Because I really want out of consulting, and because if I go off of vacation they will stick me on a project as soon as they can, and because all the projects they could stick me on would require me to get on a plane to somewhere, I'm on vacation. Still. And I've got enough vacation saved up that I could quite conceivably stay lazy until the end of August. It's not as pretty a picture as it sounds, since I'm trying to find a new job - one that won't require me to get on a plane more than every few months instead of every week - and with my perfect sense of timing, I couldn't have picked a worse time to go job hunting in the computer techno-geek field.

But anyway, I'm off from work, home. So here's a list of things I've been doing:

• Laundry: I can finally keep up with the laundry, and there's just something about the smell of line-dried clothes and sheets that makes you want to clean them more often. Oh, and by the way, the socks are still there. I think it's a point of honor now. Heh.
• Unpacking Yes, there's still a bit to be done, but in the first few weeks of my freedom, I managed to plow through a lot of boxes, to the point where what remains fits neatly in either the corner of the guest room, or the corner of the dining room - both rooms that are rarely seen by other people, and so can afford to be left corner-cluttered for the time being.
• Organizing: And boy did I need to do this. Lots of paperwork to be filed, and things to move around now that we've got the new office, and drawers and shelves and cupboards to fill. I've still got empty drawers and cupboards in my kitchen. The mind boggles.
• Discovering the joys (ha!) of cleaning house: With the cats, we really have to vacuum a lot more often, so I've been trying to keep up with it, since I'm home and Richard isn't. We also got a Swiffer mop, just to see what all the fuss was about. I'm not all that impressed. Oh, granted, it cleans nicely, but the mop handle is just a bit too short, so that when cleaning the floors (and boy do we have a lot of floors!), I have to bend at an unnatural angle for longer than my back thinks is necessary. The day someone comes up with self-cleaning floors is the day Jennifer is a happy, happy girl.
• Coming up with lots of nifty ideas for how to 'do' the house: I dragged Richard off to the fabric store and we picked out some patterns for curtains. I'm going to make curtains. Really I am. I just need to open the pattern and figure out how much fabric I need and take in something the right color to match it with and then drag out the sewing machine and I've finally got a sewing room, by golly, so I'd better get to it.
• Being lazy: Gloriously so, I might add. It's been a wonderful treat to be able to just plop down and read a book or do a logic puzzle or even drag out my sewing any time I want.
• Wondering just how long it's been since I actually took a vacation: The fact that I had more than 200 hours saved up in vacation is kind of a scary thought, when it comes right down to it. I've got to be better at taking time off.
• Oh yeah. Job hunting: No, I really am doing this - firing off resumes right and left and searching madly for anything that looks as if I might be remotely qualified. No luck so far (sigh), but I'm trying to be hopeful.

And there you have it. The exciting, thrill-a-minute life of a computer nerd on vacation. Just about knocks your socks off, doesn't it?

You can put your socks back on now, though. And if you weren't wearing any to begin with and you'd like some, we've got a few extra, still on the line. I've got to hang new laundry out there today, but just to be ornery, I might just leave the dry socks there, just to see how long they really will stay.

Whee! There I go again!