Things haven’t been going exactly as I had planned this week. I have yet to do any painting–or any of the other home projects that need doing. But it’s still been a good first two days of vacation.

Got lots of laundry done yesterday as well as watering all my outdoor plants. I did goof off a bit, but why not! Today I went shopping with Vanessa at Kohl’s and that was fabulous! I got two dresses, a sun dress, a tank top, a dressy top, two pairs of dress pants and a pair of shoes. Total after using my coupons and gift cards was $65!!! And I got $30 worth of Kohl’s cash to use next week!

Tonight I finalized all my reservations for the Phoenix trip. Cost will be about $500 for airfare, hotel and car. The last minute airfare cost is the killer, but not much can be done about that. Decided to go ahead and get all my bills paid since I was thinking about money. Nice to have that out of the way. And did some cleaning in my office to get rid of all the paper trash that had accumulated. I don’t know how I wind up with so much junk mail and other papers in such a short period of time.

Tomorrow I need to get some shoes to wear to the funeral. I’m hoping to get some kinda dressy sandals since it’s going to be at least 110 degrees in Phoenix. Doubt I’ll do much more than stop at the grocery, do the dishes and pack for the trip. It has been a restful few days though, so I can’t complain. Nice not to have to rush and try to get ready for a last minute trip in only a day.

On another note, today is Hayes’ birthday! He’s one year old today. Nate is about a week younger, so his birthday will be next week. Amazing that these two little kittens have turned into full sized cats already. Both cats are celebrating the fact that I’m home most of the time right now and they can wander outdoors freely. That’s worked out well–except for yesterday. Nate came running in with a full sized bird in his mouth yesterday morning! I managed to catch him and grabbed the poor bird from his clutches. Unfortunately, the bird was not going to make it and I had to dispose of him in the trash. A bit later I found Hayes playing with a lizard in the family room. The lizard was just stunned and I was able to release him back into the wild. Can’t wait to see what other fun things they bring me over the remainder of my vacation!