We busted our tails this past weekend to save ourselves from busting them during future weekends. Our house has lots of landscaping & this includes huge mulch beds with plenty of 'stuff'. The problem is, mulch beds have to be weeded. Very time consuming, not to mention back breaking. One 'bed' the size of some yards, runs from a point in the front yard, wraps around down the side of the house & widens between the neighbor's fence & our brick patio. Emptied that bed - at least 200 loads of mulch, cut out roots, transplanted 'stuff', raked & loosened soils. It's READY now for sod. I ordered the sod for delivery Thursday or Friday of this week. I scheduled a week off so we could get the work done & then spend some much needed time away for a few days. Everything is set to go. Getting myself mentally prepared. Rocky Theme is playing in my head..... & then... I got an email at 6PM that may screw it all up.
My project is essentially finished - which justifies a vacation. Everything tied up in a neat little bow. Did I mention I got an email that may screw everything up?
The email says that the company needs me to be in Atlanta Wednesday night to fill in on another project through - get this - Saturday. Saturday! I only work Saturdays when absofreakinlutely necessary - rarely in other words. This arrangement may mean I won't get home until Sunday. That means I'll have a bunch of sod sitting in the driveway for at least a few days before I can start. It also means, that without mulch, weeds will grow in the beds, leading to a duplication of prep work effort. It also means that the 'vacation' will get off to a totally crappy start. Instead of driving home with a smile on Friday afternoon looking forward to 9 consecutive days of no work, I'll be in the air feeling shortchanged. Vacation time for me ranks right up there with OXYGEN. Work hard - play hard - enjoy life - give n' take. The idea is always to sandwich 5 vacation days between 2 weekends.
I fired off an email suggesting they (my company) try to make arrangements for someone else to pinch hit, explaining my great plans & intentions (all totally true). It probably won't get me anywhere. Maybe I'll postpone my vacation so I get my 9 days & just pay somebody to put the damn sod down. The hard part is done.
