Merry Furlough

We're making lemonade out of lemons around here.

Today marks the start of our first of two mandatory unpaid furloughs at work. Unpaid = bad. Mandatory vacation = good.

It was a weird atmosphere around the office on Friday. Everyone was tiding up their desks and making the rounds to wish each other a happy Thanksgiving holiday. Sort of like the day before Christmas break when you're in college. We coined it "Merry Furlough".

Counting weekends, we're off 9 full days before returning to work. Nice!

I am taking full advantage of this "vacation" and have a to-do list about 3 miles long. I've decided to take Jackson to daycare Mon.-Wed. even though I'm at home. It gives me uninterrupted time to tackle some of the bigger projects on my list. Besides, he likes it at Miss Holly's. And we pay for it whether he is there or not. And he likes it at Miss Holly's.

(Do you sense my guilt? Supid, stupid Mom guilt!)

Project #1: deep clean the house. It needed it. Bad. I went on a cleaning frenzy today. We're talking everything...from the ceiling fans to the baseboards. Except for the last 3 rooms which I'll finish tomorrow morning (I totally pooped out after 6 hours of cleaning straight) it looks marvelous! I love the feeling of a freshly cleaned house with vacuum marks still intact, glass sparking clean and candles burning. *Sigh*

Project #2: decorate. Next on the list is putting up holiday decorations. It will take a little more thought this year since we have a mobile and extremely curious nearly 1-year-old in the house!

Project #3: birthday party prep. There are several elements to Jackson's Winter Onederland party that I can prep for the big day. If there's anything I've learned as an event planner it's that it's all in the planning. The less you have to do the day of your event the better. Not only does it take away the stress of entertaining, but it leaves you free to mingle with your guests and actually enjoy the party!

Project #4: crafts. I'm not a crafty girl. Never have been. But I'm working on that. I've stumbled upon a super cute project that I think will make fabulous gifts (Christmas and otherwise). If I can figure it out. Which is a huge if. So I intend to take a little time this week and practice my crafting skills.

Project #5: christmas gifts. I'm almost done with my shopping. I have a couple of items to pick up that will require a quick run into Kansas City and then I can start wrapping.

Project #6: christmas cards. Cards are designed and printed. Just need to be stuffed and labeled and they're off.

Those are the big projects. The other stuff is minor and if I don't get to, well then I don't get to it. Like editing some of my recent videos of Jackson to share with you. And watching KU play Missouri on Saturday (because no matter how bad the season turned out...a win against our arch rival Missouri will make it all better).

And, of course, Thanksgiving is this week. We're traveling to Drew's parents and Deb is doing everything. All we have to do is show up. How dreamy is that! We do plan to cook a mini version of Thanksgiving on Saturday, though. Drew cooks a mean turkey on the grill and we love all the fixings so much we always like to have our own leftovers.

With all this activity around here, I imagine there will be some good blog material to share. If nothing else, my attempt at crafting will likely result in a huge comedy of errors. So I'll do my best to give you some more regular reading material in the coming days.

Now, I need to hit the shower. I smell like dust and 409.

Tonight is my monthly dinner night with the girls. We're going to the new Noodles & Co. that just opened up downtown followed by an appearance at Lawrence High School's "Pack the House". It's their big winter sports pep-rally and my friend Jana's daughter is performing with the cheer squad. Ah the memories.

Here's to making lemonade out of lemons. And a Merry Furlough to all.