Vacation

Whew! What a crazy first day back after a week off!

Time off... Such a lovely thing when you need it. I don't think I realized that I needed a few days off as much as I did. I slept a lot the first few days. I was exhausted! It had been a very long, difficult few weeks.

OK. Let's see... It rained 7 of 9 days while I was home. (Those 2 days were the first dry days in about a month at my house.) It rained today. Most of the time, the rain was a little overwhelming. There were rivers instead of roads, and streams down the sidewalks. Luckily we live very near a green belt that holds all the water that flows downhill from our house. So there was no flooding at the house, but try as hard as they might, the pond was very, very full. (The city is trying to drain, dredge and clean it up as part of a beautification process.) Most days I just watched from the window, but there were a couple of days when the heavens opened up and produced soft, gentle rains that were absolutely gorgeous. It smelled like spring rain and was very warm to the touch. I had to be outside and stand in the rain on those days. Those days were lovely. There weren't many of them, but enough...

And little Zibby is getting bigger every day!! When we brought him home, he was a mere 4.5 inches long. Today he is more than 9 inches long!! He's barely two months old and sharp as a tack!! For a lizard, I'm very impressed with his ability to learn. I'll have to take more pics soon!

I read two books while on "vacation." I've read Mitch Albom books before. I was hooked after Tuesdays with Morrie, and I loved The Five People You Meet in Heaven. I read For One More Day. I have to be honest and say I liked the previous book best, but the latest book had it's touching moments. He just has a way of pulling you into his emotional stories. The second wasn't really a new book. I skimmed and reread Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. (I can't wait until the movie comes out Wednesday!! :D I'll be picking up son at lunchtime and then we'll have lunch at home and go to the movie at 3:30! Woo HOOO!)

I watched many movies while at home. (It was Harry Potter weekend on the Family Channel, so I watched the first three movies again, then watched my dvd of the fourth movie, too!) I watched all kinds of movies -- from The Color Purple to Are We There Yet? Lot's of fun and very relaxing to just watch and vegetate...

I slept in every day! No alarm clocks whatsoever!!

And hubby cooked many wonderful meals! I was so spoiled!! (...wonderful pork roast with garlic and spices and luxurious gravy, broasted chicken with mashed potatoes made with baby reds, lentil soup with mesquite smoked polska keilbasa, and more!) Mmm... Mmm.... MMMM!! He even made me this outrageous salad for lunch tomorrow of lettuce greens, tomatoes, crushed smoked almonds, cucumbers, carrots, and his pork roast! Wow... I'm drooling already!! ;) Son even came over and had dinner with us four nights during the week.

And all the little wild animals seem to be out this week. We are handfeeding squirrels, wild bunnies that aren't afraid to take carrots, frogs that try to step in front of the lawnmower (we won't oblige that death wish! It was my job to rescue the jumpers! ;) ), house gecko lizards that I tried to photograph, even neighborhood animals coming over for a sniff to see what treats we may have now! I love it!! TOO cool...

**Edit** Wild bunny wasn't so wild. He came right up to hubby. Took carrots right out of his hand. He's a pet. He must be. We'll have to make up "Found Bunny" posters tomorrow. Hubby brought him in "for me" so we could save him from the "wild" animals in the neighborhood. ;) He's in the 60 gallon cage for tonight. We'll find his owners tomorrow.... ***End Edit***

I did manage to do some chores, but not quite the spring cleaning I was hoping to do. I will be working another two weeks before I'll have to take another week off. Maybe I'll focus more on the spring cleaning at that point... The chores will always be there, but some of the other miraculous things just won't wait! And that's just fine with me. :)

And now I'm back to work! Don't know how much I'll be surfing the next couple of weeks, but I'll try to keep up with everyone's blogs!! Thanks for stopping by mine and leaving nice messages!

And that should catch you up on what I did on my summer vacation! ;D (Sorry to be so longwinded...)

Oh, by the way, I guess that a lot of people got married on Saturday, July 7, 2007. (07/07/07) I think it's supposed to be "lucky" or something. We didn't know it until after the fact, but we have a couple of friends who also got married that day! Don't know if it was on a whim or not, but CONGRATULATIONS Tommy and Melanie!