Stepping Back Is A Good Thing

Being away from work and essentially the world for over a week has been a good thing. I was pretty burnt out when I left work over a week ago. Burnt out and tired of being angry for some truly nefarious shite they pulled. I knew I needed to kickstart my Thanksgiving vacation early as I could not focus on the everyday stuff that I needed to. I’ll be clocking back in Monday morning at 6 am. My workmate might be there, or he might not. Not sure if he was going to step back as well. I told him he should. We’ll see.

It’s been nice being at home and not rushing to do this or that. Wednesday afternoon the wife and I went to our favorite Mexican restaurant in Fort Wayne for lunch. It was supposed to be us and my parents, but my mom called Wednesday morning with a voice barely audible saying she was sick and they couldn’t go. She ended up going to the doc at 11:15 that morning and found out she had Covid. Way to start the holiday out.

So the wife and I ate solo and it was delicious. Great lunch. We ended up going to a thrift store afterwards that my wife wanted to check out. She found a really nice puffer winter jacket for $5. We then hit up Michael’s for some Xmas garlands and some paint supplies(canvases and some paints.) Hit up my favorite brewery in the Fort for some IPAs, then unfortunately went to Meijer to pick up some extra stuff for Thanksgiving. That was a nightmare and a half.

Thursday morning we did the Gobble Wobble 5K. First 5K we’ve ever done. We didn’t run, just did some speed walking. Made 3.1 miles in just under 49 minutes. Not too bad. We got home and made some cinnamon rolls and watched some TV for a bit. Then I started getting dinner around. I put a turkey breast in the slow cooker and made green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. I made extra and took over to my parents so they didn’t have to mess with sides. They had a turkey and roasted that.

Dinner was nice, as it was our two youngest, as well as our son’s girlfriend. Surprisingly everything got ate up. There was some turkey left for turkey sandwiches the next day, so that was good. That evening we had some pecan pie and watched an awful movie with Jack Black called Dear Santa. Not worth your time.

Friday I did some rearranging downstairs and have a semi-permanent spot for painting, as well as getting the music area set up a little better. Still not any further on that sampler, but whatcha gonna do? Rome wasn’t built in a day, or so they say.

Today I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Maybe watch a couple movies, and go break in those creative spaces downstairs. That’s always at the top of my list, but life has a way of throwing obstacles in my way here and there. We’ll see.

Monday will be my 51st birthday. I can’t believe it’s been a year since my 50th. It really does feel like it was just yesterday that we were at Tequila’s, my wife, all my kids, my parents, brother and sister-in-law, and my friend and his wife eating and laughing and enjoying ourselves. I guess since we’re in the thankful season, I suppose I’m thankful I’m here ready to celebrate another birthday. 50 was an interesting year. Some good, some bad, and indifferent. It was quite a year with our 21-year old trying to finish beauty school while working nearly 40 hours a week to make rent, and take care of her new, giant shelter dog Celeste. Lots of ups and lots of downs, but things are finally starting to look up with her getting into a new, up and coming salon as an apprentice. Celeste has become quite the wonderful dog, well behaved and loving.

This year was the year of the concert. I finished the year out with the BEAT Tour, while my wife finished it out with Taylor Swift. I saw 6 concerts, while my wife saw 7. Definitely a record for us. Our trip to Colorado was not a great one, but Dr. Dog was great at Red Rocks. Worth flying to Colorado? Ehh, ask me in a few years.

I guess the biggest thing this year was that I found out I’m not losing my job for the foreseeable future. Despite the crap that went on here recently, I’m thankful I’ll still be working with insurance, paid time off, and still putting into my 401K. I might not make it to 65, but I’ll be a hell of a lot closer to it.

So yeah, I had a crappy week at work before I was off on vacation. Those happen and you just deal with it and move on. In the big picture I feel pretty thankful overall.