Hi Guys, I'm afraid this is gonna be long but I need to "talk" to get it out of my system. If I try to "talk" with anyone else, they'll just laugh at me and tell me it's my own fault. I KNOW that already -- LOLOL. When DH and I moved from Lizard Land to Magnoliaville, I thought I would have lots more time for sewing & stitching & reading and leisurely stuff I like to do because I wouldn't have local family obligations. etc. WRONG, oh so wrong!!! Just last night I got the final piece of the CHRISTMAS VILLAGE packed away in its box -- tonight will be cleaning up and disassembling the enlarged table top. VBS -- I always wonder just where the time went and *why* I am gone from home so much! I never intend to be gone so much but each year it seems I travel more than the year before. I usually have my time all planned out for the trips and then getting stuff done that needs to be done. It's the unexpected that really throws a monkey wrench in everything! This time last year I had just returned from the trip to The Netherlands and the Czech Republic -- that was in the midst of getting the backyard landscaped. Mid April I went to Birmingham for a good friend's b-day and returned to putting in the backyard plants and a round of fittings to do alterations on a bridal gown for a late June wedding. End of April was the trip to Lizard Land for the SMDGD's b-day & trip to Disneyland. Early June DH had to go to Lizard Land on business & I went along which was a good thing because that's when DD got laid off. Late June was a long weekend trip out of town for DH's company picnic. The rest of June was devoted to those bridal gown alterations, alterations for the mother of the bride and being at the wedding to make sure everything was OK and the Bride's Maids' dresses fit OK. In Early July we went to Knoxville, TN for another long weekend. Then I stayed home until early September -- imagine that and smack in the middle of the nastiest summer weather I've experienced since moving here! Early Sept. was a 10 day trip to Lizard Land (we go to shut down the cabin for the winter) and then we went to Washington DC and Hershey, PA in mid October (this was our regularly scheduled holiday -- LOL). Three days after returning from this trip, my Needlework Group met here so I was VERY busy with that. In between all of this, I was working on that White Silk Quilt for my DNiece and getting the Halloween decs. put away and getting out the Thanksgiving stuff. Fortunately, I didn't do any traveling in November -- I wonder what was wrong with me?!?!? WAIT
-- that's wrong -- we left on 29 Nov. to go to Pigeon Forge for another long weekend to celebrate our Anniversary! Then there is December -- technically I was gone in early Dec. for the Pigeon Forge trip. Then of course we went to Lizard Land again for Christmas and returned home on the 29th. I got the bags unpacked, the laundry done, bags repacked and we left on 02 Jan for the cruise to the Bahamas. We got home from that on the 7th and I spent the next 3 weeks taking down the Christmas decorations -- trust me it takes at least that long. 31 Jan was the day we left for Carnivale in New Orleans. This is when I found out I must be VERY allergic to the mold our there because I came home and started to get unbelievably sick. I was so congested that I was using my "emergency" inhaler almost every day and started to cough up blood!!! Within a week I was at the Dr. who gave me some heavy duty antibiotic made for respiratory infections. I stopped coughing up blood but was still so tired that I had barely enough energy to work for an hour every few days on the Village. Two weeks later, just as I was feeling good and starting back to Curves and spending as much time on the Village as my knees would allow, DH came home and told me he was going to NYC so off I go with him for the overnight trip up there. Unfortunately, the day we left for NYC is when DD called to tell me that a dear family friend had suffered a stroke and was not expected to live. I get home from NYC on Wednesday night, unpack & do laundry on Thursday, repack my bags and leave for Lizard Land on Friday for a two week stay. I had DH make the reservations for that long because at the time we had no idea how long the friend would live. For some strange reason, Delta booked me in FIRST CLASS on the return flight home so I wasn't gonna come home early -- LOL! So I got home on the evening of the 15th -- AFTER the tornado played havoc with Atlanta -- and immediately started to get all congested with a croupy cough, etc. AHHHHH SPRING in the South! It is a tremendous shock to my poor respiratory system whenever I return home from dry, Dry, DRY Phoenix. Even if it rains in Phoenix, it's STILL dry compared to Atlanta -- honest! I think I spent at least 6 of the last 10 days feeling like I had been run over by a truck! But yesterday and today have been pretty good -- finally. SO -- the future doesn't look any better as far as traveling goes! I go back to Birmingham the first weekend of April for the friend's b-day; the second weekend of April my DSis & her best friend come to visit for a week during which time we will drive up to Nashville for several days. Less than two weeks later DH and I go to Lizard Land for the SMDGD's b-day and another trip to Disneyland and before then I have to find time to make the kitty quilt for the SMDGD's FIFTH B-day. We get home in mid-May and don't leave again until the first weekend of June (that's almost THREE whole weeks) when we go to Berlin for about 10 days. After that I have no travel planned -- YET! But just wait, I'm sure I'll be posting that I am off to some where and wondering about quilt shops or some such :-). I'm just glad to have that *&$*#$*&#%$ Christmas Village packed away -- and by the end of March no less -- LOLOL! Anyway, now you know why the family would tell me to just shut up and quit complaining. I don't HAVE to do any of this traveling, I WANT to do it. What I DO NOT want is to have my asthma act up or my arthritis start to give me fits. If that &%^$(#& wouldn't happen, I would have my time all arranged and get everything done when expected. I know, I know -- shut up and quit complaining -- I probably wouldn't have the health issues if I just stayed home and didn't run myself ragged traveling all over the place. VBS -- like I said, I am just blowing off steam. I don't see me changing any time in the next two years that we still live here. Once DH retires and we move back to Lizard Land, I'm sure I won't have the asthma stuff to worry about. I should imagine I will likely be traveling a lot still -- we DO love to travel and that's a big part of retirement plans! So thanks to anyone who has managed to get this far. I didn't really expect anyone to listen to all of this, I just needed to "say" it -- LOLOL. CiaoMeow >^;;^<
PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at