A Holiday Hiatus

The time has come! My 13 week travel assignment as an ICU night nurse at Buffalo General Hospital is finished and I am so very happy to say that I have budgeted well enough to take a few months off! My boys deserve to have their momma home with them for our first holiday season away from family and truly on our own. I have so many things that I want to get done during my time off, so this blog serves as a sort of plan to outline that.

 

I truly enjoyed my time at BGH. I met a lot of great people and learned some new techniques. The staff there was always so nice and helpful to me. I honestly feel bad that I had to leave them because they are still painfully short staffed, however I have other plans with life right now and my family comes first!

 

When people asked me what I was doing after my contract and I told them "Nothing!", they would then ask, "What are you taking off for?" And to that I would gleefully answer LIFE! Yes I wish I could answer that I was jetting off to an island for awhile to gather my thoughts, but alas that is not in the cards for me right now. It may not seem that great to "just" be taking off some time for nothing, but I am very proud of it and I can't wait to enjoy the holiday season with my boys without having to juggle a work schedule or squeeze everything that needs to be done into my few days off.

 

How many people are actually able to take some time off? To voluntarily choose to take a break and enjoy the things that really matter in life--our loved ones? To plan your work around your life, instead of trying to live around your work? Not many!

 

Most of you know that I've been the "breadwinner" for many years while Nick was a stay-at-home-dad. This was just how life worked out for us and we are happy that we had that opportunity to avoid day care for our children so far. Now the roles have reversed somewhat and Nick is working a full time job that he loves. Hopefully his pay will soon reflect his responsibility and value to the company, but until then I will most likely work part-time hours when I can. This is just one more positive change that we have had in our lives that was out of reach for so long before our move.

 

My current intentions are to go back to work part time starting in January or February, so until then these are some of the things I want to accomplish during my time off:

• declutter the few remaining piles of unpacked boxes/papers
• do a weekly dinner menu
• stock freezer with meals
• ease back into couponing
• finish our family photo album for 2016
• catch up on Brad's scrapbook
• catch up on Jacob's scrapbook
• crochet things!
• take the boys sledding when it snows
• go on picnics and walks by the lake while nice weather is here
• read lots of good books

It may not seem like much, but these are things that I enjoy doing yet have not had time to do with the craziness of our life recently. All of my hobbies have been put on the back burner for basically the last year so I'm craving some ME time to unwind and be creative!