Germany - Part 2

Ok, here's part two of our epic Germany trip. :) You can find Part 1 here.

Richard got sick Sunday night before we left, Eric got sick Monday night, so I ended up letting him sleep in on Tuesday and then we had a leisurely morning at Andrea's parents' place. Gave the midget a much needed bath and got clean ourselves. We finally set off for Bamberg after lunch. We were going to drive up to the castle but ended up getting lost in the tiny little cobblestone alleys and so we decided to turn around and park where we could. That ended up being at the tourist information center parking garage.

Germany - Part 1

I've you've been wondering about the radio silence in recent weeks, here's why...

My hubby, the midget and I were in Germany for two weeks to visit my extended family. We had an absolute blast, minus the traveling itself and the fact that all three of us got chest colds. Here are a few picture highlights of our trip (well, part 1 anyway):

In the train from Zuerich, Switzerland to Frick, Switzerland, which we weren't even supposed to be on. So there's a story behind this... thanks to traveling with a baby on an overnight flight (during which he slept for at least 4-5 hours and we did not sleep at all) we had a lot of luggage, including his stroller and car seat. So the idea was to get a rental car, which I'd reserved, and then drive the hour to my grandmother's house. We get to the counter, with our cart and the stroller only to find out that we needed a card that actually said "Credit" on it, because unlike the U.S. where most people will run your Debit card as Credit, and despite having a bunch of money sitting in that account to cover any incidental costs like the rental car, they wouldn't run it. My husband had brought his actual Credit card, but because we only had a $500 limit on it, and the rental car company wanted a deposit, the card wouldn't go through. We were exhausted, our kid was cranky, and I'm pretty sure I nearly cried. Long story short, we ended up on a train instead with all our luggage, but we made it.

Slight Revamp, A Secret Project, and A Trip to Michigan

I have finally figured out how to add tabs and pages to my blog. So I have stolen borrowed a fellow blogger's idea of keeping track of works in progress and completed projects. It was actually a shock to see how many projects I have in the works, and I'm sure I'm forgetting quite a few.

Edit: I'm not sure I like how cluttered those pages look. I might actually break it out into categories, with finished and pending projects for that category on the same page/tab. I'm thinking I might use the following categories: Quilting, Bees and Swaps, Other Sewing Projects, Cross-Stitching, and Misc. Other Projects.

I think I mentioned a few days ago that I had started paper piecing and couldn't post the end result because it would give away what I was working on. Suffice it to say, it's a quilt. I've bought the fabric and made several blocks for it since then. The worst part about this secret quilt is not being able to share the pictures, because they're so bright and happy. But I will once it's finished and with its intended owner.

In other news, we made reservations for flights to Michigan over Thanksgiving. Our original plan was to fly out Wednesday evening, DH managed to get the opening shift that day. Then we'd stay until Sunday afternoon, just in time for us to rest up a bit before DH's next opening shift on Monday. That was the plan until I looked at tickets. At first I thought taht $600+ was the price for both of us, then I went to check out and had a rude awakening when I saw $1,200+. That definitely wasn't happening. So I checked surrounding dates and we figured out that it would be cheapest to fly in early on Thursday and fly back on Saturday afternoon. That turned our three and a half day trip into a two and a half day trip, but it will be so worth it to see our families.

Ready to go Home

I've been on the road for almost a week. I left Washington, DC on Friday. Took my first ever solo train ride here in the States from DC to Baltimore to get to BWI. The train was delayed by almost half an hour, but I built in a two hour window before my flight. The flight to Grand Rapids was non-stop, which is always awesome. I actually arrived almost half an hour before my dad was expecting me, so I had to wait a few minutes for him to come get me. Luckily I have a nice new down coat so waiting wasn't a problem. It was actually kind of enjoyable after the stale plane air.

The weekend was slightly crazy because I got shuffled back and forth between my family and my in-laws. Or, to be fair, I chose to be shuffled back and forth. But it was awesome to see everyone again. Well, I didn't get to see my sister, but I'll see her at the end of February since she's coming to live with us for three weeks. It was so good that I told my mom to turn around when she was dropping me off at the airport. Unfortunately, I had to continue on to Portland, OR for a business trip, so not going wasn't an option.

The business trip has been good too, though. I got to hang with some of the best minds of our organization and listen to them strategize. The best part was that I actually knew what they were talking about, after only four months of immersion in the subject. The only curveball for the week was an impromptu job evaluation. The good, the bad, and my supervisor's expectations for the future. At the end of the day, I think they're satisfied with my work but not quite ready to believe that I might actually have something concrete to contribute besides my awesome organizational capabilities and up to date technological skills. I'm not sure if it's my age or because I don't have a masters degree yet. Oh well, I'll just have to work harder to convince them that I'm smart and have something to say that might actually be helpful.

I fly back tomorrow afternoon and arrive back in DC around midnight. I can't wait to see my husband and my cat. Five days is fine, but seven is just a little too much to be away from home, at least when it's for work.

Stopping at Home

We have not looked at any houses yet, and won't start until next weekend. Part of the problem is that Eric and I have not found any time together. Eric did make it through Restaurant Week last week largely unscathed. Past restaurant weeks have done a major number on his hands. If you've never seen the hands and forearms of a working chef, you don't know how much I dread restaurant week every half a year. He doesn't cut himself on his knives too often, but he manages to cut himself on just about everything (from a broom to tin cans). He also comes home with grease and fire burns all the time. He can also pick up hot plates with his bare hands without even thinking about it, which is a problem when he then hands said plates to me. Although I worked in a restaurant for several months, I just never gained the tolerance to heat that so many career servers and cooks develop. However, back to my original point... we didn't have time last week because Eric worked a 6 day week, and his only day off was Wednesday.

This weekend is my fault. I am flying to Portland, OR next week for a work strategy meeting. But I'm leaving late afternoon on Friday of this week and stopping in Grand Rapids, MI on the way. Both my parents and my in-laws live there and I'm beyond excited to get to go home for two days. Eric gets to stay and hang out with our cat. I've already finished packing everything. All I need are my keys and I'm good to go. I've even packed my toothbrush and will have to either use Eric's or pull out my spare (wherever that went).



Sir managed to climb on top of a stack of chairs not seconds after Eric had stacked them on the table to vaccum.