my summer vacation

Today marks the first day of my summer vacation.  And after the week I've had at work, this day could not come a moment too soon.

Because of poor planning on my part, I didn't hop on a plane this morning for South Carolina.  I didn't realize in February when I bought my ticket that July 20 is Colombian Independence Day.  And I didn't realize that because last year on July 20, I was already on my summer vacation in South Carolina because I wasn't involved in this pesky thing called A JOB.

I called Delta last week to see if I could change my ticket to Friday.  "Sure, no problem", the lady said.  "That'll just cost $900 for the change in fare and $250 for the international flight change fee."  Um... how about no?

If you'll allow me to digress for a moment, why does an airline have to charge that much money if I have already have a ticket and there are seats available on the other flight that I want?  It's so infuriating.  

So anyway, I hosted book club last night without worrying about an early start today.  And I'm enjoying a relaxing day of lazy packing, watching some Food Network, and reading, before Jimmy and I have a date night at Casa, which is a fairly new (and definitely new to us) restaurant here that everybody says is great.

And tomorrow... well tomorrow, I get to see my boy after 3 whole long weeks.  WOW.  Yesterday he hurt my feelings by telling me that he "might miss Daddy more than he misses me", but I'm trying to get over that.  Because I know he really didn't mean it.  Or I pretend he really didn't mean it.  Never mind, I have 5 days to get back in his best graces before we see Jimmy.

So happy summer vacation - finally - to me.  The heat and humidity are calling my name...

a note from my "only and lonely"

In Mac's absence, I've been cleaning out his school stuff and organizing what I deem to be a "keeper".  Today I came across this letter - definitely a "keeper" -  that he wrote in school in April when they were learning how to write persuasive letters.  Do you think the letter warrants a dog?

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, 

that all men are created equal, 

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, 

that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." 

Happy Independence Day!

the boy is having fun

Yesterday Mac lost a tooth, but I've been assured that the Tooth Fairy can find him away from home. He is enjoying a raucous time with his cousins, as evidenced by the photos my sister-in-law sent me yesterday:

Playing in the creek, catching crawdads and salamanders, with Uncle Steven

The cousins, minus one, who was so worn out that he fell asleep with his head on the table

The cousin sleepover - do you think anybody slept?

I think it's safe to say that a good time is being had by all.

Update on movie

"The Prodigy" is the Spanish translation for "Mao's Last Dancer". Definitely a must-see, but pack your kleenexes.

Home alone...

Yesterday my house went from 7 people to me.

 After a fabulous 10-day visit with Jimmy's oldest childhood friend and his family, they left and took Mac with them so he could enjoy grandmapalooza for the next 3 weeks. And Jimmy went to Florida for work, so thankfully for me, the most neurotic mother of all time, he was on Mac's flight at least as far as Miami.

I am never left at home to my own devices. Well, except for last October when Jimmy and Mac went on what I'm told/assured/promised will be an annual boys-only jaunt. But other than that, I don't think I've been home alone in 9.5 years.

So how did I celebrate my freedom?

 -I cleaned.
 -I re-arranged the furniture in our den.
 -I organized DVDs.
 -I vacuumed and dusted some.
 -I made myself an enormous breakfast of 2 eggs, 3 slices of bacon, and thick slices of tomato sautéed in the bacon grease. Clearly I would weigh 226 pounds if left to my own devices full-time.
 -I did about 27 loads of laundry.
 -I cleaned out and organized Mac's closets. This involved a lot of sock-matching for socks that have been put in the drawer sans partner.
 -I cleaned out and organized Mac's bathroom cabinets and threw out a lot of outdated medicine.
 -I ate Doritos for lunch.
 -I cleaned out my closets.
 -I cleaned out and reorganized our medicine cabinet and threw out a ton of outdated medicine. (Clearly we have not been as sick as I intended for us to be when I bought all that medicine 2 years ago.)
-I got out of my pajamas and showered finally about 5pm.
-I ordered Japanse food delivery. Continuing the theme of unhealthy eating, I ordered a California roll, lettuce wraps, and spring rolls and sadly ate just about all of it.
-To add insult to injury, I ate all that food while watching that tv show on ABC where they assign a trainer to a morbidly obese person and follow him as he loses weight and changes his life over the course of a year. That guy probably no longer eats spring rolls in front of the tv anymore.  
-I watched "Extremely Loud Incredibly Close" and was thankful I'd not seen it in the theater so nobody had to witness my excessive blubbering. 
 -I went to bed. 


 Today has been much lower-key. It's some Colombian holiday to celebrate something, so I celebrated by taking a nice long walk on the Ciclovia. With the hills here, it's entirely possible that I will not be able to walk tomorrow. If my hip flexors work, it'll be only for the grace of God. Now I am going to take myself to the movies to see "The Prodigy", during which I shall lunch on popcorn. And think about what I shall order in for dinner since no one is here to witness my choices. 


 Happy Monday!