Real Life :: Dottie’s Non Labor Day

I can’t believe it is already September! This summer just flew by and was filled with lots of work as well as fun with family and friends. I always like to cram a lot into my days, but I realized that I hadn’t scheduled a proper vacation and by September 1st, I was really feeling it.

Of course, I had planned to cram a whole lotta fun for the Peach into the three day Labor Day weekend. Carousel rides, trips to different beaches, as well as crafty stuff we could do together and swimming as well as knocking some items off my UFO list like making a picnic blanket, dying and refurbishing some slips.  I also wanted to make home-made play dough for the Peach as well as try my hand at making felt food to fill Miss Peach’s little kitchen larder.  I also had planned to bake a few chicken pot pies to give to friends who just had babies, as well as make an end of summer meal for my family that would be topped off with a peach blueberry pie and homemade ice cream.   You know, just a few things to keep me busy.

But last Wednesday night something inside of me just snapped. One of the people in my carpool called to ask if I could text her before I left so she’d be outside ready to be picked up for carpool.  And for some reason this tiny tiny favor was the proverbial feather that broke the camel’s back. And that feather unhinged this camel so much that it started  a two hour crying jag.   I was exhausted.  The reserves were empty.  My well was dry.  I was officially burned out, fried, exhausted, etc. Whatever you called it, I clearly needed a little break.

I planned to take Friday off and clean out the linen closet, take a Bikram yoga class, make a picnic blanket, go grocery shopping and prep for the weekend planning each day out for maximum awesomeness, but by Friday, I couldn’t even hold a pen.  I adore crafting and usually it is almost a form of meditation for me. But I didn’t even want to sew or embroidery or do any sort of crafting.  What did I do instead? Weep a bit. Watched cartoons.  Seriously, I couldn’t even watch an hour long program–too much effort. And take a three hour nap.

Oh yeah, and I went here.

Saturday, I had planned full day of wonderful things–a road trip, a surprise visit for friends, a museum. But instead we had a nice breakfast out with the Peach, followed by a very mellow trip to the farmer’s market, where I was not tempted to buy tons of food to turn into jams/pickles or sauces.

And that evening we bought Little Star pizza to some very dear friends who are moving to Seattle. It was so good to hang with friends. Oh, and I did have a two hour nap too.

Sunday, I was beginning to feel a bit more energy. Enough to make blueberry pancakes, which I think will turn into a special three day weekend tradition.

We did do a little road trip down to some tide pools in Half Moon Bay.  Unfortunately, half the beach was closed due to seals and their pups resting on the Beach. So, we only spent a half hour there, but it was beautiful and fun. Because I was with my family.

Since we were down there we had some artichoke soup at Duartes in Pescadero.

And a nice nap on the way back.

Monday, I had planned on a picnic to Muir Beach for the Peach and my sweetie and I’m sure do tons of things that I can’t even remember.  But I just didn’t have it in me.  And that was OK.

This weekend I learned that big gestures aren’t always necessary to enjoy time with my family. Just doing puzzles together at home was really wonderful.

For example, the Peach and I had a blast looking at all of the different fish for sale in the aquariums at the local Petco while we picked up some cat food.  I’m not saying it was the equivalent of going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but for the half hour we were there, we had a grand time.

And I did do a bit of cooking.  Not the filling the freezer for winter cooking, but enough to enjoy the best tastes of summer.  Smoked salmon in eggs on blinis with mimosas.  And that great summer feast I planned was still pretty great albeit no lobster, but I picked up some fried chicken which went well with the fresh corn and tomato dish. And I did make the peach blueberry cobbler with delicious store bought ice cream.

So, I went back to work today with no finished sewing projects, no cleaned out closets, no major feats accomplished except some wonderful time with my little family and a chance to restore my much depleted energy.

How was your Labor Day Weekend? Have you ever felt I like I did Wednesday? How did you cope?

16 thoughts on “Real Life :: Dottie’s Non Labor Day

  1. good for you! when i first started staying home with truman i would haul him to all of these baby classes and stuff and he was always missing a nap so he was a big crab and we would end up leaving because he was crying. since then we just lay as low as possible and everyone is much happier and “big” event days are super duper kick ass.

  2. Bravo mama….I’m telling you, we work so hard and then on those days off it’s like “OK, now we WILL have fun!” and it’s almost exhausting as you try to NOT work and DO STUFF. I think puttering is so important. One of my favorite parts of this post? You and Peach looking at fish in the pet store. Honestly, it’s about finding the joy in little simple moments. And i bet that was as fun for her as staring at a big ol fancy tank at the aquarium, ya know?

    I hope you keep this “relaxation and time for dottie” thing up. It looks good on you!!
    xox

  3. Lovely post! We had a long weekend crammed with flight plans, family juggling and moving stuff around the apartment. I wish I’d have taken your tack and just chilled! Although, come to think of it, I did have two consecutive days with simultaneous girl-naps, so I got some reading in.

  4. First off, I love the “Dottie and Peach” in the car pictures. I went through this when my freelancing picked up two weeks before Snappy went back to school, but I had already learned my new Golden Rule: “Don’t worry about the stuff on the to-do list until it is actually time to do it.” Amazing how much excess stress that little rule shaved off. Also, I had a great big sit down with myself about the difference between “Need to” and “Should do” and I vowed to put “want to” at the top of the list. And ditto on the puttering. Puttering is one of the keys to Life…Itself!

  5. i’m with you on that wednesday thing. i think most of us overschedule and it becomes exhausting. there’s so much to keep up with when you have children and there so much you don’t want to miss out on before they grow out of it. it’s hard to take a step back.

    i’ve found a dose of sunshine does wonders for me. i’m also trying to get into yoga (only three classes so far). and it certainly doesn’t hurt to get a little time to yourself every once in a while.

  6. Gracious… I think you got tons done!!! Go you!
    Me?……I had relatives in to see my oldest babe (15) play Juliet in RandJ….cleaned massively …prior too the visit…cooked allot of Pasta…..stayed home Sat night to be with my 8 YO (while everyone else was at the show) and we actually went to Pet Smart to look at Hamsters!
    Sunday was more of the same…rinse repeat……and yesterday was “We all fall down” day…with breaky for Supper!

  7. Uh yes … felt that way in the middle of the night after being awakened by a fussy baby every hour. I hit a wall at 4am and cried. There’s no harder (or more joyful) labor than Motherhood!

  8. i looooove low key weekends! For some reason I always want to pack stuff in (and TRY!) but fail. I had an ah-ha moment the other day when I realized that Casey & I share our parenting duties evenly- he watches Coop while I work on my website and I watch Coop when Casey needs to do something-BUT we never really get to play ALL together because we are exploiting the extra pair of hands. I think it’s a breakthrough in our relationship/parenting and I vow to spend more time with both of my boys. Together. Loved this post- it’s a nice reminder to just enjoy the day and not try to over plan it. We ALL need our down time!

Leave a Reply to Alix Cancel reply