Its going to take about a week

I am home. I got in last night. My flight out of Atlanta was delayed for 1:15 due to thunderstorms in Boston so I got in later than I want and am tired. I think it will take about a week for me to recover from:

- doing to much several times last week. Well, maybe only once or twice (a day).
- staying up late to (gasp) watch movies.
- eating too much but I was pleasantly informed by the scale this morning that my vacation did not destroy my diet (other than the scone incident... they were there and were yummy and I have no willpower... and there was the garlic bread incident....)
- dragging an overstuffed suitcase around - however it didn't open up in transit so I am happy.

Actually, it was great to be on vacation. It has been too damn long - more than a year. The only bad thing is I was on vacation with out my husband. The next step is a vacation with him. Never skip vacations - and never work too hard. No one has ever died wishing they had worked more and vacationed less.

Now that I am home, it is back to reality time. Today I only have to unpack, do some laundry, go grocery shopping, work, prep for an interview tomorrow, and admire my garden. The unpacking of the things I lugged all over the place and never used is clearly the worst part. I also have to open mail, weeding.... AAAAGGGHHH! I need another vacation!

The worst thing about vacation

... is trying to fit everything back into your suitcase to go home. You don't want to go back home and it seems everything got a little bigger and then there are the new clothes and other things you bought. I am procrastinating on this (who me procrastinate?). I need to go do battle with my suitcase and the problem is I have to win. I could take the wimpy way out and buy a little suitcase for the overflow but now the airline charges a $50 fee for to check a second bag. So its not just the cost of the bag but the baggage fee, which is all on top of the purchases I made.

Unfortunately I went to a yarn store. A very bad thing. It was a very nice yarn store. In fact there were two yarn stores. (I have to keep my friend's cats away from my yarn but that is another battle - two battles in one day is more than I can deal with.) Then there was the little side trip to the mall... No I didn't buy that much but yarn is bulky and my suitcase was already a little full.

I guess the real thing to do when packing on vacation is turn on your ESP so you know what the weather will be and what you will do while you are gone so you only pack clothes you will actually wear and things that you need. I definitely am bringing back home clothes I didn't wear, but could have... I was also so smart I brought a book with me that I had just finished and didnt bring the book I wanted to show my friend I was visiting. Well, maybe not smart, maybe chemo brain.

I have to stop procrastinating and go off and do battle. Then I will need to recover by going for a walk. Speaking of recovering, it will probably take a week for me to recover from having too much fun.

What happens at the lake, stays at the lake

Yes, we dont tell everything that happened. Especially the parts about (don't hit) the tree and putting (diesel) gas in the car. We wont talk about those parts. But there is no car damage and no diesel in the gas powered car. We did have fun. We stayed in a little cabin on a lake in the middle of farm country. There was nothing near by. It was wonderful.

I have eaten too many salads with chicken on them. Last night I had a salad with some steak on it. Quite yummy. I did eat something yesterday that made my gall bladder unhappy. It is quite happy to remind me of this. I will bring it up to the doctor next week. But that's next week. I am still on vacation for now. No doctor appointments for me.

Running around the midwest

Off on vacation we are actually running around the midwest. Well, not really. We aren't running, we are driving and we are staying in the state of Minnesota. We have seen a lot of farm country, and a fair number of cows and horses. We have also seen a thousand falling down barns, tractors, pick up trucks, and green fields. We are staying on a lake at a cabin. There is a very friendly little chipmunk (perhaps I should bring him home for the cat...) There are many birds, including loons and a family of baby ducks.

I am managing to eat a healthy diet... but its not easy. There are more things that I can't eat than I can. However I did have some very yummy hot smoked salmon for dinner last night (lox is cold smoked so it is very different). If I have one more chicken sandwich or salad with chicken on it, I might explode, or turn into a salad... I am having chocolate, bacon, cheese, chips withdrawal.

Today we went by Mille Lacs which is the second largest lake in the state. We are in a small town to see a friend's son in a parade which should be kind of interesting. There is a very minor possibility that I am overdoing things... But only a minor possibility. I did stay up kind of late last night... and we have been out and about all day, and yesterday we were out all day, and the day before I was flying, and the day before that we were driving and doing laundry and unpacking and repacking while recovering from too much mini golf and other kinds of fun... But it is only a minor possibility that I am overdoing it.

Fashion sense and flying

Yesterday I flew from Boston to Minneapolis via Atlanta. Okay, so it is kind of the long way but I am convinced you can get anywhere in the world through the Atlanta airport. I also got to take a nice walk in Atlanta. According to my itinerary my flight was due to leave out of gate D3. I walked all the way down D terminal to find out that it was really leaving from gate C2. Then I walked over to C terminal and found the right gate. I took another stroll through the terminal to get something to eat that was not fried. The further south you are, the more fried food options there seem to be. After perusing all my options, I found a salad with grilled chicken on it. It also included olives and shredded cheese. The only dressing options were full fat. Very difficult to eat healthy in some places.

All this wandering around gave me ample opportunity to look at the fashionistas I was travelling with. First of all, if you are going to have to take your shoes off at screening, don't you want to wear socks? I mean how many other people have walked there barefoot? When was the last time they shampooed that rug? Clothing that includes lots of extra zippers for decoration will probably result in a body search, or atleast personal screening. I also don't consider the following good choices for travel: pajamas, ripped sweat pants, big metal barrettes, or shower shoes. There was a couple on one of my flights where the husband accompanied his burqa claid wife while carrying a copy of the Koran. Personally I don't have a problem with the religion or the attire but I am not so sure how comfortable others may be.

All in all, it wasn't a bad flight. Lots of turbulence on the second flight. Air Tran now features XM satellite radio so I got to listen to the music of the 70s and decided it made me feel old. My friends did pick me up but there was a little confusion as to which terminal I was at. There is a minor possibility I over did it a teeny, tiny bit yesterday...

This morning we went for a walk and then we are off to go up north for a few days. In to the woods. Possibly fishing. But that would involve worms and other yucky things like cleaning fish... We aren't sure. We could just be lazy. After all, it is vacation.

A perk of chemo brain

Yes, I have discovered one. If you have chemo brain, you can't remember what you are packing long enough to stress over forgetting things. I keep saying I need to pack something, walk into a room to get it, forget what it is, leave the room, and maybe an hour or two later remember what it was that I forgot. It also helps if you keep losing your list so you start making a new one trying to remember what was on the old one and then you can't find any lists.

I am not going to the North pole. I am going to Minnesota - which could be considered the North Pole in winter, but it is summer now - if I forget anything, I can go to Target. Actually, where I am going, I have been told has not yet been getting up to 60 degrees. I have added additional layers of warmth to my suitcase.

I am still tired today. I had to get up too early. I did go to bed early but the coffee hasn't yet kicked in.

Vacation is very tiring

Friday we drove to Rochester, NY. Or I should say Walter did most of the driving and I was a mere passenger. Saturday we went to a kids and trucks show, played miniature golf, and went to my niece's soccer game. Sunday we played more miniature golf, went on a boat ride through a lock in the Erie canal (very cool), and went out to dinner. We also played scrabble. The current statistics are Walter and I are now 1-1-1 (I won once, he won once, and we tied once). However it is still early in the season. On the other hand, we played scrabble with my brother and were basically destroyed at that. (My sister in law, the wise woman that she is, made the intelligent choice not to play scrabble.) We did have fun.

Perhaps the tiring part is we were trying to keep up with 4 children - 10, 9, 6, and 3 1/2. Nothing to do with recovering from treatment or anything. It was lots of fun!

I am home for about 18 hours with just enough time to unpack, do laundry, repack, feed the cat, and look at mail. Then I fly off for the rest of my vacation and hopefully recover from the first half. The cat is mad at us for leaving him for so long. He had plenty of food. In fact he left a nice pile of it on the carry on bag I was going to take with me tomorrow... I will find another bag!

Now I can't procrastinate because I have to get ready. Stupid me needs to be at the airport at 6:15 AM!!!!!