I don’t believe that I’ve ever just taken time off to bum around the house. If I take a day, it’s because a kid is sick, or I’m sick, or I’ve got somewhere to go. Sometimes that involves bumming around a campsite, but there’s sure a lot of work involved to get there.

But with the upcoming quitting, I had a floating holiday that I had to use or lose. And since I had Wednesday off and was taking Thursday, was there really any sense in going in for a partial day on Friday? No, I thought not.

It’s been fantastic. I got Seamus Tuesday night after his last Summer League game. I kept him special because we were invited to a Fourth of July party at one of his favorite friends’ houses. I’d been getting friendly with the friend’s mom during the ball games, and she knew I would be at loose ends, so she invited me too, which was very nice of her. I really enjoyed getting to know some new people; makes me think I should get out more often.

The kids (there was a whole herd) had a ball, setting off fireworks in the court for at least three hours, until mothers started slyly sneaking the extras away to save for next year. Hey, we were tired, and the little ones had lost interest by 10:30. It was a great time for Seamus, especially since he was one of the big boys. He was one of four nine-year-olds, and for once there were no older brothers around to be bossy. These boys got to run the whole show, with Seamus doing a lot of picking the order of the explosions and his friend lighting a lot of them. Yes, lots of adult supervision was around, but we let them have their fun. All of the rest of the kids looked to be the seven-and-under set, and mostly girls, so the boys really enjoyed each other.

(I love the ghostly children in this long exposure shot. I was playing with sparklers, doing that on purpose.)

I turned Seamus back over to his father on Thursday, and went in to the big fancy mall with M to shop for reunion dresses. I was a little disappointed with the on-site offerings at Nordstroms, after all of the cool things they had online. I wanted to try on some of those that I’d been eyeing, but there wasn’t anything there worth the effort. Fortunately, Macy’s had better stuff, and I tried on a whole armload. M ended up taking one home that I’d picked out, of all things. Our tastes are wildly divergent, and it screamed her name when I picked it up, but I thought I’d try it on anyway. It looks better on her.

I was vaguely looking for two things; the reunion dress, which I wanted to take in a cocktail direction, and a nice light sundress. I should wear more sundresses, I think. Of course, what I ended up with was neither, but it works wonderfully with those red shoes I bought a couple of months ago, and I could wear it to the event if I don’t find anything better, or I could totally get away with wearing it on a date. If I had a date, of course. And no, I don’t have photos of it yet, because every time I settle down in the evening and consider it, my hair’s all funky from being in the pool and I have sweaty face. Maybe tonight. 

See, there, with sweaty, minimal makeup face:

Seamus and I spent yesterday and today farting around and doing errands. It was glorious to feel myself start to get stressed about having to get things done, and then realize that I still had a whole bunch of weekend left. It was all stupid stuff too; I went to the DMV and almost got my trailer relicensed. We went to the Farmer’s Market for tomatoes.

I contemplated making new window blinds for the kitchen after the cat wrecked the horrible shutters that were there, and Seamus looked through a couple of pattern books with me until we decided that that was all Kountry Kitsch Krap or inappropriately formal for a kitchen. So off we went to the land of the pre-made window coverings, where I still didn’t find anything kitcheny, although now I want curtains in my room and new ones in the living room. Finally, we ended up at Lowe’s, and in two trips got both a wide blind and a drill with which to install it.

It changes the look of the whole kitchen, and makes it feel cooler and less dirty already. Those shutters had lace insets, which were not removable for washing. Gross. And I suppose I needed the drill anyway, but I do wish I’d thought of that the first time we were down there.

And with all of that, I still have tomorrow in which to fight with getting Quickbooks installed and running, and possibly to alter a dress. All the time in the world! I should have done this years ago.