Back Again!

This long hiatus was due to my being on vacation, and having no incentive to spend time blogging when I could spend time doing other useful help around the house. The craft show I went home for was a good one. We sold out of our really good sellers in the first day, and the next day people kept coming back to pick up the "pole we saw yesterday"! If you are going to buy a pole, why don't you buy it the day you see it? Some ladies had a good excuse... they changed their mind, but other ladies decided to wait a day. Hmmm. I bet that saves a lot on spur-of-the-moment buying. Maybe they are onto something.

While visiting home ( at my parents house, not the craft show ), I managed to get a lot of weed-eating accomplished. Weed-eating isn't too tough, but it takes time, and it is hard on the back, so my mom and dad save the job for us "young and spry" children to do. :-) On the last day I was there, I got about half way done with a bank but had to clean up before the job was finished; so Dad takes the weed-eater and says he'll finish the job. In the time it took to take a quick bath and get dressed, MY dad had already finished the rest of the job. It was a section of the bank I wasn't looking forward to because of the steepness and the amount of long grass on that particular side of the bank that gets tangled up in the weed-eater - yet my dad did it in under 20 minutes! Just before I entered the shower, I looked out a window to see how the weed-eating was going, and I saw, halfway up this 15 foot tall bank, Dad with his right leg outstretched for grip, his left knee digging into the ground (it is a very steep bank... 80 degree slope I would guess) whacking away... quite the feat for those who know how difficult it is. :-) Go dad!

But what about my mom you say? We had a very nice visit... there isn't much better I can say that would portray the joy of visiting. I caught up on all the news happening in the family, and my mom got a list of plans and ideas for the future from me. 20 minute phone calls don't cover all the fun nitty gritty issues that families have to deal with, but long drives and working together gives enough time for a wonderful visit. I would come back and do a "working vacation" in a moment. I would say more of what we discussed and did, but once I start, I would couldn't stop for 2o or 30 pages. :-) Lots of fun stuff, maybe to come.

Margaret is doing well it seems. I think all that lifting and stacking she does so wholeheartedly is ruining our wrestling sessions. I try to demonstrate a simple Aikido move for her, and what does she do! She refuses to cooperate! If I try to twist her hand, she is supposed to lose her grip and fall down. What happens? I tried to twist, and Margaret's hand didn't budge. There I am, in a chokelock, trying to show how effective Aikido is, and it fails miserably, and I just keep gasping for air and pulling while Margaret just keeps holding my neck. :-) Oh well, we had a good wrestling session. Maybe when I see Jesse next, I can get him to cooperate. :-)

I didn't get to visit with Katie and Ryan as long as I did the others. Mom, Dad, and Margaret I see at home while working, but I only got to see the other three members of the family after getting off the plane and before heading home again. It wasn't nearly long enough. I'm hoping Thanksgiving or Christmas will have a better visit. Christina is as lovely as aways and walking short distances which was very exciting. She wasn't quite sure if she was willing to trust this stranger (me) to hold her though. I'll just have to visit more often! Ryan's foot is still holding up his job, and the doctor won't release him to go back. I think he is seeing the specialist again today to get the go-ahead for working.


The last thing I wanted to mention today was the friends I saw and some plans that are solidifying as something I definitely want to do. I managed to visit some with Ben, Dan, Mark, Stacy, and another Mark. Ben came down for a whole day, and we spend most of the day lounging about, waiting for people to get off work. Ben also offered to room with me if I moved to Ohio. A very tempting offer. Very tempting. As for plans - after work I want to spend a month/a few months/a year traveling. I've very recently started heavy duty exercising to get into shape for hiking/walking/biking and checking out programs that let you stay nights at houses across the world. I'll get more into that tomorrow. No time for spell checking. It's off to bed!