Safe landing, upgrades...

So hubby landed safely (both times, layover in Ohio), I was just starting to get that sick feeling in my throat when he called to say he was in his hotel. Umm, a different hotel. They overbooked his hotel so they put him up at the Ritz for the night. No kidding.

They parked his car and took him over there, and they're going to shuttle him back for a complimentary RESTAURANT breakfast (no donut for him!) and then hold his luggage until his room is cleaned up and when he's back for the night then he'll be where he was originally supposed to be.

He said the people were really nice, and the second hotel was even nicer, attempting to hold the doors (for a 6ft near 200 lb dude, seriously?), and I was like, umm dear, you ARE in the south.
Oh yeah... he didn't think about that. Sheesh.

Anyway, by the time he got in, looked around and called me, he was ready for bed, which was about the time I myself was ready for bed here. I hope he slept like a rock. I know I did pretty well, I stuffed the decorative pillow sham underneath the covers like his torso was there and did just fine. Of course I woke up just before his alarm would normally go off (doh) so now I'm awake! I was kind of hoping to sleep in a little bit, but then I started coughing and needed a drink of water and by then my little eyes had sunshine in them and were wide awake.

He'll be traveling again Friday night (no stop this time so it will be quicker) and should be home just in time for bed. He's going to have the airport service bring him home so I dont even have to attempt to drive in the dark, yeah!

Leaving on a jet plane...

Oh and if anyone is sending up prayers, my husband is heading to Atlanta for a 3 day conference and won't be back until Friday night, so we could use some prayers for safe travel for him and I could definitely use some 'stay calm' prayers over the next few days.

This is a great opportunity for him, will really increase his value to his company, and I know he's looking forward to it. I am always worried while he is flying but other than that I'm pretty calm. As it is, I only see him at night, so that will not really be a change, I'll have to talk to him on the phone (which he hates) or instant message, so that will definitely be different from having him wheedling for ice cream and scratching me with his day old scruffy face. Sigh.

Morels, Ham Balls, and Laughter...

Sometimes I wonder if I could possibly come from my own family. Sometimes, there is no doubt. My mother called me. Friday night, I think. She had gotten a new food processor and was trying to grind up some ham to make hamballs (think meatballs but a little sweeter and much tastier, with like a brown sugar mustard glaze, mmm!), usually she had the meat shop grind up some ham for her, but she found out that I used my processor to grind up ham for my hubby's ham salad and thought she'd give it a go.

Apparently, she and my dad were trying to get the thing put together and couldnt for the life of them get the lid back OFF once they'd test fitted it on. So much laughter ensued that I was led to ask what they had been drinking. Apparently it was only tea, but you could have fooled me. Once I realized it was almost exactly like mine I explained it very slowly and carefully and they got it. More laughter. I almost hung up the phone because my mother was beyond words she was laughing so hard. Do you ever get that way? I do, and that's how I know I'm at least related to my mother. Apparently it runs in the family. I don't usually laugh until tears run down my face like she does, I dont think my tears and laughter are that closely connected, but good gosh almighty, don't get BOTH of us laughing, you'll never get a straight answer. Especially if it's something that's not really that funny. That makes it worse. Was it really funny they couldnt get the processor lid off? No, not really, but once she was comparing herself and my father to monkeys, well, it did give me a little giggle. After more questions as to which blade to use and etc, she said she'd tell me how it went.

I heard from her again on Sunday and apparently it went fine. They also found 27 big morel mushrooms in my old stomping grounds :-(... here's the thing, though. I don't even EAT the mushrooms, I just like the walk and the hunt. I also pick blackberries, raspberries, etc and don't eat them. I harvest all kinds of things I wouldnt bother to eat. I think it's just being outside with a purpose. Something to do. I don't even mind mowing grass with a pushmower as it provides sunshine, muscle building and fresh air.

Am I weird? Maybe so. Is it genetic? Probably, but as long as there is something to giggle over and something to hunt for, I'm right there.

Fun Monday: Walking down Yellow Brick Road...

AOJ/The Lurchers is hosting this week! She wanted to hear about our favorite walk!

Here's the deal, my most favorite place to walk (so far) is 'back home' and I couldn't get there to take pictures. Oftentimes, I have found that walking, especially if you're walking in the woods can't be properly explained without BEING THERE. It's a total feeling and not just a sight. With
that in mind, I'll try and remember all my walks as a kid and explain them with words.

I love walking in the woods, no matter what time of year. In the winter, it's crispy and you can see your breath, you might sink in the snow or the mud, and it's just peaceful, no bugs to worry with, no snakes to try and avoid, just clear air and time to think.

The summer would be when I do the LEAST walking. The woods are full of critters going about their own business, and I wouldn't want them minding mine, so I don't mind theirs. In the summer, I'm more likely to be busy helping with gardening, the animals, or just sitting on the porch drinking tea or lemonade and saying how hot it is. Although I might escape down to the creek to see if I can find crawdads or scare up a frog in the cool mud, summer is a time best left alone.

Spring, oh sometimes I think that spring is my most favorite time to walk, but it isn't. Springtime walking has a PURPOSE. Starting way too early and going way too late, spring time walking would be all about MORELS. Skiff the garden and see if there's any asparagus poking through the ground, stuff the bag deeper in your pocket so as not to scare the mushrooms away with the rattling and HUNT! The fun thing was that you never knew where you would find mushrooms. There was never a definite spot per se, just as you can't guarantee where wildflowers will grow, you can't say where a mushroom spore will land and spring up overnight. There were a lot of years I searched for weeks after school, and then I'd go again with mom or both my parents after dinner, them hunting, me knowing there was nothing out there, but this time enjoying the walk for the bonding time. Teasing that our dog was like those pigs in France, smelling out truffles. Did nothing of the sort, of course, but it gave us something to laugh at.

Fall, yes, I think that autumn was the best time of all. You weren't rushed due to bugs, cold, or impending storms. There was nothing to search for and deep breaths would get your lungs full of intricate smells of life's journey passing by one more time. My FAVORITE place to walk was on the neighbor's property (of course) on a path called yellow brick road. Like out of the storybook. It was called that because in the fall the leaves would all turn yellow, orange, gold and brown, and as they were so tall and close together that the leaves would all fall directly onto the path and leave a golden trail to follow. There were years when the culvert washed out and you could only go so far and then you'd see the creek below where the big metal culvert should have been, it all bent up and straggling down the creek bed from a hard summer's storm. The next year it would be back again, dirt piled up on top of it, even with the road, so you could trudge on across and peer at the wonderment of the season, of life's never ending cycle, you really understood the gravity of our time here on earth in that walk. Seasons change, people, like the trees, would eventually go away, and the earth would renew itself.

I learned a lot about life on those walks. I still like to take them when I can, remember what it was like to live for the moment and not worry about the grander plan. Like in the stories, we never really got anywhere on those walks, but we did a lot of traveling and understanding in our own minds.

uck...

will the rain and uckiness EVER stop? It's back down to 'brr' here again.

Say Something Saturday...

Ami is once again hostessing SSS. The theme is Grandfather.

I didn't know my mom's dad, he died before my parents even got married. My dad's dad was alive until I was a teenager. A few years before he died, he went blind and had to go into a nursing home. It was really sad.

I do remember, however, how his little house smelled. An odd mix of old person that you can't put an official smell to, something musty but not really bad. I haven't smelled that in a long time. He lived in another house before that, it had an upstairs and old quilts I slept under once. It was kind of neat and had a fireplace or something wood burning anyway. He would sit when we came to visit and tell stories. There were tons of little trinkets around, so I'd get tired of trying to understand the conversation the adults were having and wander around looking (not touching) at things. He was a nice man and always laughed and smiled at us. I guess that's as much as kid can ask for right?

He gave me a necklace with my 'last name' initial on it. I thought I'd be nice and consider passing it down to my niece (the only one who has the same last name) so I asked my parents and they weren't happy about it. I said that I figured all the girls got one and since my name had changed I'd pass it on down since my kids wouldnt have the same initial. They indicated that all the girls hadn't gotten one and maybe I should keep it. With frowns on their faces. It wasn't meant to be hurtful, it was meant to be a way to pass on the love I felt when I wore that necklace to another generation.

My grandfather (GRANDDAD) always had coke bottle glasses. He had 'an eye condition' and that was all he'd ever say. So not sure if there's something in the family history or not. Guess that will be something to worry about when I'm in my 60's or so.

I gather that my grandparents were not very 'fun loving' people on either side of the family. Too much work to be done and a lot of quiet otherwise. This was good. Because it made my parents a LOT of fun. Laughter was always something I knew and jokes (no matter how dirty) were told every day. We have a lot of fun little stories we tell: like the day my dad brought the pony in the house to prove to us kids that he could....

and the most fun thing is? That my hubby can now chime in with all these stories because he's heard them so much.. AND we've made up a lot of our own. Seems like our kids will get even MORE of a fun-loving household than the one I grew up in. Sure, maybe no one outside the family will "get it" -- but hey, it was good enough for me whether my hubby got it or not. And of course it's even better that he does and that our own silly routines are established and becoming a part of our story as a family.

Funny how things get passed down isn't it? Even by accident.

What would our Grandparents do?...

I've had some time to reflect lately about what is important and what is not. For instance, a bit of mold on a piece of cheese, eh, maybe not so big of a deal. Why throw out the whole block when there's only a patch of mold on one end? Why throw out good clothes when someone else may be able to get some use out of them? Take them to the salavation army, a women's shelter, or second hand store instead.

That's what led me to say "What would our Grandparents do?" -- sure it's a play off of the oft used 'WWJD' bracelet from a few years ago, but it doesnt negate the message any does it?

I had this come up recently when there was an odd looking chunk on my frozen pizza. At first I did a double take. It kind of looked like sausage, but didn't really seem to BE sausage. Hmm. So I did what any good blogger would do and took a picture for blog fodder. Then, I used a knife, pried off the 'odd bit' cut into it, sniffed it, still couldnt figure out what it was, and took another picture. Hey, it's 2008. I have readers to please...anyway, I threw it out and cooked the pizza. And you know what? It didn't hurt me one bit! My hubby had some too and neither of us keeled over, died, or suffered indigestion, amazing!

I think that this is odd behavior in today's society. It shouldnt be, but it is... Take for example, a trip we made to visit our family in IL, we went through a 'college town' and stopped at a pizza place there. We ordered a HUGE pizza and some garlic cheese sticks (kind of like a thick pizza crust with cheese and garlic and some marinara to dip in)... We ate a healthy portion of the cheese sticks and had a good long talk about the future. I find that we do this most often over a meal out or a long walk. Funny, isn't it, how you do that when you don't have distractions like tv or blogging to get between you? Anyway, I digress. Our pizza showed up, with an older guy (not our teen server). Of course, I looked at it and saw the problem right away, but wasn't overly concerned about it, we were supposed to have a half/half pizza and instead, the 'goodies' were spread across the whole pizza (I think it was ham and sausage.) Before we could even open our mouths to say thank you (as we try and do every time!) the manager said, we realized when this was already made that there was a mistake, so you have a correct pizza in the oven, and we brought this to you to snack on until it comes out. Is that alright? We were BLOWN away. We said, oh well you didnt have to do that, it's not a big deal, but the guy was INSISTENT. Like we were going to get up and run out or like he'd had some REALLY bad reactions before as to people dealing with this situation.

So we ended up with a whole pizza plus some and a couple breadsticks left over. My family, they were thrilled, because when we showed up at snack time (between dinner and bed time) with a whole pizza? They were digging it!

We still ponder over this from time to time. What great big meanies they must have had in that restaurant (hey, I can SEE if it was green peppers and you order pepperoni or something- but it was the right ingredients, just spread over the whole pizza) to make that guy so apologetic and insistent.

What would our grandparents have done? Well, my grandparents didn't really have pizza. Not much anyway, my parents didn't even have it until they were either dating or married (they celebrate their 40th anniversary this year), but I imagine they would have scraped off what they didn't like and eaten it anyway.

Yes, I DO think customer service is important, for instance I don't want a dirty glass with another woman's lipstick on it, but if it's something I can work around, I don't make a big fuss about it. I might order a sandwich plain and if it shows up with something on it, I'd probably just scrape it off and eat it anyway. I'm not talking about being a doormat here, I'm talking about being REASONABLE.

I think that's what we're missing a lot of today: being reasonable. Along with it's close cousins: compassion, rationality, pitching in to help out, and manners. Seriously, folks! When is the last time you gave a great big smile to the person giving you your burger and fries through the drive up window? Or said thank you to the pierced nose and eyebrow kid making your sandwich fresh in front of you and asking 'would you like that toasted?' I think modeling these behaviors to the younger generation--especially if they are serving YOU, is a MUST-DO in this society. Yes, you should expect good service and politeness, but really knock these kids socks off and turn that politeness right back on them. They probably will not forget it. Remember, what would your grandparents do? Then do it, and see the way the world changes around you.