It has been a busy few months here. We tend to jam-pack our short Wisconsin summer with events which are scheduled months in advance. For the most part, all of this is very fun, but we have to also be careful to schedule some breathing space in here and there to prevent mid-summer burnout and exhaustion. Earlier this week I was feeling particularly low on energy, so I napped for two hours after work. It helped.
Also, it has been a particularly hot and humid summer, which is unusual. We usually have some hot weather in August, but the rest of the summer tends to be fairly cool. I think this has added to the “tired” or “overextended” feeling the last month or so.
After our Saturday morning 4th ed. D&D game and weekly shopping yesterday, Michael and I had an early dinner and headed to Irish Fest in Milwaukee for an evening of great music. We saw and heard music groups that I hadn’t had the opportunity to listen to– namely, Cherish the Ladies and Young Dubliners. We also watched Slide’s show and part of Gaelic Storm’s performance. I really enjoyed Slide and thought their show was all a great performance should be. I’ve learned that I don’t like Gaelic Storm’s shows nearly as much as I like their music. The crowds are too crazy/frenzied/fanboyish and it’s just too loud. I love live music, but I don’t go for the crowd/group throng experience. I want to have a good seat (not standing on bleachers and stomping) and I want to be able to see the performance, hear the music (not be deafened by it), and I want the crowd to show their appreciation at moderate levels that do not interfere with my enjoyment of the show.
I also felt kind of sorry for the performers that played to half-empty houses while people packed into Gaelic Storm’s show. We left the crowd watching Gaelic Storm after a couple of songs and wandered across the park, eventually ending up at the Young Dubliners show at the Celtic Rock stage. We heard their last three or four songs and it was a much more enjoyable audience experience in my opinion. There was a small throng of participatory fans around the front of the stage, but they didn’t interfere with other fans’ ability to watch and enjoy the show. It probably helped that the seats were only half full. Sometimes it pays to go see the band that draws less of a crowd during “main act” stage times.
A couple of acquaintances in their 60s have passed away unexpectedly recently.
The first was the father of one of my college roommates. His life was lost in a motorcycle accident, just a few weeks ago. He left behind three young grandchildren.
The second person to pass (last night) was a former work colleague. Don just retired about two weeks ago, as a matter of fact. His wife also worked for our company and they had a retirement party together the week I was on vacation. The retired couple had just sold their house in town and were settling into their new life at their vacation cabin.
These sudden, unexpected losses reminded me this afternoon that we shouldn’t postpone the things we really want to do. Are we committed to living our lives now, or are we pushing the enjoyment off until “someday” and forgetting to savor the moments? Sure, your job is great, or at least it pays the bills, but what if you knew in advance that you would die two weeks after you retire? Would you focus your energy on enjoying life more right now?
One last day off and then back to the routine of earning money for a living 
It has been a truly marvelous vacation, though. I’ve had just enough visiting, eating out, cooking, baking, reading, shopping, and cleaning up/getting things done around the house.
It’s fun to take a memorable trip. We have a trip to Florida planned later this year and our trip to Maine at the end of May was certainly memorable. But it’s also nice to have a longer-than-usual stretch to relax at home, sleep a reasonable number of hours, and take the days at a slower pace.
I love vacation! Thanks to Mom and Dad for making the trip to Wisconsin every year (and twice last year) to spend time with us!
We had a meeting with our real estate agent the other day. The goal was to make note of things we need to do before trying to sell our house. We had five years in mind as our time frame when we bought and even though the housing market has undergone some changes, we are pursuing our original plan. Prices are still down, but not as much in Madison as other parts of the country. As our agent said, it’s still a buyer’s market, but we’re certainly in a better market for selling than was the case a year ago.
Our biggest advantage is location– we are about 10 minutes from everything in Madison except the far east side (more like 20-30 minutes there, depending on traffic). We also just replaced our roof about a month ago, so that is going to be a plus.
We have several large-ish projects that need to be done, but since we have decided that we will most likely put the house on the market for Spring 2011 (probably around February), we have plenty of time to complete these projects. The deck needs to be powerwashed and re-stained, interior walls need a fresh coat of paint, and we should probably replace the carpet in the house (original carpet from when it was built 20+ years ago). The carpet will be the most expensive project (and probably the last one to handle, from a practical standpoint).
Also, as our agent said, we need to declutter. At some point I think Michael and I will have to set aside a weekend day or days to clean out and donate or recycle some of our ever-accumulating stuff. It’s amazing how it starts to pile up when you stay in one place for several years.
Life changes a lot in five years. We’re married and need a place of our own. I think this point is pretty critical before bringing kids into the picture. Our roommate is single, has started a career and wants to buy a condo. Despite life-altering events that have happened in five years, this time line is actually working out well!
This week I am on vacation, my parents are visiting from Florida, and we’ve been having a good time visiting and taking little trips around town. This morning I had breakfast with them, then we headed to the Henry Vilas Zoo for a few hours. We went downtown for lunch to try out Five Guys, a relatively new fast food addition to State Street. This place makes a good burger. I will be back and will probably take Michael along next time (he had to work this week, so is only around in the evening).
We stopped by the library to pick up a couple of books I had reserved and grabbed some coffee. Then we decided to go see Toy Story 3. We all enjoyed the movie– I think it does credit to the Toy Story franchise.
Mom and Dad brought us a couple of boxes of peaches that they picked up when they drove through Alabama. This is a yearly (or almost yearly) tradition that started when they first visited me after my move to Wisconsin. It’s hard to reliably find terrific peaches here and the best tasting ones aren’t available in Wisconsin until well into July (they can be iffy, as well). I honestly hadn’t thought about peaches yet this year, so they were a surprise! I’ll be a little sad when Mom and Dad decide to fly up, rather than drive, because that will be the end of the peaches (but it will also allow them to spend more time visiting us, so the trade off is good).
Peaches don’t stay perfectly ripe for too long, so I have been at work eating them, converting them into dessert, and freezing them. I diced up several peaches and made a peach pound cake (to be topped with fresh peaches) tonight. Michael’s dad called (and happened to be on our side of town), so we invited him over for dinner and cake. We’ve been eating out a lot lately, so it was nice to have the energy and time today to bake and cook for my family!
Life is busy and I think vacation is a time for slowing down and doing the things you really enjoy doing. This evening I feel productive, relaxed, and happy– I could get used to this vacation thing.
One of the big moments in my early adult working life was when I realized that I could afford to live in a nice place ON MY OWN.
Even now, just knowing that I could rent my very own apartment tomorrow (not that I could imagine needing to do so) makes a world of difference. It’s a milestone in adult life. I was pushed to find my own place upon ending a relationship. The timing worked out well, as I was able to afford one. I lived on my own for three years, in two different apartments, before choosing to have a roommate again.
Recently, several friends have mentioned having roommate-related conflicts in their living situations and have lamented not being able to live alone. It’s so much easier to deal with these predicaments when you can just go out and find an apartment, fill out the application, put a security deposit down, and pay rent for your own place. It puts your mind at ease, for one thing, which impacts your ability to make decisions about roommates. I was reminded of how hard it can be to reach this point in life in a conversation today about the recession, unemployment, job hunting, and comparatively-low starting salaries in Madison. A little later, I read a blog post about a potential living situation that sounded just terrible.
Michael and I were talking about the “struggles to make a decent living” conversation for a few minutes in the car and realized that we’ve been very lucky. I will keep that thought with me when I feel like griping about my job, which actually affords me a high amount of financial flexibility and choice in life. Not having choices (or only having bad choices) sucks.
Well, the past couple of Tuesdays we have had to cancel our weekly movie night due to illness. I came down with a cold about 24 hours after we returned from Maine and sniffled through most of last week. Michael and I were both off on Monday for Memorial Day and I had taken Tuesday off as a vacation day for good measure. Although I had to cancel movie night and a dentist appointment on Tuesday, I was back to work on Wednesday (with sniffles) and by the end of the week was feeling mostly OK.
Fast forward to this week. Joe came down with a stomach bug during the night on Monday and was definitely sick this morning, so we canceled movie night again this week.
Hopefully in due time we will see both of the movies we have missed: The Maltese Falcon and Judgment at Nuremberg. We’ve missed our Tuesday night movie crew!
The next couple of days are supposed to be sunny (we’ve had a lot of rain in the past week), so our roofing appointment has been moved up a few days, from Saturday to tomorrow morning. By the end of the day tomorrow we should have a newly re-shingled roof!
On Thursday morning I am scheduled to take an insurance industry course exam off-site for work. I’m not actively working toward a specific designation at this point, but I have taken a couple of courses now and after browsing through designations, there are a couple that might be worthwhile for me. These courses are elective and are paid for upfront by my company, so the only restriction is what I am willing to commit to outside of work. I haven’t been inclined to rejoin the student ranks since graduate school, but that may change. My company also offers tuition reimbursement for college degree programs, so there are many possibilities to explore if I’m willing to commit my free time. However, I like free time and I already have advanced degrees, so … maybe I could just spend some quality time with my cats and my husband instead.
Oh, one more thing– Althea has posted some great write-ups (six) with photos of the trip to Maine on her blog.
Is it possible to train the mind to respond with compassion in all situations?
Sometimes it’s easy to respond compassionately– when someone obviously needs compassion.
It’s harder when someone is being obnoxious or saying something unthoughtful.
It’s harder when there are extenuating circumstances.
It’s harder when you feel compelled to argue with their position or provide a different perspective.
Sometimes people don’t want more to think about and they don’t want to argue. They just want someone to acknowledge what they are feeling.
This is something to work on.
The next couple of weekends, our roommate will have to hold down the fort and tend to the demands of the kitty overlords.
This weekend we are visiting Matt in Chicago. I haven’t seen his new apartment which, I am assured, is a vast improvement over his old place. Michael helped supervise the move in March. No big plans, except the likelihood of good food (really, this is all we need for a good weekend at home or traveling).
Next weekend (Memorial Day weekend), Joe graduates from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Strangely, I believe it will be the first college graduation ceremony I have attended. I have three degrees, but did not attend any of my Big State School Graduations … it didn’t really seem important at the time and they were huge (in terms of sheer numbers) graduation ceremonies. Bowdoin is a much smaller, private (also old and prestigious) Liberal Arts college, so I am of the impression that the hordes of graduates will be somewhat smaller. In fact, it sounds like we can all attend the ceremony and there will be a Lobster Bake for friends and family after the event, so hooray! I haven’t seen the campus, the city of Brunswick, or the state of Maine before, so it should be fun, exciting, and new!
Co-workers are lobbying for fresh Maine blueberries.
1 & 2: Well, I increased my bodily injury coverage for my car insurance today (seeing how much it could set us back financially if either of us were subject to a Wrongful Death claim–OMG, Instant Financial Ruin!) and opened a Roth IRA.
I don’t think either of these are bad “future planning” moves, although I felt a little under-prepared for my insurance review today. Maybe we were trying to cover too much ground in two hours– homeowners’, auto, life, retirement savings … and dealing with a salesperson– not my strong suit. Not that I buy every product in sight. Rather, I tend to become defensive and argumentative and my decision-making ability shuts down. Also, my ability to keep processing the information flood shuts down.
3: I did not increase my life insurance coverage, although I probably should. Michael is doing better than I am in this department.
4: Will/Trust– yeah, we need to have these. I’d really prefer both once we have offspring.