Doing the bump…

Oh how I cringed today while checking in for my flight to Alaska at the little Delta/NWA kiosk.  I had battled huge crowds to get to the kiosk and then when I went to see my seat assignment it pulled up a screen full of full seats.

The 5.5 hour flight was completely and totally booked… and I was sitting in the middle seat of a tiny row at the back of the plane.

Bummer.

I mean, seriously…

bummer.

While making my way through the airport I was thinking about my mom and her knack for taking bumps for travel vouchers and I made up my mind to volunteer as soon as I got to the gate.

Score.  I’m now pretty tired of being at the airport; however, I now have a $300 travel voucher, I’m only about 3.5 hours later in my arrival and I’m even in an aisle seat for my flight.

What’s better?

Since I was the first volunteer I got on the next direct flight to Anchorage, and those who volunteered after me are all having to change planes in Fairbanks.

I keep thinking about how much my time is worth to me and when I do the math it looks a bit like a 3 hour delay for $300 in travel makes me worth just under $100 an hour.

Overall I think I’m coming out ahead, but that’s due in part to also thinking that I’m a little closer to my mother today.  She sure did love a deal.

Thanks for the tips mom!

Says me,

S.

Sigh…

on June 24th, I spoke too soon.

A fluke is a fluke is a fluke is a fluke.

S.

Maybe I don’t need to know…

In general I am a person who wants to know stuff.  I want to know the truth, the background, the details, the inner workings, the subtle nuances and the grit.

I ask too much and want to talk about it when it’s none of my business or maybe doesn’t matter in the least.  I’m annoying that way.  I will talk something to death trying to figure stuff out because…

well… I always want to know.

Something changed in my life this month and I have no idea what precipitated it.

Maybe this is going to be the first time in my life when I don’t need to know what happened or why…

I’m just really glad it did.

Says me,

who doesn’t know it all today.

S.

Ready for the road?

I’m leaving tomorrow to see my grandma, and am really looking forward to it.

What I’m not looking forward to is coming back and having just a few days to finish preparations for heading to Alaska.  Who was I kidding about 3 days being enough time to get ready to roll for 2 weeks?

I must not be all that bright in general.  Today I had a list a mile long of things to do before I left town for the week, and I am still trying to check them off one by one.  So many tasks… so little time.  Who mows the lawn at 8:30 at night?  Yeah… that would be me.  Who starts a panic load of laundry at 10:30 at night?  That would also be me.

Somehow through all of this prep, plan, work and packing I’ve also managed to see a little softball, play with the dog, cook a few meals, get through 2 or 3 meetings and miss the UPS guy by about 10 minutes.

I really need to learn how to be less of a procrastinator.

Says me.

S.

Oh, hair…

I’d like to be a girl who doesnt’ give a rip about a haircut; however, there’s always a little chunk of me that freaks the heck out whenever it’s time for locks to be clipped.  I get that it’s just hair and it will grow back, but as a girl, I still want to look good… or at least not bad.

Yesterday I got my haircut… and I survived.

Whew.

S.

Periods of Transition.

I am currently in a period of transition.

I don’t like it.

Moving forward down a new path is not sounding adventurous and new and exciting to me like it used to when I was in a period of transition.  This time I’m just feeling overwhelmed and uncertain.

I find myself wondering what it is that has changed my perspective so drastically and I keep coming back to a just a few things.

1-  I liked where I was before and am having a hard time seeing how something new is going to be enough of an improvement to justify the changes.

2- Change is harder as you get older and more set in your ways.

3- I’m more aware, and therefore more realistic, about the amount of work that implementing change requires and am dreading it.

Either way it’s been hard to get into my “Afoot and lighthearted… ” brain space.

Says me.

S.

Days that are uneventful and big…

Today is a day that is totally uneventful.   My plans include normal workday tasks and general housekeeping.  The weather is nice, but it’s just like any other weekday.

But today is big.

Today is my mom’s birthday.

I didn’t mail a card or buy flowers.  We have no plans with friends and there’s no sashaying around the house.  No special meals or surprises.

While I know that to the vast majority of the world, today is just a June 1st that falls on a Monday, I take comfort in the fact that there are a chunk of us out there who are thinking today of a woman who touched us, loved us and made our lives richer by her being in it.

Happy Birthday Mom.

This day is for you.

Says me.

S.

** AMENDMENT**

I got over my own personal pity party and picked up the phone.  Pedicure in an hour for toes done red in I’m Not Really A Waitress and then cocktails and snacking food at dad’s house at 7:30 to raise a glass in her honor.

This is sounding SO much better than the first plan.

… and now for something entirely different…

Wave the yellow flags.  The race to get my hardwood flooring installed is in a holding pattern while my dad flees Minnesota for fishing in Alaska for the summer.

We have changed gears from thinking about what I need to be able to live in my house for 3 months while the project is suspended, to thinking about what dad will be needing to be able to live in his RV for 3 months.

I have to admit that it’s hard to sum up your creature comforts in one brain storm… do we even know what things we really need with us to thrive?  I’m guessing that much of what we packed won’t be needed and the few things that we overlooked will make dad miserable for want.

Friends have thrown in their support and a box of Sham-Wow.  You’d be surprised by how much weight both things carry.

Currently we are racing around in a flurry of little errands and projects, which I’m sure will make the time after dad’s departure seem that much more quiet.  I am thrilled for his trip and excited for my own section of travel with him in July; however, there is still a little part of me that feels orphaned when he takes the road like this.

I am always grateful for the experiences I was afforded by being a part of this family.  Together we traveled, by car, by plane… by boat.  There was stuff to see and we went to go see it.  There’s lots more for us to see, and in this family we are all concerned that between global environmental issues, decreasing fossil fuels and a weakening economy, these opportunities will dwindle.

The pressure to do as much as we can fit in now is great while patience is limited.  My dad is young at 60; however, I’m sure there will be a day when his happy hour in his retirement life is enough to keep him thriving and he waves us off into our own adventures.  In the meantime, I’m loving his wanderlust and piggybacking on his adventurous streak… all the way to the base of the Grand Canyon and back… and now into the wild.

“When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego and when we escape like the squirrels in the cage of our personality and get into the forest again, we shall shiver with cold and fright. But things will happen to us so that we don’t know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in.” – D. H. Lawrence

I’m a fan of Cool, unlying life.

Says me.

PS.  The rest of that quote is just too much.  I prefer it out of context.  *grin*

Hardwood Landmark…

Today we finished up nailing the flooring down in the kitchen and the dining room.  We reinstalled appliances… we swept up much of our mess.

I was really looking forward to having the flooring done in those rooms as a bit of a short term goal.

Sadly, right after getting through that we were panting, sweating and bleeding on the floor taking a break and right away dove into what was next…

None of the trim works is in, so we have to stain and poly the baseboards and quarter round.

The hallway to the bath with it’s 2 closets is not done.

Thresholds everywhere it changes flooring need to be addressed.

Trim on the stairs.

A few spots that need a little love to look their  best.

Plus, the entire office is waiting until we put in the new sliding glass patio door.

SO!

Our little landmark in my hardwood flooring endeavor is just that… a stopping point for today…

I’ll take it.

Home improvements…

I’m not exactly sure why it is that home improvements always seem to spend quite a long period of time being home deconstruction.

My stove and fridge are in my living room, my dishwasher in the dining room and my bathroom doors are in the office downstairs.

My garage has dogs in it along with an arsenal of tools and debris that we navigate around in efforts to use that space for working.

There are materials all over the house.  33 boxes of solid oak flooring in my family room, a kitchen sink in the garage, a faucet under ever sink and one on a dog kennel that I don’t know where to put.

There are tools set everywhere.. we are always looking for them.

I want to know who keeps two empty dog food bags full of baseboards in their tub.  Apparently just me.

Today we started nailing down the hardwood floors and I am starting to see how this will one day be wonderful… but in the meantime, I am tired of trying out how to cook with only my George Foreman grill and a microwave.

Says me.

S.