Plans for intersession

Good Tuesday afternoon, friends. How's your week going?

Mine is going sloooooow. I have next week off (it's our fall break/intersession) and the days are starting to drag just as they always do when time off is on the horizon.

I have a few plans for the week, but nothing major. I certainly can't afford to go anywhere right now (worse luck!) but I'm going to try to enjoy myself in small ways. My plans are:

• Write several blog posts that have been rattling around in my head lately, one of which will be short book reviews of stuff I've read recently.
• Attempt to make pomegranate jelly! Yes, my pomegranate tree is loaded with ripe fruit for the first time this year, and I don't want it to go to waste. I've counted 15 large poms on the tree ready to be picked, so I should have enough for a few jars. The recipe looks simple enough...we shall see.
• After a years' (multiple) long hiatus, I'm going to pick up my knitting needles again and work on a project. The lovely young couple across the street are having a baby girl next month, and I'd like to knit a blanket for her. They're planning to name her Georgia. Isn't that pretty? It will be an exceedingly simple blanket, knit on large needles, since I'm so out of practice, but I think it will be a good project to begin again with. 
• Invite Martina over with her dog, Harker, for a playdate with Poppy one afternoon. Those two dogs are close in age and love each other! They both still have lots of "puppy" in them.
• Gregg wants to put a second coat of paint on the bathroom walls. I really don't feel like doing any more painting, but he's not going to be satified until we have a second coat on there. 

I'm sure there will also be plenty of reading, watching tv shows I don't normally have time for, etc. Also plenty of walks with the dogs. The weather is finally cooler and better for exercise, although my allergies are bad (the way they always are this time of year)  and I haven't been outdoors as much as I'd like lately. We'll see how that goes. I've been resolving to get more exercise. Maybe I'll even get my bike road-worthy again and ride it some. 

I'm grateful to have made it to fall intersession with my new job. I kept telling myself last spring (when I first found out I'd landed the job) that by October I should be fairly comfortable with everything. And it's true! I've learned a lot, and it's such a good environment that I haven't had a single bit of work stress since starting there. None. Zero. What a wonderful change from last year! 

What would you do with a week off at home?

Time off

It's wonderful to be off work this week, and a much-needed break. Work continues to be a mostly unhappy place, although far more tolerable than it was at the beginning of this school year. We've just finished our first quarter, and in six months (when contracts for the next year have to be signed) there should be plenty of job openings in the district to apply for. I'm crossing my fingers that something comes open at this school because it's only about a mile from my house, it's a very nice new building/campus, they have a really good staff and principal, and it serves younger students, kindergarten through fifth grade. Marla's little girl, Carsen, will be starting kindergarten there next year in their Spanish immersion program. This would be the ideal transfer for me! But of course, there has to be an opening first. 

Even though I'm off this week, I've been busy. I've washed and vacuumed out my car, organized and cleaned my pantry, gave the refrigerator a major cleaning, and taken comforters and other large bedding to the laundromat for a good wash (things that wouldn't fit in my washer at home). 

Marco "helping" me clean the pantry. :)

The big chore of the week was finally chopping down the dead dogwood tree in our front yard. Gregg has a small chainsaw that we used to do the job.  I took a final picture of the tree before we got started.

It was bigger than it looks in this picture. We got it down and also cut up a bunch of firewood from it, to be used for a bonfire later on. Now that it's gone, our front yard looks strange every time we forget about it and glance outside. Hopefully the little crabapple tree will make it to next spring (despite the deer damage) and will begin to grow into the empty space. We've contrived a wire cage thing to go around it to give it a chance to grow out, so hopefully the deer won't be an issue anymore.

This morning I had to go to the dentist to get a crown re-done. I was dreading it, but it turned out to be much easier than I expected. Afterwards I drove down to the allergist's office to get my weekly allergy shot, so now that's out of the way, too. Tomorrow I'm going to see my parents. I haven't seen them in a long while and my dad's been back in the hospital. His health keeps deteriorating, and I need to go see him more often while I have the chance. After that, I plan to relax and enjoy my last few days off. 

These two love it when I'm at home all day!