The Weekend

Last weekend, New Year's Day, we went to my in-laws' house for a pizza party. My SIL is entering the Air Force (at the ripe old age of 29 with three children under age 8), and she is scheduled to leave for basic training on Jan. 11. DH and I decided to spend the night at his parents' house. Now, they only live a half-hour drive away, so it wasn't like we were going out of state or something. Maybe it seems silly that we decided to spend the night, but I desperately NEEDED to get away from home. (We rarely are able to get away because of our jobs and we have a dog who needs looking after.)

We took down the Christmas decorations on Friday (Dec. 31), and I was feeling rather claustrophobic, in spite of the fact there was now more room in the house without the tree and everything. I wanted a change of scenery. It helped that we had a couple of nice, sunny days. I was off Friday and we ended up going shopping at the outlet mall. I bought some new shoes, which I needed since my old shoes' soles were wearing out. It felt good to get out in the fresh air; the day was sunny and 65 degrees--quite unusual for January around here. I didn't want to go back home.

So, we got up on Saturday morning and got ready to go to the in-laws' house, arriving around 2pm (we had to get a few groceries for the party and stuff). My BIL was fixing pizzas when we arrived and DH helped him. I chitchatted with MIL and played with the kids. It felt really great to just sit around and not worry about anything. The pizza was good and we all stuffed ourselves. Some old friends of my in-laws came over to visit with my SIL for awhile. They left around 6pm and then we watched some tv. The kids stayed overnight with us while BIL & SIL went home.

I felt very calm and relaxed that evening, but I felt the old, familiar dread returning on Sunday morning. We drove home around 9:30am, because DH wanted to get home to watch football and of course, we had to take care of the dog.

The house was a complete and utter pigsty and so when I got home, I went into cleaning mode. Cleaning always makes me feel better. I did four loads of laundry, including the bedsheets, and later ran a load of dirty dishes through the dishwasher. DH was getting a cold so he slept all afternoon. After the clothes were clean and dry, DD and I put them all away.

As long as I was busy, I didn't have to think about anything.

Then Monday came, and it was back to work like usual. :)