I'm Back

Did you miss me?

I got back home around 11 PM Sunday night and it's taken me all this time to recover. Well, not really, but remember how I said things were civil around here? Scratch that. It's been anything but. I think we each got very quickly accustomed to not seeing the other over the long weekend. Well, at least I have my own bedroom now. But the rollercoaster has just plum worn me out this week and I'm going crazy with impatience waiting to find out if this job is permanent so I can move the heck out. (I don't expect to hear anything until January at the earliest.)

So, on to happier thoughts …

I had a great trip! It was, of course, fun to have my boys together for Turkey Day. But it was also fun to see my uncle (who's just a few years older than me) and his wife and family without STBex (soon-to-be-ex for those who asked, and not soon enough really) who always tries to dominate any conversation (ahem, reel it in Debbie), and also without my mother. She and her better half were on a cruise. It's been a long time (too long) since I got to visit extended family without her. Not that I don't like my mother, but it was just a different visit without her. My sister's husband stayed behind too, so we had lots of good sister time.

My uncle lives on about 20 acres outside of Virginia Beach. There's always "chores" to be done, like chainsawing fallen trees and then splitting the logs cut from it. We had some productive and enjoyable outside family time while the turkey was in the oven. He has lots of fun "vehicles" to make work seem more like play. My sons always enjoy their time here.

Alex chainsawing

Tyler chainsawing

Alex and Tyler and tractor #2

Alex on tractor #1

Making progress

Me and my Uncle Jonathan, and, yes, I actually drove that thing a LOT, hauling logs back to the house

My uncle's house

Tyler still chainsawing

What a brute!

The power logsplitter and a fresh stack

That, and eating, was pretty much all we did in Virginia. And drink wine and play cards. I think we were up 'til 3AM each night. No wonder I needed a week to recover.

On our ride through NC to bring Tyler back to base, we saw this guy. Santa traded the reindeer for a hog (OK, not a Harley but it sounded good).

Me and the Marine. Goofy, squinty pic of me, but I like it because I actually don't look as big as a house anymore when I stand next to Tyler. Thirty more pounds and I might even fit into his jeans. ;-) It was a great trip for my ego since EVERYONE complimented me on the weight loss. I wore ALL of my new jeans and only my brown boots all weekend. I didn't even need other shoes. Those suckers are so comfortable! Too bad Alex cut off our feet in this pic.

Both of my boys. Alex isn't really mad; they were facing the morning sun.

And that's the trip. I'll be getting back into the sewing room this weekend. I'm not sure what's on the agenda yet, but I'm pretty sure another Magic Pencil Skirt is near the top of the list.