Sitting at the Corner of Burned Out and Fried

~ Laura

OK, I'm burned out. Christmas is fun, but Christmas is a shit-load of work. And I've had one hell of a year.

I crashed and burned last Friday. I didn't realize that I was just so, so, so tired, until I started thinking about how I was going to have to cook 12 fishy appetizers for Christmas Eve, and I kinda lost my marbles. Family has taken over, so instead of cleaning the house and writing menu plans, I'm researching hotels in Puerto Rico. I would have booked a vacation for this weekend and had a holiday on the beach, but Steve used up all of his vacation time during our move. So, we'll have to wait until February. 

Any suggestions? 

Published by Laura

20 thoughts on “Sitting at the Corner of Burned Out and Fried”

  1. I’m currently counting my blessings that our current mysterious water outage did not occur yesterday, when I was clearing out a big pile of laundry from youngest’s stomach bug or when my husband was shampooing our dining room carpet. At the moment, we are high and dry, but at least the laundry is caught up and the dishwasher ran twice yesterday. Our very natural first impulse is to leave and not come back until we have water, but we are grounded by youngest’s tummy bug.
    This may have something to do with the torrential rains that we had yesterday–there might have been some sort of overflow that affected water quality.

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  2. Oh, and we have the opposite holiday issue. Our family is on the West Coast and we’re not traveling this Christmas, so it’s more a question of what to do with ourselves for three lonely weeks (especially with a bad tummy), rather than collapsing under the strain of running a free hotel and catering service. Campus closes up very completely, so I’ve temporarily lost my Starbucks, the cafeterias where we usually have dinner and my gym.

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  3. Dancing on the edge of burnout here, so you have my sympathies. I am glad that your family has taken over holiday prep and you can think about that February vacation, instead. I don’t know of anywhere in Puerto Rico, sorry but I can highly recommend St. Maarten’s if you’re interested in flying a bit farther!

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  4. Puerto Rico is beyond my travel knowledge. I’m not allowed to ever dream of going to the Caribbean because my husband and sun both hate beaches. Cape Cod is only ever allowed because 1. it’s nearby and 2. there’s biking.
    I hear you on the burnout. It’s bad this year, and they’re making us all (me and my kids) have classes this week.

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  5. I hate going to the beach also. I’d rather go somewhere with trees or mountains or buildings that have places to eat where you don’t have to sit on sand.

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  6. The beach is fine except for the sun, the sand, the salt water and the wind.
    Also, outdoor dining is overrated.

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  9. Caribbean in rank order:
    St. Maarten
    Trinidad
    Puerto Rico
    Bahamas
    Jamaica
    The boys might like Costa Rica if they like some easy-medium hiking, amazing wildlife, and good swimming. It’s culturally void (so less appealing to you and Steve). Guatemala is pretty neat and not too far, and we’re heading to Mexico–a trip to the Yucatan filled with ruins, and then a few days on the beach.

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  10. The holidays stress me out, too. I generally freeze up and don’t do many of the things I feel like I should do. I too, was fantasizing about a Puerto Rican beach vacation. We went as a family to Rincon several years ago. I remember seeing this little place near a very cool surfing beach and thinking next time I would like to stay there. It’s a small place, no resort amenities, but I thought it was quite attractive.
    Casa Islena
    http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g264369-d250122-Reviews-Casa_Islena_Inn-Rincon_Puerto_Rico.html

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  12. We’ve been to Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, both in February, even (our anniversary month). PR is gorgeous, and I’d recommend many of the same landmarks I think you’ve already gotten: El Yunque, Old San Juan, El Morro, Ponce, etc. Be careful, though; violent crime and shootings, even in public/tourist areas, are drastically up in the past year or so.

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  17. Thanks, Laura. Though to be sure it has helped that Kids One and Two were at the German grandparents during the active stage of the move. And we’re spending the holidays there instead of heading straight to Russia. Anyway, our move Here was interrupted by an invading army, so most anything is likely to be better.
    Yes, Amy, Moscow is expensive. The first year at the Anglo-American School would have run just under $90,000. (Counting $30,000 in start-up type fees.) Our kids aren’t going there. Three-bedroom townhouses on the compound nearest to Anglo-American quote a rent of $16,000 per month. We aren’t living there, either. Let’s not talk about the EUR 4 per kilo import tax on household goods. No way around that unless you’re a diplomat. As Jack Aubrey might say, “‘Kind of’ ain’t in it.”

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  19. MH,
    Moscow is like NYC on steroids. One of my Russian friends once told me that there’s Moscow and there’s Russia and they are two totally different things. (I think my Russian school in the sticks was paying something like $50 a month rent for a 1-bedroom apartment for me to live in back in the mid-90s, but I could literally hear roosters crowing from my balcony. We had non-stop hot water and electricity due to the proximity of the power plant, which was a glorious thing. Meanwhile, in big city Vladivostok, people were generally missing one major utility time at any one time.)
    Doug,
    Yuck. I especially dislike the combination of the high cost of living and the import tax on household goods. How long are you planning to be there?

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  20. You can hear a rooster crowing in Oakland, if you live near where the Blvd. of the Allies enters Schenley Park. Plus, all of the major utilities work at least 99% of the time.

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