Stay-cation*

The kids were out of school this week for winter break, and I desperately wanted to go on vacation. I knew that Jamison would have been gone for a week and that the winter would be at the peak of the it's-never-going-to-end feeling (and our landlord said that he would remodel our bathroom if we could get out of the apartment for a week). But we couldn't "afford" to go out of town, so instead my mom came to visit us. I knew we could make staying home for the break enjoyable with all that NYC has to offer. And we did!

Here is a survey of what we have done since Dad has been gone: We went to a bowling birthday party. We went to the Bronx zoo, Central Park zoo and the NY Aquarium. We went to a marionette puppet show of Sleeping Beauty. We saw South Pacific on Broadway (not the kids). I had a day to myself of reading, writing, and a little shopping. I had a date with a girl friend at a French restaurant and enjoyed cheese fondue. We ate pizza, Egyptian food, Indonesian food, pizza, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and pizza. (I'm looking forward to healthy home-cooking again.) We had lots of other fun things planned, but the kids often opted for train tracks and princesses and play at home. And today the kids are at the Staten Island Children's Museum without me :) Oh, and did I mention that we spent $600 in parking tickets and towing fees yesterday from illegally parking Uncle Marshall's car? What fun. There is a reason I don't own a car...

So our time at home didn't end up saving us much money. I guess we'll have to find a way to "afford" our stay-cation...we hadn't factored in the $600 parking spot. Hidden costs will get you every time. Maybe next time we'll just fork out the money for the plane tickets!

Oh, well. At least Daddy comes home tomorrow!!!!!!!
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*A staycation (or stay-cation, or stacation) is a neologism for a period of time in which an individual or family stays at home and relaxes at home or takes day trips from their home to area attractions. Staycations have achieved high popularity in current hard economic times in which unemployment levels and gas prices are high. (from Wikipedia)