so long

I leave at ungodly o’clock in the morning to get on my plane to New Orleans. David left yesterday evening and will pick me up at the airport. I joked that it’s the longest drive ever to pick someone up at an airport. I just got a call from his dad letting me know that David will be pulling in around 11pm tonight and all was well.
It’s funny how you get used to someone, get used to haing them around, to their sleep patterns, the way they bring you vitamins every night, the impromptu dance parties in the kitchen. He left yesterday evening and I missed him last night. I missed him today. I’ll see him tomorrow and I am happy about that.
I have trepidation about seeing New Orleans, seeing the damage and and whatnot. I’m hoping I can be helpful at David’s parents house. For all the damage they sustained, it sounds like they have gotten a lot done as well.
I’ll take lots of pictures of everything, the good and the bad. Internet access will likely be sketchy at best, if I get a chance I’ll post, but likely look forward to hearing from me in the new year!
Good luck my peeps, have a wonderful and prosperous new year!
(also, I will miss my dogs!)

who got a bread maker

I got a bread maker! And this is what I learned…
1) Do not set the delayed baking action timer to have the bread ready for you in the morning if you have two dogs who live only to protect you from loud kitchen demons. When the machine starts, they’ll freak, bark, run, growl and eventually lay on you.
2) don’t use yeast that is almost 3 years expired. If you do you will wake up to a very hard lump that smells like bread but is in every other way a breadlike stone.
3) it is a joy to make bread with a machine!
After my bread-lump disaster I headed to the store and bought new yeast. I made a loaf of focaccia to give to my dad to thank him for the machine and to thank him for driving me to the airport at 5 in the morning. Currently, I have a loaf of egg bread going in the machine. I hope the dog sitter likes egg bread!
When I get back I’ll make cinnamon rolls and focaccias and oatmeal molasses bread and cardamom, raisin, walnut bread….

goddammital

I accept that this was somehow my fault, i’m sure it was.
When I booked my tickets to New Orleans I was super careful to get the flight back on the 1st. David was sitting there with me. I had 2 flight options on the 1st, leaving at 11am and leaving at 5pm. I know I picked the 5 pm because a) it was later in the day and i know we would be tired from the festivities the night before and b) it was a non-stop flight. I evven went through and picked my seats and picked only one seat on my flight back. I went to confirm my flights and they magically changed the return flight from the 1st to the second and from the 5pm to the 11am.
dammit dammit dammit. I had to call my dog sitter in a blazing panic to see if she could stay on another day. She’s not my regular dog sitter, and let me tell you, it is very hard to find a dog sitter over the holidays at the last minute. I can board ghengis, but maddie was treated rather roughly by her previous owners and now she has some separation anxiety issues, she ate her way through a metal kennel once, cutting her face all up. I keep the kennel to show to people.
grrr I was also counting on being home all day on the 2nd to relax and get things in order before I had to go back to work on the 3rd.

sad

The extreme sadness is when your Chobo gets in his car to go 1300 miles away. Sigh.
But the happiness is a puppy who piles his cuddly toys and snuggles up to nap on them.
And a bread machine that looks like a roundy rocket ship.
And season 7 of the Simpsons
And a pile of chocolates waiting
And a pizza on its way
And a dinosaur pop-up book

The Joys

David took his Legos (pictured below) and promptly made a futuristic Hummer captained by mutant lizards:

Ghengis took his new cuddly teddy bear:

And promptly eviscerated it:

Maddie took her Christmas Busy Bone:

And eviscerated that as well:

And this morning, when I downloaded the pictures off my camera and I this bounty of happy faces I knew I could do nothing but smile. Every single day there is something joyous for me to experience, and 9 times out of 10, that joy is right here next to me.
Happy Holidays to you and yours.