Ugh

Yesterday I got caught up on laundry and packed. I didn't finish the album CD, though I might be able to get it done while here.

Today we got to the airport in time despite the best efforts of the people at Staples (actually, it was the presumably married couple taking up both of the shipping center's employees while trying to get something "perfect"). After they finally left we got some gifts shipped to Tom and Emily's, grabbed some breakfast, and got to the airport almost an hour early. By the time we checked in and got through security we had enough time to finish our drinks, then boarded.

The first flight went well, the people loved the flowers, and life was good. At Denver we caught a 777 which was going to O'Hare before flying to Paris. Memo to self: when flying on a 777, get a whole bouquet for just the flight crew alone. Egad there were a lot of them. Anyway, that flight got us there a little early, and all still seemed to be good. Andy and I walked to the puddle jumper area rather than taking the courtesy bus and got to see the pretty lights.

O'Hare was...interesting. Every flight was delayed, overbooked, and went through at least one gate change. Actually, our flight was the only one where they weren't desperately pleading for volunteers, though near the end Andy and I thought of doing so because my sister doesn't like staying up late, and the next flight out would have been tomorrow (this morning, actually, due to time zone shift, but I'm being picky) morning. Alas they didn't need volunteers for ours, so poor Pamela had to stay up until well after midnight her time after picking us up, feeding us, and taking Andy to a drug store for saline solution. When she checked the website for the flight it said it wasn't delayed, so she hadn't eaten yet either, and was afraid she'd burned her house down for how long the food was left in the oven.

On the other hand we're here, the house is still cool if painted in painful ways, and I have a nice warm bed with a nice warm hubby waiting for me. Happy holiday(s), whichever you celebrate, and I'll hopefully be able to check in between now and when we fly to Indy.

Eventide

I stayed up far too late last night by virtue (or would it be vice) of being unable to sleep, despite the typical multiple-hop airline exhaustion. At least once I got to sleep I stayed that way until some really handsome guy came and awakened me. The shower took only a few seconds, a minute at most, to warm up, and there was enough of the hot water for a nice, long, luxurious shower. One of the upgrades for our house was a recirculating pump for our hot water, which will mean we don't have to run water for five minutes before it's properly warm. Ah, bliss.

After I got dressed we packed up and headed to Rome. Mom had gotten Chinese from our favorite place, which is open tomorrow. We gobbled lunch and then headed to Boonville to visit Mary, Grandpa's widow, but not before Noia beat me up. They played cards while I did crosswords and heckled. Then Uncle Doug and CJ arrived and I took many pictures. He's a cute little (well, not-so-little) guy, is walking, and says some understandable words.

We came home and got the traditional Christmas Eve dinner made. Mom played koledy, Andy, Dave, Julie, Mom, Pamela, Uncle Doug and I had a quiet little dinner; quite a contrast from when we had the whole family there for Christmas Eve in October. Uncle Doug brought over the tape player and the tape with Grandpa's voice. I had thought the sound had disappeared completely, but it turns out it just doesn't play at the correct speed. The tape player recorded at two speeds; normal and half-speed, the first for music and the second which would work well with voice. The first part is taped at normal time, so the voices are a bit high-pitched and fast in normal time, but in half-speed it's very slow. The other two were apparently taped at half-speed, and for some reason the tape player has them going at something which sounds too fast at half-speed and like something from "Alvin and the Chipmunks on Jolt" in normal. Andy thinks if we MP3 it he may be able to slow all three snippets down. I consider this a good reason not to rush to finish the photo part of the CD, since we won't be able to do anything with the tape until we get home.

Afterward we went to visit some childhood friends whose mother died very suddenly (as in, they discovered the cancer and within two weeks she was gone) a few days ago. It was a bit weird, since I lost contact with them in 1989 or so (Pamela remained in touch, however, and they still live in the same house), and the two were still more or less children. Even though the youngest, the daughter, who is all grown up and now has a son of her own, still looked like the person I remembered, if the son hadn't recognized me I would have had no idea who to say "hi" to. It's so hard to find words for the circumstances. I hope I didn't accidentally do or say anything insensitive. Anyway, we exchanged e-mail addresses and I gave the daughter my livejournal address, so maybe we'll be able to regain contact.

Pamela and Dave went back to Syracuse. Since this will be their first year in their new house, we decided to let them share it with each other. We'll head up tomorrow sometime after the Chinese place opens -- we won't eat it tomorrow, but it will beat the socks off of anything the airline deigns to feed us on Friday. I suppose I should go now and try to get to sleep before anyone tries to come down the chimney.