Catching Up

Okie doke. It's about time I got caught up with my posting. I'm about caught up on my sleep, although I *really* wanted a nap this afternoon. (I didn't get one.)

Let's see. Thursday morning the power was out in my apartment, due to freezing rain, so that threw me off a bit. There was no hot water for a shower. (Turns out they've installed new "instant on" heaters... which are "instant off" when the power goes out.) I was going to take a photo of my jean quilt on the bed, but it was kind of dark. I was going to turn the dishwasher on with the last of the dishes before I left, but again, that didn't happen. After getting up, I sat at my bedroom window and watched to make sure the busses were running. They were, so I ate, packed up what I needed for a shower, and headed off to school.

The school shower wasn't quite as satisfying as a home one, but it got me clean. Then I headed over to the post office... I didn't want them to decide to send my package back to Canada. Then back to the department again.

I worked on research in J's office, and then filled out my form. (J says I don't suck. I felt somewhat better.) After handing in my form I rushed home. I rushed to pack my school backpack as my carry-on, put the dishes on to wash, and do the rest of the last minute things. Although the power was on, I didn't think to take a photo of my jean quilt at that time... but then, I didn't really have time anyway.

D drove me to the airport... which I *really* appreciated given the rain. My original low-cost plan was to take the bus, which is $2, but takes at least an hour. And involves standing at bus stops in the rain with all my luggage. I also gave my sewing machine to D so that S and D could use it over the holidays.

I made it to the airport with plenty of time to get through customs. Then sit and wait. And wait. And wait. The "equipement" (aka plane) was on time, but not the original planned, and without flight attendants. They asked for five volunteers to be bumped (I considered, then decided against), and then we waited for a crew. That plane left about an hour late. Good thing I was supposed to have a three hour stopover in MSP.

Or not.

The next plane had the same thing: different equipement, and no flight attendants. This time, however, the plane was bigger (I ended up with exit row seats--leg room!), and getting a crew set us back over an hour. It was after 1am when I finally landed in Winnipeg. Then the luggage took forever. (Looking for staff again?) Customs wasn't too bad, but the customs guy kept asking questions that were beyond my late-night reasoning capabilities... like what area of the city my parents lived in, etc.

My dad (who is more than a night-owl than my mom) picked me up and dropped me off at my mom's (my mom keeps the house much cleaner). I managed to be quiet enough that I didn't wake B when I came in, but my mom heard because something else had woken her up just a bit earlier. However, I woke them up accidentally when I went to the upstairs bathroom to filch some toothpaste.

Yep, that's what I forgot. Toothpaste. I only had one tube, so I had to leave packing it until the morning. It's still sitting back there in my bathroom. Oops. Oh well... at least toothpaste is cheap, and lasts a long time.

I did discover that I'm mildly allergic to my mom's toothpaste (orange crest with scope).

As you know, I finally crawled into bed at 3am Winnipeg time, or 4am Chapel Hill time. I was really glad I had arranged with H to come in late on Friday.

Friday I got up when I heard mom and B up, so I could visit with them before they went off to the chiropractor. Since I still didn't have toothpaste, I tried B's "old fart toothpaste." (His words... actually a store brand sensitive teeth toothpaste. So feel free to insult my teeth... they've been temporarily desensitized. ;) )

Friday at UofM was fun, but not terribly productive. I visited with everyone, and got a tour of the new building. Just as I finally sat down to work, my body reminded me that I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. H had to leave early, so I did too... my brain didn't want to function at all.

I have vauge recollections of us watching something on TV Friday night, but all I can remember is that I was too tired to crochet. Ah, yes... it's coming back. We watched March of the Penguins. Really good. I hope I didn't drive everyone nuts by occasionally talking... my off switch seemed to be malfunctioning.

I was supposed to go over to my dad's to say a proper hello, but I was dead, and he was running around.

That brings me to today. I slept in until around 9, and had a very lazy morning. (I didn't shower until after noon!) There was snow to be shovelled, but I didn't manage to get my butt in gear. I did, however, decorate the Christmas tree (I'll take and post a photo tomorrow) and complete a few more repeats on the qiviut scarf.

Crafting update: see my last post for the cardigan, H's socks are both past the heel now (I'm working from both ends of the ball), and the qiviut scarf now has 10 repeats done. The qiviut scarf is the only thing that needs to be finished by Christmas, but it makes my brain hurt. After one repeat, my eyes start to swim, and I desperately need a nap. This is probably also due to my recent lack of sleep. I'm using lifelines liberally, but so far haven't had to make use of any. I do seem to be getting more comfortable with the lace pattern, even if I can't think straight.

I'll be running behind in the blog-reading/commenting area over the holidays.

I think there was something else I was going to blather on about, but I can't think of it right now. Judging by the scroll bar on the side of this textbox, I've been blathering on long enough as it is. ;) Plus, it's time for bed. Tomorrow is another big day... it involves as many rows of lace scarf as I can manage. ;) (And hopefully also typing up the updated sock heel instructions for K, and maybe even the crayon blanket pattern.)

Oh... and I still haven't gone over to my dad's... he was running around today too. Strange... it used to be that he was always complaining that I didn't spend enough of my visit over there, and now he's too busy for the second trip in a row. Ah well. ;)

Good night!