Back to Oz

"There's no place like home."

This has been a week of re-calculating our bodies and re-organizing our lives!  Switching off vacation-mode is HARD.....especially when we like it so much, but there's no place like the comforts of home.

Wednesday morning, after my 5:45a.m. milk/fruit run, we headed out to Costco by 10:00a.m. to stock up on staples for the coming week;  Greek Yogurt, organic fruits and berries, a box of cereal for the girls, etc. We were feeling great....until the drive home which is only 15 minutes!  We could both feel our energy levels sag.  It was 11 here but our body clocks were back in Moffat where it was 7p.m. and we should be relaxing in front of the fire and "Come Dine With Me"!  We had one more chore we HAD to do so we headed out - me driving and Gordon jumping and running.  We have rent deposits to make - ours and clients rent-checks to put in various banks here in the Valley.  So off we go for that too.

When we got home I laid down to rest, but, to no avail, my mind won't stop so sleep is, again, elusive.  Alison was coming home that day and I was excited and ready so I finished the unpacking, started a little laundry and basically starting getting the house in order and readying her room.

Alison arrived around 6p.m.  We hadn't seen her since we dropped her at school back in August so it was good to hug her and catch up.  We made a nice vegetarian dinner (all our girls are vegetarian) and then Gordon and I TRIED to stay up but Gordon was in bed by 7:30 and me by 8:30 and again, we were up by 5!

Ali and I went for a manicure/pedicure on Thursday and to Nordstrom for lunch and a poke around and then by the grocery for various items and home to make a delicious dinner of fresh pesto from our garden and a Caesar salad with sour dough bread.  It was yummy.  And, again, both Gordon and I were passing out around 8 so we went to bed early again!

Natalie was coming home after work on Friday afternoon so Ali and I decided to go see Nat at the shop, Club Monaco, she works in in San Jose and to pick up Gerdy, our third cat, from her home and bring him to Pleasanton.  The traffic between San Jose and Pleasanton can be REALLY terrible in the late afternoon, especially on a Friday and Nat still needed to go home after leaving work at 3 and get her homework and clothes for the weekend.  Picking up the cat was a help.

Natalie got home about 5 and we made another delicious vegetarian meal of Black Bean Chili with butternut squash and chard and a salad of fresh pineapple, avocado and jicama with a oil and lime dressing and home-made tortilla chips!   Really good and unusual too!  We all headed to the family room to watch a little TV together but, alas, there we go again!  Geez!

This weekend we've just been lazy although Gordon and I did get after the yard a bit.  I filled both green-waste cans so a dent has been made in the garden.  There's so much to do and fall/winter clean up on top of the cutting back but that can be handled a little at a time.  Gordon cleaned up "the man zone", brought in the house plants which have been summering in the garden and poked around the pool and garden a little bit too. 

It's been such a pleasure to be home despite the trouble with changing time zones and the fact that there appears to be so much garden work.  The cats have been happy to have someone to talk to - and they've been doing a LOT of talking!  We have started to see a few changing leaves.....is that Fall coming?  The birds of summer are gone and we are hearing new bird songs, especially in the morning.  The air has changed.  It's crisp at night and we've actually had quite a bit of rain.  I think Fall has arrived even though the California hills are still golden.  Looking forward to them greening up!

The girls leave today to return to their schools and their homes.  Ali, at least, won't be home again until Thanksgiving. 

This week I need to really get after my exercise regime which, aside from walking in Moffat, has been pretty much non-existent.  Dang it's hard as you get older eh?  I'm hiking the ridge with Katy and Charli in the morning for a start and then coffee afterwards and catching up.  Also this week I need to order some carpet for a couple of rooms in the house and, since Alison took the bed from Jill's room to school with her, I need to purchase a new bed for Jillie's room before she comes home at Christmas .  Fall cleaning and organizing needs to occur, I can't put it off any longer.

Basic home stuff - back to basics, back to reality.  Back to Oz.