Winter Break Relaxation? Decisions? Work?

December 23, 2017

Well the first day of break for me would not be a break for most people.  However, since I knew that I would be gone for most of break there was things I needed to get done.  I got up early and went for a walk to really get some thinking done and be able to organize my thoughts about things that I needed to do over break.  For me, either washing my hair or walking are the two times that I really get a lot of thinking done to make decisions.  To be prepared to leave and come back, I decided there was stuff that I needed to get done which included the following:

• Laundry from work week
• Change sheets on the bed
• Meet a friend for breakfast or lunch
• Iron clothes which have been piling up for 4 weeks (since Thanksgiving)
• Clean the floors
• Vacuum
• Write Thank You notes 
• Write Congratulations notes to students
• Clean fridge
• Get car cleaned
• Pack for trip
• Cuddle with Husky

Husky Cuddles

The only thing that did not happen was meeting my friend for breakfast or lunch.  Other than that, I got it all done before going to bed at 12:00 am and was very proud of myself as I laid down and then could not fall asleep until about 1:00 am because I kept thinking, what if I oversleep and miss my flight or what if there is a lot of traffic and I don't leave early enough for the airport!

Needless to say on December 24th, I did get up at 6:45 am and got ready.  By the time I made the bed, checked on a few things and had everything packed in the car it was 7:50 and I was leaving at 8:00 am to run to the post office before I left.  So...I was right on time...Way to Go Iacuone!  Now, let me say how guilty I feel about leaving Husky for 10 days and knowing when I get back, I will have about 24 hours with her and then will probably introduce a new cat.  I am wondering if she is going to hate me.....  

I made it to the parking garage when they told me they would upgrade me to Valet Parking, which is code for we overbooked the parking garage so we will park your car somewhere for you!  However, it got me to the terminal about 15 minutes earlier.  The van driver made me even happier that I did not fly out on Saturday since he said that both Friday and Saturday were crazy with huge lines and parking issues.  I was flying American Airlines, which I normally do not do, so I was in a different part of the terminal this time.  The flight was smooth and we actually made up about 30 minutes only to sit on the Tarmac in NC for 35 minutes waiting to be able to get to a gate since we were early.  Bonus for the flight - the seat between me and the other man I was sitting with was empty the entire time which gave us a little more elbow room.  I did get some pleasure reading done and watched Superman vs. Batman on my phone.  I cannot believe I had not seen that one yet.  The beginning looked familiar so I wonder if it is one I was going to watch and fell asleep or stopped it and did not go back.  Who knows!

So I had a direct flight from SAN to Charlotte, NC, which was very nice!  I usually fly Delta and go through Atlanta so this was a little different.  While I was waiting for my mom to pick me up, there were a lot of others waiting to be picked up and I promise you Santa came rolling up in a Toyota Camery!  The guy I was standing next to and I looked at one another and we both agreed that Santa must have traded in his sleigh for the car!!!  It was a 75 minute drive to my mom's house in SC where it is chilly but not any colder than what it has been recently in SoCal!  However, they are calling for some snow flurries at the end of the week!  So we will see.....

Well my mom has decided to take a few pages from my book.  She has a written out agenda for us while I am here.  LOL!  She also put flowers in my room and had a little table set up for me to put things on.  And she picked up Mickey and Minnie carolers as room decorations.  LOL!!  Mainly because I want to do a Disney tree next year and she was thinking I could use these but they have wooden pegs inside them for them to stand up so I it won't work the way she was thinking.  But A+ for trying!

Christmas day was the traditional holiday for my mom and I.  When she started working at AMC theaters she would always have to work on Thanksgiving and Christmas for at least 3-4 hours so that everyone had a short shirt. So, I would meet her at the movies and see something I wanted to see and then we would see something we both wanted to see together since we were there.  Today we say CoCo and The Greatest Showman in the new recliner seats at the theater closest to her house. 

Tuesday was the traditional shop for 50%-75% off Christmas stuff for next year.  This is when I get all my bags and tissue paper for the year.  I take the white, green, blue, red and such out and use the printed ones for Christmas - just in case you did not know.  LOL!!!  Big Lots, Wal-Mart, and Target were big scores for me this year!!!  Hooray!!!!  I tried to get Amanda to wear Christmas leggings with me next year but she told me to leave them on the rack.  However!!!!! Wal-Mart had some great Ugly Christmas sweaters and I did get a few to bring back, but of course we will most likely not have to wear ugly sweaters next year at all.

Christmas Leggings at Wal-Mart

We also attempted to make Mashed Cauliflower, which came out really well.  It had spinach in it as well so I guess it was Mashed Spinach Cauliflower!  It is definitely something I would make again, but I would add in garlic and leave out about half the spinach.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but it was really good!

As my Thursday, December 28, 2017 began, let me just say that it is absolutely FREEZING!  I checked with my mom to see what the weather was like and she said normal weather and to layer.  However, apparently the weather has changed and it is going to snow.  It is so cold and I do not have the correct clothes!  I do have my King scarf and my ear cover headband but I only brought two hoodies with me!  Ugh!!!!

So my mom decided that she wanted to take a trip to Savannah.  Now, let me back up and say that we had decided that we were not going to buy presents this year for each other because she does not want more stuff to add to her house and we end up just getting each other the same gift cards year after year.  Instead we were going to take a trip somewhere together like New Orleans or such. However, due to the dates associated with my winter break it became extremely expensive to do this, so we decided to do a summer trip and she was supposed to come to CA.  However, as the time got closer she stated that her knee replacement, which was done in June, was giving her "fits" and not healing as well so she did not want to take a chance flying and falling in the airport.  Instead, she wanted me to fly to SC.  So....now the trip to Savannah comes into play.  So we left on Thursday morning and stopped at Bojangles so she could get a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit.  I went with grits.  Now....for those of you who do not know what grits are, you can see them below.  You cannot order a grit (1 grit), there are many individual grits to make up a cup / bowl of grits.  They are best with butter and cheese (in my opinion), but hey...many people like bacon and shrimp in them in the south!

Bowl of Grits - Can't order just one grit.

As we made our way down to Savannah there was a lot of traffic on I-95.  And nothing has changed, still the same packed Interstate with nothing on it as far as places to stop or things to see.  Reminds me that the Corridor of Shame still exists in South Carolina and I am hoping the state is working on changing things for these children and families in the area.

We did a walking tour of the River Front shops in Savannah when we got here and then walked in the historical area a little bit.  One of the sights I wanted to see was the Juliette Gordon Low birthplace.  She is credited with starting the Girl Scouts of America, of which I was a Brownie, Junior, Cadette, and Senior.  They did not have Daisies when I started, you could only start as a Brownie.  But I can tell you...I sold some Girl Scout Cookies!  I typically earned two weeks of camp free each year with the number of boxes I peddled!

Dinner was at the Savannah Taproom which was very good.  I really need to remember to take pictures for my blog but I am honestly not a selfie girl or a foodie picture girl so it is not something that I think about!  Sorry!!!

New Year's Eve brought with it a trip to Dancing with the Stars in Greenville, SC.  My mom loves DWTS and I don't usually watch the show.  However, she always lets me know when it is Disney night on the show.  This means that all the dances are to Disney songs and usually the Disney Characters are present.  She also let's me know when it is Pitbull night as well.    So this year, Disney Night came on and I watched and saw Jordon Fisher on.  He did his dance to the song he sung from Moana - "Your Welcome."  He was REALLY good and I did YouTube search his other dances and I have to tell you - he is so talented.  So....it was really cool to see him dance on New Year's Eve at the show!

Took this only because it said Furman Entrance - Go Paladins!!

Jordon Fisher on the right; Frankie Muniz on the left. Not all my pics came out great.

New Year's Day brought with it the typical resolutions for me - 1 health, 1 professional, 1 personal:

1. Heath - Eat healthy and clean.
2. Professional - Create a dynamite master schedule with the barriers put in my way and do what is best to make sure the majority of kids get what they need.
3. Personal - Do something each weekend on my list of CA Things to Do.

Mom and I spent the day at the movies seeing Jumanji and Star Wars - if you have not picked up on it, this is a somewhat of a holiday tradition.  My mom use to work at a movie theater and on holidays, everyone had to put in a few hours so we would meet her at the movies and say hi then watch a movie together since we were there.  

Anything with Dwayne Johnson is good to see.  LOL!

Lots of emotions from this movie.  The last one will be interesting and determine my feelings about the last trilogy.

Monday night and Tuesday I spent with friends who I have not gotten to see a lot of the last few times I have been back because I was there to help with my mom's surgeries.  Jamie and I got together for dinner on Monday night.  Now....maybe this is only a SC thing but if you are going to open up on New Year's Day, then it would seem you would keep regular hours and not just close because it is New Year's Day.  Panera - really - why close at 6:00 pm?  We did not let Panera closing stop us - we went to Del Taco!!!!  LOL!!!  But they were closing at 8:00 pm as well!  Ugh!!!! Short night, but it was still good to hang with Jamie before leaving for CA.

On Tuesday, I got to spend some much needed and appreciated time with Amanda Lloyd at her house in Greenwood.  She is an angel and someone I greatly admire and love.  It was wonderful to spend time with her son Tanner and yes Libba and Erin, I did play Laser Tag with Tanner!  You don't have to wear the darn vests anymore with the new Laser Tag guns.  However, it is so easy to cheat, you just hold the gun behind you because that is where the target is.  Technology......!!!!!!    After spending time catching up with Amanda about all things going on at school and in Greenwood, we decided that we need to have a Laurens Science Dept reunion sometime.  Anyone who has ever taught in the science dept would be invited!  We think it would be great!!!!! 

That evening I hung out with Benetta, Stacey, and Erin as we planned the upcoming Alaska trip!  It is always good to be with my ATC girls and spend time with three ladies who had a similar college career, career path, and have extended out in different directions professionally over the years.  25 years of friendship is precious and I treasure each of them.  Again, please notice no pictures because I am not a selfie girl!  Sorry!!!  Maybe next time.

South Carolina decided it needed to remind me why I love SoCal.  SC was in the 20's and 30's most of the time I was there and I was not prepared.  As I believe I stated earlier, I asked my mom the weather forecast and she said - typical SC in the winter 50's - 60's during the day and cold at night.  Needless to say - I did not take warm enough clothes!!!  The day that I was to fly out they were calling for snow and wintery mix!  I was lucky and flew out of Charlotte so I missed everything by about an hour or so.  Lucky me!!!!!!  

In addition, to needing a few days when I got back to just get things together, I was also giving a Forever Home to a new cat, Salem.  She is a female, short hair domestic and was a stray that was turned in at Squeak's cancer vet.  Now....you know how hard it is for me to even talk about Squeak and if I go to her vet California Veterinary Specialists (CVA) I cry just thinking about Squeak passing away there so going to see this cat and picking Salem up was very hard.  She is home with me but is really scared right now.  I am hoping she becomes friendlier and relaxes but she is eating so that is a good thing.  

Husky has been a little pain in the tush since I got home.  She will not let me out of her sight and if I am sitting down or laying down she has her cold nose all over me and is crying.  Well I guess that is better than hiding and ignoring me.  :)

As I am working on the blog.

While I was unpacking.

Well the new cat is here.  Here name is Salem and she is so cute and pretty but scared to death.  I am not sure what happened to her prior to her coming to live with me but she was turned into the animal hospital as a stray.  She lets me pet her and will cuddle next to me.  She does not like to be picked up and is tense all the time right now.  When she got to the clinic she was having trouble with her back legs but they think that was because of lack of protein.  She is fully capable of moving now and is not having trouble.  They also wondered if there was something going on with her eyesight, which I am  thinking could be an issue which is why she is so tense. 

Salem first at the apartment

Salem on her blanket

Bright Eyes

For some reason she likes laying in a clean litter box

Salem is going to take some work and patience.  I think she will be a good kitty but will be one that runs and hides when people are here.  When you sit and pet her she will cuddle up to you and nudge you for more love.  I am just wondering how long it will take her to get use to her new surroundings.  I put Husky and her together on Sunday and Salem decided to go hide behind the chair and Husky is sitting on the bed.  So...at least they are not fighting.  We will have to see how the next few days go. 

Work starts tomorrow after the holiday break.  I already have a laundry list of thins to do that I did not get done, that I wanted to do.  I am actually sitting at home tonight trying to get as much done as possible so that tomorrow is not as tough a day and this week runs smoothly.  Ummmm....we will see!