European Vacation!

Neuschwanstein Castle

Congratulations to Fedora Chen! You are the winner of Black Out by Annie Solomon. I’ll be contacting you for your snail mail address or you can email me at skully @ skullybuzz dot com.

Next up, I have A Dangerous Beauty by Sophia Nash. This book has the most gorgeous cover! To be eligible for the drawing, you must type in your email address. I’ll also add you to my newsletter for updates on all the fun stuff and releases, too. I’ll announce the winner on Labor Day, September 7th! (Oh my GOD!, where has the summer gone!? I know I said that last time, but I have to say it again.) Good luck!

Okay, so about the European Vacation. It’s not mine. It’s my husband’s. He’s leaving today for a three-week trip to Germany and Norway. He’s going with an old friend of his that he’s known since grade school. They’ll be visiting his friend’s relatives in Germany and hubby’s relatives in Norway (he’s a Viking God, remember!). They’ve been planning this trip forever! But I never really considered that I’d be all alone for three weeks! I’ll get to watch all the chick flicks sitting in my Netflix queue and the third season of Dexter (he doesn’t like the serial killer movies). I can eat brussel sprouts and edamame and chicken livers and lamb kabobs. I can watch endless reruns of CSI. I can lay in his spot on the sofa and eat his half of the popcorn as well as my own. The kitchen table will stay clean. I won’t have do to any ironing! This will be all such fun! For about four days. Then I’ll remember that there’s no one to share my mocha with in the morning (he makes my mocha for me!). No one to talk with or snuggle up to in bed at night just before I go to sleep (except our dog Star but she snores). No one to appreciate my cooking or to kiss me goodbye when he leaves for work. No one to call me on his lunch break or when before he leaves on his hour-long drive home. No reason to look forward to five o’clock. There’s all these little rituals we have, dinner, the TV shows we watch together, the talks we have about the day. When someone is there, you take all those things for granted. But when they’re gone, you realize how much you rely on those rituals, look forward to them. BTW, Star is going to miss him a lot, too. Because Dad is the one who gives her all the treats. When Dad goes into the kitchen, Star jumps up to follow. When Mom goes to the kitchen, Star doesn’t even open her eyes! Suddenly three weeks seems like a very, very long time for both Star and me!

So what rituals do you have, whether you do them yourself or share them with someone else?

Jasmine, Jennifer and JB!

9 Comments

  1. Firstly, I'd like to comment on the book. I went online to find an excerpt and truly enjoyed the witticism and humour evidenced throughout. Would be lovely to win, of course.Secondly, rituals. Hmmm…. I have always encouraged eating meals together, if at all possible. When my DH doesn't get home from work until 7:20 pm, we try to have supper with him then so he doesn't dine alone and we can share the day with him. Sometimes my adult kids and I play badminton at 7 pm, though, so he gets a solitary microwaved plate of food instead. When DH has night shifts or is off work, though, we try to eat around 5:30 pm so that we can all get on with "life" after the dishes are done together. (Usually I get out of doing the "non-dishwasher" dishes because I made the meal.)In the past when vacations were easy to obtain, we would book two full weeks at Christmastime when school was out to visit my sister and her family 2000+ miles away. That's a great tradition to have. Now that vacations are more difficult, my sister and her husband come here more often throughout the rest of the year. It doesn't matter as long as we're together.Christmas also used to involve waking in our own home, opening the gifts with our young children, having an early lunch at home, visiting DH's brother/family for 1-1.5 hours, visiting DH's other brother/family for 1-1.5 hours, visiting DH's sister/parents for 1-1.5 hours, and then having supper with my parents. We covered all the bases. Now that three of the parents are gone, we put the turkey in at 1 pm, go visit MIL at one of DH's brothers' homes, and then return to our own abode for supper; sometimes it is our turn to have MIL here for supper. We don't care what we do as long as we visit as many family members as possible and are together. I'm sure this ritual will change once our adult kids have families of their own.Thanks for asking. Have a great day!Oops. Forgot to include my email address; sorry about that!——————-

  2. Laney, I do think mealtimes are a very special part of the evening to share together. Hubby and I eat together, talk out the day, then go to our own separate stuff, checking emails, etc, then back together again to watch a movie. Holidays and vacations are other great ritualistic times for visiting family, too. And he's going to see a lot of family while away!

    LOL, I started the photo journal of the trip by taking lots of pictures of them at the airport waiting in line to check in, then in the security lines!

    Thanks for sharing your rituals, Laney. I'm also glad Sophia's book sparks your interest!

  3. Thanks for sharing that beautiful picture. I love castles. Its the Cinderella syndrome I've never recovered from, its a wonder I love romance novels.

    Someday when the kids get older, maybe a European vacation could happen. Hubby wants to drink all the beer in Germany, I mean, taste the different beers. Me, I just want to visit the Highlands and walk the moors, sip my espresso on the sidewalk of a Parisian bistro, learn the German slap dance (whatever you call it), visit the red light district in Amsterdam (hear its interesting).

    Rituals? Hubby bringing in my coffee and enjoying together before the kids bombard our quiet time.

    Hang in there, enjoy your time with your TBR pile. Have a great rest of the summer.

  4. The photo is of Neuschwanstein Castle. Not sure my husband will see this particular one, but I'm sure he'll see others over there in Germany.

    I love all the things you'd like to do on a European vacation, Armenia. LOL, the Amsterdam red light district would be fun.

    And what a wonderful ritual!

  5. Hi Jas, That's too bad you aren't going to Europe as well. Maybe with a friend too! You and Star can bond now in your missing your hubby,lol. The castle is so beautiful. Well I can't think of any rituals that I do, just a routine I guess.

  6. Routines are rituals, too, Dena! Star and I are bonding. She's getting me to give her more treats out of guilt! And my husband and I are emailing back and forth a lot. It's actually kind of fun. I'm always jumping into email now to check to see if he's sent me something! But it is pretty lonely and quiet around here. Trip's half over, though!

  7. That truly is a beautiful castle. One ritual I stick to is I talk to my daughters every day and tell them I love them. My family wasn't very affectionate when I was little so I made a vow that when I had children that I would tell them every day that I loved them.

  8. Rituals? Hmm, none jump immediately to mind. My BFF and I have started getting together more regularly for evenings involving board game marathons and lots of alcohol. Since I'm really starting to look forward to these nights, I'd say they qualify as rituals.

    I also enjoy walking and find the daily strolls to be very calming. Of course, my walks look like slow motion compared to your power walks [grin], but I love them anyway.

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