My utterly hedonistic long, long weekend!
Finally, after several months of working massive hours, my huge-assed project has been sent to print. I still have some finish-up work (ok, and a media briefing and committee meetings and things) but the actual work is done and I get to actually have weekends and evenings off again. At least until the next project.
I celebrated my freedom by taking Friday off. Since Thursday was a holiday, that made for a 4 day weekend. I was almost beside myself considering the possibilities. So here is what I did with my first weekend of freedom in forever:
1. Slept in. A lot. Every single damn day. I did get up in time on November 11th to have my own two minutes of silence at 11 a.m.
2. Read a lot of h/d. Since Thursday and Friday were my days to edit the HDProphet, I thoroughly enjoyed the excuse to lounge about reading. Oh, and I got to recc Chapter 2 of saras_girl's brilliant new story Turn, which you are also reading, right? If not, what the hell are you doing here!?! Go, now, and read!
3. Met with my new handyman person and gave him a long and detailed list of things to be fixed in my house. New countertops. Insulation in the attic. Weatherstripping on the doors. New light and doorbell at the front. Etc, etc, etc.
These are things that, in the past, I would have done myself because I am something of a do-it-yourselfer and don't really like to pay people to do things I can do on my own. But then I thought to myself, I thought, "Self, you have reached the stage in your life where you have enough money (more or less) and not enough time. It is reasonable to pay someone else to do things for you. Especially if they are things you don't actually enjoy doing." And therefore, handyman! Very exciting.
4. Picked the paint colour for my kitchen. Which I will paint myself, because that's something I actually enjoy doing. Also, no one else paints to my rather excruciatingly exacting standards.
5. Went for lunch with my friends. I usually find time to do this at least once on the weekend but this is the first weekend in forever that I didn't have to rush away to work after. Also went for coffee with other friends in the evening, which is rather rare because I'm usually tired and cranky from work and just want to be at home.
6. Went to see Ron James. For those of you on my flist who are not Canadian, he's a comic. Very, very funny guy. Excellent live show.
7. Rented a car and drove out to visit my folks. I live a car-less life (on the prairies, this makes me something of a freak), which means I don't get out to see them as often as I think I should. It was a beautiful drive, with everything covered in hoarfrost. It was so gorgeous that I felt the need to share photos with you. These are photos of my parent's yard:
(weeping birch in the backyard)
(part of the front yard)
(for comparison purposes - front yard in summer, with my father, brother, and nephew)
My brother, who lives in Victoria and cannot understand why anyone would want to live on the frozen prairie, keeps pestering me to move to the west coast. I will admit that when it's forty below and blizzarding I see his point. But then we have a day like today and I just can't imagine living anywhere else.
I did other things this weekend too, but I don't think you're interested in hearing about chores, shopping, etc.
Also, on my drive out to my parent's place, I listened to the podfic version of Reparations and now I'm feeling all revved about doing more recording. (Is it narcissistic to enjoy listening to the sound of one's own voice? I swear, it's all about the story, truly!). So I'll definitely be getting something recorded before Christmas. I believe next up is The Significance of Draco Malfoy.
Now that I look back at this post, I have to admit that my weekend really wasn't all that hedonistic. Except the sleeping in part. I suspect that it's a sign of advancing age.
And now I'm slightly sad because it's almost time for bed and I have to go to work tomorrow. Ah, well, the better to pay for the handyman, I suppose!
This post brought to you by Murphy, the wonder cat (aka: that evil git):
I celebrated my freedom by taking Friday off. Since Thursday was a holiday, that made for a 4 day weekend. I was almost beside myself considering the possibilities. So here is what I did with my first weekend of freedom in forever:
1. Slept in. A lot. Every single damn day. I did get up in time on November 11th to have my own two minutes of silence at 11 a.m.
2. Read a lot of h/d. Since Thursday and Friday were my days to edit the HDProphet, I thoroughly enjoyed the excuse to lounge about reading. Oh, and I got to recc Chapter 2 of saras_girl's brilliant new story Turn, which you are also reading, right? If not, what the hell are you doing here!?! Go, now, and read!
3. Met with my new handyman person and gave him a long and detailed list of things to be fixed in my house. New countertops. Insulation in the attic. Weatherstripping on the doors. New light and doorbell at the front. Etc, etc, etc.
These are things that, in the past, I would have done myself because I am something of a do-it-yourselfer and don't really like to pay people to do things I can do on my own. But then I thought to myself, I thought, "Self, you have reached the stage in your life where you have enough money (more or less) and not enough time. It is reasonable to pay someone else to do things for you. Especially if they are things you don't actually enjoy doing." And therefore, handyman! Very exciting.
4. Picked the paint colour for my kitchen. Which I will paint myself, because that's something I actually enjoy doing. Also, no one else paints to my rather excruciatingly exacting standards.
5. Went for lunch with my friends. I usually find time to do this at least once on the weekend but this is the first weekend in forever that I didn't have to rush away to work after. Also went for coffee with other friends in the evening, which is rather rare because I'm usually tired and cranky from work and just want to be at home.
6. Went to see Ron James. For those of you on my flist who are not Canadian, he's a comic. Very, very funny guy. Excellent live show.
7. Rented a car and drove out to visit my folks. I live a car-less life (on the prairies, this makes me something of a freak), which means I don't get out to see them as often as I think I should. It was a beautiful drive, with everything covered in hoarfrost. It was so gorgeous that I felt the need to share photos with you. These are photos of my parent's yard:
(weeping birch in the backyard)
(part of the front yard)
(for comparison purposes - front yard in summer, with my father, brother, and nephew)
My brother, who lives in Victoria and cannot understand why anyone would want to live on the frozen prairie, keeps pestering me to move to the west coast. I will admit that when it's forty below and blizzarding I see his point. But then we have a day like today and I just can't imagine living anywhere else.
I did other things this weekend too, but I don't think you're interested in hearing about chores, shopping, etc.
Also, on my drive out to my parent's place, I listened to the podfic version of Reparations and now I'm feeling all revved about doing more recording. (Is it narcissistic to enjoy listening to the sound of one's own voice? I swear, it's all about the story, truly!). So I'll definitely be getting something recorded before Christmas. I believe next up is The Significance of Draco Malfoy.
Now that I look back at this post, I have to admit that my weekend really wasn't all that hedonistic. Except the sleeping in part. I suspect that it's a sign of advancing age.
And now I'm slightly sad because it's almost time for bed and I have to go to work tomorrow. Ah, well, the better to pay for the handyman, I suppose!
This post brought to you by Murphy, the wonder cat (aka: that evil git):