Staycation All I Ever Wanted...

 Staycation, no cash to get away.  

Sing it with me.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was counting the days towards my vacation after Christmas.  To be fair, I actually like working straight through to Christmas generally because I know all my customers are taken care of and I start the new year on the right foot.  Of course, when my real life complicates my work life, this becomes difficult.  This year, it became impossible.

The day before Christmas Eve I went to work feeling somewhat off.  I chalked it up to having gotten the booster the week before and carried on.  While out on the route, the pain got worse, and of course, the mail truck broke down.  When the supervisor came out to rescue me with a new truck, he could see I was struggling.  I managed to make it through the day and checked myself into the ER straight from work. Eight hours later, relieved it was not my appendix, I was sent home with a script for heavy duty antibiotics and a note for work through Sunday. 

The next two days, Thursday and Christmas Eve, were pretty much spent in the house.  On a liquid diet I get quite dizzy, so I did not leave the house at all.  I divided up my last bits of Christmas chores for the boys to handle, along with getting my antibiotics, fetching lunch, and walking the dog. They did well, and our Christmas Eve went as well as can be. 

Typically, we do all our opening on Christmas Eve, make a big breakfast, and chill in our jammies Christmas day. This year, since we didn't get to see my brother's kids, we went over to my sister's house for an impromptu Christmas day brunch. While we were there, a game was played that involved holding a candy cane in your mouth and scooping up as many candy canes as you could for your team in the matter of 2 minutes. Super fun but not COVID friendly, at all.

Sunday was pretty uneventful, as I planned out my stress-free week of long overdue tasks. My parents came over...

Me: So, I think I'm going to buy the burial plot this week, since I didn't get one for Christmas like I asked.

Hubs: No way I was getting you that for Christmas.  Someone will ask me what I got you and I CAN NOT say burial plots.  That's just not okay.

Mum: Next year you can get her poison mushrooms.

*sigh*  Comedians, all of them.  But by Tuesday I had in fact, secured one of only 30 plots left in the cemetery down the street, with graves that date back to the late 1700s, where Youngest had changed flags every Memorial Day for 7 years. It's a corner plot, quiet, and perfect for picnics. When I got home, I made the appointment to update the will.  Funny, you don't think about how important these things are until you are stuck with seeing someone go through it. And given how difficult the last two years have been... 

Thursday morning my sister called me to say my niece had tested positive for COVID.  Remember the candy game? Yeah, I wish I could forget.  Thankfully I did not play, but Oldest did, and after some frantic searching we found a pharmacy with tests in stock.  So, he headed out to get one and discovered his car dead in the driveway, behind mine. Forty years of driving could not have prepared me for the comedic events that followed while, aided by Oldest, I attempted an 80-point turn to get my car turned around so I could jump his battery. Once successful, he headed out to get coffee to charge it a bit, came home and tried to restart it.  Nothing. Thankfully, my friend had an extra test and ran it down to us.  Oldest tested positive.  This means his New Year's plans are off, and he can't start his internship for an extra week.  He made the contacts aware that were necessary, and I ran to the pharmacy to get additional tests. He's been holed up in his room, sans his hand-built gaming computer -did I forget to mention it completely died on Wednesday?-with a box of tissues and not much else. 

With the rest of us testing negative, Youngest has packed up to a friend's house for the next 4 or 5 days, since he FINALLY found a job, and the Hubs and I are masking up and only running necessary errands.  One of which, was getting a new car battery for Oldest, which he installed today, since it was 50 degrees outside, a rarity in December. Which brings us to New Year's Eve, the Chinese food is ordered for later, and I am turning my sights towards the last things I need to get done as the next year arrives.

I sure hope the passing of Betty White is not an indicator of what's to come.

Twenty Eight Days Later...

 I'm alive, I swear.

Barely.

I'm not even sure where to start really, just to say that this Thanksgiving I was more grateful than others.  While we were missing my niece and two nephews, the event was more of an adult affair, the youngest in attendance being nearly 16. Youngest was present, really present, and engaged in conversation.  Oldest was happy to be home for the week, and even happier to be back on our insurance policy ensuring he could see friends and run errands throughout the week. Even Bonus Son partook in our rousing annual game of Family Feud, complete with Steve Harvey mustache and horrendous answers. 

Logistically the past 7 weeks have been a mess.  With a lack of help at work, getting time off to do anything is difficult.  On the 8th of November we dropped off Youngest's car to have body work done from two accidents, one where he was backed into, and the other when he hit a deer. We were assured that the damaged could be fixed because they were two separate claims.  For three weeks the body shop and the insurance company went back and forth. Then, the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week the insurance decided they would total loss the car.  They did this after they cut the check to the body shop for the first claim, and now left us trying to find a used car in a market that doesn't exist right now, and with a settlement price that can't replace any of the safety features he once had. Hostile phone calls ensued, appraisals flew through emails, it was a mess.  

No worries though, because while his brother was still in school he could use his car, right?  Nope.  It needed brake pads, rotors, and calipers. And, while we scheduled that for the shop, one of the tires went flat. In trying to get it off, something else came loose, and it then needed to go in immediately.  So not only could we not have Youngest drive it to school, but Oldest couldn't take it back into the city to get himself home for Thanksgiving break. This meant rearranging the week so that Hubs could get him that Tuesday, an hour trip into the city that took nearly 3 hours. Good times.

In the meantime, Youngest decided to bail on all but one class for college, further convinced it is just not for him. He did manage to find a car, and after 10 days of waiting, finally got everything through the RMV. The body shop finally released the original claim money they were given a month ago, and now we are just finishing up with the final settlement of his old car, which was just picked up from the body shop yesterday, and remove it from his policy.  

Oldest's last final was yesterday, so on Sunday we brought his car up to him, moved almost everything out for him, and began the process of fitting his entire apartment back into our 900 square foot house. He nailed his final, worked half a day, and arrived home at 730 last night further testing the limits of our storage capabilities with what was left of everything in the apartment.  His co-op is 5 miles from the house, and while I hope it goes well, this moving him every 12 weeks is crazy. Regardless, he's here until May, with delusions prospects of going to Switzerland to hike 100 miles through the Alps in April. 

Today, because of a well-placed vacation day I requested in March, I was able to restock the food in the house which had been getting, well, questionable. Youngest's car was finally available for pick up, so he finally has wheels and has been home for 30 seconds.  His goal this week is to finish his one class for school and find a full-time job. Target has been dragging their feet, and his other prospects aren't looking too appealing.  Though a library job with the town has popped up and has piqued his interest, so we shall see. His legal issues, while he didn't want to bring them into the new year, have been pushed to January, which seems to be a small favor. While I won't get into it, being the victim in one case prevents him from testifying and allows him the 5th. As horrible as what he went through, it seems he may have finally seen the road he was heading down was very much a dead end.

With nine days left to go it seems I will survive another holiday season.  The gifts are all received, wrapped, and with only stockings left to go, we are in good shape. The days, I'm sure, will fly by. Which is good, because I also strategically took time off way back in March for the 25th through the 1st.

Maybe then I'll actually be able to get something done for me.