What I learned on my summer vacation: Day Two
-- I should never, never check work email while I'm on vacation, because it just makes me stressed out and annoyed about all the stupid people I'll have to deal with when I get back to the office.
-- Sunshowers: not a huge drag; I can even suck it up and ride out a 5-minute, freezing-cold drizzle next to the pool.
-- Downpours the minute I start grilling dinner for 13: a HUGE drag.
-- A huger drag: the grill not working.
-- A super-huge drag: the other grill appearing to work, but barely warming the food after 20 minutes at the highest temperature setting.
-- The smartest, most wonderful person in the world, ever: My mother, who helpfully suggested that broiling might be a suitable alternative to grilling.
-- Honorable mentions: the whole rest of my family, who held umbrellas, transferred food from spot to spot to spot, fed the kids pasta when real dinner was half an hour late, sang "You Are My Sunshine," and complimented me out the wazoo once dinner was finally on the table.
-- My parents' singing karaoke is one of the cutest things ever; even though they didn't do a particularly spirited performance, they did it to make us happy, and it worked.
-- Beating my not-quite-nine-year-old nephew at poker gives me more satisfaction than is reasonable for a grown-up.
-- The surest way to get a bunch of kids to scream their heads off is to whisper, "Be quiet; Uncle Chris is sleeping." It's like Elmer Fudd and wabbit hunting, really.
-- Sunshowers: not a huge drag; I can even suck it up and ride out a 5-minute, freezing-cold drizzle next to the pool.
-- Downpours the minute I start grilling dinner for 13: a HUGE drag.
-- A huger drag: the grill not working.
-- A super-huge drag: the other grill appearing to work, but barely warming the food after 20 minutes at the highest temperature setting.
-- The smartest, most wonderful person in the world, ever: My mother, who helpfully suggested that broiling might be a suitable alternative to grilling.
-- Honorable mentions: the whole rest of my family, who held umbrellas, transferred food from spot to spot to spot, fed the kids pasta when real dinner was half an hour late, sang "You Are My Sunshine," and complimented me out the wazoo once dinner was finally on the table.
-- My parents' singing karaoke is one of the cutest things ever; even though they didn't do a particularly spirited performance, they did it to make us happy, and it worked.
-- Beating my not-quite-nine-year-old nephew at poker gives me more satisfaction than is reasonable for a grown-up.
-- The surest way to get a bunch of kids to scream their heads off is to whisper, "Be quiet; Uncle Chris is sleeping." It's like Elmer Fudd and wabbit hunting, really.
2 Comments:
What I learned on Tangentwoman's Summer Vacation: how terribly I miss her when she's not here, even tho' I'm happy that she's getting some quality beach time.
By
Anonymous, at 10:17 AM
What I learned is that Uncle Smelmooo will NOT be getting any sleep when he heads down there tomorrow.
By
Smelmooo, at 11:52 AM
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