...and back to winter...

I have spent a lot of my adult life struggling to figure out how to balance my rather all-consuming job with my desire to have a fulfilling life outside of work. However, there is one small chunk of the year (the weeks between President's Day and Easter) when I give myself fully over to my job and let the rest of my life languish and gather dust (this is so not good for school, by the way, and as I type this I realize that I was supposed to do an interview for a project sometime today and it is already 2:30. Right.). Which is why I have worked 11-12 hour days each day this week, my clean laundry from Sunday is still in a basket by my side of the bed, and it is clear each time we open the refrigerator that something climbed inside while we were in Hawaii and died.

For me, this kind of schedule is unsustainable long-term, both physically and emotionally, but there is a strange sense of freedom in embracing the fact that I will NOT reorganize the pantry or sew curtains or cook a healthy dinner or, I daresay, put away my laundry until the next Laundry Day, but will instead eat ramen and watch Emma, then fall asleep at 9:30. Talk about embracing the simple life!

Jason has been working late and long this week, too, and last night he didn't even argue when I suggested having pancakes for dinner (though if I'd suggested canned green beans one more time, he might have decided to starve). We are playing this risky game this week called "Not Buying Groceries," and since we tried our darndest to eat everything in our fridge before we left for our trip (although apparently we forgot to finish of the now-revolting goat cheese), pancakes are about all that is left to us.

Last night one of my coworkers warned the rest of us to remember if we told him anything that after two days of non-stop meetings and hearings, his brain was mushy oatmeal. I feel like that today, which is why I'm supplementing my study of transportation funding proposals with this and this. And, of course, making a menu for next week (which required me to reread Andrea's entire blog in search of this), because we will certainly not make it past Friday without a trip to Trader Joe's...