Let Me Pencil You In...

I work for a place and this place gives me vacation, to which I have accrued much over the years.  The policy is once you hit your maximum, which varies by tenure, one must either take it or stop accruing more.  I can't request a payout, which I once considered a better option.  But, now, the actual days off are like benadryl to my stressed mind.  Oh so stressed mind.  But that is a tale for another time...

At the beginning of April, I was fast approaching my vacation cap.  Again.  I perused the calendar for an appropriate week, having a few ideas already waving hi.  The last full week of April would be perfect for those, and would also coincide with my garden feeding schedule and the extra day off for Good Friday.  I don't celebrate Easter, but I'll gladly take a free day off if it means 10 days of uninterrupted vacation!!

This week would would be different.  It would be for me and what I wanted to do.  I hardly ever allow myself that opportunity, which in the right doses is truly necessary.  As soon as my boss clicked approve on my request, the list of things I WANTED expedited.

Here's what I did, in no particular order:

• played in the garden (this was most of the hours)
• went to the Huntington Library plant sale and got: blueberries, black mondo grass, a black tomatoe, blue chocolate tomatoe, purple tomatoe, black soybeans, and a rainbow MEGA hot pepper.
• went to my local nursery and finally got a meyer lemon tree, strawberries and basil
• planting included 4 hours of de-rocking the lemon area.  There are as many sparkly white rocks on the side of our house as all local nurseries combined.  sooooo many jazzercised rocks...
• planted 32 summer blooms, including Gladiolus Atom, Gladioli Sunrise, and Acidanthera.
• removed a diseased gardenia bush
• planted most of the other junk I needed
• had a tea party with a couple of girlfriends, with full on finger sandwhiches and cookies. fuck yeah!
• visited another girlfriend, where Leroy and her dog could play.
• also talked garden shop
• made pickles
• wrote in the mornings
• read for bookclub
• prepped our bedroom for a new fresh coat of paint & accent wall
• we're painting one wall a dark grey, with light grey stencil over it.
• the rest of the walls will be the lighter grey
• took lots of dusty bags of toys and put them in sealed boxes, to hopefully sell in the future
• cleaned the house
• went for a whirly drive to Mount Wilson
• didn't watch much TV
• ordered in thai food with a friend, caught up

Here's what I learned from going back to work today:

• it doesn't need to be perfect
• holy crap moses, I have to leave and start my own thing