The Holiday Tale.....Part 1

Well, it's taken longer than I wanted, but I'm finally at a point where I feel up to sharing my last few weeks with everyone.

I'll start with Thanksgiving.....

This is what I saw a LOT of during my trip home. I thought last visit home was bad with delays- well, it had NOTHING on this trip!! There was 2 delays getting to South Carolina. a 12 hour delay in Manchester UK before I even stepped foot on a plane.... then we missed the connection in Philly, so that was a 2 hour hotel stay before I had to be back at the airport for my early morning flight. Yes- you heard that right- 2 hour hotel stay. By the time I took the shuttle TO the hotel, got booked into a room(most of the plane passengers had missed connections so there was a LOT of booking....)  I had just enough time to take a nice long shower, then lie down and rest(not sleep) about 40 minutes before I had to head back to the airport for my 4:30am flight out. Once I got there, they tried to send me from Philly to Charlotte(fine) then to Greensboro before sending to Greenville . Ummmm no.  Somehow I managed to get a flight to Charlotte NC to Greenville SC without the Greensboro connection.... Some might call it a hissy-fit.... I prefer to refer to it as using my Southern Charm. I didn't care, I was going home to see my family- probably the last time I see my mom in person and I refused to take a chance on TWO more delays.
I had decided that after that debacle, if my daughter was waiting at the airport thru some miracle of God, (I didn't even know when I was going to get there, how the devil would anyone else?) then that would be fabulous- but if she wasn't, I wasn't even going to call her- I was going to take a taxi to her doorstep and surprise her.
When I finally arrived at GSP I was VERY surprised to find it had grown to about three times the size it was when I had been there a couple years ago. HUGE!!!!! So I meander my way around and finally find the escalator (the only thing that hadn't changed in the place!!!) and start down it.... There, standing at the bottom where there was no way I could miss her- stood my daughter and my little grand daughter!!! I hopped down the last couple of steps and grabbed my daughter and hugged her so tight!! Both of us were crying at that point. My granddaughter then stepped up and gave me a big hug and kiss and we went and got my luggage and headed to her house. When we got there we took a short nap and then we just sat and talked and talked and talked til it was time to go to bed. Well, we did go out to McD's for a McRib.
The next morning we loaded up and went to my mom's house where there was another tearful reunion. Julie(my daughter) and I got busy right away cleaning things up and starting to cook as mom had invited almost 70 people for Thanksgiving Dinner. A photo of Mom and I will continue later today with the Thanksgiving  part of The Holiday Tale.....(I swear I will continue today!)

Mom.....

Nephew Dennis and Brother Chuck

Mom & Sister Tee & Me

Me & Tee

A few of the kiddos out playing in the leaves...having a ball together.

The grownups catching up and keeping an eye out for the kiddos playing....

Me & My buddy- Uncle Freddie.

Julie(daughter) and me

Frank(my son), Julie & me

Dennis, Uncle Freddie, Doris and Chuck

Me & Frank

Frank & my nephew, Billy.

Aunt Mary & Mom

Me & Kathy, my daughter in law

Back From Holiday Home In The States.

After I recover from the jet-lag and the massive cough from the smokey air of the Carolinas I will blog properly and put up a few photos for yall.

I will be Decorating for Christmas Next weekend so I may make it a two-fer.

Hope you all had a lovely Holiday as well!!

Homeward Bound....

Happy week of Thanksgiving everyone!!

Tomorrow morning I will be jetting my way home for the Beginning of the Holiday Season!

In my earlier post I told you I was ill.... and I have been all week. I had planned to take Thursday and Friday off to fully recover- but my boss nixed that idea very quickly. It seems management hasn't planned properly for my holiday- which has been booked and approved by said management for MONTHS in advance.

Not my problem, but as I was feeling a bit better every day, I decided I could be magnanimous and come in and get what I could done. I'm happy to report I am pretty much over the illness, still having a bit of sinus drainage(eww- sorry for TMI) but I'm over the contagious part of it and all the other symptoms as well.

I have spent yesterday and today finishing up my packing- I have been doing a bit at a time for the past three weeks, bits and bobs and I sat down this morning and made out my checklist for in the morning. Step by step so nothing is left to chance.

I'm really looking forward to this visit. I've decided to bring my little Olympus Camera- it's small and  lightweight, but to be honest- it's my favorite camera of them all. It takes fabulous photos without a lot of fiddling around. And I plan to take a LOT of photos this visit. I may need to bring along an extra card tho.

I've decided to keep our Sunday Dinner simple tho. I'm making International Stew. It's a dish made up of.... British Turkey & sausages,.... Alaskan Prawns.....Onions.... Italian seasoned chopped tomatoes, Cajun seasoning, Moroccan seasoning, salt, pepper, a chicken Stock pot and an herb infused stockpot, and Spicy Mexican Rice.

I'll let you know how it tastes.

I'll also be back to let yall know how my visit went as soon as I get back.
Until then....


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

It Is As I Feared....

Well,

Here I am, a week and a day away from going back for what will probably be my last face to face in person visit with my mom and what happens? The self centered bastard ass idiots at work who come in sneezing and coughing and filthy with the cold and flu have finally infected me.

I'm aching all over, Im running a bit of a fever and I have an itchy, scratchy throat despite my germaphobic preventative measures against just this kind of thing.

The bastards. If you are sick, please do EVERYONE a favour and stay your germy butt at home.

I hope I am over this whatever it is by the time I go to get on the plane. At the moment, I am sitting here(or lying in bed, depending on the hour) taking ibuprofen and drinking LemSip to feel better. I deplore being ill. It makes me even MORE ill.

So-  today I bought new undies, socks and a new pair of Jim-jams to bring with me on my visit.  Monday I will be getting my money converted to USD from GBP. After that all I need do is finish my week at work and then finish my packing over the weekend. I can get that finished up in less than an hour. The hardest part will be deciding what to wear on the plane.

I'm going to miss my hubby horribly. But it will be so great to see the family again. Im so excited.
If only I can get rid of this bug I will be thrilled.

Just life....

Know I haven't posted in a while. Have been working on my Memoirs instead of doing NaNoWriMo.

I'm off to visit the family back home in SC for Thanksgiving week(more on that next time) and I've been in a cafaffle of work getting the house clean sic n span, working on my memoirs and doing a bit of advance packing of the trinkets so I don't forget anything by waiting until the last minute. I'm trying to get ahead in my work at the office too- actually just now getting caught back up from when the office mate went on holiday all of September(no joke- ALL of September) and I had to do double duty taking on half of what she usually does. That in turn threw me behind on MY work and I'm just now back up to speed. Breaking even, so to speak. And I'm not worrying too much about getting ahead in my work either. If it gets done- it does, if it doesn't- oh well. No one does MY job when I'm on holiday, so tough. I'm going on holiday and not worrying a bloody fig about the office.

I made a doozie of a cake on Thursday night for Friday. Carrot cake mix..... substituted  applesauce for the oil....added an extra egg, used same amount of milk in place of the water- and added a 1/2 teaspoon of mixed spice(allspice) to the batter. Then baked as directed. Cooled a half hour, then poured 3/4 tub of ready made vanilla buttercream frosting over the top. and then 3/4 can of Carnation Caramel topping and swirled them together. Easy as pie...actually- easier.

Not to toot my own horn, but Best Apple Cake EVER! The house smelled amazing and the cake(after sitting overnight) was so moist and flavourful it was unbelievable. I will be making that one again and again!

Our color over here is absolutely spectacular right now. It will be gone for the most part in another week or so, I think. But we did have our first frost and so tonight, for Sunday Supper, we had our traditional Pot o' Chili!!!  I didn't think it was ever going to frost this year, but it finally did!!!

And lastly, I still miss our Michael's Blog..... but I am enjoying Spo-Reflections very much. I keep searching for new blogs that catch my interest, but I think it may be too soon after losing In Dodd We Trust to do so. Really good reads are so hard to find.

Happy Autumn, Everyone!!

2016.... Where has this year gone....?

A workmate and myself were talking about how fast this year has gone by.

And that got me thinking. Where DID the time go this year?  I thought and thought and thought some more- and I can't remember anything outstanding that I did this year.....nor last year, to be honest about it.
Shouldn't we be able to look back on any given year and think- "Ahhh yes!- That was the year I(insert accomplishment/event here)!"

My office-mate, Tom, bought his first home this year in May. And the year before that he changed jobs and came to work at our company- enabling him to buy said house. He also went to London for a week- just to see the sights, just like a tourist. He's been to a couple of concerts too.

All I can remember is waking up every single weekday, getting dressed,  dragging myself into work every morning, mindlessly doing mind numbing repetitive work, then coming home, cooking/eating dinner, watching a bit of television, then going to bed.
Weekends are spend either going to town to run errands with lunch out, or catching up on housework on Saturday, then watching movies or playing games on the computer and cooking/eating dinner on Sundays.

That's it. We haven't done much of anything out of the ordinary- oh, other than the occasional dinner and board game night at a couple of friends we know. And that only happens every 3 or 4 months.

We haven't went to any of the relatives for dinner, or a barbecue, or a picnic. No road trips other than into town to pick up and odd this or that, or to a doctors appointment or spectacle exam. No movies, or concerts, or  trips into City Center in Manchester or Liverpool either.

On the upside, I am going to visit the folk back home for Thanksgiving for a bit over a week. But that doesn't keep me from wanting to do something different with my husband, too.

It's giving me a headache. Maybe 2017 will be the year we get to say- we bought a new car and we bought our house.

2020.....

Well, Today I had a bit of a mini breakdown.

I was on FaceBook as we were coming back home from our trip into St. Helens today and one of the posts asked this question.

How old will you be in 2020- Be honest!!

Now, anyone that knows me knows I dont give a rat's behind about age- it's nothing  but a number. However, there are exceptions to the rule.
a) Your First Birthday. Huge big deal!!!
b)Your 13th Birthday....you are now a TEENAGER!!!!
c) your 16th (especially if you are a girl raised in the "Capital O/Capital S" Old South, You may now go on unchaperoned dates, not just double dates or chaperoned ones. Upper Class Girls turning 16 get a Debutante or Coming Out party- Middle class ones get a Sweet 16 Birthday party.)  At 16 you can get your full drivers license not just a provisional one.
d) your 18th.... you may now vote(when I was 18 you could also drink and buy alcohol  but that's now allowed on ....
e) your 21st.
You are now a full fledged adult- get a job (you should have already been working part time since the age of 15 or the very LATEST 16) and get your own place if you haven't already.

Well, when I turned 25- it was an eye opener for me. I was a QUARTER CENTURY OLD!!! My life was over and I was officially OLD. I was depressed the week before, the week OF, and the week AFTER my 25th Birthday.... until I realized aint nothing going to change.... Everything is the same as it was before I turned 25....and finally, life returned to normal.

I turned 30. That didnt bother me.
I turned 35..... That didn't bother me either.
I turned the BIG 4-0.... Nope.
45....... Nothing.
50... Nada.
55......Zilch.
Not even a twinge.

And then I read that post.

 How old will you be in 2020?

 And I thought a second and said "60.....Wait......what? 60?" and something clicked in my brain and I burst out crying.

Mini meltdown... lasted about 15 minutes.  Then I took a deep breath, dried my eyes on the tail of my shirt....(a dozen pkts of tissues in my different handbags and I chose TODAY to change purses and chose the ONE that didn't have a pack or even a single tissue in it to be found.

I told hubby I guess I'm gonna have to up my lie-age. Usually when someone asks my age I tell them I'm 60 or 65..... I always get the response that I certainly dont LOOK that old. So now when I give a lie age I reckon I'm gonna have to up it to 70 or 75. 10 or so years over my REAL age, you know.

Ahhh... the things we women worry and cry about.