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It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

November 30, 2007 By

Last year, due to all the upheaval in my life, I didn’t really do much for the holidays beyond handing out a few presents. I didn’t decorate, play holiday music, or do much of anything else holiday related. This year, I’m ready to make up for it. I have the advent calendars ready to go (chocolate filled, of course), my cube at work is partially decorated and even has a coordinated scent, and I’m just itching to drag out my holiday decorations. I’ve been making Boyfriend watch all sorts of holiday specials, and the music will start very soon – it’s already on my car stereo, and will be in the house shortly. Some gifts are purchased, the list is made, and I can’t wait to hit the mall.

Having Boyfriend makes the holidays even more enjoyable. It’s one thing to mail gifts to my family back East, but I never really get to see them open them, so it’s a bit of a letdown. I love giving gifts, so Christmas gets really fun for me. I get all excited when I find that perfect gift. No cheese and sausage baskets from me, no way. So combining my love of gift giving with Boyfriend, and I’m gonna have a blast this Christmas. Now I just need to contain my excitement enough to keep people from wanting to kill me.

I had intended for this post to be longer, but I am really distracted by online Christmas shopping right now, so I’ll leave you to your own devices for now.

Filed Under: Holidays

Back from Vacation

November 27, 2007 By

…and not a moment to rest. I’ve barely had time to read most of your blogs, but I’ve skimmed them over to keep my reader from reaching the 100s. I’ll post more when I have some time, but for now, I must hurry and get in the shower and get my butt (along with the rest of me) to work.

Filed Under: Travels

Twilight Zone

November 21, 2007 By

Last night I got the the airport fully expecting a major hassle in trying to get a boarding pass for the correct flight. I was 2nd in line when I went in, and when it was my turn it took all of 1 minute. I didn’t even get to tell my story! I just got the boarding pass for the correct flight, and was wished a happy thanksgiving by the ticket agent. Then I proceeded to the security checkpoint. There was no line, and except for the minor inconvenience of having to remove my sterling silver necklace, security was a breeze. My flight was on time, and despite boarding in zone 9, I was able to find ample overhead space for my bag, and it was even near my seat! There were at least a half dozen children on the flight, but you would never have known it, because it was so quiet except for the sound of the engines. People were polite, introducing themselves to each other. I had a middle seat but my seatmates were not oversized, and they were both well aware of what constitutes good hygiene. Except for a bit of turbulence, it was a very pleasant flight.

I got into Atlanta on time, waited for the shops to open so I could get a bottle of water and something to eat, waited for my flight, which left on time and landed in Ft. Myers on time. Except for my sister reading the boards wrong and going to the wrong concourse, all went extremely well.

I do have one thought, specifically on airplane boarding procedures. For years, airlines would board from the back to the front, which resulted in a huge bottleneck. Now they do this zone based boarding, which is allegedly totally random (I think it’s alphabetical, because I never get anything earlier than zone 7). I think they should board window seats first, then middle, then aisle. That way no one has to get up once they’ve settled into their seats.

Mia is a little doll. Sis sent some pictures awhile back, but I have no idea who that kid was because the pics do not look like Mia at all. She’s adorable! We went to Perkins for breakfast, and Mia had everyone charmed. All the waitstaff had to come over and coo at her, the manager kept coming over, even the customers around us were waving hi to her. She’s such an attention whore.

Sis is starting to cook for tomorrow, and I have a cake to cook. People are supposed to start arriving around 6:30 to help with prep for tomorrow and just hang out, bit it’s now 7:20. Is this aloha time? Wait a sec, I’m in Florida. Oh well. It’s still 4:20 by my clock. Off to cook…

Filed Under: Family, Travels

I Knew Today Would Be Busy…

November 20, 2007 By

But this really takes the cake.

First off, on the FAA website, the whole country is yellow, which is 16-45 minute delays. Not too bad, assuming I get on the flight I want to be on – you know, the one I booked that will leave me a long enough connection to actually make my flight to Ft Meyers. We shall see where, if anywhere at all, Delta plans on sending me this evening.

My sister didn’t pay her phone bill in time, so I couldn’t get in touch with her all morning. Figures. Nothing like that to make me even more stressed out. Under normal circumstances, I don’t mind not being able to get in touch with her, but at this critical time? Yeah, sure.

The copiers at work were working against me today. I was going to finish up the last of what was on my desk, but the machines were not having any of it. Whatever. I’ll stuff them full of Thanksgiving turkey and see how they like that. Maybe then they’ll learn to like the papers I’m feeding them.

And speaking of work, I just knew I’d get bombarded today. I knew it. I tried to prevent it, but that wasn’t happening. At least I got the majority of it done today, so I won’t have too much catching up to do.

That’s all for now. I’m going to go out to a nice relaxing dinner before I head to the airport for my flight to the looney bin Atlanta then Ft Myers. I’ll let you all know how it goes as soon as I can get to a computer.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Filed Under: Grrr

Just a Few Notes

November 19, 2007 By
  • This morning I got an email from Orbitz reminding me of my flight tomorrow. The flight numbers and times were all correct, so when I go online to check in we’ll see exactly how correct they are.
  • Boyfriend had to drive to Reno today to do a 20 minute appointment. His territory is all of Nevada, and even though his company is trying to save money, they still think that because he has a lighter workload than other territories, it’s more prudent to have him drive 7-8 hours to take care of this tiny little thing, rather than having someone from the Sacramento office (2 hour drive) do it. Not only that, because his workload is allegedly lighter than the surrounding territories, he also gets to go to Kingman and Bullhead City, AZ a lot more than he would care for. This company recruited him for his brain. He’s hoping another company will recruit him for his common sense.
  • My sister is starting to drive me beserk with Thanksgiving plans. She called me on Saturday to ask me if a 15lb turkey is enough for 10 people. Then she called me yesterday to ask how to cook the darn thing, because she doesn’t think that what Mom told her was quite right. What I don’t get is Sis is supposed to have cooked Turkey Day dinner before. So why does she not know this now?
  • Also, I’ve been trying to plan a get together with Cousin T while I’m in Florida. T is willing to meet halfway, since she’s a 2 hour drive from Sis’ house, and another 1/2 hour to go the 2 miles past the mall on Black Friday. At first Sis said Bradenton was too far, way more than halfway, and can’t T meet us closer? Then when I suggested the Cracker Barrel in Bradenton, all of sudden that was good enough. I gave Sis and T each other’s phone numbers so I don’t have to spend my whole workday calling them and relaying what the other one said.
  • I still need to pack – but I’m pretty organized about it. I won’t forget any socks, underwear, or jammies. I’ll probably end up forgetting my camera (for pictures of Mia), my cell phone charger, or the presents for Mia.
  • I have a full day at work tomorrow, and will likely work late. Luckily, working late means working until 5 instead of 4, and my flight isn’t until 10:55pm. But I have a feeling that despite my warnings of not being in on Wednesday and not being able to scan until Tuesday because I’ll be covering mail for Frank (Hi Frank! How’s hi-speed internet treating you? Got whiplash yet?), I’ll get swamped with stuff at 3pm that absolutely must be scanned before the holiday. Yeah, like anyone will be in over the weekend to try and look for it, right?

I’m going to start packing now, watch Ham on the Street, cook something so Boyfriend has dinner, and relax for goodness sake. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Filed Under: Holidays