Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

I think work is not quite prepared for me to be gone for much of the next month, but gone I shall be. The husband has a work thing in London week after next and I am tagging along this time (unlike his New Zealand trip). I’ll have a couple of days to myself to play tourist while he’s busy with work, and we’re taking a couple of days on either side of the work stuff to play tourist together. First time in Europe for both of us, though of course I’ve lived in Asia (Taiwan), and he’s been to NZ. Looking forward to the trip, but tired of all of the prep work at this point (cat care, shopping for different chargers, etc.).

Then a few days after we get back we’re back on the road, this time down to southern Texas where my parents settled around the start of the pandemic. I haven’t been to see them since they moved, and dragged my brother and his family with them. I did get a chance to see my brother’s family before they moved, but the parents (who were already snowbirds, traveling each winter) had settled already. And of course when the pandemic hit I couldn’t fly down, or even drive down, and momentum and resentment of them moving to the middle of bloody nowhere has meant it’s been far too long since I’ve seen them all. While I’m looking forward to seeing them, I’m not looking forward to the plane trips, since the last and first legs will be on puddle jumpers to the tiny airport where they live. That and that the whole Texas trip is more expensive than flying to and staying in London (because they live in the middle of nowhere). But hey, the place was/is cheap for their cost of living, so you suck it up. Even as you resents the fact that they used to live within driving distance for a day/weekend trip.

Cultural whiplash, for certain.

The family got underway around 6 this morning. I went back to bed after they left and slept in until 10-something. In the meantime the husband was still very much awake, so he cleaned. Worst part was that we had at some point attracted at least one mouse into our garage, so he spent most of that time cleaning up mouse poop and clearing out attractants. On the plus side, that side of the garage looks much better, and we tossed a bunch of stuff we no longer needed.

Now we just have to figure out where to store the stuff we got for Xmas. The bookshelves are already packed, and we always get more. I think a donation/used bookstore run may be in order soon.

While we were hoping for a relaxing next week, one of our young (late 20s) friends broke up with his fiancé on Boxing day, and I think we’ll be hosting him to help work him through the emotions there. First long term relationship, so all of the attendant stuff that goes along with that. Ah well.

‘Twas a good Xmas day. Gifts handed out, silly games indulged, too much candy had by all. Not much in the way of “regular” food because few people felt hungry, post-candy, which was fine by me as the main cook.

And tomorrow will be an early morning. But we played games until far too late this evening. Holding off on stockings til the morning. Non-food stuff is sorted, but I need to split up the candy.

Good run to get comics, and lunch at the local Italian restaurant next to the comic shop. Brief nap mid-afternoon, but not quite enough. This is why I took Monday off as well, so I can catch up on sleep once they head out.

One more sleep ’til Xmas.

We went indoor skydiving this afternoon. The husband, his sister, and I all did it – 3 sessions each of about a minute and a half each session. Two stayed low, the last one we went “high” – maybe 10 feet up – with the instructor. They were very patient and explained things well, and I had a ton of fun doing it. The husband has been known to bungee jump and leap off of buildings for fun, so this was right up his alley. He of course bought another session for the two of us, which we can cash in whenever. Not something I ever expected to do, but I really enjoyed it.

Past that slept better last night, but still not quite enough. Trying to manage the female cat’s moods and movement as she gets crankier in her old age is tough. At least I managed not to trap myself under her and the comforter last night, just her and a thin blanket, which was quite warm enough.

Haircuts went well, got in on time, then off to the local diner for breakfast.

Family arrived safely, early afternoon. I needed a nap, but no go when you’re entertaining. Stood a bit too much today, bothered the knee, so tomorrow will need more sitting. Have to get one of the folding chairs out of the garage so we have five chairs for the dining table. We have four that’re out normally, but there’s one more human than that when they visit.

Cats are doing okay so far. I partially closed the bedroom door to help calm our female cat while she staked out the bed, and the male cat just hid in my office on his heated bed hidden away under some shelving. They came out for evening treats and food, but retreated once they’d had enough.

The husband’s sister and her family should be here in a little less than twenty-four hours. Loins are girded, last minute laundry is going. Ran to Home Depot for cinder blocks to prop up a table on our deck to solve the issue of an inflatable Santa sliding off the edge (back onto the deck, thankfully, and not off the front of the house). The husband is baking cookies (“stress baking”). Beds have been made. We did a run to BJ’s yesterday, but I’ll need to drag the sister-in-law to the grocery store after we figure out what stuff we want to cook for the week. Haircuts scheduled for first thing tomorrow morning. Then it’ll be trying to stay out of the way while the husband obsesses over cleaning things that are already clean, and drives me nuts by wanting to me to put things ‘away’ into some mystical ‘away’ place that doesn’t exist in our townhouse.

I’m most excited that everyone is going to get a small Easter bunny in their Xmas stocking, because BJ’s not only already had Valentine’s candy out (semi-normal, though still too rushed), they had a partial array of Easter stuff. So of course we picked up some kit-kat bunnies, because why not. I guess it beats leftover Halloween candy. I understand that orders have to go in to get stuff shipped in time, but c’mon guys, Easter? Already?

Was in my office building today for our holiday open house, and cleaning up the last of the stuff in my office before they kick us out. Was glad to see people, but I am looking forward to the several months of full time telework that we’ll have while they fix up the new building. Here’s hoping it’s a disaster inside so it takes longer to arrange. In the meantime, I just want to sleep for more than 7 hours tonight.

The husband and I are taking off for Ocean City tomorrow for their winter Comic Con. It’s a small affair, but it looks like it’ll be fun. And this will be a nice respite before his sister and her husband and daughter come down the following weekend for Xmas week. I’m actually looking forward to seeing the niece since she was so chatty the last time we saw her in October (which is a pleasant change from her previous quiet self). I’m looking forward to seeing her parents, too, but the teenager promises to be more fun to watch and interact with this time around.

Actually went into the office for a few hours today, to pack things up because we’re getting kicked out some time after the first of the year. We’re moving not quite a mile down the road to a very dated building that another agency vacated a couple years ago. This is mostly because a cabinet secretary who lives in the suburb where my office is located doesn’t want to commute downtown to his agency’s long time (and admittedly quite decrepit) headquarters. As my small gubm’nt agency has no political leadership at the moment, there was no fighting this, so we’re moving. Whee. I went in, packed those things I wanted to drag home with me, boxed the stuff that the agency movers can haul over, and tossed things that were no longer needed. Only other thing I ended up doing was certifying my time for payroll, because nothing was really pressing. As expected, the drive took half as long as usual because of the holiday, and the cart came in handy to get everything back to the car in one haul. Now I just have to figure out where to store and/or put the stuff I brought home.

The husband, in the meantime, was off work, and put up the Xmas trees. Poor guy is under the weather; we suspect food poisoning from something left out too long yesterday (that only he fixed and ate). Once I got home I helped unbox ornaments and stage them for him to hang. He crashed earlyish, after fretting over all the holiday lego sets that were sitting in bags on the kitchen island that needed to be sorted & repaired. I insisted he leave them for tomorrow, then waited a sufficient time before going in and fixing them all so he’ll wake to that tomorrow.

I’m dragging today as well, from two days of not sleeping well. Yesterday was for love – I stayed up until midnight to make sure I could snag his Star Trek lego set online, which I did get after a few minutes wait. I dropped the directions and the legos for the miniature version when I got home from work, but he was so ill that the reaction was … muted. Poor guy. He apologized all over, but he really is sick, so he gets a pass. We’ll see how the advent calendar goes. Unfortunately the last of those bricks aren’t arriving until the later end of next week, so he may have some half built sets until they do.

The husband and I are big lego collectors – “adult fans of LEGO” in the official parlance. We have sets big and small all over the house; pretty much every room save the bathrooms have lego builds on display. We’ve enjoyed the fandom, our Thanksgiving tradition is to build a large set that day (and typically a couple days after), they’re a part of gift giving, etc. Lots of bricks. But the husband is ridiculously excited because Lego is releasing their first Star Trek themed set this Friday. Like, beyond excited. Because this hits the second of his two big fandoms (the other being X-men, which has already had several Lego sets), and arguably the bigger of the two.

So I’ve also decided to dip my toes into the “MOC” or “my own creation” world of fan designs, and I’ve ordered him two designs and all of the various parts needed to build them. One is a miniature of the giant Star Trek set that comes out on Friday, and one is an advent calendar of miniature Star Trek ships. Most of the bricks have shipped, and supposedly I’ll have all of the parts needed for these two designs (plus extras I, suspect). I’m hopeful the advent calendar bits will all be here before the first so I can start emailing the instructions each morning for him to build the next ship. I’m also hoping the miniature version of the big one gets here before the big one does, to help build his excitement. Fingers are crossed.