surprises...

so today . . . diandra is in oregon for a few days. that girl has been flying a lot lately, but today it was a little different.

i was at school when the first text arrived. she just wanted me to know she had made it to the airport and was through security. she had about an hour before she left. then i got this text:

"oprah is about to get off a plane at my gate. there are news cameras everywhere."

i responded by telling her to get out her camera and take pictures! i thought she could just blend right in with all the media people...

living in the los angeles metropolitan area means we have a fair chance at celebrity sightings whenever we go out. but clearly we don't go out to the right places at the right times, considering we have lived here ten years and my only sighting was tara lipinski (who still makes me mad!! michele kwan soooo deserved that gold medal!!!) so, while i had a hard time picturing oprah flying in on a regular airliner, i figured it was possible...

then entertainment tonight showed up. clearly something out of the ordinary and ET-worthy was about to happen...

when the airplane arrived at the gate, it said "oprah's farewell season" on it.
and the people started to get off. but there was no oprah.

there was, however, one really happy guy who had just won a trip around the world--compliments of oprah--1.2 million miles!

when diandra realized she was going to be flying out on that plane, we got excited. all i could think was prizes, prizes, prizes! because while i don't really watch oprah, i don't live in a cave! i know that she is very generous, and she loves to give stuff away. so surely if you fly on her airplane, you are going to get off with more stuff than you got on with...

i told everyone at school, "diandra is on oprah's plane, and they are giving away prizes!" i called my mom in portland, "diandra is on oprah's plane, and they are giving away prizes! make sure you watch entertainment tonight--you might see her in the background!" the truth is, i didn't know anything about this plane. i was just putting together bits and pieces of information until i had concocted quite a scenario...

my brain went into overdrive. maybe diandra would win a trip around the world! that would be exciting--although she would probably take javi instead of me... maybe it would be a trip around the world for four people, and we would all get to go! because, after all, surely oprah would want the winner to get to share the experience with the people they loved!

that was a pretty big prize--maybe she wouldn't win that one. but surely she would win something. surely oprah wouldn't just give away one prize per flight. she would want happy people getting off her plane. and prizes make for happy people...

ok, so maybe she would win an ipad. ipads are kind of the big electronic thing right now. and oprah gives away cool electronics all the time. so maybe she would get an ipad. or maybe they wouldn't be giving away the actual ipads. maybe they would just give away gift certificates for one. but she was going to be in southern oregon for the next few days--would she be able to find an apple store? or would she have to wait until she came home... maybe she could use it online...

or maybe everyone wouldn't get ipads. they aren't terribly expensive, but i suppose if you are giving them to everyone who flies on your plane, the cost would add up. so maybe only a few people would get ipads. but then what would everyone else get? because really, if only some people get prizes, other people are not going to get off oprah's plan feeling happy!

and on and on and on it went in my head. i kept watching my phone for updates. i knew diandra would text me as soon as she hit the ground--that is part of our flying code. it got later and later. she finally texted me and said they had just landed in san francisco, and she had to change planes for the next part of her trip. she had to get off the oprah plane, and there had been no prizes :(

i couldn't believe it! how could oprah not give out prizes on her plane?!?! there should at least have been some commemorative souvenier! i mean, how many people are going to get the opportunity to ride on oprah's plane?!?! it would be nice to have a little something as a reminder... like an ipad... or a travel mug...

and then i thought, "why do i think oprah has to hand out prizes?" no one who bought a ticket for that flight today expected anything out of the ordinary when they booked their flight. it was just supposed to be an airplane full of people on their way somewhere. and yet, as soon as oprah's name was attached to it, i expected more. i expected prizes and surprises. i expected extravagance. i expected the unexpected.

she has sort of trained us to think that way...

so, diandra didn't see oprah. she didn't win a prize. she did, however, experience the unexpected--while waiting to board her flight from san francisco to medford, she saw one of her elementary school friends who was going to be on the same flight! how they recognized each other after all this time, i do not know, but they did.

and really, that was probably much more exciting than seeing oprah today anyway.

(although, if an ipad had been thrown into the mix...)

they walk among us . . . kind of.

so today . . . i laughed right out loud. apparently iman thinks she is one of us.

i was watching shopping tv this afternoon. well, maybe not really watching it--i was laying on the couch trying to take a nap. i used to be able to fall asleep almost instantly, but now it seems that i have a hard time napping--no matter how tired i am. i lay there, but my brain won't shut off! so i have found that if i have some sort of "white noise" in the background, it distracts my brain just enough so that i can sleep. shopping tv or sports (but not golf--it is too quiet) seem to work really well. unless iman is on shopping tv.

iman is a supermodel. she is married to sting, the rock star. she is tall and beautiful and has an exotic accent. i love to listen to her talk, so i thought that would be a soothing sound to fall asleep to. once again, i was wrong.

the advantage of white noise is that it distracts your brain, but isn't distinct enough that it catches your attention. today iman caught my attention. she was selling a rolling duffel bag that she had apparently designed. it was a nice looking duffel bag. it had compartments and wheels and a telescoping handle and decorative hardware. it came with a make-up bag, a shoe bag, a luggage tag, and a lock and key. after describing all it's physical features, they started discussing how much you could fit into this bag. they were saying it was adequate for up to 10 days worth of clothes. (the key words here were "up to.") iman was saying how she has traveled all over the world with that bag, and how she doesn't like to wait for her luggage, so she needs an adequate carry-on bag.

i'm sorry, but i just do not believe a supermodel can pack everything she needs for several days in a carry-on duffel bag. even if she is a mom.

she continued by listing all the things she had packed in that bag. she had two pairs of boots (one tall, one short) five or six pairs of shoes, three pairs of pants, three jackets, tshirts, jeans, plus all her toiletries and hair products. and then she said, "everything i needed for my two day trip out here!"

did she just say two day trip?!?!?! that's a lot of shoes for a two day trip. i am thinking if she were going to be gone for ten days, she would need several of these duffel bags. and more than one shoe bag.

i understand the shoe thing--i really do. every summer when diandra and i go to portland, shoes are an issue. we are usually only gone a week, but it seems like i think i need ten pairs of shoes! i always have to take some out of my bag before i leave. so i understand the need for shoes. but seven or eight pair for two days?!?! even i think that is excessive.

and then she says, "and it fits so easily in the overhead compartment of an airplane."

really? in coach? because i am pretty sure she is flying first class. and while i have never flown in first class, i am guessing that their luggage compartments might be somewhat bigger than in coach, where the rest of us sit. plus, she is six feet tall! she can reach the luggage compartments. there is no way an average woman could sling that thing up into those compartments unassisted. especially with all those heavy shoes in there.

but it was really nice looking.

iman is not one of us. she probably doesn't have to check her bank balance before she uses her debit card. she probably doesn't have to vacuum. she probably doesn't have to go to the grocery store every week. she can wear a caftan to take her kids to school and people think she looks elegant, not like she is wearing her pajamas. and she certainly doesn't travel all over the world in coach!

but i am tempted to buy her rolling duffel bag anyway. because it looks roomy, and it is a beautiful piece of luggage.

although, i am going to need more than one shoe bag.

so today . . . was a traveling day. it was the day we left for what is becoming our annual summer visit to my mom and dad's house.

it started early this morning--not ridiculously early, but since i didn't get to bed until WELL after midnight, it was early enough.

when i made our plane reservations a month ago, we were not able to get seat assignments for today's flight. this has never happened to me before, so i was just a tiny bit concerned. i am haunted by the picture of a family of five--dad, mom, and three small children--standing at the boarding gate at 10:30 p.m. in seattle, carry-on luggage in hand, waiting to see if they were going to be allowed to board the plane. they were apparently flying stand-by, and so they were standing by (hahaha) hoping to get to orlando. this is what i saw in our future, especially considering my recent run of bad luck concerning airplanes . . . so my plan was to get there EARLY and get a seat.

we were early all right--2 1/2 hours early. if you remember the last time i flew without rollie, you know that this is not my usual modus operandi, but i had already cleaned house and packed, and i wanted to get on that plane! i did NOT want to hear anyone say, "i'm sorry, but all the seats are full. we will have to reschedule you." for some reason, i thought that the earlier we got there, the better our chances were of making that flight . . .

diandra and i checked our bags (there was NO line--but again, it was early and we flew out of long beach--yay!) and received our boarding passes. i was so relieved that we had boarding passes! so i looked to see where we would be sitting, and saw a blank space. "excuse me," i very politely said to the guy who had just taken our bags and handed over the passes, "but we need seat assignments." he looked at me like i was speaking russian, so i said, " the seat assignment is blank." he grabbed the boarding passes and looked at them, ready to point out to me where our seat assignments were, and probably thinking, "is this what my whole day is going to be like? moronic passengers who can't even find their seat numbers on their boarding passes??" but he did a double take, realized that we did need help, and started pounding the keys on his computer. (he was kind of cranky and it was only 8:00 a.m.--i hate to think what he was going to be like by noon!) after a few minutes he handed the passes back and said, "you will have to talk to the person at your gate to get seats."

ok, now i am starting to panic just a little bit. but they have already taken our money, so surely they will get us on the plane! surely i didn't vacuum for nothing!!

we breezed through security (again, long beach, YAY!) because there was no line. we found our gate (not hard in long beach--there are only three,) and settled down to wait for someone to show up who could get us on that plane!

two hours later, we got seat assignments in row 18. pretty good, i thought. until we got on the plane and realized that row 18 was the last row in the plane. really, the very last row. there was nothing behind those seats but the tail of the airplane. oh yes, and the one bathroom for the whole plane was conveniently located right across the aisle from us. did i mention that it was a small plane? only two seats on each side of the aisle?? for people who don't fly a lot and who have some claustrophobia issues, this was not ideal. i had my head between my knees trying to cram my carry-on bag under the seat in front of me, when an angel dressed in flight attendant clothes said, "would you two like to move up to the exit row?" "YES!!" i nearly screamed. "i mean, yes, thank you. that would be wonderful," i said in a more normal tone. she helped us move our things up 5 rows, and suddenly our legs could unfold, we could reach our bags under the seats in front of us without banging our heads on the seat backs, and we didn't have to endure people constantly watching us while they waited for the bathroom.

we made it to portland. and so did our bags. my mom and dad picked us up, listened to our tale of woe, and took us home. we ate lunch (which always tastes better when you are at your mom's house!) and started our vacation . . .

we are going to have a great week!

"i'm leeeeeavin' on a jet plane . . . "

so today . . . it is nearly midnight, and i am still up. i am still up, because tomorrow i am leaving for vacation. and if you read my blog the day i left for orlando, you know what that means . . .

actually, i was doing pretty well. i had a reasonable, doable list to complete today. if i got up kind of early. and if i stayed busy all day. and if i didn't do any farming (i lost 3 fields of pumpkins yesterday, so today i am in mourning . . . ) in fact, if i stayed off of facebook totally. and if i got my packing done early (while i still had a brain.) this was a lot of ifs, but i really thought i could do it.

the one thing i did not factor in, was attending a two and a half hour funeral today. it was a wonderful tribute to a man who had affected a lot of people during his 80 years, but it was somewhat longer than i had planned on. actually, quite a bit longer. and then rollie wanted to go out to lunch. and then i had a few errands to do. so i ended up trying to accomplish my whole day's list in just a few hours.

maybe impossible, but i was willing to give it a try. so i came home, changed my clothes and started packing.

i forgot to mention that diandra is going on this trip with me. when diandra and i travel, this is what usually happens--we start talking about the trip several days early. then we make a few trips to the store to get a stuff for the trip. (i got this idea from my friend lisa. several years ago, she and her husband were making a trip, i think to disneyland, and on the weekends leading up to the trip, they would do little things to get ready. the one that sticks in my mind is when they went to buy sunglasses--that's all, just sunglasses. but it built excitement for the trip, as well as getting them ready to go. so now, when i am going on a trip, i try to do the same thing.) but then we rarely start packing until 10:00 the night before. and then it takes us HOURS to get it done, because we are so tired by then, we can't make a decision about what to take and what to leave. so finally we just throw as much as we can fit into our suitcases and hope for the best. this results in very heavy suitcases, multiple suitcases, and nothing that goes with anything in any of the suitcases! it is a terrible system . . .

so this time, we decided we were going to pack before it got dark. we always pack at the same time, so we can help each other--maybe that is part of our problem . . . to begin, we sat down and had a snack. we just needed sustenance before tackling the packing. we discussed the weather in portland, and what we thought we might do while we were there, and how many pairs of shoes we thought we needed to take (diandra decided 2 and stuck with it--i ended up with 4.) then i decided i should fold laundry first, and diandra did nothing except pack her shoes--both pair. i finally got her moving in the right direction, but when i went to check on her, she was packing jewelry. "how can you pack jewelry?" i asked. "you don't even know what clothes you are taking yet."

she looked at me blankly and said, "i'm just taking it all." you see, even in the daylight our brains are not doing their jobs. we are seriously packing challenged!

we did get packed before dark. well, she did. i have all my stuff out, but the bag is not closed yet. we took a lot less than we usually do--we can even lift the bags ourselves! and i cleaned out the refrigerator, went to the store for cucumbers and nuts and raisins and tomatoes, and then cooked some chicken breasts for rollie (so he won't starve while we are gone.) i cleaned out the refrigerator, arranged his cucumbers, tomatoes, cooked chicken, and CHERRIES (his favorite) in the clean refrigerator. i did dishes. i VACUUMED!! yes people, i actually vacuumed. and now all i have left to do is finish this blog, clean the bathrooms, throw the rest of the stuff in my bags, and i am ready to go to bed! i had hoped to be done by midnight, but since it is now after midnight and i am still up, that is not going to happen.

by the time i am ready to go, i am really going to need this vacation . . .

fun in orlando?!?

so today . . . i am realizing that we are only going to be here for a few more days, and i haven't done anything exciting.

the first few days were spent recovering from our trek across the country--really, we probably could have walked it with less frustration. although, my luggage still might not have made it past san francisco--it was kind of heavy . . .

then, once rollie started attending his meetings, i found myself mostly sleeping in, picking him up for lunch, taking a nap, picking him up for dinner, reading until bedtime, and eating chocolate donuts. yes, i was a slug! in my defense, i knew i was majorly sleep deprived, what with finishing up school, thinking about trimming milo's nails, and "cleaning" house before we left. so i knew i would be doing a lot of sleeping, but i'm in orlando! i should be doing something fun!

we have been to orlando before, so i have been to sea world, disney world, and epcot. i've been to gatorland and kennedy space center. i've seen the beach here, and it isn't worth a trip (at least the part i saw . . . ) and rollie is busy and can't come with me anyway, so i'm left with shopping.

now i love to shop, but in the summer i have to watch my pennies a little more carefully as i don't work--consequently, no paycheck. however there are two big outlet malls within a couple of miles and a really nice mall. so i feel obligated to go check them out . . .

however, i have been to wal-mart. three times! the first time was our first day here. we are not big on getting up in time to go out to eat breakfast. actually i am the one who doesn't want to get up early--rollie is always up early. and i love to eat breakfast food in a restaurant but seem to prefer doing it late at night . . . which never happens, because rollie is in bed by then. so, when we go on vacation, one of our first stops is always a grocery store to get breakfast food. this time it was a little more difficult, as our very expensive hotel room does not have a refrigerator or a microwave (or free internet, but you all know that!) so we got cereal, bananas, juice, chocolate covered donuts (those are for me,) and soda pop.

the soda pop isn't technically for breakfast, just in case you were wondering . . .

this lasted us for a few days, but i couldn't seem to stop eating those blasted chocolate covered donuts. you see, that is one of the foods that i just don't let myself have anymore, but when we were at walmart, they just materialized in our cart and i didn't want them to feel rejected, so . . .

and of course, bananas must be eaten in a timely manner or they get yukky. and the cereal was disappearing too. so it seemed another trip to walmart was necessary.

i turned on the gps and headed down the road. past sea world. i didn't really have anything else i needed to do, so when i got to walmart, i just kind of wandered around the store. i found a cute dress on sale for $9, so i added that to my collection of items and headed to the check out lines. they totalled up my sales, i gave them my money, picked up my bags, and headed home. i found a great parking spot in the parking garage, picked up my bags, and thought, "hmmm. these bags don't feel very heavy or bulky . . . " i looked inside, and there was my dress and the juice but no bananas or cereal.

i was not a happy camper. i cannot say how much i dislike those spinning plastic bag holders they use at walmart. this is not the first time i have left something on that rack. here is the problem--they have all these bags at their disposal in which to put your items, so they just put a couple of things in each bag, requiring you to carry several bags out. and it is just too easy to leave something.

so i called walmart, and after only two tries i got through to customer service. she said to just come back and they would work it out.

come back?!?! i didn't want to come back! it was hot. it was humid. there was traffic. of course i had no choice--i knew that as soon as i realized that all my items hadn't made it back with me. but i still didn't want to go.

so i didn't. i picked up my book, sat in my comfy room, and read. i knew i was going to have to go get that stuff, but i chose to live in denial for a while. time moved on. rollie came back and we decided not to go eat dinner--really, we have already eaten enough for 10 people, it seems. he was tired, and opted for a nap. so off to walmart i went. for the third time. i retrieved the cereal and bananas, and rewarded myself with dinner at chick-fil-a.

this is not exactly the type of shopping i had in mind when i was thinking about fun things to do in orlando.

. . . but tomorrow they are predicting a hurricane--that should be fun!

a vacation? or a nightmare??

so today . . . i am back online! at least temporily.

i am in orlando, florida. we are here because rollie is a delegate to our church's global convention where they will conduct business pertaining to the general church for the next four years. and i am along for the ride. and what a ride it has been!

it started wednesday morning at 6:00 a.m. when we left the house for the airport. i did not sleep much tuesday night--you know, lots of stuff to do before we left. but i was ready to go at the agreed upon time. we arrived at the airport without incident, got in line to get our e-tickets, and that is where the trouble began . . .

rollie put his driver's license in the machine, but it tried to give him tickets for 6:30 p.m. instead of 8:30 a.m. he tried using his credit card--same results. he tried using his confirmation code--again, the wrong tickets. so we were directed to customer service.

customer service had a pretty long line--we should have known . . .

finally it was our turn, and we were told that our flight from seattle (scheduled to leave at 1:30 p.m.) had been cancelled, and we had been reassigned to the red-eye flight leaving at 10:30 p.m. they had also changed our flight from lax, so we wouldn't be trapped in the seattle airport all day. had we known this, we would have just spent the day at home and come later, but somehow we missed this very important notification. diandra had already left and by this time was probaby almost home. so we just decided to take the earlier flight to seattle and spend the day there.

the airport in seattle wasn't crowded, which was nice. and i found a plug in to power my computer. so we read, we used our computers (although not the internet! can you believe an airport without free internet?!?) we ate, and i slept.

yes, i slept. in the airport. i became one of those people who sleep in airports. i've always been one of those people who mock the people who sleep in airports, but now i have become one of them. i was just soooo tired. there is a picture, but it is on rollie's phone, so you are just going to have to imagine it . . .

the airport food was actually pretty good, but expensive. the burger king food was exactly the same as what i get at home, and yet it cost twice as much! AND i couldn't even refill my soda!! although, rollie won a free cheeseburger from some game they had going on. so i redeemed it and figured it was worth more if i used it on an airport burger king burger, since they cost more . . .

it finally became time to board our late night flight. we were both looking forward to sleeping for the next four hours. so we settled into our seats, i got out my inflatable pillow and my polar fleece blanket, and then rollie saw the sign--"seats in this row do not recline." you have got to be kidding me!! the plane was full, so we had no options. i lowered my tray table and slept on that, but poor rollie couldn't get his head onto his tray table, because the guy in front of him was sitting in a seat that DID recline. and he reclined it.

at 7:15 a.m.(orlando time) we staggered off the plane and went to retrieve our luggage. i sat with the carry-ons and tried not to sleep. rollie watched for the bags. his first bag came off. his second bag came off. my bag did not come off. he was soon the only one watching the same few bags going around and around on the luggage rack. and that is when we learned that my bag had gone to san francisco--no one really knows why . . .

so we arrived in orlando late, tired, and without my luggage--which for some reason had decided to visit san francisco--and hot. because even at 8:00 a.m. it was already probably 90 degrees and steamy.

we found our hotel, slept for a few hours, went out and got some food, and slept some more.

and that was the end of day one. well, actually day two, since day one was spent in the seattle airport. since then we have done lots of eating and sleeping. but there have been a few more adventures as well . . .

a typical sunday

so today . . . was a typical sunday--church in the morning, lunch at subway, short nap, leadership meeting in the afternoon, dinner at rubio's, come home for computer time and tv, and then bed. usually something will happen for me to write about, or at the very least, i will think about something that i think will be interesting to write about. but not today . . .

i didn't really have any thoughts today. i mean, not the rambling, out in left field kind that make for a good blog. my brain stayed occupied with whatever was happening around me, without wandering about on it's own. that does not make for good blog writing. at least not on a sunday . . .

and then tonight i spent quite a while talking to diandra, who just got home from shooting the wedding of one of her college roommates. she was gone all weekend, and i was curious about how it went. and, of course, we had to look at a small portion of the hundreds of photos that were recorded. she took some beautiful shots, even right out of the camera. i can't wait to see the final results . . . check out her blog later this week--there will be lovely photos, and a pretty funny story about four wheel drive and a rogue gps, i hope.

the bride and groom are honeymooning in fiji. i happen to know where that is now, because last week joshua asked me, "where's fiji?" so we searched our globe until we found it. it is pretty small. i asked how he knew about fiji and he said he saw something about it on tv. then he proceeded to tell me all about it. joshua says that his mom says he can go there. i'm sure she means some day, when he is a grown up and saves enough money. he thinks she is taking him there this summer . . .

summer camp might be a bit of a disappointment, if you are expecting to go to fiji.

there's no place like home . . .

so today . . . it is after 10:00 p.m. and i am just starting my blog. this is not good, not good at all . . .

i've been playing with my farm and my farmer friends on facebook. my farmer friends seem to be on later in the evening, so to connect with them i have to be on kind of late. i think i am going to have to start blogging earlier . . .

i flew home today. it was a pretty good flight--the plane was only about half full. i got a window seat, and the two seats next to me were empty! pretty nice . . .

but it didn't start out quite that nice. i went to bed, and woke up to rain. it rained hard!! and my mom had to drive, because dad's eyes were dilated from his visit to the eye doctor this morning. my mom is a good driver, but she prefers not to drive across town--especially in the rain! she did it though, and we didn't have any problems--well, except for the limited visibility caused by the rain . . .

it is different flying by myself than when i fly with rollie. my darling husband is a boy scout--he is always prepared! and when we fly, that means being at the airport AT LEAST two hours early--and he really prefers to be three hours early. he likes to get there, get his ticket and go immediately through security (which cuts down on the opportunity to shop at the airport shops . . . hmmm, maybe that is his evil plan . . . ) and get to the gate and lay claim to a chair. then he sits there until we board the plane. once we get settled at the gate, he will babysit the luggage so i can wander about (you see, he is not totally unreasonable!) when i fly with rollie, i never have to worry about missing a flight--because i know he will get us there!!

when i go alone, i think being at the airport an hour and a half early is enough. i get my ticket, check my bag, and head to the shops. i know that the stuff in airport shops tends to be overpriced, but sometimes you can find a good deal. and the merchandise is different from what you find at the mall. so i like to look, and occasionally take a treasure home. today my flight left at 2:00. we got to the airport about 12:45. i had my ticket in hand and my bag checked by 1:00. my mom and i visited a couple of shops and then i said goodbye and headed for security about 1:30. i was pretty relaxed--i still had half an hour before we were scheduled to leave. i stopped to check out the map to see where i was going to buy food before i boarded, because you know they don't feed you on the plane anymore. but when i got to the gate for my flight, it was deserted. uh-oh, i thought, maybe it is a good thing that rollie got me flight insurance. maybe this is WHY rollie gets me flight insurance. but i noticed that the door to the plane was still open and manned. so as it turned out, i even had time to go to the restroom--but i did not press my luck by buying a hot dog and soda.

it was a great flight--no one next to me, a good book, my computer--well, there was that kid behind me who kept kicking my seat . . . but i just chose to think of it as a back massage . . . and be glad i wasn't going to be spending the next two days with him at disneyland!

i took lots of pictures out of the plane window, because i knew i was going to blog my trip today. see, i was thinking of all of you . . . and you get to see just about every kind of terrain and community on this trip--from the lush green of portland, to the snow in the mountains of northern california, to the farmland in central california (this is what our facebook farms should look like, people!) to the swimming pools in every back yard in long beach--well, almost every back yard.

we went out over the ocean, and then back in to land. i stepped off the plane, and of course rollie was there waiting for me--because, you know, he is a boy scout. he had probably been there waiting for me for a while. we snagged my bag and headed for the parking lot. we stowed my luggage in the trunk, rollie handed me my car keys, and off we went--with the top down, the sun shining, the wind messing up our hair (ok, my hair) and the palm trees zipping by. i'm telling you people, there's no place like home . . . especially if your home is in the land of perpetual sunshine!

so sleepy . . . ZZZ Z Z zzzz zz z . . .

so today . . . has been a very long day. i was up late last night preparing for my trip today, and then i got up an hour and a half earlier than usual to finish up some stuff before leaving town. i worked at school until noon, ate lunch with rollie, went home and finished packing, and then headed to the airport.

i flew out of long beach for the first time, and i loved it! it is so much more relaxed than flying from lax--not nearly as many people, shorter lines, pleasant employees (at least today.) i had a window seat, which was interesting. you see, i don't fly much. we are used to driving whenever we travel. and because of that, i am always a little uneasy in the air, even though there are things about airplane trips that i really like.

but you are not going to hear about them today, because it is 11:59 p.m. and i am exhausted! i need sleep!!! so, i will blog about my flying issues another day--maybe tuesday, since i will be flying home that day.

and as a side note, i wanted to say thanks to you guys who check and read my blog every day. i try not to disappoint you by at least writing something each day, but i know that some days you may think, "i stayed up late to read that?!?!" (you know who you are . . . ) so i wanted to warn you that i might not write much for the next few days--i may be busy with family stuff. or i may not. i just don't know yet . . . so check in. you may not find a new posting, or you may find something really fun to read--we will just have to wait and see how the next few days play out . . .