Christmas Vacation

Christmas vacation started out at the butt crack of dawn.  3:30am to be precise for me.  I set my alarm, went to be really early and then got up and got ready to go.

First stop was to get Liz.  She was a bit slow coming down to the car, but she didn't dawdle too much.  Next up with Angela.  She also didn't dawdle and was awake at her pickup time of 6am.  Yeah, I know, shocking, eh??

We got to the airport in good time, parked and got to the terminal - holy tons of people!!!  There had to have been 200 in each of the terminal check-in places for bags.. there are something like 4 of them in the terminals for Delta and they were ALL packed.. the lines to security were also SUPER long!!  So, I went on a walk to see if there were other options.  There were some outdoor checkin folks.  So we chose to stand out in the cold with something like 75-100 in front of us instead of 200.  We finally got checked in with our bags and headed to security - they were wiggle waggled all the way through the airport and out around the outside to the check in area.  VERY LONG lines to get in.  So... we were all TSA-pre-checked and made it through the lines quicker than most and made it into the terminal in record time.  We were able to even sit down for a good breakfast with a mimosa even :)

Off to Vegas!

Once we touched down in Vegas, got the rental car - with full discussions of the english language.  My upgrade card said "upgrade TO a full size car" and the guy was telling me it meant upgrade to the next higher grade up TO a full size car.  Nope, nothing about next step in there, just "up to a full size car" so I did end up with a full size car :)  Yay for us since we had enough luggage that we had to play tetris to get them all in there without shoving and cram.  So - yay!

We then took a few tours around town, first up was a stop for me to see the old Condo - so I drove out there - boy has the surrounding area gone downhill.  The condo's looked like they were in decent shape, but the area around it wasn't so hot.  Oh, well, I don't own it anymore!  it was interesting to see what has grown up around the south side of town though - WOW has it grown!!

We took off from there driving south to go through the strip and show the kids all the fancy places and there were some HUGE ones down there now.  So - we have agreed to meet Angela there for her 21st birthday.  Wouldn't that be fun?

The next stop was for Butch to see where he lived while in Vegas.  It was crack central and drive by shooting level places.  Scary!!  It did look good though, it looked like it had been upgraded a bit from when he lived in it.  Then it was north toward Nellis and exiting town.

All those stops took quite a while and it was now dark, so the kids got to see the lights as we were driving out of town.  Ah, nothing like Vegas lights at night, hum?

I then proceeded to drive to Cedar while the rest of the crew nodded on and off on the way up.  Good thing I wasn't tired!!  It was a good drive up and much shorter than I remembered.  We had the added bonus of having the HUGE full moon coming up over the horizon as we were driving through the desert.

No-one was hungry until we hit Cedar, so we stopped at a FireHouse Sub and had a sandwich for dinner and then headed over to Linda's house.  She was funny saying she would have fed us, not sure what, but she would have fed us.  I know she would have, but it was much simpler to just stop and eat on the way and be done with it.

Sunday morning dawned with Butch and I actually going to church and listening to the nice Sunday service with Linda and Mike in the choir.  It was nice and very Christmassy.  Sunday evening Gail and Seth and kids came into town.  It was fun to visit with them and hang out.  We did a lot of games and visiting and napping and enjoying the down time.  At one point - not sure what day - we went to see Christmas lights around town.  It was very enjoyable and we had a good time driving through one neighborhood that goes all out and has the Christmas story on boards throughout the drive.  Very nice large homes up there!

We also made it to Cedar Breaks. Well the canyon road to cedar breaks. For photos in the cold and snow.

Figured out we needed to turn around so you could see the Breaks :)  Duh!

I hope that Liz shares the pictures she took as well!

How Liz gets in position to take pictures of the initials on a tree on the slope - too funny!

So.... right at the summit - as in right across from the summit sign the kids had to pee... so they got out and went pee over on the side of the road (behind tress and a snow berm) over the south side of the road.  They then did a bit of vandalism while they were there... at least they would know exactly where they marked their tree.

Christmas was met with vegan casserole.  It's funny that Linda calls it that as it's eggs and meats and cheeses, nothing vegan about it.  ha!  Johnathan was very anxious to open presents, but the one tradition they insist on is to have breakfast before opening presents.  We had a few presents to open - just little silly things for the girls and Butch.  We got some yummy dried apples from Linda and Mike  along with some candied pecans.  I have LOVED the apples!  They are great!  AND it snowed!  Ok, it just stuck a little, but it snowed!!

 This was right after Johnathan had gotten their.  They found a bonding moment with pokemon.  Funny she did this with Katies kids too :)

 APPLES!!!

 SNOW!!!

 Ok the story behind this one was so funny!  They game was Telestrations.  You get a word, you draw the word, you pass, they guess and it goes around... and when you get to the end,  you see what you have... we did have some funny ones with naked eye... how on EARTH do you draw that?  Then man purse ended up as cross dresser ;)  The BEST one that had us breaking out cameras was the nurse shark that half way through became the first aid shark - then Angela's illustration of First Aide Shark was precious!!

I had made the choice to stay in Cedar until the day after Christmas to drive north.  Mostly it was the snow and the fact we would be driving up after dark.  The other part was that I really wanted to stop at the Family Tree restaurant for scones.  They are FAMOUS for their scones and have been since I went to college there.. probably before then.  they are tasty with the honey butter!  Everyone was hungry by the time we got there and ordered foods.  They ordered different foods and I opted for the Indian Taco on a (you guessed it) a scone!  We had heard from Linda and Mike that the food had gone down hill, but it wasn't so.  They had good food when we were there, maybe they were there on a bad cooks day!

We got to Roberts and settled in.  It was nice to sit and visit with them and we even got to enjoy getting to know Hobbs their big male mouser.  He was a friendly one!  Sadie warmed up by the time we left to some degree.  She even let me pick her up and snuggle her a bit.  Jinx was the other yellow tabby male, brother to Hobbs and he was friendly, but not as friendly and snuggly as Hobbs.  I wanted to take Hobbs home in my suitcase!

Wednesday was just hanging out and visiting and eating and even playing games.

Thursday we went for a short hike up the canyon to Bridal Veil Falls - in the snow!  Yep, it snowed quite a few times while we were up there... it was nice to adjust to snow a bit before heading to Germany.  I got to test out my warm boots as well :)

Snow at Robs house on the way out... lots of snow!!  Pretty!

 Bit of a snowball fight before heading out...

these photo's are out of order and honestly I'm too tired to fix them, sorry... they're all in Provo however!!

We also went to the restaurant Sarah works at and enjoyed some sushi for lunch!  Eric was able to join us for lunch, but Brittnee was working and wasn't able to join in. 

After that we headed over to the Cabela's there in town for Butch to shop for some winter gear.  Then back to the house to meet up with Katie and Casey and their kids of all people.  They were headed down to Linda's that night and were able to stop by to say "hi" before they continued on!  Very nice visit.  Then we went to the movies to see the new Harry Potter movie about Magical Beasts.  Good show.

Friday was spent seeing old friends in Ogden and nieces.  We started out with Butch's friend on Base, then lunch, then off to Sue and Marks.  The boys were there too, so that was a surprise - Jordan and Zack are all grown up - both married and doing good.  It was fun to see them all.

Next up was Janette for just a second.
Then Jessica with Scarlette and her boyfriend.
Then off to the lights in Temple square with Mandy Colton and Onyx.

We did have a fun thing to do, we had some money from Linda to get things from the "Light the world" kiosks at the Temple.  So we did...
We donated $100 worth of things that we hope will have the most impact on the world.  The ones we chose were polio shots (for 100) and menstruation kits for 5 girls in third world countries, glasses with eye exams, chickens to produce eggs and babies, and fish to start farms.  Here's hoping that this will have a positive impact on multiple people in the world who can use a leg up.

By that time it was too late to make it out to see Nick and Kaylee and kids.  Sad!!  It was a long fun day, however.

Saturday was our departure... it snowed overnight again... nice light airy snow.  very pretty and fun for the girls to see.  AND off to the airport and home... it was a LONG week.. a fun week... and we have discovered 5 days is enough.  6 days we start to get testy... then 7 days and are pure ill with each other.   BUT overall we loved it and had a great time!  We need to go back again and not in 17 years that it took for all of us to get back at the same time... but here's hoping we do it in the summer....  not a fan of snow!!  ha!

PCSmyPOV and adventures in a move to Germany

Well, you would think after deploying hundreds of thousands of folks around the world that these things would be fully and accurately updated and tasked out with a check sheet for any and all places you would be going. Yeah.  No.

 

So, the first lesson I learned on moving my car from sunny Georgia to Wintery Germany was that you need snow tires.  I DID find this out by reading all the documentation on line about the requirements... and we needed new tires anyway, so time to spend money on new tires but making sure they will meet the requirements to be driven in Germany in the winter.  Problem solved.  New tires.

 

The day arrives for me to actually get things moving on the move and get the car turned in.  I did have to get a letter from the moving offices (TMO - Travel Management Office) stating I was authorized to ship said car.  Although, I'm still wondering WHY this added piece of paper is needed since they had it on my orders that I was authorized, but OK.  OH, and something they also needed was proof of ownership.  Say what?  Yeah, proof of ownership. Well, I don't really own it, Toyota owns it for now.  Hum, call Toyota finance to get their approval to move overseas with said car.  I was told "no".  Uh, hello?  I’m on government orders, now is it OK?  Nope.  Yes, you read that correctly Toyota will not let you be financed through their institution with payment due on the vehicle.  I would have to refinance it through another company to take my car with me.  Hum.  I'm at zero percent interest and I HAVE zero percent interest in refinancing and paying someone else to borrow money for this so I guess that I'll be paying those last NINE payments now. SURPRISE!!  Sigh.  I'm grateful I have the money in the bank to even contemplate doing this, much less actually DO this.  So, the car is paid off.  The next hurdle is to get the letter from Toyota saying the car is indeed paid in full and technically mine, just holding on the title to be delivered to me.  What's that?  Oh, I have to wait TWO more days to get that letter as they have to make sure the money really makes it to your banking institution from my banking institution.  OK.  I will wait....

 

Two days pass without incident, the money comes out of my account and I call Toyota back to confirm they have indeed gotten the money into their banking records.  Yes, transfer is complete, happy car ownership day!  I kindly ask them to email me the ownership letter.  They kindly tell me they are not able to email outside of the company.  WHAT???  Yeah, no email capability.  They can fax it to me however.  Did you know that fax machines have gone the way of the dodo bird?  Yes.  I finally found a number for a fax machine and when I asked WHERE this fax was in this building no-one knew.  The Admin person pointed to me to the machine that she THINKS it is... I monitor said fax machine as there are notices on the machine and it appears to have the fax capabilities... they are all included in copy machines now.  So, I wait the next 24 hours hoping it will show up.  Nope, I run the settings files and such where I can see what the history is on that machine for faxes.  The last fax that was successfully sent was in 2016 - yes 2016.  YIKES!!  There are a number of failed attempts from 2018 where it states no dial tone.  Gee, that is a bust.  So, I call back to Toyota and get them to fax it to Office Depot and for $3.5x I get my fax.  Frustration.  I did tell the lady when I "RE" requested the fax that the fax machine has gone the way of the dodo birds and they really need to get that updated in their system.  Sigh.  They don't care, they are just workers.

 

So, fax in hand, all paperwork ready, car cleaned (well, sort of) and ready to go, just need to vacuum it out and I'm ready to GO.  I make an appointment for the following day at 3pm in Atlanta.  OK?  OK.

 

That day was yesterday.  I went to work as usual and realized that I had slacked out last night and did NOT vacuum the car out before going into the house and getting wrapped up in scanning negatives and doing laundry and generally doing things that needed to be done like dinner and the like.  Whoops... and it's RAINING today.  Yep, pouring.  Sigh.  Oh, well, I know the place by me has a very LARGE overhang on the vacuum machines and I know I can get in there even with rain and get it done today.  I also had a girlfriend lunch at 11am to meet the girls for Gift exchange and visit.  OK, I've got this.  I leave work, go to get the car vacuumed - get that done, get to the restaurant, meet the girls, have lunch and have a GREAT time at lunch then head to the house. 

 

I was met by a panic stricken husband who was wondering where I was because my phone was still forwarded to the office.  Whoops!  SO.  I tell him the appointment is at 3 - it's JUST 12:30 now, we're fine.  The place is in SOUTH Atlanta.  I get home, get the potty run done, grab the last minute things and head on out.  No problems.  I even looked at my gas tank and it said I had 118 miles left on my gas tank and I had to go something like 95 miles to get to the place so I'm thinking "GREAT, I should be at 1/4 tank of gas by then".

 

I arrived on site at 2:40ish – a little early for my 3pm appointment time but they took me right in.  There was some confusion about the funding of how these things were getting paid for – aka the shipping and I’m sure the flights, etc. for my trip over as well.  (I need to go over there and take care of that as well) 

 

That gas tank level?  Yeah, I wasn't at or UNDER a quarter tank.  I was a titch over.  Not much but just enough that they said "nope, not low enough... you need to take a drive and burn some gas off"... ugh!!!  THEN as she is walking away she said "Oh, you're going to Germany right?  I forgot to check to see if you have window tinting on the front as it's not allowed in Germany".  Hu?  This one is new on me.  So I told her we didn't get tinting when we got the car, so it doesn't have any.  Well, it DID.  Aftermarket window tint on the car. CRAP!!  So, there we stand in the pouring rain looking at the windows and the gas tank!!  UGH!!!!  Butch had his knife and started to peel the tinting off the windows in the parking lot... and low and behold, it all came off without a hitch - hard to get the peel started, but it peeled right off no problem.  NOW to deal with the gas.

 

By now it's 3:15 and we took a drive for about 15 minutes through the side streets in a big circle in 2nd gear to burn off gas... then Butch wanted to test my dexterity (which, by the way I DO NOT HAVE) and wanted me to REV the engine while at stop lights.  Yeah, this was not fun!!  So, between him grousing about whole gas situation and me NOT reading the whole freaking regulation on the move my stress level was NOW through the roof!!  In addition the lady had said they do not accept cars after 3:30 and of course we're damn close to 3:30 as it was.  Yeah... can you imagine how much I'm freaking out and wondering if we will have to come back the next day??  I was NOT happy, Butch was NOT happy.  AND I let him have the car while I went back into the office to tell them I was back.  Sigh.  I had a little "incident" due to the stress of it all so had to be in the potty for a bit longer than a normal person to take care of business... when I got back out I was told they had called my name already and they went ahead with someone else.  GREAT!!  I was happy with that but then I came out to Butch revving the CRAP out of my poor car.  I'm surprised the engine still runs for as overheated as I'm sure it was getting... poor Reba!!

 

It's now 3:45 (ish) The gal finishes her 2nd inspection and rescues Reba from the revving from hell and states "you're fine" ... thank goodness... the needle was BARELY on the line, but good enough for them to accept it!  Thank you, thank you, and thank you!!! 

 

It's now 4:00 (ish) I go BACK into the office to finish up with the rest of the paperwork and the exterior inspection - they marked the most minuscule scratches on the paperwork.  To the point that I was questioning him on just WHAT he was seeing.  I actually DID question him and ask him to show me what he is talking about… he insisted there were SCRATCHES there… but to me it was a little rubbed, but that was all… ugh.  I was SO over this process by then I just gave up, initialed everything and then took a video of the damn car and called it a day!!  Ha!

 

At 5:15 I walked out of the offices... yes, folks that was a LONG drawn out process of 2 hours and roughly 15 minutes with only 20 minutes added by my gas and tint fiasco.  What have I learned from this effort?

 

1.       BEFORE signing up for overseas jobs ensure your car finance company will let you travel with the loan - if not move it LONG before you head out so you're not waiting for paperwork from them saying you’re OK to travel

2.       Believe them when they say 1/4 tank or LESS...

3.       Ask for the regulations for the country you are going TO and ensure you're meeting all the needs, not just the obvious ones

4.       Plan for and schedule an earlier time slot because wrapping something up and driving out after 5pm SCUKS!! (Especially if you are over an hour away from home for this effort!)

5.       ALWAYS be nice to the folks pushing the paper, they commented on how patient I was during the process and treated me well and explained it all to me as I went.

6.       When it says "you can" print something out from that web site.  PRINT IT.  It means they want you to bring it with you (not that the blasted web site SAID that. (grumble, grumble, grumble)

7.       Breathe, this is just a small step in the whole process and there are more joys coming your way!

Photos from Greenville

Meet the 

Meet the CUTE baby I stole in the plane. 

Yep loving holding her!!

Rocking TDY old lady style. Tea and cookies for dinner while the co-workers are at the bar. Ha!!

Sadly I take very few pictures unless I’m alone. Really. When I’m with someone I tend to stay off

Y phone for the most part!

Headed home. 

O

Trip to Greenville and Beyond!

OK, it's time to update the blog (photo less blog at that...) about my trip to Texas.

I had a trip planned to go out to Texas for work. Which you all know is sort of weird as I'm planning on leaving this job sometime in the New Year for my adventures overseas. With that in mind and the fact that they have already selected my replacement from within my tiny little team of four (including me). So, I honestly was thinking that this trip was NOT necessary for me to go and my good ethics and conscience was kicking in to just sit this one out, as tempting as it was to go. I talked to my boss who felt that it was best to ease my replacement into the job as English is not her first language and there will be a bit of transition until she is settled. So... after talking to the boss, I was encouraged to go, so I started making plans.

Then I looked at my credit card after getting "declined" responses to my bookings through email. Turns out my credit card for work was good through 11/18... hum. This trip was to go over to 12/18 so the expiration date was causing issues. CRAP. I called the CC company as I had just done bills recently and didn't remember seeing a CC in the mail.... so they said they would overnight me a Credit card (this is MONDAY for a Wednesday trip)... and they would cancel my current card. Hum... OK... let's do that. So... I sit and wait at work all day Tuesday stressing that the blasted card is NOT at the house already so I can get it registered in the system prior to my trip. At this point I'm of the opinion of "if it's meant to be, it will all work out". SO... my CC shows up at 6pm... yes, 6PM. Yikes. So, I get it accepted on the bank side and determine that I can go into work and register it in the travel system before I head out to my flight (10:55 departure).

Wednesday morning bright and early I get up and go to work, register my CC on the system and think all is well. I drop by my bosses and he tells me "oh, no, you have to call the travel office HERE and get them to turn it on through THEIR system as well." WHAT??? OK, so I call them. It's now 7:30 and I have a drive to the airport still. The lovely person answering my IM told me that they would have one of the ONLY TWO people register my card as soon as she got into the office at 8am. I had to let them know that I needed to get on the road to the airport as I had a 10:55 flight to catch and I was pushing time. They assured me that they would have her activate the card and call me when she got in, so I got on the road. Zoom!!!

8:30 rolls around and I question if they are going to get this done... 8:45 I pull off the road, dig out the number and call them only to be told that "oh, we had a meeting this morning, she is working on it right now!" OK, I'm almost to the airport so the sooner the better. I finally get a call from the travel office just as I'm driving onto the airport road telling me I'm good to go. Yay! I call the travel agency and let them know to re-run my ticket as I have gotten the finances all worked out. They assure me it should just be seconds before the ticket is issued.... Whew!!!

I get to the airport, get parked and really am doing well on time still as its only 9:15 when I hit the terminal. I had already decided to not check my little carry on and drag it along with me, so all I had to do was get my boarding pass from the kiosk and I would be good to go! I slide my CC in the slot - and, No reservation. I put in the confirmation code - nada, see the desk. YIKES!! So I get in line.. time is now creeping by and I have wasted 5 - 10 minutes trying to get the kiosk to work for me.... so I boldly ask everyone in front of me in line if they are trying make a 10:30 flight and they all let me get in front of them... only to be stopped DEAD at the ticketing agent. You guessed it, more issues... I call the travel agency... I'm on hold for 5 minutes... they come on line and finally tell me to buy the ticket at the desk. The ticket agent looks at me and states she can't do that. WHAT??? So, she calls someone on the other side, they authorize it and get the ticket purchased... time is marching on. I get the ticket, assuming TSA pre-check for government ticketed personnel - oh heck no!!!! 30 more minutes through a VERY slow security line and I'm finally on the shuttle to gate C - which for those who know Atlanta airports is well over 2/3 of the way away from the ticketing areas.

I get to the C terminal and to my gate only to find out that they have closed the flight. Sigh.... OK, fine. They put me on standby on the next flight and I seriously question if there is a REASON I am feeling like this trip is NOT a good idea. I call the boss and tell him I can't see justifying the expense to continue on with this if I have to add another rental car to this expense, etc, etc, etc. He does NOT sound convinced and I agree that I will call my co-worker and let them know what is going on as they are on a late flight.

Well, when I called my replacement she was in a bit of a panic and begging me to stick around try to get on the flight with them and they would get a bigger car to fit everyone. OK, I'll try.

So, I wait for the next flight and as they are boarding, the coworkers are NOT there... it is one other team member, their MIL and kids as well (3 year old and 7 month old they have to bring with so they can juggle life)... I told them I'm NOT getting on this flight if they are not there!! Ha! They came in at the last minute and boarded as the last ticketed passengers. Whew. They then boarded one of the standby passengers that was standing with me and another lady. I did tell her that I would NOT be heartbroken if I didn't make the flight and if it came down to the two of us, she could have the seat.... but it wasn't meant to be as we both made the flight! There was a ticketed passenger who dashed up at the last second and was told that her seat was already given away... I was sorely tempted to just give her my ticket and let her on the flight, but I guess my dedication to my coworkers stress won out and I got on the flight. I was seated right next to a mom and one of her two twins - the other was across the aisle with the dad... they joked I was the baby sitter and I just clapped my hands and said "give me the baby!!!" Ha! I wasn't kidding either!!!

As I watched the mom struggle with her drink and snack I told her to just hand me the baby so she could get settled... the baby was sleeping, so I just held her and read my book while mom got a little nap on the flight :) Bonus for mom! Dad's seat mate ogled the baby but was never forward enough to just say "hand me the baby!" Ha! Not me!! They were Stella (dad's charge) and Lorelei. 4 months old and cute as can be.

The rest of the trip went smoothly with kids noises in the back making me remember times traveling with littles in the car! Fun!!
I was dropped off at my hotel and settled in to stay for two nights and drives out to the work place - I won't bore you with those details, but suffice to say I'm a little sad I'm moving to a new work area as this one seems like it will be a fun project to work! Oh, well, eye on the prize of more $$ and a European adventure for a few years...

Friday I got out of work at noon, so opted to get my car early and get on the road. I was on the road by 1pm and headed out. This is the first trip I have been totally out of my comfort zone and I had experimented with some garlic mashed potatoes early in the week that were playing pure havoc with my intestines and making for some RANK and frequent gas episodes. Then the trip just added more foods that were out of the norm and it was a recipe for disaster on my bowels. I made it to Damian and Tandy's without many issues, but there were a few potty stops on the way to avoid any pooptastrophies. BUT I had lots of supplies and a good attitude, so off I went!!

I made it to their house by 6pm. Boy do they have a big beautiful house!! We went to dinner at their favorite place and enjoyed a nice tex-mex meal and then went back to the house to visit and chat some more. I was shocked at the changes in Braden in just those few years... he's grown to be a very tall young man with a deep voice! They grow up fast, don't they? Lexi looks/acts the same... teen ager :) Ella is the same goofy gal, but taller! We had a nice dinner and I sat between Lexi and Braden for a bit and got to talk to Lexi about band and such. She seems like she really likes her school and band stuff. Other than my poor gas problems and stinking the whole family out slowly gassing the family... it was a great night! I have GOT to see what I can do to control gas as I obviously can NOT control my sphincter enough to control the actual output. Good lord!!! Anyway, other than that it was a good visit with them until bed time - they are sure a family on the run!! Lexi was off with Damian to get birthday presents for the next day, then there was coordination on how to get Lexi to her High School to help out with an event that was happening that morning AND get Ella to her games an hour to the East of town. It all worked out and I just followed along in my little rental as leaving from where Ella's games was just as easy as leaving from San Antonio and in hind sight MUCH easier as I traveled up highway 281 which David said was a the somethingorother highway... in other words a well-traveled and well thought out road for sure! We'll get into that later!

Ella's games were good, it's been a long time since I have been to a soccer game, but boy were the winds STRONG going out there... blowing my little car all over the road and then when sitting there at the fields cold for a long while, but as the sun came up it got a little warmer but I was a little leery about dropping my coat as I was sitting out in the sun without sunscreen and was thinking I was going to get cooked... and I did... but it faded within a day. At times I wondered if I was more wind burned than sunburned anyway :) I stayed and cheered Ella for two of her three games that day and regretfully they lost both so they didn't advance to the State Championships. :( BUT they were lively games and nail biters there for a while!

I got on the road to Springtown about 2:30/2:45 with a good 3+ hour drive north from there, and of course my bowels were NOT behaving - couldn't be that I ate a piece of pepperoni pizza on an already upset bowel situation? Hum...I paid the price for that one!! AND although I was on backroads they are not like the backroads in Georgia where there are towns and potty stops frequently... so we had a BIG issue about 2/3s of the way through the trip... let's just say I'm glad the seats were already well stained before I got the car. Whoops!!! Oh, well, I got me cleaned up as well as I could and just got back on the road. The shirt I was wearing covered most of the issue and I just went with it... baby wipes are my friend for sure... along with Lysol sprays the next day! The good news is that there was no odor when I turned the car in ... and I left the windows open anyway just to throw them :) Evil I know.

Anyway. I made it to Weatherford in record time and after all my poopcidents on the way north decided I was going to do what I had done in Greenville and just have tea and cookies for dinner... and we wonder why my bowels hate me? LMAO... hey... I won't even defend it at this point!! So I grabbed two cups of tea (two different flavors) and two cookies and went to the room, repacked my bags and crawled into bed to read a book and go to bed early.

I got up and grabbed a few things from the breakfast area and shoved them into my bag (three bagels and some cream cheese) along with a muffin and a crescent roll that I had toasted and forgot to grab and eat.... and a coffee, packed up and headed to David and Laura's. The good thing about Weatherford is it is only about 18 miles south of them - short and easy trek to get to their house.

We had a nice visit for the morning and early afternoon and I went over to see the rental house. I think it's a man thing to want everything perfect... to me it looked like it was 99% ready to just slap a coat of paint on it, put down new flooring squares, baseboards, remount the toilets, mow the lawn and put it back out there. I tried to tell him that Butch was the same way... and at this point it's lipstick on a pig and call it good. Get it good enough and clean and rent it out. Then again, I understand the part about being gun shy about renting to strangers... you put a lot of work into something you want it to stay nice. I have the issue with the Florida house, but weirdly not the Georgia house. How strange is that? I'm OK with the fact that there will need to be flooring and painting redone on the Georgia house when we're all said and done and if we come back here rather than Florida for the final job before retirement.

ANYWAY - when I was leaving David made me freak out on my planned timing of everything. The GPS said it would be 1 hour from door to airport, so I had planned 1 hour travel, 1/2 hour car turn in and two hours ahead of flight - roughly. He said it would take me TWO hours to get there... and I freaked out and dashed to the door and headed out! AND it's a good thing I did.. the drive really WAS an hour, but I pulled into the rental car return and saw only three companies there... nothing more... and I though "oh, yeah, I'm enterprise this time, not Budget"... and I was pulling off for Budget. So I pulled over and googled Enterprise... and put it in... and it lead me to an EMPTY warehouse. WHAT THE HECK?? So I call corporate... they tell me they will call them and get to the bottom of this... and they put me through to the same number I called for the office that is CLOSED. So is it closed permanently or just closed for now???? What the heck??? I'm starting to lose it. I drive down further thinking "maybe this is the wrong address"... nope, nothing down further. I go back up and see if maybe one of the ones at the airport are "associated with"... nope... At this point I'm in a panic... I call BACK to the corporate office, choose the roadside folks who then also call the office for the Dallas Love Field one.. nothing... and I'm in a huge enough panic I just pull into Budget Rental Car return and ask them if THEY know where Enterprise is... and low and behold it is RIGHT DOWN THE STREET - closer to the airport... and NOT at the address advertised in Google or the website for Enterprise... grrrrr... all that panic for nothing!!!!! SO... they then have to let me out of the Budget return lot - ha! I get out of there and head over to Enterprise lot... which was very confusing as the signs going into the airport say "rental car return right lane" and the right lane is turn only to the first street - then NO signs after that... no, really - nothing else... BUT if you go further into the airport like you are dropping off there are about 4 MORE rental car returns in that area... but further up the airport road (Herb Kelleher Way) - which by the way is NOT the road of the address (Cedar Springs Road) as it changes when it crosses over the main road (Mockingbird Lane) coming in. It was crazy I tell you!!!

So - after panic is now abated a bit, I get on the shuttle and get to the airport and get checked in without issue and even can grab a salad before I get on the flight to boot. I did have a couple complaining under their breathe about me getting in front of them on the boarding... Southwest is cattle call - you get a number, you are TOLD to talk with your neighbors to find out what order you are to board and then put yourself in order. Apparently they didn't appreciate me stating that I was the number in front of them and moving in front to take my place in line. Duh, it's what I was told to do!! They then complained about everyone and everything so I didn't feel too singled out at that point :) ha!

I happily got a window at the back of the plane and had a great view taking off. The girl sitting beside me was a first time flyer and so cute about the turbulence when we were taking off...made her very nervous. Poor kid. I settled in, ate my salad and watched the towns pass me by for a while, then read my book for a bit more. It was a nice shortish (2 hours) flight, so that was nice. Got back to the airport in good time, found my luggage, made it to the car and was off towards home and got there by 11pm - to too shabby for getting to the car at a little after 9pm.

I even started another book on tape. I was smart enough to grab the one I had been listening to around town here - "The 9th Girl" - not sure of the author. It was a good murder mystery and I finished it just after getting to Ella's game on Saturday so I had only about 1/2 a disk when I got in the car to drive north, but I also had some great scenery to enjoy driving north as well.. and could drive SUPER fast as the speed limits in Texas are 75... which you know automatically means you go closer to 85... room a zoom zoom!! That 281 was super nice as about every 4 or 5 miles there was a mile of passing lanes and although I could have used a few more places to stop and go potty, it was nice to NOT have to worry about slowing down for a ton of towns like on the way to Florida from here!

So, all in all a GREAT trip with a lot of turbulence thrown in there. All was great, I am super glad I got to see family while out there... which makes me question if it was just Satan sticking his nose in there causing all sorts of mischief and problems for me... or if it was just the luck of the draw that there were more than a few challenges on the road. Nothing that couldn't just be shrugged off and moved past, but really, this was a super challenging trip for me in some aspects!

The only other thing I didn't do was take pictures... I have found I'm a more "live in the moment gal" and stop taking my phone out to even check it most times unless I'm sitting in a room and folks are watching TV or doing other things.. I would rather be engaged and talking to others than checking texts and/or taking pictures. I will have to change my ways soon enough with Europe because I'm sure lots of you will just stop reading if all I do is bather on :)

Thanksgiving weekend and lack of photos!

Well, I will add the ONE photo (or two) of the things I DID take pictures of this weekend, but there aren't many. I have become really bad about taking photo's during events (or is it really good about living in the moment?).

Butch had loaded the truck with all sorts of goodies before I got home from work on Wednesday so I was able to grab a suitcase and get it all packed and ready to go in a matter of minutes and off we went! What was IN the truck you ask? Well, things that we will store at the little house while we are gone due to either a) lack of ability to pack it or b) wanting to have ease of access when we come home for visits. Aka, Propane tanks for one and some of the poke sticks for Butch's scuba for another. SO... those and a few (few????) coolers went to Florida to reside for a few years. Folks can use the coolers while they are there and we can have easy access to them if we need them for whatever. Oh, and a few chairs also went there as well.

When we get to the house it's dark and I dashed into the potty... only to have Butch come by the door and holler in "NO!"... I'm like "WHAT????" So he simply repeats "just NO, you'll see"... uhm, OK... I go back out to help him get the important stuff into the house for the night and there was this CUTE adorable super friendly black cat... OK, now I get the "NO" as you can NOT have her... but I loved on her and went about my business. A while later Elizabeth made it into town and calls me to the door. I let her know I had already seen the cute kitty... then she tells me she was here the last time they were in town. Hum... they were tempted to steal her then... so the plot starts here!

Thanksgiving was full of food, card games, naps and just visiting. We had a huge spread, but missed having Angela, mom and dad there with us. Angela was working the holiday so she can have Christmas off for the week (yay!) and Dad isn't up for traveling as we don't have a lift chair and easy in/out access for him to get to and from Sally's. So, it was just Liz, Butch, Me and Sally this weekend. It was also to be some lonely airmen, but they didn't have anyone to join us, so it was just us for dinner...what a dinner!!! LOTS of food as usual! Every bit of it delicious!

SOOOOO Friday, my job was to empty out the shed of all the GARBAGE that was out there... what was there?? Well, about 7 drawers from the old cabinet we tore out when we removed the wall from the kitchen AND the cabinet doors from that side as well - top AND bottom doors... yes, they were heart pine, NO, I did not want them. Really... what am I going to do with them? Another project? Nope, thanks. So, out to the side of the road they went. There were also three doors from inside the house. Yep doors with handles and hinges and all - they were from the hallway and the living room/kitchen where the entry hall enters into the house... it used to end in three doors. One straight ahead to the living room, one to the left to the kitchen AND one to the right to the OTHER hall to the bedrooms. Who on earth needed that many doors??? Not us and certainly not the folks before us as we had removed yet another door from the kitchen to the living room on the OTHER end of the center wall... so some doors were obviously missing from ages ago. One was from the laundry room as it had a grate on the bottom of it to allow air flow into that room... it had since been replaced by a "solid" (hollow core) door some years back. So, all the doors went to the curb as well. What else went out there? The storm door from the back of the house along with the frame from it - aluminum that someone picked up for recycle I'm sure. There was also a set of vertical blinds (unsure why we kept those) and an old tube TV set, a large piece of plywood, AND a kitchen sink. So, I find that funny... but yes, the kitchen sink from before was out there as well. SO it all went to the curb along with random pieces of wood from what appeared to be an old bunk bed. It was a good size pile and would have been bigger but Butch stopped me from chucking the old counter that was in there as well. He now has plans for that to be inserted as a work bench for him. Uhmmmmm OK. So, wood all stacked in the corner, all the other smaller junk that was motorcycle parts and frames and just junk were tossed in the regular garbage can and the place was in decent shape! What's even funnier is that someone went through the stuff and actually cleaned up my crappy pile - I was trudging all this stuff from the backyard by hand - took what they wanted and stacked the rest of the other stuff up in a nice neat pile! VERY sweet of whoever it was.

The truck was unloaded and Butch started to install the Ring doorbell onto the house. Now THAT was a challenge as the child was the one who went into the attic. It was OK when it was from the center to the kitchen, find the end of the insulation and get a piece of wire shoved down the hole for us to fish out to hook up the new powered doorbell that Butch picked up for us.... because of course the Ring needs POWER.... ugh. SO... this was a LONG affair to get done. Liz pulled the first wire, cursing the whole way and coughing due to something up in the attic. Once that was done, we hooked up the old wires on the front of the house and the bell lit up. Good... but it would NOT carry enough power to get the bell to ring. WTF? So... we attempted to get Liz to pull the sire up while we had attached the new wire to the old, only to have the old brittle wire break and come apart. Drat it! So... there we sat with no wire going to the attic for that part.... and Liz NOT happy up there... I don't blame her. SO... she comes back down and I finally convince him I do NOT need a front doorbell just now... it's not critical in the whole plan. So we leave it. He concentrated on the RING and gets it installed. The good news is this was most of this was done on Friday as Liz was leaving on Saturday to head to the house and take her cat home with her. She was going to leave on Friday but she ended up staying as her plans at first were to drive to Nashville to see her boyfriend Alex play at a bar up there.... those plans changed with a cat in the picture.

So... how did the cat come to be? Well, she went around the neighborhood asking if the cat belonged to anyone and found out that no, it did not! She was a cat that someone had meanly left after they moved. Poor kitty, and she was so loving too, not sure how someone could do that!!! She was so enamored with Liz that she would pad at the back door to be let in... as in pawing frantically at the glass door. If it wasn't so pathetic, it would have been cute, so on Friday evening while we were all chilling out at Sally's house, we let the kitty in to visit... she slept on Liz's lap for a bit, then found a blanket on top of a pile and slept on that for a bit, then I convinced her to sleep with ME on the recliner... she stretched out on the footstool next to me and enjoyed a good thorough rub down by me :) She stretched and loved every second of the attention!! What was even funnier is that the two NON-cat people spent a lot of time watching her enjoy her time indoors laying on the floor and batting at my toes as I was wiggling them at her. Ha! They watched her more than the two cat lovers did :) Maybe Butch will be a convert at some time as he did talk to her a LOT when she was in and out of the little house while he was working on stuff :) ha!

So - Liz and I went to Walmart on Saturday morning and got a carrier for the cat, some litter, a litter box, food and such... so now she was all set to go home with Liz and start her new life. Ah... so sweet!!!

Saturday afternoon Butch and I tackled the azaleas at the corner of the house.... good heavens! They had three of those bramble sticker trees that come from a tuber... those things are hateful to say the least... I cut my thumb a few times... three nice scratches across it that bled SO badly!! Then by the time I got to the other two/three of the stickers, I had a few more cuts on my right arm and looked like I had done some serious battle! BUT I won. Butch got the tubers all dug up and hopefully we didn't miss any of the pieces and they won't grow back... and the azalea that was 6' tall and about 8' wide is now tiny little nubs at less than 6" tall. I may have gotten a little aggressive with it, but honestly if it comes back, it comes back, if not I will not cry!! NEXT one to get cut down will be the camellia at the front of the house. That thing is so OLD that it has a trunk the size of a tree... I swear it's about 6" in circumference or more... and it's 6' tall plus. I did trim it down just a little ... it wasn't really time to trim it back as this one is a white flowered winter bloomer, but it had some straggly sprouts on its top that had to go!

After all that I sat down for a bit and just enjoyed the beautiful warm day! Liz and I sat out on the drive and played with the cat who was batting around acorns while we were sitting there... again, she is really cute! Liz took her to the vet on Sunday and they estimate her at about a year and a half. It makes sense, she sort of looks/acts like a teen. A well behaved teen kitty, but a teen in looks for sure! Shortly after that I helped Liz put her in the carrier crate and sent them on their way... kitty strapped in the front seat and not looking too awfully panicked in there...Liz said she traveled fairly well and was eventually asleep in there. GREAT news for her and the kitty alike!

Butch and I wrapped up the last few bits of clean up and called it a day, rested and relaxed, went to dinner then got up early to hit the road back home. We went through Marianna during daylight hours this time and WOW the devastation from Hurricane Matthew was VERY far north!! I was surprised at the amount of snapped and pushed down trees along the freeway just to the west of Marianna, then driving north through Donaldsonville - just WOW at the amount of trees down everywhere, big oaks, lots of snapped pines... there were snapped trees as far north as Colquitt and beyond... not quite as bad when we got north of there, but enough to make us really notice how much devastation was there... north of Donaldsonville there was a house where it was surrounded by trees and you NEVER saw the house, not really... it took me years to see it tucked in there in the dark trees... and it's a LARGE two story brick home (granted gray brick that blends in with the shadows)... and it's VERY open now... more than 50% of the trees in there were down! Wow... just WOW... When we talked to some folks there in the town while getting Gas, Butch said they were planning on cleaning up for a YEAR! Yeah, lots of HUGE trees... some of the root systems/balls were taller than Butch's truck... there were pecan orchards where a good 80% of the trees were pushed over or snapped off. Even Albany had an orchard where the older trees were toppled in a large number.

So, long weekend, fun weekend, productive weekend with the shed cleaned out, stuff put in storage down there, azalea cut back, and Ring doorbell being put in, (a hole in the drywall cut, patched and ready to paint... I need to find those paint colors for that house!! )...

Make a mug pottery class

I made two mug blanks the first week (Monday before last). and got set for class yesterday with a by practicing on a squinting eye. Like this:



I wasn’t thrilled wit the look but not super disappointed either. So last night I started in the tongue handle and teeth etc. I figured I could see how I felt about it once I got that part done.

The results of TWO hours of sculpting is this:









Ok I think they’re cute (?). They are just what I pictured but I just couldn’t visualize the eyes in place so my teacher YinTing suggested I sculpt on a thin piece of clay to transfer to the mug.

OK. Let’s try that!




Yeah. I still can’t picture this on the mug. So it stayed off. The mug will be done without eyes and I may make another mug with full face on the front instead.

I still have two weeks of time to do more. One week I can make a new mug with a face. One to glaze.

So this is my adventure in clay this month AND I found out Kelly Barracks has a clay studio with a wheel. That could be fun to play at over the years I’m there.

Hurry up and Wait, stresses and Fish Fries

Interview date: August 30
Job offer date: September 21
Today's date: November 5

Well, it's a new month and I still know NOTHING about my date to report. Nada, zip, zilch.
BUT we've been cleaning the house, organizing and putting things here and there, selling stuff and getting set to GO.
I'm getting a little doubtful that we're even going. Folks are asking me if I'm excited. Well, I WAS excited... when I first made this decision in September. I was thrilled. I was ready to go. I was filling out paperwork, submitting it and getting all set to get packed out and ... well, just GO.

And here I sit 1.5 months later... waiting to hear if I will be leaving in January or not... trying to find out just what my departure date is... and living in a house that the husband is packing like a mad person.

I was SO frustrated in the beginning living in boxes and thinking "what the blazes are you doing, this is what the packers will DO for you" I'm so beyond that after a month of watching the house explode into boxed messes. This weekend I tackled parts of the garage. I swear it's enough to make a gal want to break down in tears. I sat there in the back of my car staring at everything thinking "shoot me now"... it's all such a mess... a complete and utter mess.

I'm pulling a lot of easily distracted moves. I will start in one area and get overwhelmed. I will move to another and repeat. I did get the cabinets cleaned out in the garage that I was tasked with along with a few others.... but then I would just want to throw my hands up in disgust and walk away.

I did attempt a garage sale this weekend as the neighborhood was having one. I thought "OK, why not" right? Yeah, NO. I lasted all of 2 hours, packed it all into the house and called it quits. I then boxed a good amount of it all and took it to goodwill. I boxed the "better" things to take to consignment. I then finished my count of items to take in on Monday... only to realize that Monday I have pottery and I won't be going to consignment as the timeline is way too tight to pull it off.... maybe... I may still go as I got to work 1/2 hour early today meaning I could leave 1/2 hour early and head on out there, dump everything then drive straight to Macon to meet up with Liz for dinner prior to pottery. It's all a debate.

Even this blog post is all over the place!

SO. Garage sale, I sat out there for 2 hours and thought "well, while I'm out here I will put the bigger things on Facebook Marketplace". I sold one thing on there immediately and the gal walked me through how to get money through the application. Sweet. She came to get the item a few hours later after paying on line. I also sold (don't laugh) the pressure washer that Butch had put down by the curb a few days prior. I admitted it was broken and we thought it was a blown head gasket. He bought it and a VERY old tent for $20.00 better than a poke in the nose! So, how's that for funny I sold a garbage thing at the sale ... and that was it, the other thing sold on the marketplace. SO, just goes to show you that garage sales are no longer for me!!

I loaded up all the frames and other odds and ends and took those to Goodwill to be of use to someone else.

I also advertised the larger outdoor furniture set that I had gotten from Target some 7 years ago... and it sold within 10 minutes. The folks came from 45minutes away to get it. Older couple that had been trying to get a set for a while. They didn't argue the price and took it home with them that afternoon! Sweet! The back porch is clearing out.

Then I promptly took a nap. No, really, I napped. Then that evening we went to our scuba club fish fry out near Cochran - it was a very nice night eating fish, socializing and enjoying a bonfire. Liz even came out to have some fish with us. Great night and thanks to my nap I lasted MUCH longer than I typically do on those events. We were one of the last to head home.

Sunday I had to get motivated as I had climbed straight into bed after the bonfires so I still smelled of smoke AND now my bed did too! I pulled the sheets to be washed and rolled my TWO WEEKS worth of laundry to the laundry room and got started. Quite a few loads to include jackets from the night prior as well! Lots of smoky items as they were burning cedars that had fallen over the year during storms. Quite sooty!

While Laundry was going I decided to load the car for consignment (filled the back) - forgetting I won't be going on Monday - duh. But it's loaded.
I then hit the garage. YUCK!! I pulled out lots of items to go into the trash... things I wasn't even sure what the blazes it was, old toys, lots of old sidewalk chalk... yes, they have been in there a LONG while since my kids are now 23 and 19!

A few racquets headed to consignment for racquetball and one for tennis I do believe. Either way they are going! We also have a TON of Roundup. I will take that to Florida to be stored and used there when we come home to visit and clean up around the little house. I also cleaned out around the shoe bins, chucking kids shoes that have been there way too long. There was also a pair of inline skates that were so old that the plastic literally disintegrated in my hands as I was pulling them out! Very fragile stuff!! The regular skates were still functional and they went into the consignment pile even though they had writing all over them... I tried to get it off with a "Mr. Clean" pad, but it wasn't budging. I got a bit off but I'm not willing to put that much work into it at this point. If someone wants them and is OK with writing all over them, more power to them! If not, they will eventually head on to donation status.

After those two areas I decided to head to the back porch with a yard size garbage bag and tackle the lockers... I did chuck quite a few things, but also found out how many NEW items are in there as well. There are a LOT of goggles in there!!! Maybe I should box them up and send them to Damian and Tandy with their pool and smaller kids!! Either way the lockers are empty of everything including towels.

Towels were also sorted and the best of them were pulled aside to use in Germany. The rest were advertised on Facebook to friends. I had one holler she wanted them and Mom wanted a few as well, so they are all claimed and will go to new homes!

I kept going from garage to backyard to garage to sitting on the back of my car as I was loading looking at things and wanting to cry. I finally just gave up and went inside, drew a bath and called it a day. Chocolate, bath and a book for a while... made things a bit better. Then I went in and watched recorded shows for a while before dinner. Ahhhhh, the life. I even went to bed early because my body kept saying "it's 10pm... go to sleep" so I did, and I enjoyed it!

Medical cleanup.

Next day on the eye. Yep. Swelling in full force today. Sigh. Oh well, the world keeps turning.

Time to clean out the medicines.


And so it begins. I pulled all the meds out of the kitchen and bathroom. Time to cull.


I opened the “Emergency “ pack from the cancer center. I think I kept everything. Ya never know what you need in the future.


The Chuck pile.


The end result to ship


What stays in the kitchen cabinet for last minute packing.


One more thing off my list of things todo.

My poor eye

Left eye. I had a growth...Er scabby place remixed from my left eye lid today at lunch. I only have me to blame as they wanted to say it was blah blah blah that wasn’t a big deal. Why did I press to get a biopsy? Last time they thought it was “nothing” it was skin cancer. This is also the eye lid where I had a mole at the edge of the lash line that over the years has “spread” and colon cancer warns of susceptibility to skin cancer...and I already had two spots of nasal cell. Soooooo better safe than sorry at this point.

Long story to say I told them I’m simply too paranoid - biopsy it!


Can’t see it! I had just driven back to the office. It was just starting to swell a little.


Barely see it and without the glasses you can see it’s swelling a bit now.


Close up. Not too gross.

Fast forward to the end of the day. 3:30pm. And it’s now noticeable enough that a coworker commented on it. Yep!!



Swelling notable with glasses now.





Yikes. Really red now - boooo.

Oh well. I’m home now and putting Neosporin on it until bed time.

I won’t wine too bad about it because I did it to myself by insisting on a biopsy.