How I Spent My Stay-cation

Who would have thought that so much could be accomplished and it could still be relaxing? The one added day I tacked on to the Memorial Day weekend made it even that much more awesome! Bear with me, because this post is probably more for me than anyone else, as it's pretty mundane what I did. However, as this is the journal of my time in the midwest with my love, then I'm adding it! Plus, it's my first vacation day! So, here it is, my staycation:

Thursday night- I left a bit early from work (5:15 instead of 6:00) because my last client didn't show. Met up with Arlo at Bootleggers for Thursday night trivia. There we had awesome half-price appetizers and cheap beer and tried to answer the questions correctly. I also tried to not go and tell on a table that was, I thought, blatantly cheating with their cellphones. Arlo tried to be the voice of reason, but I had a difficult time hearing it. Finally, I settled with just using a technique I've watched my mom hone to perfection- the stare of hatred, of saying, "I see you doing that, Asshole." I'm not proud, but at least I was able to shake it off (mostly) and enjoy the rest of the night.
Friday- Slept in, had pancakes with Arlo, and went to the doctor (I know, not fun, but it was the only appointment time I could get), mailed a present to my brother, and came home. Arlo and I packed an awesome picnic lunch and ate at the lakefront. It was a beautiful sunny day. After lunch, we flew a kite. Arlo bought a kite after the weekend at the cabin, where he tried unsuccessfully to help the kids fly one. Kevin (and others, of course), I have to say, flying a kite is a lot more fun than I thought it would be. We even flew it out of the car window for approximately 30 seconds before almost hitting the electrical wires and Arlo had to let it go. For a brief, shining moment though, awesome! After our picnic, we went to a coffee house and wrote a song together, and designed the new cat feeder coverall. As Arlo worked Friday night, I chilled, watched The Nanny Diaries (I'm not proud) and was as slug-like as possible.
Saturday- Went to work at the farm for our CSA, picking thistles for about 2 1/2 hours before the rain started. How awesome is this....on the route to our CSA is a cheese shop that puts out about 20 different cheese samples and also makes home-made icecream. We had all of the samples and split a cone. Sluggish with dairy products, Arlo chilled while I drove home. We were home for about 20 minutes and then off again! This time to the movies. We saw "I Love You, Man," which, while it dragged occasionally and was pretty predictable, made us crack up. Then, we went to Big Lots, came back home and had dinner. More TV and then sleep.
Sunday- Met Arlo's dad at Milager's, an awesome gardening store, to pick out stuff to put in his garden. Then, we went to visit Arlo's grandfather's gravesite and plant some flowers. After that, we picked up fried tacos from La Tapatia, a mainstay of Arlo's experience in Racine, and a delicacy that we will be sure to share with our next visitors, whoever they may be. After stuffing ourselves with deliciousness, it was time to garden! We planted all of the tomato plants, carrots, onions, and seeds of many varieties, and Arlo hit lumps of dirt with a plastic baseball bat. Successfully having started the garden, we headed home, or at least I did, because Arlo had to work again. That night was a relaxing night of more planting, plus laundry. Hey, I said it was productive, not exciting! :) Oh, but I did stay up until after 12 and Arlo was very proud of me when he got home from work and I was still up. Of course, I did crash about 10 minutes after he got home.
Monday- The final day of our vacation :( We started with a workout at the gym, followed by Arlo cutting his hair, bathing Marley, and cutting the lawn. I worked on a necklace for his mother's birthday, and sorted all of my spring/summer clothes. We drove down to Racine, visited Arlo's grandmother, went to Barnes and Nobles and Target, and then met his mom and Mary for dinner at The Chancery, where we had shoestring onion rings, awesome dinners, and scintillating conversation. Got home around 10:00, fell into bed and slept like crazy until the alarm went off at at 6:15.

Wow, that actually made me tired even writing all of that. It was an awesome stay-cation, and I'm looking forward to my next vacation, which is only about a week away (crazy!) to Baltimore!!!

So, tell me about your Memorial Day weekends. Anything fun?

See you soon!

P.S. I was going to add the movie of my cats eating out of their new, modified feeder, but Arlo's camera died in the middle of shooting and it seems that it didn't save any of the footage. You will have to wait just a little bit more (Andrej).

To-Do List Update

It's been an exciting last several weeks, with lots of fun stuff and some not-so-great stuff.

Two weeks ago, Arlo and I had our first day working at the CSA. We worked off 8 of our 25 hours, planting onions and weeding. The farm was really neat, and Laura, who runs it, showed us around and gave us an idea of the fruits and veggies we can expect this summer. It was a nice day, complete with a stop at a local cheese place for about 16 samples of cheese and fresh icecream. I think Arlo jmay go up more often now that he knows that the cheese stop is on the way. That night we saw a play with his father. It was very good, but also sad, because Arlo's grandfather is slowly fading right now, and the play was about a grown son and his dying father. The next day, Arlo went down to Racine to visit and I stayed here to work on our yard and work on the cat feeder. It was an extremely productive and busy day, and at the end, I had half of a front yard finished, a small vegetable garden in the backyard, and one semi-finished cat feeder. Throughout the week, I worked on it so that it would be finished in time to be able use it for this last weekend. Why? Because Arlo and I were going to be staying in a cabin near LaCresent, Wisconsin, where his sister lives.

This past weekend was so much fun! I got out of work as early as possible on Friday, and we headed West. It took about 3 1/2 hours to get there, and we made it just in time to unpack and meet his sister, Sally, and her boyfriend, Jamie, for a fish fry. Awesome fish fry!!! All of it was fantastic, and I found out that fish dipped in butter, while incredibly unhealthy, is freaking deliciously amazing. After dinner, Arlo and I headed back to the cabin. We hung out playing games and drinking and went to bed in the loft. The next day we took a great hike/walk around the nature preserve and relaxed before the craziness would begin. At around 1:30, it struck in the form of Sally, Jamie, and their kids Garrick, Nolan, and Lauren. We ate, played baseball in the field, looked for frogs, got into lots of mischief, and had a couple of melt-downs (mostly the kids). Arlo's mom and Mary came as well, and we went on a tour of a Norwegian homestead circa 1890. After that, dinner at the cabin and a fire! The kids made it to about 9:00 and then the grown-ups stayed around the fire for another several hours. It was really nice. The next day, breakfast, crazing packing and Arlo and I were left, alone, again. We stayed for a bit longer, then headed to visit his mom and Mary for Mother's Day on the way back to our place. Arlo felt sick, so it's wasn't a fun drive for him. I was pretty miserable about having to start work the next day. Other than that, I think we were both happy about the weekend.

Now it's back to the work week, although the weekend's just around the corner. Unfortunately, the cat feeder isn't complete, as I found out pretty quickly that they can still sneak food out by sticking their paws up the auger. So, I've decided, though this cuts back on cost efficiency of getting the one feeder, to build a box to go around the entire thing. Of course, they'll still try to get food, I'm just hoping that this way they'll be less successful.

We still have much to look forward to the next few weeks. We will be working at the CSA more, coming to Baltimore for a visit the weekend of June 5, going canoing with his mom and Mary in July (I think), Winnipeg Folk Festival (Yes, Kevin, of course there has to be a music festival), and Summerfest (the biggest music festival in the U.S., it's several weeks long and held each year in Milwaukee) in July as well (Yes, Kevin, another music festival).

Can't wait to see you all in June!!! Can't wait to have a couple of days off of work!!! Can't wait to have some warmer weather!!!!

Peace out, y'all!