off-kilter weekend
April 19, 2010

Exhausted from a week of getting dumped headfirst into my new responsibilities, documenting my old ones, training my replacement, and finding myself the object of a tug-of-war between three executives (everybody seems to want me these days!), I was hoping for a quiet weekend. And I guess I got it--sort of. Quiet, but kind of disorganized--and I hate that.

We ran errands on Friday afternoon, I made soft-shell tacos for dinner, and that really was about it.

On Saturday, though, it started to unravel a little. Originally, Spouse had agreed to pick up Nephew on Sunday and bring him to town for $3-a-bag day at the library book sale. But when Nephew found out I was planning on going Saturday morning, to get a crack at the books before they were entirely picked over, he wheedled his uncle into getting him on Saturday, so he could do that too.

And, in that way he has, he parleyed that into staying with us for the next 28 hours.
Three good meals, an overnight stay, plus laundry service and a pay-per-view movie.

It's not that I begrudge him any of it, and I positively delight in having him around. But the lack of privacy, quiet, and organization involved it a little hard on me. Plus, I do have household responsibilities on the weekends that must be discharged (mountains of laundry), and additional tasks that, while they aren't a matter of urgency, are things I really want to deal with (cupboard cleaning, scrubbing floors, washing curtains, etc.).

Bottom line, I need to work seven days a week--six at the very minimum--to keep my life intact. I just don't get very much play-time. And I'm still trying to catch up from the one-two punch of vacation and Easter.

But I gave it my best shot at living in the moment, not sweating the small stuff, and smelling the roses. We had fun. And at least Nephew is fairly low maintenance, very like me in what he enjoys out of life, so having him around is a pretty low-key event.

And I did manage to squeeze in nine loads of laundry. Stripped and aired the beds, then remade them up fresh. Baked a pan of scratch brownies. Made pot roast. Washed up the dishes three or four times. Did the grocery shopping.

And let's not forget: went to the book sale, where I found eight books.

Lastly--I MANAGED TO READ ENTIRE BOOK.

So all -in-all, it was a fairly awesome weekend, even if the entire thing felt off-kilter.