Stay-cation of a Different Kind February 3, 2014

photo credit: http://www.cherworld.com

 

If you stay home but think about somewhere else, is it a stay-cation or st-ink? Safe to assume if you’re traveling with someone else and they find out the only thing you did was plan the vacation but never booked the vacation…you’ll be staying home AND be in the stink.

 

I read recently that planning a vacation is the most relaxing part of traveling. Makes sense, no clothes to buy, no tiny locks with no longer matching keys to find, no care arrangements to be made for pets or parents and no lines to stand in. If I were planning a holiday, I’d consider going to the bustling metropolis of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

 

Stop yelling at the screen.  Ottawa is wonderful.

 

Ottawa has the National Gallery, the Royal Canadian Mint, the Canadian Museum of History, the Parliament of the Moderately Civilized and the hill it sits on, and the Canadian War Museum. The nearby Gatineau Hills are beautiful and Montreal is only a short drive away. And, if I recall correctly from 1983, there is a hopping dance club across the river in Hull.  Theme song for the trip? “Girls Just Wanna Have Fu-uh-uhn.” 

 

Change of the Day:  Plan a trip that I won’t be going on because my bank account has a vote in this. And, imagine meeting Cyndi and Cher at their concert in Ottawa on April 26th, just in time for my birthday.  “Fun. Girls. Girls just wanna have fu-uh-uhn…”.

Out to the Furniture Pasture January 29, 2014

           

 

Dear Children,

Moving out can be an awesome experience. And, not just for your parents.

 

You will get a lesson in generosity. People who love you and hate their furniture will happily hand it over to help you out. Want a reupholstered 40-year-old rocking chair that squeaks without remorse when you land in it or try to get out? Or perhaps a set of oddly short mugs that came with a set of plates mom used in college? I didn’t like them then but I’m hoping you’ll like them now. Or at least get them out of the basement. How about some curtains made out of Grandma’s mother-of-the-groom dress circa 1978? They’re bright yellow and covered in lace. They’ll look great next to the rocker.

 

Okay, okay, I have a hidden agenda. I want new furniture throughout the house. Maybe a couple of nice lamps instead of the the ones that used to have shades. Maybe enough stuff gone that repainting the kitchen cupboards in today’s fashionable white would seem like a reachable goal. Do you need blinds? Because the ones I ordered in 1996 in beige but arrived more like pink need to go.

 

Funny what you live with when you’re busy raising kids. Now that they’re all going to be moving on, it seems silly to spend money on furniture just for me. Afterall, the ultimate plan is move back in with them.

Change of the Day: Buy something useful, but portable, like a new lamp or a mercedes. And, be sure I keep a current address for the kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not