Some weekends arrive on the heels of a ragged week. We eagerly welcome the ease of tension, obligations and harried pace. Some weekends arrive and we dread the solitary time, more content for the productivity and distraction of work during the week. Some people beg for a traditional weekend because their calendar weekends are filled with a second job. For me, I had hoped for this long weekend to be a chance to slip away with my sister and our sons for a short hop to an Orlando amusement park for some R&R and pure escapism. But, alas, neither of us had the energy to actually get out of town. And in the spirit of frugality, pay-as-you and delayed gratification, we accepted the challenge to stay in town and make our own “getaway weekend”.
I made spaghetti sauce in the crock pot Friday afternoon, using the leftover partial packages of ground round and lean ground pork from my deep freezer. I tossed in a chopped onion, a half dozen fresh gloves of garlic and dried herbs. Add a large Caesar salad with home made dressing and a few margarita’s and we just saved easily $150. We watched classic movies that we had not all seen: Gladiator, The Quick and the Dead, Animal House. (E got to watch Samurai Jack). We went and saw The Last Airbender. I baked a homemade pound cake that got polished off in a day. I made that delicious cinnamon raisin bread and made submarine eggs for breakfast. We did a little bit of shopping…mostly window shopping with the exception of some sneakers for E. E spent a bunch of time playing with his neighborhood posse and got to go play Laser Tag with a good buddy. We piddled on our computers and read books. I finished The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet’s Nest. E finished The Bridge to Terabithia. Other than groceries ($76), the sneakers ($18) and the movie at the theater….I didn’t spend a dime.
The best part of the weekend? No drive home. No suitcases to unpack. And no debit cards purchases or credit card charges to reconcile.