Last Minute

I am getting myself and my home ready for a homecoming - mine.

I leave and head out to my real home this time of year. I completely vacate everything that happens in my life here, in this state, for the rest and silence of home. I have an enforced rest from work and therapizing, and I love it.

Today is the day that I get things ready both for leaving and returning.

The leaving preparations are easy. Pack. Feed the cat, water the cat, ready the cat's hygiene needs, take out the trash, clean the sheets, clean the carpets, clean the kitchen, clean. The coming home preparations are a bit less easy. Arrange for the mail to be delivered. Have enough food that I don't have to immediately go grocery shopping. Organize the materials I will need to have to return to work on the 2nd for a day of behavior management lectures. Unpack. Get back into a work type frame of mind.

When I am on my enforced rests from work, I find my creativity surging. I keep a small book nearby almost all the time where I write down notes and ideas. I go shopping with my mother and my sister (their primary form of interaction and entertainment), and I find opportunities where I would miss those same chances at my home. I would walk right past them and not even see one possibility. On vacation, however, possibilities abound with every step.

I am going to pick my sister's brain during this trip. As I am getting more interested in doing independent centers for some of my music therapy interactions, I am needing a mentor. That is my sister! She does centers - reading centers and math centers - with her second graders all the time. It may take a bit of work to transfer some of the things that she does into something that I feel is music therapy, but that will give me something to do during quiet evenings...with my small book...in the guest room.

It's time to get started. I have three gifts to come up with and then make so before I leave. I have two church services to assist with between now and then. I will be soaking up as much cat cuddling as I possibly can before feeling the guilt that comes with my vacation and her desertion. Before that, though, I need to tackle my things to do.

Gotta remember to pack that small book.

Happy Saturday, all!

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