* As of now, train is on time (it was late leaving San Antonio but I guess it caught up)
* Everything is packed. "Comfort ponies" are Fluttershy and Minty, and I tucked Clawhauser in to serve as an "emergency pillow" if needed. Tucked an extra book into my purse in case of more delays.
(He's also there as an "emergency thing to press to my chest if I get stressed out" - and yes, that helps me, I find having firm but soft pressure on my sternum, if I'm getting close to losing it, helps. Most of the time I make do by wrapping my arms in front of me and squeezing but if I have a pillow-like object that's even better)
* I still have to set the plants on the automatic waterers. The tree and the lamp in my living room I use most are on timers and there are people coming by regularly to make sure everything is OK in my absence.
* Weather is supposed to be good for driving here, and good when I get in tomorrow in Illinois. I actually hope it doesn't get too bad: I would like to be able to get out and do a little running around (both on foot and in the car) and if it's exceptionally cold or very snowy (or worse: icy, though my parents have a generator so if the power goes out we will be OK at home) I can't go.
* Other than that, I dunno. The past couple days have been that kind of "loose ends" feeling I get before breaks - no sense, for example, in doing big cooking, because the leftovers would have to be frozen (and I would have to trust that my 17 year old fridge would keep going over break), there's nothing at work to do, I've been to the antique shop....I do admit I think about "what would you do if you weren't traveling?" I suppose, go in to work for a few days, maybe take a day and go to Whitesboro, maybe work on one of the long-stalled quilt tops....I could probably find things to do.
I do still feel kind of "flat" and tired but maybe that's the "no schedule" thing and the anticipation of traveling - I like *being* places but I don't particularly like *getting* there because there are so many things to keep in mind, so many things that can go wrong, and when you're a solo traveler it somehow seems harder. (Well, it would be harder with kids, but traveling with another adult and no kids - as long as that adult were reasonable - I think it would be easier.)
* It will probably take a day or two for me to relax into "break schedule" but I will be happy once I do. I have a lot of things to work on; I was able to get all the big bulky yarn for the big unicorn (Heh: "You deserve the big unicorn"? Maybe.) in my suitcase, and also yarn for numerous socks, and the Krummholz hat, and the cowl I want to knit....and a few little things-in-progress, a sock, the current Honey cowl, the second Soccer Mitt for me are in my carry-on.
* I hadn't looked into the "ITFF frugality" thread. I am frugal in *some* ways (I guess not having a housekeeper in these days marks one as frugal?) but I also like to have money for the things I want to have money for, so I just don't spend on some other things (electronics, fancy car, etc.)
I generally don't like talking about frugality because I tend to go all-or-nothing in my thinking and I figure I am somewhat of a spendthrift because I don't buy the cheapest brands of food possible (I remember the late 1970s generics, some of them with a shudder) and I like to do things like buy vintage Ponies from time to time.
Also, I have had the experience with people IRL that it turns into a competition, who can spend or use the least, and I find that kind of thing deeply tiresome, except in the cases where it's being played for broad comedy a la The Four Yorkshiremen.
* And yes, Butterscotch cleaned up very nicely. In the end I did use a final wipedown with diluted Oxy-Clean and a final couple of wipes with plain water, and that brightened her up a good bit. And her hair maybe just had some grime in it; after I washed it it was softer and felt less dry and I can't believe that conditioner would do that on dollyhair, but who knows.
* So I guess now I attend to the few things (getting a payment in the mail, topping up the gas in the car, putting the plants on the waterers) and wait a bit more.
It's funny, the breaks-during-the-semester (Thanksgiving) rush up on me and it's all I can do to have everything ready to go (and teach a whole day before leaving) but the end-of-semester ones often have me sitting at home with my suitcases, looking at the clock and going "What? It's not even 9 am yet?"
* Added at about 1 pm: Everything is ready, I just have to load the car. Not much sense leaving for at least 45 minutes, because even with the possibility of delays due to construction, it takes me between 2 1/4 and 2 1/2 hours to get to Mineola, and it's depressing to arrive super early and just have to sit in the stations: I find that almost any place where you just have to sit and wait, where the endpoint of that waiting is out of your control, are not fun places.
Hospitals are the worst - where you have a loved one in hospital and you don't know how they're doing or whether they'll get better. Doctor's offices are not much better, even if it's just a routine check up where the chances of anything actually being wrong with you are almost nil. Car-repair-place waiting rooms are often drafty and sometimes loud (either adjacent to the busy garage or with a tv set to too-high of a volume). Even invigilating an exam isn't great, although you know that when the exam period is up you will get to leave. Train station waiting rooms are maybe slightly better on the grounds that once the train DOES get there you will get to travel, but still, the waiting isn't fun (And again: the busier times of year, the waiting room is often loud, and sometimes people try to talk to me when I'm not really up for talking, and....)
(Maybe I'm just not good at patience. But the "beyond your control" thing is a big part of it: I can be infinitely patient when it's something I'm doing at my own pace, or when I can put an end to whatever it is I'm doing if I get sick of it. But I will say that hospitals are the absolute worst for waiting. Well, maybe the only GOOD hospital-waiting is knowing that a loved one is going through an uncomplicated birth of a healthy baby, and the baby just has to arrive.....but all other hospital-waiting is not so good.)
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