Vacation!

Last year, my work contract was changed - a variety of reasons, really.  One of the major changes was the addition of accrued vacation.  Based on my tenure, I receive 15 paid days of time off each year.  Sounds great in theory (and is really great in many ways) but as y'all know who read here regularly I work a lot - so it's going to be interesting to find 15 days I can take off each year.  But I plan to.  I still get the two weeks at Christmas - but now if I want to be off the M-T of Thanksgiving week and/or Spring Break week, I use vacation for that time.  Plan to.  And will still have a week left for summer fun - if there's time to be off in the summer.  This summer will be easy 'cuz on June 29th, we are boarding a plane for Cancun and spending 11 days and nights on the beach! 

So today was my first official paid vacation day (it's taken me 11 months to use a vacation day) - and I spent it treating myself to lunch at Red Robin followed by the final installment of the Twilight series movies.  It was a fantastic movie and I loved every second of it - time flew by.  Loved it and can't wait to see it again.  As I left the house this morning, J. said 'take Kleenex' and I thought 'now why would he say that?'...possibly because he knows me very well.  I didn't actually cry but I did get a lump in my throat as the closing credits were rolling.  Guess that comes from loving a series of books so much - and just like the last page of the last book, it's sad to see it end.  Though personally, I think there's plenty of room for more books and more movies - still much of the story to be told.  Hoping...

Tomorrow, we are heading to San Leandro for lunch with J.'s brother.  Then home and hoping for not too much traffic.  Have some pre-turkey day prep to do - baking pies; making cranberry sauce; chopping stuff for the stuffing.

The first Christmas present arrived from Amazon - and it's for me and J.!  Shopping for us is the easiest part this year - we seem to know what we want/need.  The boys are another story.

H. wants a California King bed.  Turns out the full size bed he has is causing him issues - and I should have considered it more carefully when we bought their beds a few years ago.  He's 6'2" tall and his mattress is exactly the same length - 74 inches.  Add a pillow and it's no wonder the kid has never slept with a top sheet on the bed - he can't do that 'cuz he is too long.  He has to sleep curled up or in a variety of uncomfortable positions - and all he wants for Christmas is a remedy to that.  Mattresses are not cheap.  The Cal King isn't feasible 'cuz his room isn't big enough - but a Queen might work.  We are going to watch for sales at Costco and see what we can do.

We are strategizing on something to get for B. - something 'meaningful' as he moves out and onto the next phase of his life.  Not sure what it will be - but we'll think of something.

While J. was walking this morning, I answered a call that I thought was a sales call.  Turned out it was an HR rep from J.'s former employer letting him know that there was an opening for a job through their program for positions open for displaced employees.  Around the right salary range and a 5 month assignment.  The urge is to snap at the chance for the job - 5 months of salary and moving out his severance by five more months.  But it's not something he's ever done - and while you think 'it's a five month assignment, a chance to learn something new and if I totally suck at it, who cares 'cuz I don't work there anymore!', both J. and I are wired the same when it comes to work.  He doesn't want to apply for something that he has no experience in (producing training videos in this case) even if it would be $ and extending severance.  He wants to be 'good' at whatever it is - and while I'm sure he would be good at this - it's essentially a project management job - I can see how it's a little out of his comfort zone.  So I don't think he's going to apply - and that's OK.

The cleaning ladies were here today and the house is tidy.  I have a list of things I am going to clean - baseboards, window sills, etc. - things the cleaning ladies do once in awhile but could use some more attention.

I am treating myself to today, tomorrow and Thursday being totally 'off' - no work.  Did check emails once in awhile today but no laptop; no bag of stuff to read or do.  Just vegging.  I need it -