Joe Biden is the ruiner of all things good

Since we got a tax return this year instead of having to pay taxes, I thought we should do something fun with the money. So, we did. We bought a cruise to the western Caribbean. Everything was planned to a "t", not one jot nor tittle was misplaced. We were excited about a much needed vacation. These are some of the things we planned to do:

Stingray City in the Cayman Islands
Mayan Ruins in Tulum
Eat a lot of good food (I planned on not looking at/thinking of a kitchen for an entire week)
Soak up the sun at the pool on deck
Play the only 2 games we agree to play with each other (phase 10 and skip-bo)
Read
Sleep
Not work

We arrived in Columbus the night before and stayed with Scott's great-uncle Jerry and his wife. They are so fun and we really enjoyed getting to know them better. Monday morning we left for the airport with 2 carry-on bags- no delays for us! The plane ride was fine and we sat next to each other! (Southwest passengers are notorious for leaving a single seat in the middle of each row) We arrived in Tampa and had a 40min layover for our next flight into Ft. Lauderdale. We asked, "Where is the gate for flight #...?" Quite possibly the rudest man on the planet with a bad mustache said, "The flight is out of gate c37 but is delayed until 3:00". Umm... WHAT? "The- flight-is-delayed-and-will-leave-at-3PM." No, I did not need him to spell it out for me..... thanks anyway. Needless to say, we tried every possible means whereby we might get to Ft. Lauderdale in a timely fashion and board the cruise liner,to no avail. I think we hit the record high for the number of times 2 people walked in and out of metal detectors/air puff machines for security measures in one day. We called Royal Caribbean and they, and I quote, "annotated [y]our account and the gate agents at the pier know you are coming late. As long as you are there by 4pm you should be ok."

GREAT

So, what can you do but wait? We boarded the plane and sat as close to the exit as possible (yep you guessed it, the 2 middle seats in opposite rows). I overheard another couple talking to the stewardess explaining the reason that the plane was delayed in getting to Tampa. Joe Biden landed in Indianapolis and the entire airport closed down- no flights in or out. By the time he was ready to leave, the plane we were on had to fly to Louisville to re-fuel it had been on the ground so long. Long story short- Joe Biden is now a common enemy among us. The plane landed and we rushed to a taxi, told him we'd pay extra for him to speed and run red lights and made it to the pier in time to argue with a man for an hour about boarding the boat. He wouldn't let us on, but informed us that we could, for $900, fly to the Cayman Islands and join the cruise there in 3 days. RIGHT.... thanks.

Back at the airport, they wanted to charge us $297/person to fly back to Columbus. I thought the lady heard me when I said my vacation was ruined and I wasn't paying another penny to Southwest since they were the reason (along with VP Biden) we missed the boat. The next available flight was Wednesday morning, which meant we had to stay in Ft.Lauderdale for 2 days.

We at least had a decent hotel, got to see a car fire, and went to a sketchy beach while we were there. Scott really liked not having a set schedule and watching sports center on a 55in flat screen TV in bed. So much for a good vacation- maybe in another 2 years when Joe Biden leaves office we'll be successful? Here's hoping.

Summer so far...

I've been meaning to update the blog, but I guess just like every other "journal" I start, it is left unfinished. The good thing about it being online is that I don't see all the empty pages I have left to fill.
Where shall we start? Scott's grandmother passed away last month. The night before she passed, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, cousin(in-law?) and I were visiting her in hospice and were chatting about all things females chat about. When my mother-in-law came the next morning to trade visits with Grandpa, she was gone. Granny"snuck"out during the changing of the guard, so to speak. All of us who had visited her the night before knew the reality of the situation- she didn't want us to come and "girl talk" around her bed anymore! We had been prepared for Granny's "trip" as she liked to call it, because she talked about it so much. It was a much welcomed rest for her and a very peaceful time for the family.

Naturally everyone came in town for the funeral, which also translates to "family reunion time" in the Martin line. We had a blast! My mother-in-law commented when we moved into our house that the reason was partly to hold bodies for the funeral/reunion. Boy did we. 13 people was the minimum for a week. Our air conditioning went out that week too, which made for more exciting times! We canoed and ate and visited and toured museums and ate and laughed and cried and played and... I could continue with a very long run-on sentence.

Not much else has gone on here... just school for Scott and work for me. We really like our ward and Scott is having fun with the Webelos. I'm still on the RS Activities committee and we are a cut-up group of gals. And that's our summer so far...

Domesticus

(For Deanna and the good ole days of definitions- can we resurrect this tradition?)

Domesticus-n. (do-mes-ti-kuhs) Greek goddess of all domestic responsibilities, influences, and ideas; creator of lovely household items that give joy to admirers. Is an acquired role. One seeking this title need not be married, possess any innate skills or talents, or enjoy domestic things. Also known as Allison?

What happens when you can't afford trendy pillows for your couch and your urge to decorate gnaws your very soul? You get creative. (and sometimes angry...) Scott's grandmother so graciously gave me this sewing machine. She received it as a graduation present from her father. The machine is in really good condition and can sew a button on a yardstick, which is the reason he purchased it. (I have not attempted this because the machine and I have not become friendly yet...thus the angry part)

Also bequeathed to us is the awesome avocado lamp you see pictured with the machine.

The finished product? One pillow that took more time to make than I work in a month. Now I just have to finish the other pillow for the love seat. Hoping it's done by Christmas time. :)
Such a cute model!

Winter Prison

There has been so much snow here lately- let the fun ensue! Now if only we could get outside...

We couldn't open our door because the icecicles were so long! I had to walk around the house to capture the picture and we literally had to break through a wall of ice to open the door. We tried to build a snowman at our back table, sitting down to tea, but it was harder than we expected, so we settled on a chemistry snowman (complete with lab goggles, metallic eyes and smile). Really we didn't have any coal in the house for a mouth, so we settled on the next best thing. The other snowman was as tall as Scott and was the "watchguard" over our garage door. Our 90yr old neighbors that share the gargage with us loved him.