Still

One of the really cool things about where I work is that I get the time off between Christmas and New Years' off without having to spend vacation time. They say that it saves a lot of money on electricity because no one is working during that time. Well, almost no one. Engineering still has to keep us on the air and the OPS employees show up and wander the halls because they don't get paid if they don't work.

Me? I have a hard time sitting still. I go and go and go. I never really realized just how "busy" I am until a few days ago.

My husband walked in the house and found me sitting in a chair in the livingroom. He stopped at the door.

"Are you okay?"

"yeah"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure - why?"

"Well... you're just sitting there. You never just sit anywhere."

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that he was right. Even when I'm sitting, I'm doing something. Reading. Eating. Watching TV. Writing. Something. I don't really know how to STOP.

When the winter break was coming up, my boss called me into his office. "I want you to make sure someone can take care of any emergencies so you can walk away from here and not even think about this place until you come back!" I did that. I trained someone to check emails and make adjustments as needed to the program schedule, and I walked out the door and didn't look back on Christmas Eve...

After all the holiday hoopla, I was at a loss. It was lovely to not have to be anywhere at any particular time, but I still am not able to do nothing. I looked around my house, which needs so much work and I picked the thing that is the least like "work" to me.

I started painting the stairwell. Then I painted the upstairs hall... and one wall in the livingroom and cutting in in the livingroom until I had used one entire gallon of paint. Darling Man made a mad dash to L*wes for me and bought me one of those fold-y ladders that can be a straight extension ladder or an a-frame ladder or an odd configuration so that I can use it on stairs. Our stairwell is REALLY tall and I couldn't get it all with my big stick. And I know I want to paint the ceilings too (but probably not this week), so I needed one of those ladders. Dang, I'm easy to shop for... just buy me a tool, a power tool, a ladder, a roll of masking tape - I'm good to go!

When we bought this house, everything was painted this weird, dark gray/green color. Very depressing! I immediately started painting the downstairs "Crescent Moon", which is sort of a glowy, light yellow. It brightened things up a bit, but never quite looked right. So I asked DM, what color would you put in here? A very light blue/gray color, he replied. So I found one, called Cloud Nine and tried it out on one wall at the bottom of the stairway. It looked okay.

So today, I went hog wild. And it's wonderful! It brightens up the entire stairwell and hallway (much needed!). Tomorrow, I will finish the livingroom and maybe the diningroom.

I'm on a roll!

Of course, this is my vacation, my down time. And I'm spending it doing exactly what I want to.

I really have no talent for being still.