you don't have to have it in writing," they said. "Just be prepared to present it orally."
We're both on vacation the rest of the week, which gives us time to:
1. Finish painting the garage, if the weather cooperates. We had the house painted last summer, but decided to do the garage ourselves to save money. By the time it was too cold to paint anymore last fall, we'd done most of the front. Since it faces the street, it's the most important side anyway. While I was in Detroit last month, Darren finished the front... so there are three sides left to go.
2. Apply for a home equity loan. We finally have a contractor lined up to totally re-do our bathroom, which means we must next mortgage ourselves to the hilt. Also, must compare rates between home equity and auto loans, because I am dying to replace my trusty 1990 Honda Civic hatchback with something with a few more doors... and a CD player... and power windows. Oh, and nice safety devices such as airbags. I have dreams of buying a hybrid, but suspect I'll end up with something much more prosaic. (Link is not actually my car -- thanks, sea air, for the extra rust -- but a reasonable facsimile thereof.)
3. Unpack. Ugh. And perhaps also clean up what has become the permanent clothes bomb situation in the spare bedroom.
4. Write my latest freelance assignment. It's due Monday. I'm being paid a large sum of money for it, which is fabulous (see #2). But it also makes me nervous, as does the fancypants editor I'm working with. (Then again, I pitched them the piece -- and they liked it. So I should just chill out.) The story is only 750-1,000 words, so I figure I can bang out a draft pretty quickly and then spend lots of time polishing it to a glossy sheen... i.e., deleting any phrases such as "polishing it to a glossy sheen."
5. Buy groceries. Pay bills.
6. Recreate, relax, run, catch up with friends, etc.
Here's hoping I actually reach #6 before Sunday afternoon.
posted by mc at 9:16 PM
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