and while we are talking vacation

I had really hoped to take the megabus to DC over spring break in fact I had almost bought tickets a few months back I mean come on what a deal 3 of us travel to DC for only under $10? how totally awesome is that? But alas the current "oh God what's wrong now?" state of affairs has us not traveling for spring break of course in all fairness we generally don't travel for spring break we are not those people I'd like to be but in the real world we can't drop everything and go on vacation several times a year but wouldn't it be nice? I am hoping we can work out the DC trip sometime within the next year there is so much to do & see there not least of all is a restaurant owned by top chef contestant that I would like to try plus several that Anthony Bourdain spotlighted on his show. And quite frankly I love museums & historical stuff so DC is right up my alley!

really in need of a vaction

or maybe just a long weekend? heck a pj day (which involves lots of pj wearing, watching bad movies on SyFy and eating Chinese food) would probably go a long way for me right now

spring break

this time for the kiddo and nope not doing anything this year either...there has been talk of a Disney trip for next spring break but of course we were suppose to go this summer right after school let out, that got changed to Thanksgiving at some point and currently I guess it has been dropped altogether for now with hopes for next March. I suppose the only way we will get it done is if I just book it and make a down payment forcing us to actually pay for the trip. Not much going this week hubs & I have work, I have school, although labs were cancelled this week giving me this evening off, C had his sleepover, is spending some time with MIL, has gone to daycare a couple of days and is spending the day with David on Friday doing guy stuff I suppose. Unfortunately I don't have any vacation to spare and take a day off with him this year which bothers me but it cannot be helped. We have some Mommy/C time booked for Saturday starting out at the ihop for breakfast which I am looking forward to

might have to unfriend her

have a friend from college that I reconnected with on facebook and she rarely updates her status except apparently for now while she is on an annual 3 week holiday in Aruba! Who in the hell has 3 weeks of vacation and can afford to spend them in Aruba?!! not me dammit I may very well de-friend her this week

vacation

still desperate for one don't know when or if one will happen anytime soon....which bites let me tell 'ya! We have a couple of weekendy type excursions planned and hopefully home to see my folks this summer but that's all we got and even all that is not set in stone as of yet :(
whine whine whine

tactical maneuvers

already I am spending lots of time trying to organize this Disney vacation of my dreams..there is a lots to ask about, know and book etc all these questions food plans, park passes, what sort of hotel do we book? Thank God my SIL has been like a million times no really maybe only 999,998 but close enough to a million to be of assistance. We are 10 months away and as much time as I seem to be spending on it you 'd think we were leaving next week...or maybe that is just wishful thinking on my part.

operation go on a real vaction is in effect

okay our goal is Disney.
yup that's right the big rat no no the other big rodent not that big rat.
I see a yard sale or two and some ebay auctioning in my future to help fund this expedition. School is out May 21st and I want to be in Disney May 24th. This is totally doable and I am opening up a special savings account for the fun and frivolities on Monday!

oh and the vacation from hell

you really don't want the exorcist type details so lets leave it at the highlights:
stomach flu for both C and myself and some sort of arthritic knee thing for David. total suckage of a vacation I so want a do-over but have no vacation hours left or maybe 3.87 vacation hours left as I could only manage a glance at my pay stub in disgust at the lack of vacation hours at my disposal.
On a slight positive note I did get to spend some time with my folks, my brother and his family, my cousin & her husband and one of my uncles so in all fairness it was not a complete and total failure of a vacation(just mostly)

the mark of a crappy vacation

coming back to work more stressed and cranky than when you left...
more on all of that later I have a pile of junk to dig through that is even worse than the pile I left which is no small feat I might add

vacations

as much as I desperately want to take a real vacation some place touristy that does not involve visiting family there is just no place like home! I am happy to be here in the house I mostly grew up in visiting with my parents and watching my son trail around after his grandfather like a puppy dog asking ninety million questions a minute.

vacation mode

I'm in it thank you very much. I also a bit whiny about the whole thing if truth be told. I hate car travel hate it with a passion I would rather poke sticks in my eyes than sit in a car for more than an hour at a time but seeing as we can not afford multiple plane tickets we are trapped in the car for like a million hours. No really it is a million at least. And I will whine and complain and dread the whole damn ordeal all of this week plus do massive amounts of laundry, pack, get my hair cut, maybe color it as well, hopefully find time for a pedicure, drop the dog at sleep away camp, buy snacks & drinks for the car trip, charge all electrical type gadgets that need it so C survives the trip without me tossing him it the trunk.
On the plus side I am looking forward to escaping Kville & work for a week, seeing my folks & some family and getting together with some very old and dear friends. Debating back and forth in my head about going to NYC for a day and taking C to the Museum of Natural History. It will be fun but we aren't even there for a full week I don't know...my decision was no yesterday but this morning I got train schedules so we'll see I suppose.

vacation

I am in a bit of a mood today and have been dreaming of vacation....not just any vacation but a vacation all by my lonesome. Yes I like to travel on my own, I also enjoy eating out by myself and even going to the movies solo. Someone at work asked where I would go and my first thought was hell I'd settle for Gatlinburg if it meant I could be by myself! What came out of my mouth was London which would be nice or maybe New York? Vienna? Munich? all places I have been and really enjoyed or maybe someplace I have not been Florence? Aruba? Scotland? Portugal? Hong Kong? Not that it matters all that much I don't seem to have in solo vacations on my horizon any time soon

woohoo spring break

gee spring break was a whole lot more fun back in the olden days when it meant I had a week off. While I have no school this week all that just translates into I can work complete days during week and have next Saturday off...of course my dream of a weekend off not so much as the dreaded inventory is scheduled for next Sunday! It just figures doesn't it?! I'll save my diatribe on just how much I hate doing inventory for next weekend.

what is up with fall break?

now you are going to change it? I have been a critic of fall break being a full week off in October since they started it two years ago. For my student is has been disruptive academically. And quite frankly it means I have to pay for childcare for a week in October, we don't have the money to jet off someplace for a week in October or for that matter in March but I suppose they can't do away with spring break as well what would the Florida economy do?
That being said David & I decided to start saving for a proper vacation. Not that I don't enjoy visiting family for vacation but it would be nice just once to do something touristy. Maybe involving libations with little umbrellas for a change. Anyway the plan was to go to Disney next fall break.
For a week.
Fall break has been reduced to 2 days. Could they not wait just 1 more year to change the schedule?

fall break

not all it's cracked up to be when you are a "mature student" or non-traditional student that's the nice way of putting it isn't it? Since I am so incredibly part-time all it meant for me was no class on Tuesday & no lab on Thursday and all that really boiled down to was more time I could spend at work so no real vacating on my part.
Now C has a full week off for fall break this week. Crazy no? a full week! I do not like it one bit give them a long weekend for Columbus Day or something okay fine but I think a full week off now is disruptive. Why not give the full week at Thanksgiving? Quite a few children(including my own)usually wind up taking it anyway so people can travel or have their tonsils out or something. We have nothing on tap just paying for his care for 4 days this week and he'll get 1 day with MIL which is a vacation onto itself for him.

back home

officially that is-stopped at Sam & Andy's and I had a vol burger for lunch this afternoon. Made me feel really home.
C and I in fact arrived back in K-town last night only about 1 hour late which considering at one point the pilot turned an engine off, parked the plane, told us we could turn on cell phones, games etc because we were 38th in line to take off an hour not so hard to take.
We stopped at MIL's on the way home to check on family as our niece who is 6 months pregnant had been a car accident this week. Just a fender bender but she started labour, dilated etc hmmm now why does that seem so very familiar??? She only got stuck at hospital one night but is at home resting taking some medication that makes both her & the baby jumpy, normal supposedly but she does not feel very rested. A goes back to the doctor Monday and hopefully things will progress normally over the next few months.
I had planned on working this afternoon but quite frankly I am tired that is not going to happen oh well now I can dread Monday morning just a little more. The boy & I did take advantage of the tax-free weekend and did some clothes shopping and picked up some school supplies. Considering we were out mid-afternoon I was pleasantly surprised that Turkey Creek was not any crazier than it was.
The boy is clamoring for dinner except I have not been to the grocery store yet so I am not exactly sure what I can whip up might just be a call for pizza...

random vacation Thursday

-girls night out last Friday was fun! caught up on lots of old & new gossip
-someone should have brought a yearbook we totally forgot a few folks here & there
-talk even made it's way around to our 25th reunion in a mere 2 years! really 25?
-if there are only 2 pieces of shrimp calling it chicken & shrimp piccata is misleading in my opinion
-my hometown is so very different and in some ways still the same
-Bronx Zoo is still fun this many years later
-don't have a burger at the zoo seriously yucky stuff
-C of course got an airbrush tattoo, panther this time
-I have no doubt what he will do first thing on his 18th birthday
-luckily is has not been too hot here-no central air
-read 3 1/2 books so far
-have enjoyed doing very little all week even though it drives my brother crazy
-miss D & superpug and I look forward to seeing them tomorrow
-still hate living so far away from my parents!
-don't check your work email on vacation unless you want to be annoyed!

pre-vacation slacker syndrome

it's what I have. and I have it baaad Dr. Missy diagnosed me.
I just do not want to do anything which sucks-there is quite a bit to do here at work especially as I will miss 7 work days, back to school is fast upon us as is my buying trip to Vegas(no really it is for work despite what D thinks), then I still have my final on Monday, my house still could use some cleaning time, laundry well it's never finished around my house, I still need a pedicure, packing for myself & the boy needs done, we are having a birthday dinner for MIL tomorrow although it will mostly involve grilling so I just have to shop & worry about side dishes.
As far as the vacating part it is usually very relaxing visiting my folks there really isn't all that much to do in my hometown, they have a mall and well that is about it-not even a Chuck-E-Cheese which surprises me but then again no one asked my opinion. They do have a train museum which we can go to and I believe we are going to spend a day at the Bronx Zoo which should be fun I have not been in many years and it is an amazing zoo so I am looking forward to that. Other than that I have a stack of books that have been ignored while I spent my weekends doing stats so I plan on maximum goof off time for CT.

running out of summertime

and we are running out of it fast! I just had a glance at the calendar and I am not sure where the time is going...
my class will be finished in just over 2 weeks then C & I head to CT for a little over a week and when we get back he has about 1 more week until he is back in school.
Better not blink it
ll be the holidays before we know it!

Ct.

no exciting notes from the road other than we made it in one piece without any craziness or odd stories to add to our "trip file" we've had some odd experiences driving to see my folks. The very first time I guess 12 years ago we drove up so David could meet my family, went to family friend's wedding then mom & dad threw us an engagement party so he really met all of the family-well most of it. We decided to leave middle of the night -aah youth-wound up in West Va. at a Bob Evan's for a much need hearty breakfast & lots of coffee. Started back on our way 10 minutes down the road food poisoning hit Paula when the waves started on David decided to stop & get a hotel room, yes it was that bad, wound up sleeping it off & sharing the bathroom for a few hours at a Day's Inn. Trip continued on & was fun until late evening one night David got gout in his leg so bad that I had to take him to the local emergency room, got some medication ok we left to return to k-town the next day. D couldn't drive at all-which is a story unto itself suffice to say he pretty much does ALL driving in the family ALL the time. So I drove until Natural Bridge Va I was so tired I couldn't see straight & he was in so much pain we had to go to the emergency room in Lexington VA, where he got some sort of shot that made his mouth break out & it was a touristy area so I had trouble finding a Walgreen's to get his prescription filled, plus we weren't married so I was technically not next of kin plus I didn't have all medical info, cards etc. We finally made it back to Knoxville the next day where he promptly got some sort of upper-respiratory infection & was sick another week or so. And despite the road trip from hell we still got married..