Changes Afoot?

I am on vacation for a few days....technically unpaid non-work days using up carryover days...but any day I'm not in the office is a vacation day to my psyche.  Not much planned and that's the way I want to keep it - though I do have a haircut this afternoon and then dinner with a friend on Thursday. Friday may be mani/pedi with H. (believe it or not - his toes need tending).  And then a lot of yard stuff, pool time.

Last Friday, I took the two odd hours of vacation time I need to use to be off early - and of course, that was the day the crew arrived to prune the trees.  While I guess the trees are 'pruned', they look no different on the outside - most of the trimming was done on the inside so when you look up, you see a much more open space still surrounded by the tree canopy.  The blue jay family vacated the premises during the process (of course!) and I feared they wouldn't return - but they did.  I put out shelled peanuts on the patio table and added a bird waterer to a nearby tree so they are hanging out.  I will put peanuts in various feeders, too, so they will have plenty.

I went to Jackson yesterday and for the second time in two months, the person sitting next to me at a machine that I was just thinking 'I should play it' won $16,354!!  She started the bonus round and I sort of held my breath but thought she would win the mini 'cuz she had two of every symbol and usually the final pic in that situation results in the mini or the minor (small wins)....but her final pick was the Grand!  She was so excited - very young.  There with her grandfather and so thrilled about winning.  (She whispered 'I've lost $700 tonight and I'm so relieved to have this win!).  As always, while I was 'dang it all to heck that it wasn't me', I was very happy for her.  Someday, it will be me. Just not last night.

I returned home very late (the event that got me up there went until 10PM and I played an hour after that on a very hot machine, praying it would hit the $3.6M jackpot - it didn't).  Slept in a bit this morning.  I arrived home with more than I went with so that was good.  Not hugely more but at least I didn't lose it all.  That's a 'win' in my opinion.

H. has decided he wants to move to Houston to live with his best friend and his family. His best friend  J. moved there a couple years ago and is now working as a fire fighter.  J.'s dad has invited H. to come - there is a bedroom in their home that is "H's room" and according to both the friend and the dad, there are plenty of jobs there.  H. has an oncology appointment next week so we will talk to his doctor about possibly doing a set of scans pre-move and then suggestions for how to go about finding an oncologist in Houston to work with for follow-up.  H. can stay on our insurance until he's 26 so there shouldn't be any issue.

It will feel 'sad' to see him go but I do think this would be a good move for him.  The friends he hangs out with here and folks that do things he doesn't want to do (smoking at the top of the list) and he's having a lot of issues finding work here.  You'd think with Amazon in our town, it would be easy but this 'new' way of hiring is so challenging - online applications - how do you get noticed as one of thousands of online applications?  He's ready for a fresh start - and honestly, I think J. and I are ready, too.  It's hard wrangling H. constantly and I know the best friend's dad will be on H.'s ass constantly - and that's probably a good thing.  Non-parental ass-whooping has way more effect than parental sameness.

H. was thinking he would sell his car but I think he could drive there.  He won't need to really take furniture, etc. - just clothes, laptop, electronics, etc. - and some of it could be UPS'd there, too.  Then J. could fly home.  I think he should keep his car 'cuz it's paid for - and we can arrange to transport it there on a truck if he's worried about driving it.  (It's not in bad shape so I'm not sure what his worries are but it's all manageable).

We saw a Groupon offer for a 16 day trip to Barcelona, Florence, Venice, Rome and Paris for a really great price - but I can't bring myself to do it.  I told J. 'I came home so incredibly exhausted and sick from our last trip - and that was one city'.  I don't have any recoup time on these jaunts - I arrive home, take one or two extra days off for jet-lag recovery and then BAM right back into my busiest work season...working seven days a week to get budget done.  I still feel so exhausted by our last trip that the thought of another one is just a huge 'ugh'.  Which led to conversations about J. maybe going places himself - and that would be fine, I think.  He wants to see places that I'd love to see - like India - but can't imagine doing.  (Then he found a guided trip with A/C coach to India and I can see myself doing that...so we'll see).

We've both got the travel bug but....

We are traveling to Phoenix over Labor Day weekend to visit my aunt.  She's a persuasive 90 years old and we will visit her at the cabin in Prescott.  We are looking forward to it but in hindsight, I should have looked at doing it the next weekend 'cuz I have a board meeting the Tuesday we fly home so that will be interesting.  Board prep done days earlier to be available to get there and then getting home in time to be at the meeting by 5PMish.  Should be do-able - but if I'd studied the calendar better, I would have chosen another weekend - it will be fine, though.  Glad we are making the trip 'cuz the holiday does provide an extra day!

Update complete, for now.  I will try to write more to be sure I keep y'all updated.  It's looking like we could be empty nesters again by the end of summer -