Practice Makes... A Mess??

Why is it that despite all of the traveling I do, I still manage to make my room (and sometimes several rooms) look like an absolute cyclone has come through during the packing process??  It never ceases to amaze me.

My room before a 5-day trip to NYC:

Egads!  (Thanks, Archie comics.)  Ah well, this is why we keep practicing, right?

A Southerner Comes to Visit

I'm so glad that I have a sister-in-law whom I love dearly and who seems to tolerate me as well.  And I'm glad that she will come to visit me, even when her OK blood says that IL Aprils are still just about intolerably cold.

Luckily, when outside, we have fires to keep us warm.  (Along with winter coats.)

 

And inside, we have blankets.

One of the weekend's projects... clotheslines for pictures.  What fun!  

Thanks for visiting, Kalynn!  Come again soon!!

Good to Go

In April, I received something beautiful in the mail:

On my trip to Turkey last year, I discovered that my passport had some wear and tear, to the point of not being able to read some of the information on the cover page.  Turns out, Turkish officials will let you in the country with a passport in such a condition, and they will let you leave to go to Greece, and the Greek officials will let you in, and then they will let you leave to go back to Turkey, and the Turkish officials will let you back in (following all of this??)... but then when it's time to go home, they give you grief about it.  Luckily not too much, but when I got back to the U.S., they told me I should really get it fixed.  No problem; I've got lots of time.
However, I'm nothing if not a procrastinator.  In January, I decided I really should re-apply, given my upcoming trip to Thailand in May.  Filled out all of the forms, sent it in.  Sometime towards the end of March, I get a letter.  "Please submit a letter describing the nature of damage to your passport," they said.  Umm, why was that not part of the original instructions?  And you do know I'm leaving in May, right?  Form duly submitted, and passport got here in time.  Phew!!

But wait... that's not even the good part of the story.  I thought I might be cutting it close??  Kelly, my travel buddy, went to the airport STRAIGHT FROM THE PASSPORT OFFICE.  Without having had an appointment.  Not even kidding.   I think it was probably wise of her not to have told me this ahead of time.  Heart failure, anyone???

What's that saying?  All's well that ends well :)

Spring Has Sprung!

Yes, I know it's mid-August.  In blog world, it's April!  The Besterwitch weekend continued with a trip to the Botanic Gardens in St. Louis.  These pictures mostly speak for themselves.

 

Gotta get this pose just right...

Wait, how was that again?

 

Beautiful!  Happy belated spring :)

Flashlight Bocce

Trips to the Besterwitch household usually involve something at least a little out of the ordinary.  Just an observation.  This time it was bocce ball by flashlight.

Elissa provides the light.  Emily and Garrick provide the fierce competition.

Who's closer??

The Downside of Snow

Snow does have one downside: traffic.

Traffic is not my friend anyway.  I am not the proud owner of boatloads of patience.  (Oops.)  But snow traffic.... sometimes it is just awful.

One February commute this year looked like this.

"Hey Karmen!" you might say.  "You shouldn't be taking pictures while you're driving!"  Oh, don't worry.  I wasn't driving.  I screenshotted the map on my phone for proof.  1 mile = 25 minutes.  This is when I decided to turn around and work from home.  "What took you so long to decide that?" would probably be your next question.  I decided that long before, but that's how long it takes to get up to a spot where you can turn around.  Snow = good.  People everywhere = less so.

After turning around... nothing going on in my lane anymore!  Poor people over on the other side...

And almost home.  A fairyland, no??  Ahh.  As long as the cars are gone, I love snow again.

Furry Friend

Occasionally, I am called upon to dog-sit for a coworker and his wife.  Turns out, he's pretty good company.

The faces of Magee:

He's getting older, so he doesn't do a lot.  But every once in a while, he'll bring his ball to you to play.  Once and he's pretty much worn out for the day, but that one time is fairly entertaining when you've got slippery floors.  Skid, fetch, and head back to the perch.  Trick's over, folks!

Danger! Danger!

Speaking of that OK trip, I was searched nice and thoroughly at the airport on my way home.

Can you find the dangerous object in my suitcase?

Ooh, there they are.  Beware the decks of cards!  That was definitely the object of their search, and they flipped through them all.  (Cause you know me, I'm definitely smuggler material.)  Maybe that'll be the next thing banned on flights?

OK in February

Took a trip to OK in February to visit my favorite Oklahomans.

Worked from there on Friday, and Leo was pretty sure there was room for him on my lap along with my computer.  He wasn't wrong - what a cute cube-mate!  Who can resist?

Thunder game!  They lost by one shot right as the final buzzer went off, so that was a bit sad, but it was a good game...

 .... and I had great company!!

Learning Dominion.  We became hooked :)  Check it out!

Another Kind of Bliss

Winter isn't winter without snow pictures.  A peaceful snowy evening. 

Left for Sunday morning meeting, and there was a little bit of snow on the ground.  Snowed like fury the whole time, and by the time I returned home, my driveway was a little full.  So I floored it.  Come on, Molly, you can do it!

Yes, she can do it, but she's also going to drag a lot of snow into the garage.  Oops!

Partly done with the driveway.  Man, this thing seems long sometimes!

Still snowing.  Remember that nice shoveling job?  Yeah, so do I.  Oh well, we do NOT complain about more snow in my house!

Doesn't my house look all cozy draped in a blanket of white?  Yes, I think so too.  Even if I have to shovel the driveway :)