Testing - 1-2-3

Hello? hello? Is this thing on? *tap tap*

Where in the world has Sewmouse gone? I'm sure all of you have been frantically asking this... Several of you? Maybe one? Certainly one??? *sigh*

Anyhow - that little monster known as RL (Real Life®) caught up with me and I've been slightly incommunicado for a few weeks.

So, lets see - where to start.

Got back from Florida and got hauled back into the craziness that is end-of-year processing. Despite all the hustle and bustle at work, I really do like what I do, and I like the people I work for and with - so even though it is busy and a bit crazy, I go home feeling tired but good.

At home, the computer decided to start screwing up on me, turning off the keyboard and other delightful things, so I decided to get to work on my crafty projects instead of websurfing and blogging.

I'm working on putting together homemade "seasonal" cards. Christmas cards for my family and Christmas-celebrating friends, Yule cards for others, "winter" cards for others yet. So far I've had several turn out great, and a much larger number that have had to be discarded for lack of greatness. I'm picky about what I will send out.

This brings us up to the Tuesday before our US "Thanksgiving" holiday. In a fit of complete insanity, Leandra and her daughter "S" sent me a plane ticket to come to Seattle to spend Thanksgiving plus a long weekend with them and their dog.

(Leandra will now thwap me and remind me the dog only belongs to S, and that she is NOT Brisco's "doggy gramma".)

For some bizarre reason I found myself getting rather quietly paranoid of the whole TSA/DHS gauntlet at the airport. I kept seeing myself getting pulled out of the line and denied boarding for being a "terrah-ist" because I had my laptop charger/cord in my breifcase, or because of the "Backwards Bush" countdown timer on my keychain (I left that at home!!) or because of my blood-glucose meter that looks like some kind of weird James-Bond-ish bomb triggering device.

Hey! Just because I'm paranoid does not mean everyone is NOT out to get me!!

Anyhow, this became a great joke among SOME folks who shall go nameless but were called "Brat" and scowled at.

Other things that concerned me were what to do about my car, and packing. I wanted to bring some things to work on, since there would be a lot of "down time" during the football games and stuff, and I get antsy and anxious if I'm just sitting with nothing to "do". I brought along a couple skeins of this bright multi-colored yarn and some plastic crochet hooks. I also brought the fabrics for YET ANOTHER quilt top I'm working on - but didn't get to them, other than to show Leandra how well they "meshed" in the color scheme.

Clothes, sweaters, hygiene products, newly-purchased hairbrush since the one went AWOL in Florida... Leandra's birthday present, some books, my laptop, a couple DVD's (5-hour flight), and my fuzzy foamy slippers. Good thing on the foamy slippers, too - since they only have a wood-burning stove for heat and I'm a forced-air-natural-gas-furnace kind of gal.

Fortunately, through the goodness of a couple of my co-workers, I was able to leave my car at my house and take a cab home from the airport when I got back. At $22/day for parking at O'Hare, (in the "CHEAP" lots!!!) it would cost more than the damn airfare just to park there while I was gone. So one kind co-worker - "D" - drove me and my luggage from home to the office, then another co-worker - "T" - took me to the airport. "T" is a supervisor, and so it was even more impressive to me that he would take time from his schedule to haul me and my luggage around. I doubt either of them reads this, but... Thanks guys!!

Since I was leaving early on a non-major carrier the day before the "rush" travel day, I didn't have much trouble getting checked in, and no trouble at all with security. Found a nice place to sit down at the gate and about 10 min after I got there, they announced a 2-hour delay. *sigh*

10 minutes before we were supposed to start boarding, they announced another delay - another hour or more. I wandered off and got something to eat and some coffee to tide me over. After about 25 minutes, they announced boarding, so whatever was the holdup got resolved. The flight was uneventful, I watched one of my movies on the laptop, and got to Seattle about 10 pm. local. My luggage came down 3rd of the pieces from my flight, so that was all easy. Snagged a Starbucks mocha for the drive out to Everett and we got home about 11 or so.

Seattle and surrounds are great. A bit too hilly/lumpy for me because of the stick-shift thing, but damn if there isn't an espresso hut on every other streetcorner. Kind of pretty too. Reminds me a bit of Denver.

First thing when I walked in the door, I got to meet Brisco. Brisco is a 60 lb. German Shorthair Pointer - (I think that's right?) mostly brown with some white on his chest and muzzle. LONG muzzle, and a funny bulbous nose, dark brown eyes you could get lost in - long legs, stub tail and long silky ears. Wayyyy full of energy. A real DOG dog. I liked him right off.

I enjoyed him a lot - the only "down side" is that he's a food thief and you have to watch him every second if there's anything within reach that might even be MISTAKEN for edible. Dog has poisoned himself with chocolate, raisins and some other "people-foods" that dogs should never eat. Even had to watch him with the champagne. He didn't go after my diet pepsi, however.

Ok - this is becoming "wall of text" - I'll post more later.

413 days