The two Maritime daughters were home previous to the big day to help with holiday preparations - tree purchased, up and decorated, baking, visiting, wrapping and other last minute errands which are even more important when the woman of the house is working shifts and living with a very busy Grinch involved in the lobster industry.
Speaking of lobstering, this gives me the opportunity to insert a link to a video here which has gone viral online. It's a lobster fisherman who has a bit of time on his hands as they steam over to a next string and that he's not the usual scantily clad, anorexic dancer in a music video makes it's even more hilarious. It's tough, cold, dangerous work and you have to have a bit of fun to keep you going (or so the Boy Captain tells me while he regales at 8 p.m. suppers with yarns of buffalos - the industry name for a clawless lobster pantomimed as a flip phone by the bander who holds it to his ear, laughs and says to the hired man "it's for you", or the hired man doing the quick draw with two 'pistols' on his hips) as he is the oldest of the three on his boat. But as his mother I try NOT to think of their under 25 status:
Lobster Fisherman Is Sexy And He Knows It Viduba - Video Download
The Boy Captain has been having another dental emergency situation at the holidays where a wisdom tooth erupted and cracked (he has a pain tolerance which allows for leaving these things) on the opposite side of his jaw from last year this time. This necessitated a trip to the local dentist, antibiotics and referral for dental surgery as the root was too close to the sinuses. A week later he had severe nerve root pain which caused a trip to the ER (after EVERYTHING we had in the house didn't touch the pain) which his older sister chauffeured and it was reassuring to know that although the hydromorphone he was given beat the pain he was not a fan of the 'good drugs' and managed with the toradol instead. An appointment with a specialist in the city two days ago was the final solution where he had the surgery under a local and was held down by the assistant after instructing "just get it done" and he is recovering well. So well in fact that he went lobstering yesterday and managed with tylenol # 3s and only a slightly swollen face - after a good night's sleep he is himself again and working away in the barn. Good to have such a strong constitution for such things.And of course it did give us a chance to descend on Costco, buy more Kcups for the shore captain's coffee maker Christmas gift and visit the urban sister/daughter,
The holidays (wisdom teeth aside) were busy as I worked but went well - except for the western daughter who we miss especially at this time of year. We were pleased that she had a friend (and his family) to spend it with though and some time off from her new electrical apprentice position. We shipped out some crustaceans with her gifts and they arrived in good shape for a proper Nova Scotian Christmas. I worked days on Dec 24 and 25 which were manageable as sometimes they can be wild! We called Boxing Day Christmas, put the turkey in to roast and had eggs benedict before opening gifts, a big meal and just barely time to clean up a bit before company arrived while I rushed off for a night shift. I usually do fine on nights but fought the sleep monster after midnight and was sure glad to crawl into bed for the day. A quick to-do list and then off to work again as the last daughter packed up to go back to work. So, you can see that making my way through six days off is bliss. Still enjoying the tree - which is one of the benefits of getting it up late. The very thoughtful gifts we all received means that not one of us in standing in line to return/exchange anything this week.
I attempted to use the computer a few days ago and was blocked from my email etc by 'outdated security certificates' so after a bit of troubleshooting with the computer tech on the phone he suggested that the date on the computer might not be correct. He knows his stuff as it was July 2010 as it turned out. Gremlins. Just a heads up should it happen to yourselves.
And speaking of all things tech some of the newest job descriptions are for green collar workers, nano surgeons and cyber soldiers - I'll leave it to you to figure out which are which.
So as we look forward to our next vacation and in keeping with the last post to include more travel info here is an article on packing from a professional traveler from the sounds:
Packing—What Stays and What Goes?
I have a love/hate relationship with packing. Filling a suitcase tends to mean I’m headed somewhere fun, but trying to decide what to put in it can cause some serious anxiety.
After 10 months of travel this year (and 10 packing sessions), I’ve come up with the Top 3 things to pack and Top 3 things to leave at home.
| What to bring: | |
| • | Sunscreen—you wouldn’t believe how many people forget it |
| • | Power adapter—to power up that hair dryer, battery charger or computer |
| • | Rain gear—it’s no fun being hindered by the weather |
| What to leave: | |
| • | Your fifth book—this is what hotel book swaps are for |
| • | Your step counter or anything else that will make you conscious of things other than having fun |
| • | The shirt you’ve never worn—and isn’t new |
And a selection of sites/articles for your armchair traveling pleasure follow:
http://www.uncorneredmarket.com/2009/09/7-habits-of-highly-effective-travelers
http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/now-is-the-best-time-to-travel
New Years Resolution for 2012:
To work less and travel more
I'd like to say that I'll do less housework but that would be a hard one to keep as I'm just doing enough to keep ahead of the weekly cleaning lady now.
