Everything is Unfinished

Although I definitely feel like my time off was too short, I’m so glad to be back home. Remind me next year not to try and fly anywhere around Christmas!

Getting there was fine. In fact, it was much easier than we expected. We got to the airport in Columbus a full 2 hours before our flight so we’d have time to check our bags and get through security. Apparently everyone in town had already left, because we were sitting at our gate about 20 minutes after arriving. Flew to Denver, and despite me getting carsick (planesick?) everything was fine. We had plenty of time to eat dinner and get to our next flight, which got us into Pasco, WA just about on time. Johnny’s dad and brother picked us up, we stopped by Jack in the Box for the best egg rolls in the world, then headed home for a few hours of chatting before collapsing into bed. Well, I collapsed into bed - I think Johnny was too keyed up to actually sleep at all.

The next morning I got up briefly when the boys left at 7am for the Seahawks game. Then I went back to sleep for about 3 hours like a normal human. Johnny’s mom, nephew, nephews girlfriend and I braved the crowds for some breakfast at IHOP and a few last-minute gifts. We also stopped by Burlington Coat Factory. We have one here in Columbus and, silly me, I’ve never gone there because I thought they just sold coats. Turns out they’re a full department store, and a discount one at that. And they have a huge baby section! I resisted buying anything though, because after we left there we went to Johnny’s aunt’s house for a baby shower. His mom claimed it wasn’t really a baby shower because it was just a small gathering, and we didn’t play any games or anything. But they did shower me with lots of gifts, so I think it counts. More about that on the other blog, but suffice it to say that our Target registry is just about tapped now. The rest of the evening was pretty subdued until the boys got home around 8:30. They were still super excited from the game (which the Seahawks won, if you didn’t know) but we did end up going to bed at a decent hour. No one had any late-night gift wrapping to do, except my mom - I called her around 12:30am (her time) and she was just heading home from my Grandma’s and had gifts to wrap yet. As usual. :)

Christmas day started later than I’m used to. We were all up around 8am except for James, who joined us later for breakfast. We didn’t even start with the presents until about 10! I must have been very good this year. I got: Crazy Taxi for my Gameboy, a gift certificate for a massage, some sugar-free chocolate, a cool bracelet made of Mah Jongg tiles and a bunch of baby scrapbooking supplies that Johnny picked out all by himself. Our big gift from his parents was a new camcorder/digital camera which has already come in handy when Johnny was spazzing out to some music. It’s the only camcorder on the market with separate recording and still lenses, so the still picture quality doesn’t suffer. The baby made out pretty well on Christmas morning too. He’s not even born yet, but already spoiled. We did surprise ourselves by fitting everything into our suitcases though - glad we thought to bring an extra one with us.

The day after Christmas we unwisely decided to go shopping. Johnny’s parents wanted to look for a big-screen TV so we checked out Best Buy, Sears, Circuit City and Costco. Getting into Best Buy was ok, but the line was huge to check out so no one bought anything. Then we headed over to the mall where it took us 15 minutes to get through the parking lot. After a spin through the mall we didn’t buy anything there either. Either we have too much stuff, or the mall just doesn’t hold the appeal it used to. Probably a little of both. At Costco though, we of course tried all the samples and got food on the way out (a Very Berry Sundae for Johnny and a Chicken Bake for me). And it was there that his parents found the tv they wanted: a 62″ High Def Toshiba rear projection. Unfortunately for James, they didn’t have any in stock that day, so he’ll have to suffer with his tiny 42″ for now. I do have to say though, that there’s not much more depressing that shopping with someone else while they buy a big-screen TV. So…jealous…anyway. Later that night we visited Johnny’s Grandma and Aunt and cousins for a while, then Kerry of Hamster fame came over for a while and we played Mario Kart and Mario Party 7 with her. I had never played any of the Mario Party games and now I wish we still had our Gamecube so I could get some! Oh well, maybe when the Revolution comes out. Johnny and I crapped out pretty early that night and were in bed by 11. He was finally coming down off his football high.

The next day started out early. WAY early. I woke up around 3am with horrible cramps. I thought I just had to go to the bathroom, but no luck there. (This may all be TMI.) After trying to go back to sleep and getting up again, I now had a splitting headache confined mostly to my right temple. I woke Johnny up to find me some Tylenol, which he did, although it had expired 3 years previously. That may explain why it didn’t work. By now it’s 4am and I had to have him go outside and unplug the Christmas lights outside our window because I was that sensitive to light. I agonized through the next hour until my doctor’s office opened and we could call them. They told me I could take some Mylanta, so Johnny was off to the store and I’ll be damned if that didn’t do the trick. Poor Johnny couldn’t go back to sleep, but I was out like a light within about 3 minutes - apparently it was just gas. And all I know is, if labor feels anything like that, I may change my mind about not having any pain meds.

Fortunately, that was the most painful part of my day, despite my flight being cancelled. I was originally scheduled to leave the Tri-Cities at 1:50pm, go through Denver again, and get to Columbus around 11:00. Well that flight was going to be at least 3 hours late, so I had my choice of options:

1. Wait for the flight to get there, get to Denver around 9 (or later), find my own accomodations for the night, and leave for Columbus the next morning at 10am, getting me in around 3pm

2. Wait for the next available flight out of the Tri-Cities, which was Thursday
3. Leave from Seattle the next morning, going through Chicago and getting me home around 9pm.

Since Johnny was going to leave for Seattle that afternoon anyway, I chose option 3 and went with him. Of course, I had to call work and tell them that I wouldn’t be in, but it’s not like I really had any other option - I would have missed work in any case. So instead of working I got to spend an evening in Seattle and see Kris, Joey, Chris, Tonja and Katie, and play Dance Dance Revolution for the first time. Hooray!

So on Wednesday, we pack up and get to the airport, where once again checking in and security only took about 20 minutes. I got to my gate and found that the plane was delayed, but only by about 15 minutes, which turned out to be more like 35 minutes, but we still got into Chicago around the same time (5:45). My next flight didn’t leave until 6:45 so I found some food then wandered to my gate, where I discovered that we were delayed until 8:00. So I sat and read and played Dr. Mario and people-watched and all of a sudden realized that my gate had changed. It was only 3 gates down, but still, thanks for the announcement! When I moved to the new gate I found a new departure time too, of 9:00. Yeesh. By now I’ve got a pounding headache and I’m tired and I’m nauseous from smelling so much jet fuel. But the time didn’t change any more. Of course, we didn’t take off by 9, but I was at least on board by 9. Then we sat for an hour and a half. First the plane had to be “rebooted”, so they shut everything down and started back up. Then we waited some more while they unloaded all the bags and reloaded them. No one seemed to know why that was happening, but it did. So I finally got into Columbus airport at 12:30am and back to my house at almost 1:30. And even though I “lost” 3 hours so it should have only felt like 10:30pm, it didn’t. Next year I think we’ll make everyone come to us!

Since we’re heading out to The Tri in a few hours, Johnny and I decided to exchange some of our gifts to each other last night. That way we wouldn’t have to pack so much out there and back. We each got three things. My take included Bruce Campbell’s latest book, “Make Love (The Bruce Campbell Way)”, a new foot massager, and a cool atomic alarm clock/weather station.

Being the last minute person that I am, I wrapped all of my gifts last night when I got home from work. I love wrapping gifts. My love of patterned paper and ribbons set in long before scrapbooking came around, and although I try to keep my “collection” of wrapping products to a minimum and use what I have, I still like some variety. I noticed that, like my love of lights, I have a lot of rules for myself when wrapping. I always crease my edges. “To/From” tags must match the paper. When wrapping coordinating gifts (say, an outfit consisting of pants and a shirt) they get wrapped in separate boxes, in coordinating paper, tied together with ribbon. Anything that can get a bow, does. After reading this, you may think that I don’t do gift bags, but you’d be wrong - gift bags are one of the greatest inventions of the late 20th century. But of course, you have to use them right. You can’t just stick the gift in a bag and be done, you need tissue paper or those crinkly shreds (coordinating color, of course). I don’t think that the gift inside the bag needs to be wrapped, but that is an extra bonus.

I knew someone once who bought 3 or 4 rolls of the same wrapping paper at Christmas so that all of her kids’ gifts would be wrapped in it. I was nearly horrified - to me, one of the great things about Christmas morning is seeing all the differently wrapped presents under the tree! I also know people who buy one pattern of paper for each person in the family, so they don’t have to use gift tags. While I understand the logic, I still just don’t buy it. What I do like, however, is keeping some papers hidden from the kids, and using that for gifts from Santa. I can’t wait until Jack is old enough to be all wide-eyed and amazed about Christmas and Santa, and I hope he’s not one of those kids who ruins it for their younger siblings when he finds out what’s really up.

Unless there’s a major heat wave in the next 10 days, Columbus will be having a white Christmas. It’s been snowing off and on for the past week, then last night it started up again and it’s still going strong. I can’t believe it’s the 15th already! I have all of my shopping done, but my Christmas cards are still in various states of done-ness on the kitchen table. Johnny brought the tree up just yesterday but it’s not decorated yet. Tonight I really need to get both of those things done! At least my house is clean - I did that Sunday. I have this weird thing that whenever I decorate for a holiday I need to clean first. I usually don’t give my dirty house a second thought, but I inherited the holiday cleaning thing from my mom. I’ve tried to change my cleaning habits in the past, but now I just recognize them for what they are and go with it.

Having all this snow makes looking at everyone’s Christmas lights even better. I love lights, but I’m very anal about them. I have all sorts of rules for how they should be displayed. What’s that, you want me to share them? But of course!

1. If one blinks, they all blink. I really prefer non-blinking lights but if you’ve got one string that’s blinking, make them all blink, and at the same speed. Same for chasers: have them going the same speed, in the same pattern.

2. White and multi-colored don’t mix. Solid white with solid colored strings are ok.
3. Use icicle lights where real icicles would form. Don’t wrap them around poles or put them inside your windows.
4. Don’t string lights between bushes or windows. That’s what extension cords were made for.
5. Those big old school bulbs are cool, but don’t mix them with smaller lights.

Ok, I’m sure you all think I’m rather crazy after that. I agree, but that’s what my crazy self prefers. I find myself most drawn to houses that look light gingerbread houses, with colored lights around the windows and along the roof. But I suppose I shouldn’t even really be talking, since I don’t have lights up yet!

Technical difficulties. I’ll be back to posting irregularly soon.