Travel planning

 The baby daughter woke me up on Sunday morning to announce she was heading back to Fredericton as classes beging this week and she had to return to work so I sprang out of bed to say goodbye but that was as active as I got for the day. A very quiet day spent as the cold which the shore captain has had for the past few weeks has come to stay with me now. I spent the afternoon on the sofa with lemon/honey/hot water and my e-book reader as I finished up Water for Elelphants by Sara Gruen which is an excellent but tough read as it's about the circus in the depression years. I've finally made it through the last book which I'd downloaded onto mister's Kobo now. Welll.....I may 'borrow' it to read the latest Bill Bryson book entitled At Home which I downloaded for $5 and to think that it's still only in hardcover for $40.

Actually classes began for the western daughter this week at Red Deer College as well as her sister in NB and she called to share some 'first days at school' stories with us which brightened our day. Sure there'll be more as she's definitely in the minority gender to be studying as an apprentice electrician but she always was ahead of the pack as well as good with math which is a real asset. Lots of work in the trades out west for sure.

The teacher daughter got a Sony e-book reader for Christmas and her husband has already figured out how to download (pirate) the Stieg Larsson triliogy for her. I remembered my dragging the borrowed large hardcover version across country last fall when she told me this. She was collecting up classics and others and very pleased with her gift as she plans to use it on their cruise next month. So speaking of packing here is a website to help with that:

http://www.onebag.com/

or alternatively and you can select the area you are heading to:

http://packfor.com/

And while we're on the topic of vacations, how about instructions on how to make the most of the trip:

http://www.independenttraveler.com/resources/article.cfm?AID=1195&category=12

As if I need any help with that I'm thinking. Actually I've been doing a bit of surfing and have come up with a company which does tours - not sure if anyone has heard of them - would appreciate feedback if you have as anyone can make themselves look good online:

http://www.solartours.com/

My vacation was approved for February 27 - March 12 which is two weeks instead of three and not within the time frame I asked because my co-workers with seniority didn't want to be randomly assigned vacation. When I asked whether asking early trumped seniority I managed to score the promise of 'another week the end of March' for the noise I was making as I had followed the collective agreement requirement of requesting before the quarter. And since my cold is slow to leave I am thinking of the vacation to just keep putting one foot ahead of the other.

To begin with as I was contemplating calling in sick for work on Tuesday - and this is a pretty rare event for me so takes some contemplating....I got a call from work telling me that I was being ordered in for the night shift. Well, actually it took a while as it sure didn't sound like me who had answered the phone so I escaped the mandatory shift but promised to try to make it in the morning. Apparently every time the phone rang during the night the question was "that wasn't her calling in sick was it?". As it turns out I should have gotten up and come to work at 2:30 a.m. when I sprung wide awake with my mind racing from some kind of a reaction to the Buckley's cold & sinus liquid gel caps the shore captain doctored himself with and brought home to me.The daytime ones were no problem but the extra ingredient in the night time (blue) caps (doxylamine succinate) in case your wondering,  and I've sure written that down was the offending ingredient. It apparently rarely causes something called 'excitement' which includes irregular heartbeat, insomnia, nightmares, restlessness etc. Not something I want to repeat or not something I'd call being excited. As I told the gang at work it's not often that you find me turning down a night shift for a day so I must've been pretty ill.

At any rate the cold is slowing easing and likely because I haven't had much time to think about it. Both Tuesday and Wednesday were frantic days at work. Today on my in between day I thought about taking down the Christmas tree and house decorations but decided to pace myself as they didn't get put up until December 22nd so are just getting aired out now, I like red and green as an accent and besides it was a beautiful sunny day so I should walk the dog instead. And that turned out to be a much better use of my time. I also did laundry, made brown bread, potato chocolate cake, and chili with herb bread for supper which was a hit with both of the men in the house so I didn't want to overdue things. The time for work departure approaches quickly in the afternoon.

In keeping with the resolution to spend a girls day at least once a month my friend and I are planning a Frenchy's run (weather permitting) to take in the French Shore and lunch at Chez Christofe - memo to self to ask the teacher daughter if they are open in the winter months - I am betting Jimmy Buffett hasn't been there so it won't set my lunch off the same way. Off to check on the troops upstairs. Hasta