My Week Off

Today is the final day of the week that I snuck and took off work.
Since I teach at two universities, their breaks rarely match up. One college had a break this week, so I took advantage of my substitute hours and got a sub to fill in for me so I could have the week off.
Originally, I hoped to fly to visit Mom and Dad in Florida, but the price and the timing didn't cooperate. I also wanted to stay home to get some things done.
My husband has been working crazy hours covering a trial, 12 to 13 hours a day many days, and I wanted to help reduce his stress. I planned to accomplish a lot more than I actually did, but I got some things done.
I was especially productive on Monday and Tuesday. I got an Adirondack chair sanded and painted.

I sanded and painted the metal chairs that go around the outdoor table. A wooden bench that sits on the front porch had gotten faded and rough. I sanded it and used spray lacquer to finish it.
Finally, I sanded the porch swing and coated it in hemp oil, which my friend Sheila gave me. She refinishes furniture for a living, so she held my hand through a lot of this stuff.

In addition, I also started scraping the house to get it ready for painting. I know that painting the house is one of those things that is weighing heavy on my husband's mind. I haven't made much progress, but I plan to scrape, sand and paint one section of the house at a time and I have all summer.
Wednesday was fairly sedentary, after my morning run and walk. And Thursday, a sinus infection set in that left piercing pain in my face and head. I went to Writing Group anyway and my ears got stopped up too until finally, everyone's voices sounded like they were coming through a strange filter.
I skipped my run this morning but walked a couple of miles instead. In addition, I had a lot of shopping to do.
My husband and oldest son are headed out for a week on the Appalachian Trail on Sunday, so I bought the food they will need and also went to Eddie Bauer to get some hiking-appropriate pants for my son. Three stores and a load of laundry before I collapsed on the couch for an afternoon nap.

I think I made good use of my week off, and I'm just going to bask in the things I accomplished rather than focusing on what I didn't. 

April in Paris

No, we didn't take another trip to Paris, but I reminded Earl that last year at this time we were anxiously anticipating our trip to Paris. We decided to create our own France staycation by walking downtown for coffee and dessert.
We went to one of our favorite restaurants Roma Trattoria. We got to the restaurant just moments before they closed between lunch and dinner. They seated us along the front windows and we ordered espressos while we perused the dessert menu. Earl is a tea man usually, but he drank some espresso in Paris and decided that he would drink coffee for our Paris staycation. I'm not sure if espresso tastes better in Paris, or if everything tastes better in Paris, or if it was the lack of sugar cubes. A sugar cube is more sensory satisfying than a packet of sugar. Dropping it into the cup then using that tiny little spoon to stir it around, watching it melt slowly until it melded with the espresso.
Earl went for the chocolate cannoli for his dessert.

And I chose the lemon torte with vanilla bean ice cream. I don't usually like ice cream with my desserts. I don't like switching from the warm to the frozen. In this instance, the warm and the cold melted in my mouth. Delightful.

After our coffee and dessert, we walked to the grocery store and bought some French brie. When I was paying, I looked curiously at the cost of the brie. I thought the tag said $5.99 but it rang up $6.99. While Earl waited at the door, I went back to look at the price. Sure enough, it should have been $5.99. We went to the customer service desk and I showed them the receipt and the cheese.
The woman gave us back $7. When it rings up incorrectly, the buyer gets the item free, she explained. Plus, she was the only one behind the desk and she didn't want to go check the price. So, with our free brie, we walked down the street to Panera where we bought two baguettes. One baquette was to go with the cheese, the other baguette was to assuage the boys when they got home from school.
We walked home with the baguettes jutting from the bag and saw the spring flowers blooming in yards.
With our cheese, baguette and a new bottle of red wine, we were set for our Friday night date with House Hunters International France night.
Tucker claimed we were pitiful when he discovered our plans to watch six episodes of House Hunters International set in France. But he went to a Cake Walk, so who was he to talk?
Earl and I sipped wine, ate bread and brie and watched a couple of professors buy a tiny apartment in Paris, watched a British family choose a country house in Normandy, watched a single woman and her mother squeeze into a studio apartment in Paris, watched a family from New Orleans get a country house near Toulouse, and I went to bed while Earl watched a couple searching for a bed and breakfast.
We may be pitiful, but it was a lovely France staycation for us and cost much less than last year's 10-day trip to Paris.