This title is somewhat sarcastic as today I celebrate the joy of teaching that is called VACATION!!!

I had totally forgotten that this was vacation week coming up. Things have been so wild at school, and there has been so much sickness (including my own) that all we’ve been doing is pushing through and praying for a break.

Well, that break is here!

I don’t have any real plans for the week – which is fine with me. About the only thing that I really care about accomplishing is getting my hair cut. I look like a buffalo it’s gotten so long!

So that is Monday, but then I am totally unscheduled until Saturday.

This is a good thing.

On Saturday I’ve signed up to take a stamping class, but that’s a fun thing. I really wish that the class were tomorrow as I’d like to take the class early in the vacation so I could have time to be home making more of these boxes we’re going to be making.

Of course I still have a couple of unfinished projects sitting around that I started in January when I was home with the flu, so it would be nice to wrap those up.

Then of course there’s the usual organizing of craft materials that seems to always be something I’m trying to master.

But I have vowed that I will not make a list of things that I have to do this vacation, then if things get done I’ll be pleased, but if things don’t get done I won’t be getting ready to kill myself come next Monday.

I think part of what I need is just some plain old down time. I’ve been feeling so exhausted lately that I just need to recoup some of my usual energy.

I don’t think I’ve ever really managed to shake that flu bug I got hit with and the cough that lasted for a month is just finally beginning to totally disappear. I think some days of sleeping late and laying low may be just what the doctor ordered.

Dee and I went to the House of Enormous Excess for dinner tonight. This was her idea. I was fine with it, but once I got there I really wasn’t all that interested in eating.

The area is suddenly becoming inundated with Chinese food buffets. There are two new ones about to open. The amount of food – and the variety – is just staggering. It’s not just Chinese either, there is Italian, Polish and plain American kind of stuff.

You can get things ranging from sushi to apple pie.

I don’t know why I wasn’t in the mood for it tonight. I had a blue drink (a Blue Hawaii) to celebrate the coming week of freedom, but after some won-ton soup and a couple Peking ravioli I’d had enough.

About all I wanted to do was go home and collapse.

There seems to be an online trend among several of the journalers that I read to stop buying stuff in the new year. Sadly I can’t bring myself to jump on that bandwagon.

So this afternoon I stopped at Best Buy and got the cast recording of the Broadway show "The Full Monty" and a Michael Ball CD. Then I went over to Barnes and Noble and got the Broadway cast recording of Jane Eyre. (I didn’t have to pay for that I have several gift certificates that I haven’t used yet.)

The reason for getting these recordings is to help me decide what show I want to see when I hit the city on St. Patrick’s Day. Both shows interest me, so I think that I’ll listen to the music to help me make my decision. I eventually would like to see both shows, but have to somehow choose one.

I figured new music for vacation week would be a nice way to go.