Vacation means…work?!?

My husband took Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off from work. Usually we make plans for these times and then get very little, if anything, done. Well, not this time! I don’t think I’ve had such a continuous stretch of manual labor…ever. Here is what we’ve accomplished over the last few days, in no particular order:

1. Shopped at multiple home improvement stores.  Bought from one, ordered online from another.
2. Replaced the 3 yard lights on the front of our house.
3. Got part of our online order picked up from Lowe’s – the rest is coming later.
4. Replaced non-working  disposal.
5. Put our gazebo up on the deck.
6. Assembled (and used) new grill.
7. Assembled new lawn mower.
8. Used said mower on front and back yard on 2 different days.
9. Manually de-thatched front yard.
10. Declared war on sweet ants who decided to invade our kitchen – their occupation was short-lived.
11. Bagged up yard waste.
12. Hauled several large and small items to the curb for ‘pick up anything’ trash day.
13. Removed front storm door and took to the curb.
14. Gave my older son a haircut.
15. Put down grass patch in several spots in the yard, watered, etc.
16. Weeded, cultivated and seeded 2 flower beds.
17. Trimmed the raspberry bushes.
18. Cleaned out the shed.
19. Got a Razor scooter and helmet for the kids.
20. Got a new bike for older son since we discovered he is now too tall for the existing bike.
21. Raked leftover debris out from the other 2 beds (which should have been done in the fall) and put into yard waste bags.
22. Removed one side of our deck bench after realizing that it was not a good idea to actually light the grill under the gazebo because it could catch on fire and our deck didn’t leave enough room for the grill AND the gazebo.  Decided to do this on the spur of the moment so we could get the wood out to the curb for pick up.  This is a typically impulsive move on my part especially since we didn’t measure to make sure it would fit even after moving the gazebo over!
23. Installed new curved shower curtain rod in the master bath.

I might be forgetting something, but that’s probably about it.  You’ll notice there is no mention of laundry, washing dishes or any other regular housework on that list.  That’s because I didn’t do any of that!  So guess what I’m doing today.    It works out well, anyway.  Hubby is back at work at least for most of the day and it’s rainy and cloudy outside.  My body needs the rest – I literally hurt from the tips of my fingers (from raking and I got a splinter, even!) to my toes (tons of standing and walking and crouching…).  So I’ll hobble around the house today and try to get the inside of our house looking like a family did not run rampant through it without cleaning anything for nearly a week.

Whew!  Vacations can really wear a person out!

Tags: maintenance, spring, vacation, yardwork