Virtues of Vacationing at Home

I'm on the last bit of a week's vacation, which was mostly spent in the luxury of a messy ranch-style home one mile south of Earling, Iowa. While I hate to boast, it was pretty sublime.

Highlights included:

• Recreational activities in the form of hoops as Mama got made fun of for her alley oop assists on the 9 foot rim, only after proceeding to get her tail whipped at PIG...TOO MANY TIMES.
• Checkers, after hoops, giving Mama a crown at something.
• The awesome triumph of the USA Women's Soccer Team, celebrated with gusto and Sam Adams in the Kramer living room. (Beer only imbibed by the adults.)
• Family bonding with a movie night as we enjoyed the heartwarming saga of Ted 2.
• The perfecting of a Cuban Sandwich with the slow cooking of a pork shoulder roast as our food truck dream really begins to percolate. (Doug's not quite on board with this yet.)
• College orientation in Iowa City. Alex registered for classes as Doug and I planned our game day visits and plotted the new bars at the ped mall.
• Read like it was my day job. And began writing a new novel like it's my dream job. Oh yeah. It is.
• Slept for nine hours every day. I didn't even know I could do that.

My vacation time did NOT include:

• Organizing my pictures, as I had planned. That has to be the worst job. Reminds me of the stress of planning a graduation party. Ugh. Damn digital age. But suppose, better get cracking for Cole's 2020 party.
• Weeding all of my flower beds, as I had planned. I did plant more flowers though! It's my strategy to distract from the weeds.
• Wash my kids' sheets. I still might do that.

Quinn gets it.

In all honesty, I spent quite a bit of walking, reflecting, praying, and really listening to my family. Admittedly, the busy-ness of my life often overwhelms me. That might comes as a shock for those of you who read this happy-go-lucky blog. (But when entries don't come in for weeks at a time...that is the reason!) I know, deep down, I only have myself to blame. 

This vacation of having no agenda has allowed me to really unwind. And actually laugh with my family as our pets acted like drunken sailors on the deck. It allowed me to stop and watch a goldfinch bob from fence post to fence post and experience the wonder of its brilliance. It allowed me to watch a lizard and a spider dual in my daughter's egress window. (Really!) But here's the thing. I didn't have to be on vacation to enjoy any of those things. It does seems, however, it took actual downtime–stillness–to remember that I could enjoy those things. I've always thought I was kind of smart. But it's taken me a while to realize how simple it is be happy.

What I Need To Get Done!

Monday:
1. Sleep until 9:00
2. Review session at 10:30
3. Go to Jessup and pay bill
4. Study for Lit & Theory exam.
5. Drink with Meg and Jean.
Tues:
1. Go to class 15 minutes early, practice progressions.
2. Dictation exam (8:30)
3. 9:30 to 10, practice sight singing.
4. Chem lecture at 10:30
5. 4:30 watch Jeopardy and clean room.
6. Go jogging after supper.

...As I was digging through some sheet music the other day, I found an old tablature notebook from my freshman year in college. Not only did I find Led Zeppelin lyrics, alphabetic listings of my favorite rock bands and music assignments, but I also found a few pages of my lists! Above is a small example. Look at the time I had in between my tasks...that was quite a life. Interesting...There were few "practice piano" tasks for being a piano major. Apparently it was more important to keep my mind sharp by watching Jeopardy.

Oh, to be young again. On the way home from Chicago, my family had to endure another walk down memory lane as we drove through Iowa City. Luckily for Doug, there was a jazz festival going on downtown. As we walked through the crowd, I was immersed in the energy of the eclectic youth surrounding us.

My college to-do lists left plenty of time for leisure. Perhaps I need to take a lesson from my youth. My current lists are chock full, from sun-up to sun-down. Why is that? Because obviously, I haven't grown wiser with age...but, guess what? I'm gonna change...so before I sign off to "live in the moment", I'll leave you with this poignant Kung Fu Panda quote:

"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift -- that's why it's called the present."

A day at the Chicago Field Museum...living in the moment by walking through the glorious past...

Spring Celebration!

It's spring. Yahoo! And reasons to celebrate just keep multiplying...

1. The Twilight DVD arrived three days before the release date. And Amazon gave me some sort of $5 discount. Yahoo! Doug explains the phenomenon by pointing out the frequency of purchases from my favorite web-retailer.
2. Coldplay decided to surprise me for my 40th birthday by playing at the Qwest in June! Yahoo! Do you suppose Chris Martin will be singing happy birthday to me?
3. My newest book club friends decided to read one of my suggestions – Snowflower and the Secret Fan. Yahoo! I hope they like it and don’t kick me out of the group.
4. Flowers are popping out of the ground. Yahoo! I can’t even kill them yet.
5. It’s Sunday afternoon and I haven’t had a headache since early yesterday morning. Yahoo. Knock, knock, knock on wood.
6. Jim Zimmerman won a customer service award at the Chamber Banquet Friday night. Yahoo! Denise Reinig won last year – the Shelby County State Bank has a pretty good run going.
7. After taking a personality test, it turns out that all four of us Kramers are INTROVERTED! Who'da thought? Yahoo!
8. Mom, aka Rubi J has the most adorable new line of organic cotton T's. Yahoo! Watch for some upcoming deals...
8. Flash, my hamster, I mean Cole's hamster is still alive and seems to be growing into a big, fat guinea pig! Yahoo! He’s so cute. Wait speaking of Flash…

It was brought to my attention that Flash receives more blogging time than my very own father. So, here goes. Dad, you’re the best. You’re funny and look way younger than your 62 (?) years of age. I’m so proud of all the motorcycles you have rebuilt and hope someday I’ll be able to rebuild a 1934 JD Indian Panhead, just like you.

Yahoo!