Time Off For Good Behavior

Sometimes it feels like I take a lot of time off from work. And looking at our upcoming plans, I don't think that's changing anytime soon.

Karen's in town, just for today. She came down to bring her old car to KT and Kevin, and today they're bringing her up to our place, and everyone's invited to stay for dinner. We invited Vicki, too, so she and Karen can finally meet in person. Karen's staying with us tonight so we can drop her off at the train station at some ungodly hour tomorrow morning. I'm taking the afternoon off so I can hit the grocery store and hang out with everyone for a while.

Thursday morning, I have a doctor's appointment in the morning, and I'm also taking probably about an hour off in the afternoon to attend a show at Penny's school.

Next week, Matt and I are going to a concert Thursday night, and since I anticipate we'll be out late, I'm taking Friday off, so I can catch a nap and relax. I'm also pondering taking a half-day the day of the concert, just to really get into a party mood.

The first full week of April is Penny's Spring Break, and we're taking advantage of it to make a family trip down to Atlanta to visit my grandmother and do some sightseeing. (It's looking like I'll have to do some work while I'm there, as well, but I'm currently hoping it won't take more than an hour or so a day, while Alex is napping anyway.)

In July, we're taking our family trip to Chicago. Matt's talking about taking a longer trip than I can swing and driving, both to avoid the airports and so he and the kids can visit his family on a more leisurely schedule than we usually have. We're still working out the logistics of that trip, but I'll probably be taking about a week off, anyway.

I have a cousin getting married in August, so we'll all be heading back to Atlanta for that. That'll be a shorter trip, though -- maybe two days off from work, bracketing a weekend.

That's as far ahead as we've planned. There will surely be smaller things that pop up in the meantime -- illnesses (mine or the kids') and school holidays and such. There will be appointments to keep. The summer bash isn't planned yet (I'm hoping it won't conflict too much with our trip to Chicago.) We haven't even thought about the holidays, yet.

It's a good thing I keep a detailed spreadsheet at work that tracks my vacation time.