A Full Rich Day

That is what Brett calls days like today. Full and rich. I was VERY ready for the weekend this week. Unfortunately, work has not been very enjoyable lately. I realized last summer, that I don't like summers at my job. They are SOOO full for us in the office. I'm in charge of field trips, and instead of having 9 field trips to plan every month, I have 37. I'm not kidding. It's crazy. And unfortunately, our enrollment is a little low this summer, and that is stressful for the owners. AND our staffing has been crazy. I repeat - I was ready for the weekend.

I'm actually ready for a break that is more extensive than a weekend can supply. I am thinking about taking a couple of days in July to get away, all by myself. Retreat, if you will. Jesus retreated. It's biblical. The women's minister at our church told me that a couple of months ago when I was telling her how overwhelmed life has been lately, and those words have been bouncing around in my head ever since. I would love a day that I don't have to talk to anyone. I am working on that =-)

But back to today. Wow! Here are the plans that we originally had for today. Sleep in, go to the Farmer's Market, and go to lunch. Those were our only concrete plans. I knew that we needed to hit a grocery store, and I knew that I wanted to go to Home Depot, and I knew that we would need to check on Brett's mom (she had both of her knees replaced 6 weeks ago. She is walking with a walker, but she still needs a lot of help) but the only thing I knew for sure was that we, and by we I mean the whole house - Brett, myself and our awesome roommate Rebecca were going to have some fun at the Farmer's Market.

Well, instead, here are the notable things about today:
1. My dad came over this morning and taught Rebecca and I how to mow the lawn (Brett is allergic to flying grass)
2. We introduced Rebecca to New York Pizza and Pasta, where we got to watch a really exciting shoot out between Brazil and Chile in the World Cup
3. We introduced Rebecca to Sprouts where mangoes were on sale 3/$1 and I got some ADORABLE tiny little cacti
4. I gave a homeless girl my shoes
5. I bought an awesome print at Hobby Lobby and was totally inspired as to how to use a few canvases I have hanging around waiting to be used
6. I bought a vintage shelf to display our Mr. Potato Head collection (today I acquired Potato Hulk, Wolverine and Starscream, all for $17!)
7. I made my first little succulent garden
8. I bought a pink flamingo for our yard

Those were just the highlights folks. It was a full rich day.

At my last job, I saw homeless guys pretty often at the light that cars stopped at to get on the highway to head home. One day, I had the thought, "why are all the homeless people guys"? And I immediately came to the realization that a woman without a place to live would be made a prostitute immediately. They don't stand on the corners asking for money, because whether they want to or not, they earn their living another way.

This girl today was young. Younger than me. Maybe 20. She didn't really look homeless. But her sign said she was homeless. And when someone in the middle lane held out money to her, I noticed it was painful for her to walk across the concrete because she didn't have shoes. I was wearing flip flops that are pretty comfortable, that I've only worn a handful of times. I got them 4 weeks ago, I think. I hope they aren't too hard to walk in. I hope she is safe right now. I hope that no one hurts her tonight.

Good to blog again =-)