**I will preface this post by saying...it's a long one. Be forewarned...I'm bored. The amount of my boredom will correlate well to the length of the post. Oh yeah, and the "confession" doesn't come until the end...so sit back, get yourself a drink or some popcorn or something, because you'll be here for a while (assuming someone out there in the Internet world is actually reading this). **
My favorite part about teaching school is that I get great vacations (you know, summers off, spring break, Christmas, all major holidays and a few of the minor ones). Since rob has been in school for most of our married life, he has also had some summers off. We have been able to take advantage of a lot of this time and do some great traveling (see www.egberttravels.blogspot.com). This summer was no exception--we went one our wild tour across Mexico, then off to Jacksonville, NC for a family get together, and just recently got back from a weekend trip to Charleston, SC. We had to squeeze all of those trips into a 3-week period between when Rob took step 1 of his boards and when he started up his surgery rotations in the hospital. Well, as you may have surmised from the title of this post, Rob is back to work/school and I am not yet. So I sit at home trying so hard not to spend money because a). we went on all of the trips mentioned previously, b). I have already surpassed my budget for buying school-related stuff and c). I am saving for one last trip to Charleston before school starts (Whoo-hoo for girls trips!!).
Now if you have always had a job that keeps you busy year-round, you may not realize how expensive it is to not work. First off, staying in the house all day gets a little old. So right off the bat if you want to leave you have to factor in gas money. Then you think to yourself, "Where should I go?" My first thoughts are always shopping or eating. Even if it is necessary, like grocery shopping, it still adds into the budget. I also think about doing something outdoors, but it is so crazy hot and humid with pop-up thunderstorms threatening at any moment lately that that is really out of the question as well. I've thought about joining a gym, but again, it costs money. So I try to keep the shopping trips to a minimum. Well that leaves me sitting at home. While I could do something productive like clean or plan stuff for school, that usually doesn't happen. So my other options are the computer, the tv, the kitchen, or a book.
First off, the computer. This is almost as expensive for me as going out shopping...possibly even more expensive. I guess I realized this when I was booking a hotel online with the girls tonight and they were impressed that I have my credit card number memorized as well as the expiration and the security code. I did not have that memorized before the summer started. Online shopping is just so nice and convenient now that so many places offer free/cheap shipping. In my defense though, most of the stuff I've ordered is for school and I will be reimbursed for it...most of it...
Secondly, the tv. While I do have my dvr set to record Days of Our Lives everyday, I am not much for daytime television. Mostly because I usually don't have time for it. As I have had more daytime free time on my hands, I have come to see the dangers of the Food Network and HGTV. I've always liked these channels, but it is a little too easy to get hooked from one show to the next. They're all interesting enough to me that, if I don't have something else planned, I can easily waste away an entire afternoon and not even realize it!
Next, the kitchen. I like to cook and bake. When I get bored, I make food--usually a dessert of some kind. Now this can be a money thing again, but more pressing is the health issue. I have a major sweet tooth and I could eat desserts all day. Luckily, its been so hot that the thought of using any heat in the kitchen in the middle of the day is so unappealing that I have stopped spending my days baking. But this leads to more boredom.
So that brings me to my last major choice for entertaining myself at home, which is reading. And this is the part I am most ashamed of. Now I know you're thinking, and no, I have not started reading trashing romance novels. It's worse. I started reading non-smutty, teenage vampire romance novels. Yes, I've gotten hooked on the Twilight books. I like to think of myself as having very cultured tastes in media. I always read the reviews on movies (www.rottentomatoes.com) and books (www.amazon.com) before I watch/read them. I try not to waste my time on "fluff." But alas, I am counting down the days until the 4th book in the saga comes out. And unfortunately for me, these books are super quick reads so it only takes me a couple days to get through them (not to mention I can hardly put them down). So this will only satisfy my boredom for a few more days. Well my sisters have been telling me to read these books for years now (or at least it seems like it) and I finally read them this summer. I guess I can take solace in the fact that I got two of my other friends completely hooked on the books as well. So at least now I have brought two other intelligent beings down to my same level of guilty pleasure. So there's my confession. I have succumbed to the boredom and tossed my pride out the window in favor of living in the fantasy world of vampires, werewolves (I am a big fan of Jacob), and the flutterings of a hormone-filled, teenage heart.
But don't worry. I actually have to get to work on school stuff now (just a couple weeks till we start again!!!) so the boredom has probably already come to a peak. Even though I complain, I know that once school starts again I will be dreaming of my carefree days of surfing the web, eating cookies, watching daytime television and reading books meant for pre-pubescent girls.
