Home stay

My two-week Spring Break is just about over. Only four more sleeps – and two of those will be weekend sleeps, so they don’t really count as vacation time.

Obviously I didn’t go away anywhere. I haven’t been away during Spring Break for years. I believe the last time was when DD was 6 or 7 and her dad and I took her to Palm Springs. Or maybe it was Disneyland. I don’t quite remember which trip was which. DD is now 27, so it was more than a few years ago, and I am also of an age where I don’t always remember everything perfectly.

Anyway, at the time, I recall thinking, Hey! This going away on vacation for Spring Break thing is cool! It’s pretty nice to go somewhere mid-year and possibly come home with a tan! So what if everyone else on the block is doing the same thing and everywhere you go is full of tourists? So what if the airlines and hotels jack up the prices for the entire month of March? I like this!

But somehow, I’ve never done it again.

It’s not like I totally waste my two weeks off, though. I usually am fairly busy: last year I painted a bunch of walls in my house, the year before that I had my kitchen redone, and the year before that I was mostly at the hospital with my mom who’d had a small stroke. This year, my Spring Break ended up having quite a health and wellness focus, what with all those small issues and the resulting medical appointments I’ve had recently. But I’ve still relaxed a lot, had some fun, and recharged my batteries. I’ve taken care of myself these two weeks, and I’ll be ready to face the working world again with energy and enthusiasm come Monday morning.

But I’ll also be feeling kind-of down come Monday morning- not because I’ll be back to work, but because I won’t have any amusing little holiday stories to share. What could I actually say? “This funny thing happened while I was at the doctor’s office last week …” really doesn’t have the same appeal as “You’ll never believe who we saw when we were having dinner at this cute little cantina we found near the beach in Puerto Vallarta!”

You know what? I’d REALLY like to go away next year for Spring Break, if only just for the story-telling possibilities!

Spring break

Today is the third day of my two-week spring break (well, fifth, if you count the weekend. Which technically I should. It is part of the vacation period, after all. But I didn’t. So there.).

As is likely fairly obvious by now, I didn’t go away anywhere. I haven’t gone on a trip during spring break for many, many years. I don’t know why that is, exactly. I mean, I usually go on a big trip in the summer, so why couldn’t I do it at spring break instead? I have no answer to that question. It’s not that I don’t want to, but I suppose it’s more a lack of opportunity: if PG said to me, ‘Hey let’s go to Maui at spring break!”, I would certainly smile and nod, pack my bag and show up at the airport on time. But that’s never happened. (PG – are you reading this?!?)

I know some people who headed off to Hawaii, some who were going to Miami, some who jetted off to Spain, some back to Ontario to visit family, some to Whister to go skiing, some to New York to go shopping and sightseeing.

Me? I’ve been painting the upstairs hallway and stairwell.

I’ve also special-ordered a new laptop (should be here in another week or so), celebrated my mom’s 84th birthday with her, washed all my floors (that is a once-a-year occurrence and should be noted), did a little planting in my minuscule backyard, and became the proud mom of a law student (okay, that’s not till September, but let me bask a little in the reflection of my daughter, will ya?). I’ve already spent a lot of time on the phone conferring with various family members about an extended family get-together that has been planned for the May long weekend, with the discussions mostly centering around who’s going/ who’s not going/ am I going. I have appointments booked with the dentist and the hairdresser (not at the same time, fortunately), one lunch date confirmed and another tentatively set, a breakfast date for tomorrow, and I have tickets to see a play next weekend.

In short, even if I didn’t jet off to some exotic location, I guess I’m going to be pretty busy.

Yep, it’s nothing but fun, fun, fun here in Pinklea-land at spring break.

Breaking spring

It’s Saturday, and technically the first day of my two-week Spring Break. I say “technically” because I’m a teacher and as such, very rarely – in fact, never – work on Saturdays, so really, Spring Break begins on Monday, when I would normally go to work, but I won’t this Monday because Spring Break has started and – oh, hell. Where is this sentence going?

Okay, so what have I done to jump start Spring Break?

Yesterday was my mom’s eighty-first birthday, so DD and I took her out to dinner. No, I took her out to dinner. I paid. DD came along for the free food.

This morning I slept till 6 am – and then I slept some more, till 9 am. Oooooh – I’m still swooning with the joy of it! I spent all morning in my jammies, watching the final episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Really? That’s how the series ends? A bit of a let-down, methinks.

As noon crept past, I showered and got dressed.

Then I cleaned the whole house. I opened a few windows to let the spring air in (yes, it’s about 12ºC and sunny today. Sorry, Easterners.). I did two loads of laundry. I mended a rip in a cardigan and sewed a button back on a pair of capris. I trimmed my fringe. I gave myself a manicure (by which I mean I removed the old nail polish, and repainted with the same colourless nail polish. Like anybody would even notice. Still, I made the effort.).

Now I’m going to have a nap. This Spring Break stuff has quite tired me out. Call me in two weeks.