Here I am again, skipping a day for putting up a blog post. Perhaps that is becoming a pattern. My goal is still to post every day, but work seems to keep getting in the way.
My two days off this week turned into one full day off and two half days off. At least the half days off were back to back, as in Sunday afternoon and Monday morning. It's not quite the same, but at least it's time off. I didn't sleep well Saturday night so I spent most of my afternoon yesterday sleeping, I took a four hour nap!! I almost never nap, but as I was realizing I didn't have any energy to do anything productive it became clear that the most productive thing I could do was sleep. For now, I feel pretty much caught up on sleep and I believe, for the most part, I should get 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night for the rest of the time we are here.
My exercise habit is improving. I didn't exercise yesterday, but I will get a workout in today before I report to work at 1. I don't see anything preventing me from working out for about an hour a day at least 5 days a week. My goal is still 6, but 5 is not bad.
Food and alcohol are the remaining big difficulty for me. I've not been successful on the no flour/sugar/alcohol plan so far this week. When I decided to take a nap yesterday afternoon I also made the decision to make that nap the starting point for getting on my eating plan. So far, so good. I have been on plan since I woke up from my nap yesterday afternoon.
When Carla and I thought we would be here until June 30, 2018, I made plans to go home next week for a week. Plans to go home included shutting down rooms and not doing dinner here the weekend I was gone. After Dick decided to hire Jeremiah and Lisseth and we knew we would be going home on December 23rd, the need to get home to Kansas City for a week in November decreased dramatically. I miss Jackie terribly and I really do want to go home, but being gone for a week is pretty unreasonable at this point. I just checked to see what it would cost to change my plane tickets and shorten my trip to 3 days and the cost is $500. It's just not worth it, for that quick of a trip. This is why I usually book on Southwest Airlines. No change fees. Anyway, I'm not going to go home next week. Instead I am going to use the time to pack and to do some Christmas shopping for all of our grandchildren. We have a lot of great outlet stores in NH, with no sales tax, so it makes sense to get the shopping done while I'm here. Jack and I will just have to talk on the phone a lot!!
Unfortunately, I am on call this morning, until 10AM. Jeremiah was scheduled to work breakfast with Carla this morning but we are experiencing a severe storm and the roads were flooded and he could not get here for his shift. As I was typing the previous sentence Carla called up the stairs, "Mom, I could use your help!" She had three of our five couples sit down at the same time so I went down to assist her with table service, and now that's done. She has two more couples to feed before 10AM which she will be able to do on her own. I will wait until 10 to change clothes and begin working out, but I don't think I will have to go downstairs again this morning.
What's next?
Jackie will get here on December 22nd and we will pull out of town on December 23rd. It will take us three days to get home, so we are planning to be on the road Christmas day. I have no idea what inns will be open on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, but I'll find something. We had already decided that for Christmas this year we would just do one sentimental gift, each; and stockings, of course! Wherever we are on Christmas morning is where we will exchange gifts and celebrate our Christmas.
I will spend the first couple of weeks back home in Kansas City closing our business books out for the year and getting our income taxes filed. I will also set up a strong exercise and food regimen for myself and Jackie (he has asked for my help when I get home, getting back into a solid program). Once the taxes are filed I have two projects to keep me busy, since I won't be working. I'll be focusing on getting the house ready to sell, which will include painting the entire interior of the house, packing away unessential items, boxing everything in the basement for transport once we are ready to move, and sorting through things for a massive spring yard sale. The second major project I will be working on is finding our inn. I am sure that between doing taxes; painting, organizing, and packing up the house; and inn shopping I will be plenty busy for at least the first half of the year. Once spring sets in I will be out in the yard trying to improve the lawn and clean up the gardens so that they are presentable for whenever we put the house on the market. The exterior of the house looks fabulous already, because of the huge project we did with the siding and windows a few years ago. That project alone makes the house the most well kept and presentable in the neighborhood. I don't think we will have any trouble at all selling our home, when the time comes.
We will be looking for an inn somewhere west of Denver. We are looking for an inn with between 8 and 16 bedrooms, at least a few acres of land, in a beautiful setting, less than an 8 hour drive away from at least two of the three cities that our children and grandchildren live in. Those cities are Idaho Springs, CO, Salt Lake City, UT, and Escondido, CA. Steve lives in Mexico and he and Carla are still mobile, as in they are not sure exactly where they are going to end up, so for now we are focusing on being close to the kids that seemed to be pretty settled. Carla plans on being with us at the inn, at least for the first few years, anyway, so we'll be super close to her!! With any luck we will end up in an area that appeals to her for a long time, but we won't know that until we find our place. If you happen to stay in an inn, or know of an inn, that meets the above criteria, let us know!! It doesn't have to be "officially" for sale, either. Keep your eyes and ears open!!
I'm excited, nervous, anxious, happy, and a host of other emotions regarding what is coming next. I am extremely glad that we decided to take this gig in NH, running the Bernerhof Inn. It has been a difficult and trying year, but we've learned so much that it was entirely worth it. I am ready to come home, though, as in today! Unfortunately we have 54 days left. It will go quickly, I am sure of that. We have a Murder Mystery Weekend coming up this weekend, a few cooking classes, and Thanksgiving to plan for. We will continue to train Jeremiah and Lisseth. We need to pack and plan our trip home. There is plenty to do to keep us busy. In addition, I need to exercise regularly, sleep a lot, and eat good food. We won't be too busy at the inn to accomplish all of these things.
I'm going to sign off now and check out our route home. Have a wonderful day!!
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