The Post-Trip Update (A Long Time Coming...)

Well, it is about time that I catch you all up on what is going on in my neck of the woods.

The trip to the States was nice. I enjoyed seeing my family. I enjoyed spending time with Tristan. I enjoyed the weather and driving on the right side of the road. Tristan’s birthday was wonderful, and I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that he is 7 years old. That is practically grown up.

Boo had a bit of a hard time with the amount of time he was with me. It is so hard for kids to transition back and forth, and he was very homesick. I understood: I was homesick too. I didn’t expect to be, but I was.

We did quite a bit of shopping, and Ashley should be all set up with new clothes and new glasses for the year. Tristan got a lot of new clothes too, and I even splurged and ended up with some new work clothes and a few tops. I stocked up on things I can’t get in the United Kingdom; things like Malt o’Meal, corn syrup, and green chiles. To be honest, I didn’t foresee that packing two empty suitcases wouldn’t be enough, but after I left Ashley 3 boxes of Malt o’Meal to bring back with her, I only had ½ lb. to spare in 1 suitcase. The other was packed up tight and exactly as heavy as it was allowed to be without paying extra.

There is a story to go along with the topic of suitcases: in London before I left Stephen and I discovered that one of the wheels on my large suitcase was almost broken. We readjusted the packing, and the plan was for me to have it repaired in El Paso. Well, El Paso does have a repair shop that does not service my type of luggage under warranty, so I had to pay for it myself. Plus, they couldn’t give me a time line because they had never worked with that company before and were not sure how it all was going to happen. 3 days before my flight home I called them to find that they had sent a wheel, and it was the wrong side, then sent another one that did not fit. The put a different brand's wheel on it as a stopgap for me.That wheel didn’t even make it to my landing in London, for when I got the luggage off the luggage rack, the wheel was completely gone. So the 2 hour trip home from Gatwick airport involved a 50 pound huge suitcase with an essential wheel missing, and another 50 pound suitcase, plus a backpack and a laptop bag. By the time Stephen met me in Canterbury, 2/3 of the way home, I was exhausted and sore, and the wheel on the smaller bag was broken. By the time we actually got home, it was trashed. There is a lesson here:Pierre Cardin luggage is rubbish.I hope Ashley does not have the problems getting back that I did.

There is an ending to the computer story from an earlier post also. My computer did not arrive back in time, though it was en route. (A few more days and it would have made it back in time.) They allowed me to exchange it, and I had the amount of money that I originally paid for the old laptop. Since laptop prices have gone down significantly in the last few years,I have a new high-end laptop, and I only had to pay the amount of the 3 year extended warranty that even covers accidents.It was a small investment for a new laptop. I ended up with a Sony Vaio, which apparently Sarah and some other family members also have. Stephen approved, and is happy with the choice.He occasionally putters on it and seems content.

Let’s see… what else. For my birthday, Dan and Christie gave me a Palm Pilot, and it is being put to good use. Stephen was quite happy to find 300 or so games to put on it. It is synched with our home computer, and he is still looking into ways to connect it with my Google calendar. There is time yet to figure it out. The airline didn’t care at all about my birthday, and actually didn’t even look closely enough at my passport to discover that I was flying on my actual birthday. The man at airport security noticed, though, and told me to have a nice day because of it. I got lucky in sitting on the plane, too. The first short flight from El Paso to Houston, the man who was sitting in MY aisle seat told me that he was ‘packing heat’ and then showed me his gun. He was a federal marshal. He didn’t give up my aisle seat, so I sat in the window. Thank goodness for scopolamine, because otherwise I would not have been able to get to the toilet. The flight from Houston to London I was sitting next to a very nice gentleman flying to Dubai for a skiing trip. He was very friendly… but took off his shoes thus releasing intense foot smell, had severe body odor, and snored emphatically the entire flight. He must have slept very well. I didn’t.

Jet lag has been kicking my tush. I am still having a hard time falling asleep at night and waking up in the morning.

The house unpacking thing is coming along, slowly but surely. Poor Stephen must have been just drowning in boxes. I am not yet comfortable posting pictures of the new house, but I intend to eventually.

Ashley should be getting her A-level results in the next few days. I’ll let you know how she did.

I cut my hair. It ended up being between 8 and 10 inches chopped off. To be honest, no one has noticed.

Stephen left yesterday for his 10 day family holiday in Austria. I have to be honest and state that the biggest reason I didn’t prioritise an ‘I’m home’ post was because of wanting to cram in as much time as possible in the 5 days that we were both home together. Being in the house completely alone is a little nerve wracking, but I am surviving. I know things will get done around the house because there is just nothing else to do. And work is nice because it means that I have something to do during the day rather than just sit at home and mope. I have been invited to a BBQ this weekend, and may go. Plus, as of today there is a first aid class I am being sent on in another city.

So Stephen comes home on the 25th or so, Ashley comes home a few days after that, and then we all gear up for school again. Fun fun, I tell you. But being my last year of school for a little while, I can suck it up.