I Go to Work to Relax

The alarm went off two seconds after Izzy head-butted me in the face this morning. Damn. Vacation's over.

One week just is not long enough for a break from work. I was just starting to get good and relaxed, depite the fact that I worked my butt off all week. There was no sleeping in and not much staying up late.

As mentioned before, I finally finished the living room floor, moved all the stuff that had been hanging out in the spare room and the utility room back to where it should be, and rescued some birds from the little hunter.

But the fun didn't stop there. I got the flower beds in the front yard cleaned up and mulched, as well as planted a few more canna and daylilies. I didn't do this because I consider myself a fantastic gardner, but because I was embarrassed by the way my yard looked. I've got an elderly couple living on one side of me and the husband always has their yard looking immaculate, while on the other side of me, they have a guy who comes once a week to take care of the lawn. Frankly, they make me look like a schlub with my two-week mowing schedule. All I need is a car on blocks to make my house look completely derelict sometimes. Okay, yes, that is an exaggeration, especially since one house down the street has a yard full of weeds that have been known to swallow stray dogs.

But the unspoken peer pressure from the neighbors aside, I'm pretty proud of all the work I did out there digging up grass and weeds. My muscles are sore, my skin is sunburned, and my foot still hurts from where I ran over it with a cartful of mulch at Home Depot, but it looks pretty darned good.

Most of the week also was spent working on the new rabbit pen. (Quick history, I have six rabbits that have been living at my grandparents' house for the last four years. Now that I own my own home, it's about time they lived with me.) My 86-year-old grandfather and I worked most of the week just to get a foundation and walls up for the new pen. Of course, with his age, my lack of muscles, and the heat, we spent a lot of time resting. But now all we need is a roof and some siding on the lower part of the walls and the new home is good to go! I designed it to look more like a screened porch than a pen, so the upper part of the walls are window screen.

I sweated through more clothes in one week than I have in the past several years put together. Now it's back to work and arctic air conditioning. Yesterday I was sighing in pleasure everytime I walked into the house, and today in my office I have my space heater on just to keep from freezing to death. What a difference a day makes.

Spent the entire morning sorting through emails. I think one or two people actually missed my expertise while I was gone. Nice to know I have a little job security!