So here it is, 5:45 am on the last day of reporting month. As you can see from the lack of postings, more severe than usual this month, it's been a rough one. A friend and I were thinking back and we haven't seen one like this in a long time. It was like the planets must have aligned or something. There's no software or EPA release to blame this on. The full moon only comes once a month. There were no regulatory changes that snuck up on us. This was the second reporting month of the year, and so as a rule is a bit tougher than 1st quarter reporting, but not usually by this much!
Who knows. All I know is that it ends today. And I haven't been this thankful for the end in a long, long time.
But, there is brightness on the horizon! Monday is a vacation day! Mom, Boo and I are going down to Delaware to visit the beach, do a little shopping and visit with some friends and family. And then we get to do it again on Sunday. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this. I haven't seen Robin and Paul in a long time. I think I saw them at Gram's memorial, but that was over 2.5 years ago now. (Can it really have been that long ago? Wait, yes, because I was pregnant with Boo at the time and now he's 2! Where has the time gone?!?)
And, as insanely excited as I am to be going to the beach two days in the next week, I'm even more insanely excited about the weekend after that. Yep, Gak, Boo and I are disparaging for 3 days, 4 if you count the fact that we're leaving after Gak gets off work that Saturday. This vacation is going to be great. Just the three of us. Yes, where we're going we could easily try and get together with at least one friend and some family as well. Are we going to? Nope. We only have 3 days and I want to spend it with my boys. If we were going to be gone for 4 or 5 days, I'd think about it. But I really need this "weekend" with just my boys, just the three of us. I haven't had a real vacation since I went to Disney with Kat and the gang in 2007, and the last time Gak and I had a vacation together was 2005 for our honeymoon! Yes, we've had weekends at friends' and a couple of trips back to OK, but no vacation, just the three of us. The closest we've come was our one night in Baltimore back in April, but that was to spend some time with Michelle (which I treasure, but wasn't really much of a vacation...)
Where are we going? Well, I'm not going to give you all the details. Just that it involves both camping and big city. That it's in my Mom's "backyard" of where she grew up. And yes, the camping part was somewhat my idea, but the place we're going was Gak's. We had the option of renting a cabin, but he was OK with taking the tent, which is good because that means we can stay the extra day.
Yes, you'll see all kinds of pictures and hear all kinds of stories once we get back. I really love how this will be a mix of lazy camping and great sight seeing opportunities. The best part of it is, there is so much to do that's free! Yep, cheap is good, free is better. Just thinking about this trip has had me bouncing off the walls since yesterday when the plan came together and I reserved the camp site.
The great thing is, I've got a good bit of camping gear still from when I was younger and we just got a new tent and sleeping bags. I've got some other things I can borrow from Mom and I'm gonna see if I can't borrow the "kitchen" from Kat. So, for the cost of 1 night in a hotel, we'll be spending 3 nights in a tent. (And you'll never feel like you've got to leave your "room" at the campground if you don't want to so the maid can clean and make the beds.)
It's the thought of these trips that's going to get me through the next 10 hours.
We've also got other fun things planned for August. Steve will be home in a matter of days (or a week or two). This means that his "post deployment picnic" will be happening at the end of August. And the next day a bunch of us are going to Ozzfest. Do you know how long it's been since I've been to a concert? Let alone a cool, all day, outdoor event like Ozzfest? I'm really looking forward to it, even if the next day is going to be hard. Gak's got to open the next day, so I get about an hour reprieve from my normal 6:30 am leave time on Monday mornings.
The biggest downside to August is that all of this fun comes with a ton of work for Gak. He's going to be working open to close at least 12 days this month, not including his normal Saturdays. While the paychecks will be nice, the dead husband not so much. Oh well, it'll make up for Gak not getting vacation time for the two days we're taking off in the middle of the month. (Can I tell you how much that irks me? It does. I mean, he's been there 5 years, minus a 6-month stint, you'd think he'd be able to get 5 or 6 hours vacation time in a year? Ah, don't get me started... I like his boss, but sometimes he just doesn't treat Gak very fairly, even when he can...)
Well, I'd better get my butt together and out the door. I've got one more day to get through this week and then I'm free for 3 days of vacation! Yes, I really am that excited over a long weekend. Yes, it has been that rough of a month, and pretty much that rough of a year.
Peace to all and may you have something to look forward to and time with just your closest loved ones.
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