A June to Remember

6.2

I've been sitting here for a few minutes trying to figure out how to start this because (shocker) I let too much time pass before sitting down to do this. Now, I can't remember much about the rest of April since I published last. Looks like I'll have to attempt this again tomorrow because I just got a STEMI page. After a 12 hour day, I just want to go to bed. I have no idea what I did the weekend of the 21st. Must not have been that important. I went to Ludlow on the 29th to see the ladies. We did our usual...chatting, cocktails, board games, and I helped Granny figure out how to use her new vacuum cleaner. She made stuffed zucchini, pork chops and rice for dinner. We went for a short stroll after dinner then had lemon squares for dessert. Later on that week, Cora had a same day procedure done to remove a cancerous bladder tumor. She did very well and we're hoping for the best. I made a pit stop in Ctown to hang out with Ashley for a little while before I went home.

6.3

The month on May went by pretty quick, quicker than normal, probably because I have a lot of anxiety about my upcoming trip to Italy (leaving Thursday and coming back the 17th). Time moves a long but it seems to move faster when there is something you're not looking forward to. I'm not saying I'm not looking forward to going; I do want to go but it's hard for me to be away from home and Xander for a week. I'm going to miss him terribly. Lounging around home by myself is my ultimate vacation but it's a big world out there and you have to take advantage of opportunities to see some of it when you can. Italy is safe and I will come home safe but I can't help but be afraid of the unknown. I'm not a fan of flying and I've never asked for a prescription before now but I figured it's a good idea for a transatlantic flight. Anywho, back to May.

From what I can remember, the first weekend in May was relatively quiet. I did some housecleaning on Saturday and rewarded myself with a pizza, however, I wish I/ had ordered from EBA's instead of Ramunto's like I had considered because they have since shut down with very little notice. A downtown Hanover staple for years. Bummer.

On the 13th, I went down to Sig Sauer Academy in Epping to take Handgun 101. It was an hour and a half away so I had to get up early (good thing I was still full from Carbonara from Three Tomatoes). It turned out to be a really good day and I'm glad I did it. The instructor was great and the Academy was easy to find. It was mostly safety lecturing and we headed to an indoor range after we broke for an early lunch. We learned how to load the magazine and did shooting exercises with the real deal. After we cleaned up, we learned how to disassemble the gun, clean it, and put it back together. I went to their store on site as soon as class was over and bought myself a gun and ammunition. A much easier process in NH than I thought. Live Free Or Die. I made pit stops on the way home for gas and the rest of dessert at Market Basket in Warner for our Mother's Day get together in Ludlow the next day. Speaking of, it was a pretty memorable one. Pete flew in from CA to surprise Granny. He spent the first night here at Sherry's place and they traveled to Ludlow a little later than the rest of us so that everyone was there ready with phones in hand for the surprise entrance. It was great although Heather and Dave's car broke down so musical cars and a trip back to Ctown happened in order for them to get the car loaded and towed to Ludlow. Sooo Dave and Eric were not there in time. Bad luck. It was still fun though, eating pizza place italian, drinking, visiting and puzzles of course. I haven't talked to Granny since; I should call her before I leave. Pete was here for a week and he came up here Tuesday evening and we had a nice visit over dinner at Jesse's. Saw a bear crossing the road in front of me on the way home.

The weekend of the 19th, Brandi came for an adults-only visit. I was able to get out of work early but she still beat me home. Kelly made reservations for us at Three Tomatoes so we decided to have some cocktails. We made vodka tonics with a splash of cranberry juice and downed 2 each. Neither one of us could drive so Kelly's boyfriend Matt picked us up and dropped us off and did the same at the end of the night. Our alcohol intake only progressed so it was really great of him to do that. I had a glass of wine at dinner then helped Brandi with Kelly's martini that was too strong for her. After dinner, we walked over to Salt Hill and we all took Gummi Bear shots then I intelligently ended the night with a shared glass of IPA. I was tanked. But not too tanked to start another Brandi-made vodka tonic once we all got back to my house. Bad choices. Even worse result. I won't go into detail because I won't ever forget how much I threw up between then and close to lunch time Saturday. Once I was able to shower and function a little bit, we headed to Woodstock (making a lunch pitstop at Worthy Kitchen) and walked around. We went in the Inn and checked out some shops, the weather was really nice. We drove through WRJ and went to King Arthur Flour. We went to Revolution for dinner and rented a movie to watch while we housed pints of ice cream. Would have been Doritos too but I forgot I bought a bag. We went to Lou's for breakfast Sunday before she headed back to Brandiland. I forced myself to go for a run for the first time this year after washing my bedding that day (X yaks on my bed occasionally) and I made it 4 miles. Go me! It felt decent although I was sore for a few days.

Last weekend was a 4 day weekend for Memorial Day and I felt very strongly about being home and having a me weekend with my kitty in light of my upcoming trip. That's pretty much exactly what I did. On Saturday, I learned how to use my pressure washer and I did my front porch and most of my back deck steps before it decided to stop working for whatever reason. It turned on later for Ray so maybe it overheated and got wet where it wasn't supposed to. I went for the first bike ride of the year Sunday and stained what I washed all by myself. In my eyes, not professional, but it looks better than it did. On Monday, I got some housecleaning and my food shopping done (it was raining, so much rain lately). On Tuesday, I went to my Barre class (it had been 2 weeks because I ran around so much the previous Tuesday getting to 4 appointments), got a pedi for my trip, and cleaned my gross bathroom. I got stuff done and recharged my mental battery at home.

Work has been work. I'm starting to feel burned out. I've been on call almost every Wednesday in May and one of those nights we were paged at 1230 and there the rest of the night. We had a Mitraclip almost every Thursday in May (which has been helping me avoid Echo). The lab is doing more and we are expected to do more with less. This is my call weekend but I switched tomorrow for another Sunday with Cathy so I could go to Maddy's Jenkins recital tomorrow night. I'm tired. Yesterday was a 12 hour day. We were paged at 11 last night and I got home at 230 this morning. I was home for 7 hours and they brought us back in for a non urgent case. The money is good but sleep and time away from that place is worth so much more to me. I've been tired all day so I'm crossing my fingers I can sleep through the night and have a good day tomorrow. Stuff needs to get done so I chose not to lay around and nap all day although that would have been fabulous.

Random thoughts: Hops and Barley in Woodstock is my new go to place for craft beer replenishment. My goal is to keep a daily log of my Italy trip. I can't imagine sitting down after I'm home and trying to remember everything from what's going to be a jam-packed adventure.  90's Alternative and Deftones radio have been my go to stations on Pandora. What would life be like without music?