serenity on sunday

I hate Sunday nights. They mean it's almost Monday morning, time for the drive to work again. I'm getting a little tired of the traffic, although it could certainly be worse. I think it's time for a vacation. When I started this job, I was excited about all the vacation and Paid Time Off, but I don't seem to be taking advantage of it as I'd hoped. For one, I was terribly busy for several months. Although I feel as if I have come through to the other side, I imagine something will come up and change all of that.
So I decided to make meatballs and sauce and also, for the first time ever, New England Clam Chowder. I found a recipe in my crock pot book and gave it a try. It used bacon, which I thought was odd, but it actually tastes really good despite being very thin (it only used evaporated milk, not cream, and no flour). We are having a soup tasting sort of party at work on Wednesday for the winter birthdays, so I wanted to see if I could actually make my own contribution.
It's been a nice quiet weekend, although somehow I seem to have hurt my neck/back and am unable to stand or sit for too long without my back getting sore and tired.  I'm just taking lots of advil and having a little wine here and there. The kitchen prep today didn't do much to help although taking the dogs around the block was good for it. The poor dogs have been housebound for so long with these awful temperatures.
Otherwise, I fear there is not much to report! B has just finished up his midterms and so far the results are mixed. Many of the most important subjects have yet to be posted, including physics, precalc and English.  He's barely been home all weekend, but has been instructed to be home for dinner tonight by 7. If I spent the whole day hurting my back and cooking, the least he can do is come home! Also, last night he wanted to go out with some friends and since he's been put in charge of his own laundry and hasn't been doing it, he found himself with no clean shirts and had to borrow one from Kevin to wear under a flannel shirt that we bought him a few weeks ago at Costco!
As for M, she is just back from the second to last swim meet before the champs in Virginia at the end of February. Work and swimming together are more grueling than work and school, it seems, in terms of hours demanded. But she will have a week off from work before she goes off to champs (February break) and then will have miss the following week of work (or most of it). Bad timing, but she will at least be able to rest.
In other news, B did get the flu shot a week ago Thursday, so I hope it will be effective and keep him from the weeklong viral illness he's been prone to getting each February.  I'm still waiting for all of this flu news to die down and it doesn't seem to want to go away. Although I still know almost noone who has truly had the flu, and his school has not experienced particularly high absenteeism, I still live in fear of it and pivot my shopping carts on their wheels at the sound of each hacking cough or sneeze while I'm out shopping. Kevin has traveled a few times and of course, takes the bus to work, incubating who knows what for an hour each way every day. But the good news is, tonight I can watch Downton Abbey.