Week 2 - On the Mend

I coughed all night long and was wide awake between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m. so was glad I'd called in sick on Sunday night. I did finally fall back asleep and when I woke up at 8:30, I had somehow turned a corner. My sides were aching from all the coughing but I was coughing less. I'd take it. I still spent the day sitting and knitting while streaming. I'd started Bosch so had 4 seasons to go. I skipped knitting that night so made quite a dent in season 1.

I went to work on Tuesday and was pretty low energy but I made it through the day. I went home for an easy comfort food dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup then more sitting. This was the week of free classes at Campus Rec but I was in no shape to add new exercises. Oh well.

I still hadn't done any real food shopping since getting home so went to Aldi at lunch on Wednesday and stocked up. I swam after work (coughed a bit but still worth going) and then Anne and I took Rene out for her birthday. We went to Copal, a progressive Mexican restaurant that Rene chose. Now I'd heard good things about it but my normal response to Mexican food is glop on a plate with cheese, glop being the same 4 ingredients. But Copal was different. No glop and lots of interesting items on the menu. I'd definitely go back.

Unfortunately Anne was getting sick. She clearly had a fever (she was wearing mittens at one point during dinner) and was looking worse with every passing minute. We told her to go home and stay there. As for me, I made the mistake of ordering a margarita, which went right to my head, so much so that I didn't finish it. Stupid to drink so soon after being sick. Lesson learned.

Over the next 2 days, I hit 2 more markets so by the time I headed home Friday night, I had enough food for an army and was completely restocked. I spent the entire weekend in the house and it felt great. I did tons of laundry, including the delicates, caught up on chores and started cooking. I finished Bosch - all 4 seasons - by Sunday so clearly had some knitting time in there too. I still had some residual congestion but was completely functional so was looking forward to the new week. 

Week 1 - Happy New Year!

After Sunday's marathon of chores, I woke up Monday feeling back to normal. I spent the day preparing for my tea on the 1st, which is a new tradition. I had knitting bags from Norway for everyone and so just had to clear the bar, get out my teapots and decide what to serve. I hadn't gotten my Christmas treats at Aldi so didn't have a panettone or stollen so was looking for ideas. My sister had a recommendation but I didn't feel like baking (!) so was unenthused. When Andrea called me from Aldi saying they had both panettone and stollen, I was thrilled and had her get both.

I did make some ruggelach and mini quiches on Tuesday morning so put them out with marzipan candies from Norway, some gingerbread cookies and my usual blueberry goat cheese on gingersnaps. It was a decent spread and I was ready for everyone to arrive at 1:00. There were 7 total including some knitters I hadn't seen in ages. Everyone seemed to have a good time and the sun cooperated and filled the room with light. When everyone left, which coincided with the sun going down, I cleaned everything up and got ready for tomorrow. I'd been off work for almost four weeks so was actually looking forward to going back.

As usual, campus was deserted. With New Years falling mid week, lots of people had taken the rest of the week off so it was nice and quiet while I caught up on emails and kicked off the monthly reports. Brook was out sick with influenza, which is rampant in Nebraska, so I was flying solo. 

On Thursday evening I noticed a bit of a cough and congestion but oddly just chalked it up to Norway nose, which made no sense since I'd been elsewhere for two weeks now. I gave no thought to it being a cold so didn't Zicam, which bit me in the butt. By Friday morning I was coughing and had chest and head congestion. It being dead, I emailed Nora (who was off) that I'd be leaving after lunch and then told Layton we were doing Chinese so I could get soup. I didn't eat much, dropped him back on campus and was home by 1:00. It felt SO good not to have to fight the cold. Little did I know that was the best I'd feel for days.

I had a fever Saturday and my chest hurt. Not just when coughing mind you but all the time. I was coughing a ton and that made it hurt even worse. I took a Claritin D and sat like a zombie all day. I was so out of it that I watched the entire Homecoming series on Amazon and didn't under stand the ending so had to call Carolyn. I had no recall of the episode that explained it. Yup, I was sick. 

My fever broke Sunday morning but the cough was still brutal. I called Nora at the end of the day to say I wouldn't be in on Monday. I couldn't get 2 works out without coughing and sounded horrible. My usual guilt at calling in was nowhere to be found. I went to bed early in hopes that I could get some sleep between bouts of coughing. Damn! Not a good start to 2019 but it could only get better.

2019 - Just One Word

I saw something super cheesy that said we needed to be grateful for the great fullness of our lives. This got me thinking about fullness and the more I thought about it, the more I knew this would be the work for 2019. 

But before I get into that, let me just say that Movement as 2018's word was a resounding success. My last PT for my knee was January 9th and I was raring to go. I started a new exercise program (Fit & Fueled at Campus Rec) that same week with 2 morning workouts each week to add to my 2 water aerobics sessions. I kept that up for most of the year, only stopping Fit & Fueled at the end of October when I headed to Indiana to help Dottie out after her knee replacement. I even went so far as to try jogging at one of the F&F sessions, which was fine on my new knee but not so much on my old one. By the end of the year, I was able to completely ignore my knee and walked 9 miles all over London just before Christmas. Movement - yay! Now for this year's word:

Fullness

Despite 2018's successful word, nothing can compete with my very first word of the year - 2009's Enough. But fullness has lots of potential. My life is full and I'm grateful for that but fullness has several interpretations. First off my life is full of stuff and I need to work on that. Culling stuff is always good, right? And I also need to work on recognizing when I'm full and stop eating. See? Fullness. So I'm going to work on balance in all areas of my life, which will help me appreciate how full it is. Nice.

Week 52 - My Maniacal Christmas

Monday was Christmas Eve so we got up and got busy. I had my Christmas pudding to make, which steams for 3 hours and is a family must do. I got that going and then we started on the key lime cheesecake for our Christmas dessert. Between the cooking and prep, there was some lovely sitting in the sun in the dining room knitting. It was the first sunshine I'd seen in week because arctic circle then dreary London winter followed by rain in the US. It was glorious!

I headed to my cousin's daughter's for the Pinney family Christmas. It was wonderful, as always, to see my Auntie Margaret but seeing all my cousins was fun too. I gifted some socks, which were well received, ate lasagna for dinner and then headed to John's mom's for my annual Christmas visit. John's stepfather was recovering from a stroke and I was still fighting a bit of jet lag so I left early and even with taking the scenic route through my old neighborhood, I was still home before 9:30. I stuffed Carolyn's stocking and went to bed early.

We'd decided that as adults we didn't need to open presents before breakfast so had a nice breakfast before hitting the living room. It was mostly just stockings with a few gifts under the tree for Aaron. My sister did a particularly good job with my stocking this year. Carolyn always does. It was over in a flash and before long, we were starting on dinner. We gave up on prime rib last year so again went with a tenderloin, which is much easier and still delish. Carolyn's parents and Aaron's girlfriend came for dinner, which we had later afternoon, and it was all good.

As soon as dinner was cleaned up, I headed upstairs to pack because I had to be at the airport first thing on Wednesday. I had actually been worried that I'd not want to be in Rhode Island but that wasn't the case. But once the Christmas festivities were over, I was ready to be home.

My flight to Chicago was uneventful but there was a delay on my flight to Omaha. What had been a princess itinerary with less than an hour layover turned into a longer day. The delay ended up being a couple of hours, which bothered me not at all. I grabbed some popcorn, ate the lunch I'd packed (all yummy holiday leftovers) and knitted in the departure lounge. Unfortunately Anne ended up hanging out at the airport for a bit and the time in the air seemed longer than usual but I made it home the same day so was happy. I had ordered a pizza from Chicago so picked that up at Pizza Hut on the way home. I'd screwed up the order (no pepperoni) but Anne took a couple of pieces and I ate some for dinner and called it good. My neighbor had left me a plate of Christmas cookies in my grill so I had those for dessert. It just felt great to be home after 18 days.

I spent Thursday unpacking and reclaiming my house from the cats being inside for so long. I'd put down extra litter boxes, including 2 upstairs plus 4 in the basement, and puppy pads all around where I thought they might pee. I got them all picked up and the floor spot washed. I also unpacked and did my best to integrate all the gifts and souvenirs immediately. My friend Lorri stopped by that afternoon. When she left, I photographed all the yarn I'd bought on my trip so I could stash it on Ravelry. The day was over in the blink of an eye.

My cousin, Helen, was coming over Friday so when I woke up early (still not 100% on central time), I made banana pudding, sausage/potato soup and put a loaf of whole wheat bread in the machine. We had a nice day sitting in the sun, knitting and chatting. I was falling asleep at 8:00 but forced myself to stay awake in an attempt to be done with jet lag.

I woke up super early on Saturday morning and made breakfast at 5:00 a.m. When Lorri called to see if I wanted to meet for breakfast, I was already getting hungry again so met her at 9:30 for a latte and muffin. We exchanged Christmas presents and chatted then I hit The Warehouse for some produce afterwards. Anne had brought a gallon of milk when she picked me up at the airport so I'd made it through a few days at home but it was nice to get some fresh food in the house.

By Sunday I was finally back on central time and my mission for the day was to have a normal Sunday. That means laundry and chores, which felt like a treat after so long without any routine. I skyped with Canadian friend Eileen, which was a treat, but otherwise it was a regular old Sunday.

I still had a couple of days before I'd have to go back to work but had my New Year's knitters' tea to prep for. All good. It's amazing how good home and routine feel after 18 days away. And while I'd enjoyed the trip, I now know that butting vacation up against Christmas is not something I'll do again. Live and learn.

Week 51 - So Many Countries!

Monday was our last port before the cruise was over and it was in a cute little town called Honningsvaag. When we left the ship, we were greeted by a group of school children singing. I guess the ship docking is an event in a town that remote. Around 2,000 people live there and there's only a single street with stores, the first of which was a yarn shop. We met a lovely lady who was wearing the cutest hand knitted (by her) Santa mittens. But the most memorable thing was that I finally found supermarket yarn! I'd been checking in every town and scored in the last town. Yay!

Another thing we noticed in all the towns were the florist shops. Every town had one, even tiny Honningsvaag, and they were gorgeous. And there were flowers and plants for sale everywhere, even outside where it seemed too cold.  guess they need flowers since their world is so dark. Here are some pics.

When we got back on the ship, it was time to pack and enjoy our last dinner onboard, which was a seafood buffet. It was hard to believe the cruise was over. We got up Tuesday, ate breakfast and boarded a bus for the airport. The airport was tiny and appeared to be snow covered but it was full of people. We had a 2 hour flight to Oslo and then more than 2 hours to get to London. I had thought it was closer but Norway is much further north than I had envisioned. We all sat together on the plane and said our goodbyes in the terminal. Most people were leaving from there but Anne and I were staying in London for a couple of days so took the Gatwick Express to London and a taxi to the hotel. It had been a long day to end a wonderful tour. 

Anne didn't have an agenda for London so we did my favorite London day and walked more than 25,000 steps. We started walking through Kensington Garden and then into Hyde Park, leaving near the Albert Memorial on the way to the V&A (Victoria & Albert Museum), which I'd never been to. After strolling through the exhibits all morning, we headed towards Harrod's (Anne's only must do) and bought a couple of pastries. We went back into Hyde Park and ate then on a bench before heading towards Buckingham Palace via Green Park. By the time we hit St. James Park, we were exhausted. Unfortunately it wasn't warm enough to sit on a bench (we tried) but a man gave us some "monkey nuts" (peanuts) to feed the squirrels. One climbed right up my leg while I was sitting down, which freaked me out but then I decided to let one climb my leg and two did. Here's a pic of one taking the nut out of my hand. Cool!

We were tired and cold with sore feet at this point and still had a couple of hours to kill before we were meeting our friend Chris from the Shetland trip. We found a wonderful cafe in St. James Park so ordered tea and a pastry and waited there happily until it was time to head towards Liberty, where we were meeting Chris. We had some time to shop but Liberty wouldn't let us use our credit cards because we didn't have our passports so we had to limit ourselves to the cash we had, which wasn't much. Then they taped our bags shut, like they were worried about shoplifting. It didn't leave us feeling warm and fuzzy about Liberty. There was a Wagamama nearby so we went there for noodles and a long catch up with Chris, which was lovely. It was raining when we left so Anne and I grabbed a taxi and headed back to the hotel. It had been a fun day and we were ready to sit.

Unfortunately we turned on the TV to see that Gatwick was closed due to drone activity. I didn't worry about it much until we woke up the next morning and saw that flights were cancelled and they said there was no clue when it would open. Now Anne and I were both scheduled to fly out on Friday so the worry began. We didn't really have a plan for the day beyond hitting Loop, the must do yarn shop in London. We took the tube there and had fun buying yarn. Had I known how low the pound was, I might have bought more but then my luggage was already darn near full so maybe it was a good thing I didn't know. Anyway, from there we took a taxi to the British Museum but not even mummies could improve my mood. We had fish and chips for a late lunch and then just headed back to the hotel. I was in an absolute funk worrying about getting out of town and Anne was a trooper putting up with my mood.

I was meeting my friend Maria and her husband for dinner. I had met Maria in France when we were both doing our junior year abroad and I'd visited her many times in London until I moved to Nebraska and we lost touch for a few years before finding each other via LinkedIn and Facebook a couple of years ago. Anne decided not to join us (she probably needed a break from my cranky ass) and so I had a lovely dinner and several drinks, which I needed desperately, with Maria checking the news on Gatwick all night. When we were in the 2nd pub of the night, she saw that Anne's flight was cancelled so I said goodbye and went back to the hotel. Anne had already rebooked for Sunday (Norwegian only flies every other day) but my flight, which was 4 hours later, hadn't been cancelled when we went to bed.

We woke up Friday to news that Gatwick was open again and my flight was on time. There was no thought that I wouldn't go so I packed and got a taxi to Victoria Station. The taxi dropped me right at the door for the Gatwick Express and when I walked in the door, a door opened in front of me and in I walked. Well, I found myself in an abandoned section of the station and the door had shut behind me and wouldn't open. I stood there banging on the door and yelling to get out. Someone said they'd be back but after waiting a few minutes, I tried the emergency button again, breaking it in the process but the door opened. Talk about stressed! But I was on my way.

Gatwick was full of people and I got there so early that I had to wait to check in. So I sat and knitted, of course, casting on a new pair of simple socks for the ride home. We boarded on time and pulled away from the gate only to sit there. After almost an hour, the captain came on to say they'd closed the runway again. OMG! Knitting kept me sane and after 1.5 hours of sitting, he announced we were going to be able to take off. Cheers rang out and again a few minutes later when we were wheels up. Home was calling.

I was flying into Boston and Deanne was picking me up. We arrived late and then there were only 3 windows open at Customs so I was 1.5 hours in that line (I didn't know about the shutdown at that point) so I was super relieved when I made it to the curb. We got to Dee's at midnight, which was 5 a.m. London time. I took a shower and went to bed.

I was wide awake at 5:00 and since Dee had said she wanted to sleep in, I got busy streaming and knitting. I did stumble to the kitchen to find some yogurt but has some quality alone time before I woke Dee at 9:00. We ate breakfast and chatted until Cornelia picked me up at 11:00. We went to downtown Providence and shopped a bit while catching up. She dropped me at Carolyn's mid-afternoon and Christmas was full on.

Our open house was Sunday night and I'd consulted with Carolyn from my trip on our menu. We were doing it later so were doing a meal instead of just appetizers so Carolyn had already made the chicken marsala but had more shopping and cooking to do. Sunday was an absolute blur of getting ready for our guests. As usual, it was a fun time. We had ~15 people and there was animated conversation and laughter over the delicious food. Lucia came, which was a lot of fun too. We cleaned up that night so we could start with a clean slate the next day, which was Christmas Eve.

What a week! 3 countries, airport drama and jet lag but it ended with me surrounded by loved ones and in my happy place - Carolyn's kitchen. With Christmas festivities to look forward to and finally being home, I was looking forward to the next week.

Week 50 - UK to Norway

Well, I can’t say I got much sleep but after being offered an odd breakfast that we didn’t eat (a sandwich on a HUGE bun with a tiny bit of meat), we landed at Gatwick so were on our way. Customs was a breeze (there were more Brits on the plane than Americans so our line was short) and we headed right to the hotel. Despite it being 9:00 a.m., we were able to get into our room right away. I messaged Janice and Shelley (my two Canadian friends who were also doing the cruise) and Anne and I took showers to wake ourselves up. Shelley was planning a day trip to Brighton, where I’ve always wanted to go, so we tagged along. It was a 30 minute train ride south and then we were on the English Channel.

Now I’ve always had a picture of Brighton in my head and that was the Royal Pavilion on the water. So we headed down to the water and found the pier, which had rides and touristy things but no Pavilion. It was cold and windy but we walked all the way to the end of the pier, getting chilled to the bone, and not finding what I was looking for, we stopped at a tea room and warmed up with tea and cake. We then found a map and saw that the Pavilion was not on the water so we headed there and it was beautiful. We were on the back side, which has a lovely park and being England, there was still plenty in bloom. After walking and walking and walking (almost 19,000 steps), we took the train back to Gatwick. Anne and I stopped at Marks & Spencer in the terminal for things to go with our breakfast sandwich and went back to our room for a hotel picnic, some TV and early bedtime. Despite our lack of sleep, it had been a fun first day and the tour started the next morning. Yee ha!

Here's a link to our tour leader's blog entry. I'll try to add some personal flavor below.

We ate breakfast at airport (Janice stays there all the time and knows all the best places) then met the tour at 9:30. Everyone seemed nice and the flight to Bergen was uneventful. Until we arrived. We were waiting at the baggage carousel when Anne said she was going to the ladies' room. It seemed to be taking forever and when I glanced over, Anne was standing at the customs doorway frantically waving to attract my attention. She'd gone through the wrong doorway and couldn't come back in! How could she have missed this? No problem understanding these signs.

They did eventually let her back and after a quick bus trip, we checked in at our hotel. This was our view. With a couple of hours to kill before dinner, Anne and I made a beeline to the yarn shop by the hotel, where I was greeted with wheel barrows full of sock yarn outside the shop. HEAVEN! We headed across the way to check out the shops and then had a nice welcome dinner. We went to bed relatively early, still fighting a bit of jet lag.

We had a tour of Bergen the next morning and then had the afternoon free. We shopped a bit (yes, I bought more sock yarn) then hit Starbuck's for a Norway mug and a warming latte. From there, we took the funicular up the mountain for gorgeous views of the city. The sun was shining and it wasn't horribly cold, which surprised me. In later afternoon we headed to our ship - The Nordlys. We had upgraded our cabin to one with a window but apparently should have upgraded even further. This was our double cabin. Yikes! When Janice and Shelley had the same one but took one look at it and got a 2nd cabin. Anne and I decided to tough it out and save that money for yarn. Since we spent very little time in there, we did just fine. With the couch pulled down (my bed), we had to work around each other in the mornings and there's no pic of the micro tiny bathroom but we worked it out and survived just fine.

The food on the ship was interesting. We had buffet breakfasts and lunches and sit down dinners at assigned tables. There were 2 sides at the buffets - Norwegian food on one side and British(ish) on the other. This was most obvious at breakfast, when Scandinavians eat lunch meat and crackers rather than bacon and eggs. I tried some Norwegian stuff but at lunches instead of breakfasts.

The knitters took over the bar on deck 7 for our workshop area. They turned the lights up and we had gorgeous views from both sides. It was also super convenient to the elevator that was right by our cabin. We started our first day with a workshop where we started a colorwork cowl that Carol had designed for our trip. Drinking coffee while knitting with new friends with gorgeous views of somewhere I've never been before - does life get any better?

So each day we had one port where we could get off the ship. Our MO was to walk and walk and walk, always with a yarn shop or 2 as our destination. But in between ports where we could get off, the ship stopped at towns all along the way. This happened 24/7 so sometimes it would be in the wee hours of the morning. They'd be there only to offload some produce (they provision the towns up and down the coast) and exchange some passengers. It was interesting to see the commerce happening while we were enjoying our leisure cruise.

There was an Expedition Team on the ship that not only managed the expeditions at each port but also gave lectures on things during the day (Vikings, Sami people (the indigenous people Americans would call Lapps (but that's considered derogatory) and how to photograph the northern lights) and I went to almost all of them. Anne and I looked into doing a sled dog excursion, which was ridiculously expensive but a once in a lifetime thing, but the conditions weren't right so we couldn't go. Oh well. The Expedition Team also did what they called Points of Interest so would announce over the loud speaker to meet outside on Deck 7 for talks on various things. We did most of those too, even when it was 7:00 a.m. or 11:00 p.m.

So the 11:00 session was when we had a good chance of seeing the northern lights, which was the reason for the trip. They took us to the entrance of a fjord and stopped the boat. Alas, the northern lights were underwhelming. I had said I'd give it until 12:30 but when the expedition guys left at 12:15, I admitted defeat and we went to bed. We had no sooner gotten into bed when an announcement came over the intercom that they had gotten better. We scrambled into all of our clothes (we'd even gotten out the long johns) and headed back out. They were only slightly better.

The next night, the announcement came during dinner and we all ran outside. They weren't good enough to miss dinner but we went out afterwards and they were better. What they don't tell you is that they don't look like much to the naked eye but a camera picks up the neon green. None of the pics came out great because the boat was moving but here's one of Anne's better ones. NOT what I was expecting. And and I was happy when it was cloudy the next night so I didn't have to freeze outside in hopes of seeing better ones.

Here's a list of ports of call with the steps for the day. And yes, I bought yarn in every single town.

Thursday, the 13th - Alesund (pronounced Olson to my ear) 12,865 Alesund was a cute little town and had a yarn shop right next to Husfliden, which is a shop that sells Norwegian items and usually has some yarn too. We made sure to stop anytime we saw one of these.

Friday, the 14th - Trondheim in the morning (3rd largest city in Norway) 18,285
Trondheim is a large city and had several yarn shops. We were there early in the morning (the port time was 6:00 a.m. until noon but we left the ship after 9:00) so it seemed much colder than we'd experienced so far. An American who lives there offered us help with directions when we stopped to look at a map. She shared some interesting insight on life in Norway. After walking to the cathedral, which was a long way from the port, we shopped our way back and happened upon Flying Tiger, which my friend John had recommended. Only after buying all kinds of fun things there did I notice the name on the receipt.

Saturday, the 15th - Bodo, 12,898
We crossed into the arctic circle on Saturday. The technical definition is where there is one sunrise and one sunset per year. Because the sun is down for six months then up for the next six. Freaky! We were out on Deck 7 with the Expedition Team when we actually passed the marker but there was a ceremony later in the morning. The ritual is that they pour a ladle full of ice water down your back and then you get a shot. Well Shelley won the contest to name the exact time we entered the arctic so she was the first one to get the ice water (she also won a flag signed by the captain) but Anne was next in line. She took the ice water down the back but didn't want the shot so I took it. Who was the smart one here? We were in Bodo that afternoon - another cute, dark town.

Sunday, the 16th - Tromso, 11,061
Tromso was a big town, which made it all the stranger that people were just going about their normal business in the dark. By now we were in what's called nautical twilight, which means the sun is never above the horizon so you get a strange twilight like light for an hour or so at noon. Otherwise it's dark. So strange. A bunch of us took a taxi to see the Cathedral of the Arctic, which had modern stained glass that you could only see from the outside in because it was dark out. Duh! I was underwhelmed but there was a winter event going on downtown and I got to pet a reindeer, which was totally cool. I even bought a piece or reindeer hide to use in my car.

That was week 1 of the trip. It was absolutely lovely so far and being so far north was freaky (the dark) and fun. Just one more day before we'd be flying home. Too fast!

Week 49 - Preparing to Go

With it being the last six days at home before being gone for a LONG time, my week was jam packed. Of course. I wasn’t stressing about work stuff because I’d been chipping away at my to do list for some time but I still had plenty to do at home. The plan had been to wrap stocking in the evenings after work with the intention of shipping them on Saturday, so I was thrilled to hear on Monday that we would be getting Wednesday off for Bush 41’s funeral. While that may not have been very convenient for students, it worked great for me.

I happily wrapped away on Wednesday while streaming It’s a Wonderful Life and ended the day with both boxes packaged and ready for the post office. I loaded them into the car and mailed them first thing Thursday, checking off the last major pre-trip item. The next two work days went quickly with just enough to keep me busy but not a stressful amount to do. I left the office on Friday to hit the pool one last time before I left, confident that I’d left work in good shape. It felt good to be in the pool and I took the opportunity to clear out my locker so I could restock my toiletries and wash my suits and towel over break. Unfortunately when I picked up my stack of towels and such, I also picked up the instructor’s swim suit. When I discovered it at home, I had a flurry of activity trying to get in touch with the instructor. I finally heard back from her that I could just throw it away, which meant I didn’t have to drive to Lincoln on Saturday. That was a big relief because I didn’t want to add anything else to the list for my last day.

So all that was left on Saturday was stopping at the library to drop off the Friends’ checkbook and prep a bank deposit, get the cats set up (many, many litter boxes and puppy pads all over the house) and pack. I had started a pile of non-clothing earlier in the week and had a mental list of what clothes I’d be packing so it wasn’t bad at all. I was more worried about getting Pie inside than what I’d be taking to Norway but she came inside without incident on Saturday night so I set the stove timer for o’ dark thirty and went to bed early. Anne was picking me up at 6:30 so I needed a good night’s sleep and managed to get one. Yay!

I had told Anne under no circumstances could she open the door when she arrived and I’d snuck my big suitcase out the door first thing so that only left my carry ons. This may sound nuts but I was so worried about Pie sneaking out that I actually put everything outside via the kitchen window so I’d only open the door super quickly to leave. I got out the door in a flash and Anne and I were on our way! The day was completely uneventful with a flight to Chicago on United then picking up our bags and heading to the international terminal, where we had to wait to check in for our Norwegian Air flight. This involved sitting and knitting on a bench by the check in counters so nothing wrong with that. When the counter opened, we checked in, went to the gate and knitted until we boarded. The flight was nearly empty so after a nice dinner, there were plenty of seats empty so we went to an empty row and stretched out to try and get some sleep. Even with 3 seats, it wasn’t easy to sleep but we gave it a go, happy to know we’d be waking up in London. If that doesn’t make for sweet dreams, what does?