Taking a break, wearing jammies and Nick Jonas, or what I did on my weekend

I tell you what, you use the words "I unplugged for the weekend" and you're going to get all kinds of responses.

There's the gasp:  *GASP*  I could never do that!

There's the grim look of despair:  *Grim look and a nod* (Translation:  that's just what I need to do.)

There's the grunt:  *Grunt.* (Translation:  Dude, who cares?)

See, here's what happened.  My kids were out of school for two days and as I've pestered my inlaws to babysit so many bazillion times I figured I would cut everyone a big break and just take some vacation days and stay home with them.  Then we were out for Presidents Day.  That means I spend a grand total of 5 days at home.  With my kids. 

Now, some of you precious readers are stay at home moms.  So you're reading this going, dude, this is old hat for me, what's the big deal? 

And some of you precious readers are working moms.  And you're going, please God let me have a break from work before I stab someone in the eyeball.

I know.  Because that was me.  All prepared to stab someone in the eyeball. 

When you're a working mom, a whole lot gets sacrificed.  Your time is given away to some nameless, thankless workplace that tends to suck the joy and life from the very marrow of your bones. I think I understand why people drink.  They're trying to replenish all that joy and life from their dry marrow.  I myself am not a drinker.  And Diet Coke just isn't cutting it. Neither are the Reese's Cups. 

Your vision of how you want your life to look is sacrificed.  It morphs instead to just surviving. 

And for me, my energy to engage with my kids is sacrificed.  Because when I finally get home and am faced with my kids, I am tired.  I've not been running a marathon all day, but mentally, my brain is pudding.  There's not a lot left to offer.

So.  A break was just what I needed. 

There's only one problem.  See, I live on this farm.  Throw a rock and you'll hit a cow or a horse or some kid learning to ride a horse or some kid herding a cow or a pile of manure from the animal variety.  A farm.  And our little abode doesn't get innernets.  The only window to the online world is through our iPhones (iPreciouses).  Except, using an iPhone to do normal typey type activities online is akin to using a calculator to write a dissertation.  It's way hard.  It's exhausting. 

So.

I chose to ditch it all.  I managed to throw a crappy blog together in 3 minutes flat whilst waiting for my Hubs in the Apple store on Friday.  And then I managed to pump out a little sumpin on Monday riddled with enough HTML to make me cuss a storm. 

And that was it.  I broke that annoying tether to a machine that I was convinced held all kinds of importance.  I wasn't running to my yahoo to see who was online to chat with.  I wasn't running to the Twitters, to attempt a witty awesome to die for 140 character statement.  I wasn't trying to come up with snappy statuses for Facebook. 

I just took a break. 

I read.  I read a lot.  I watched random movies with my kids.  I washed loads of laundry.  I let my brain rest. 

It was nice. 

And you know what I discovered?  I discovered:

1.  Jammies really are comfy for day wear.

2.  Nick Jonas is kind of a cutie.  Curse you, Disney channel and inane movies like Camp Rock.  Curse you.

3.  Books are my crack.

4.  I won't cry when I leave this job.

5.  My kids make me want to drink sometimes. 

6.  I really needed this break.

7.  I only think in lists, apparently.

8.  I feel all zen-like and full of peacenessosity.

9.  Weird that this was the way I lived not even ten years ago.

10.  I can live without a computer.

So.  My question, you few and faithfully readers, would you consider taking a break from it all?  How would you let your brain rest?