We’ve been flying a lot lately, more this year then any other for either of us. Being that we’re frequent flyers, we’re quick to locate the lowest fair available online. Saving money is good. There are two usual conditions of the lowest fair, one being that it’s on US Airways, and the other being that there’s at least one connecting flight involved.

There have been some horror stories about plane travel in the news lately, so my personal tale of the first – flight – being – late – and – requiring – me – to – run – at – full – bore – through – 3 – terminals – because – my – next – flight – leaves – in – ten – minutes – followed – by – sitting – on – the – ground – for – over – an – hour – because – they – couldn’t – find – the – guy – to – back – the – plane – out – of – the – gate doesn’t really compare, but it certainly made it a stressful trip.

I’m starting to think that paying a little more for a direct flight will both reduce the stress and running, make it less likely that we’re flying on the lowest bidder, and probably get us to our destination faster. Either that or we’ll drive.

Happy Birthday!

And here is my sidekick today. She is not leaving my side. And she would prefer we be outside bird watching.

So on my way home from the airport I decided to stop at McDonald’s because I was already starving. I really wanted Chick Fil A, but they are closed on Sundays. I ordered my burger, fries, and soda. Took it and left, eating my fries on the way.

I got home and let the kitties out of their room and sat down to eat.

They gave me a filet -o- fish.

I was pretty horrified. I have been known to eat a fish stick or two in my life, but never, ever a fish sandwich and especially not from a fast food place. I decided to take a bite. So bad. I failed at dinner. Why did I not check my bag before leaving? Why? And of all the wrong things they could have given me, why the fish? I would have eaten almost anything else.

Well at least I got my fries and that is what I really wanted anyway. Guess I should try to find some protein. There is protein in chocolate ice cream right?

I had to leave my pirate patch on for the rest of the day and that night, and it was pretty hard to move around, and the world felt fairly flat. Luckily I didn’t fall down the stairs or anything painful like that.

I did startle Kate a few times, as she was sitting beside me on the couch (on my unpatched side) and I kept turning to talk to her and she just was not expecting me to be sporting a patch taped ever-so-gently to my face.

The weather is super nice out today so Zoe and I spent a long time outside enjoying the sun. Unfortunately some landscapers were working on a yard a few houses down and were spitting very loudly every couple minutes. You know the very loud clearing of lungs and sinuses kind of spitting. I don’t know if the guy was inhaling major amounts of dirt or what. It was pretty annoying.

I was scheduled to work overnight this Friday night, but the plan changed so I don’t need to anymore, but I still get Saturday off which is pretty sweet because it is my usual “on” weekend. I have been working such crazy hours because we are rearranging the whole papercrafting section of the store and about 50% of the stuff we are stocking onto the moved shelves is brand new. Really papercrafting is the section of the store I like best because that is were the pretty papers, cardstock, and neat tools are located. So it has been nice to get to see all the exciting new merchandise, even if it has been ridiculously early. Plus setting planograms is fun. I get to use the spatial reasoning part of my brain.

Well Zoe hasn’t caught us a bird yet, so I guess dinner is up to me.

I got a promotion at work. I am now lead sales associate. Not a big deal, I know, but hey more money is always good.

Today we are going to start digging up the yard with Kat and Matt’s Mantis tiller, which they are so generously letting us borrow. We are getting ready to put in the back row of Juniper…

hmmm another man, just came out of the neighbor’s house! Could this be a new neighbor too, or just a friend helping?

So what was I saying? Juniper trees. It is pretty chilly out this weekend, which works out well for us because those trees are pretty prickly. I have to work this afternoon unfortunately, so we will probably start planting trees on Easter. We have been invited to Easter dinner with Kate, Peter, and Andy. Mmm ham…

I also had a new computer delivered on Friday, as my old PC had died and it was making it hard to get work done. This isn’t really the best time to be dropping money on new computers, but if I’m to stay webbish, I kind of need one around. I now have dual monitors, which rocks in a nerdy way. It has Windows Vista which is a little different, but seems to work well enough, despite all the media attention that seems to imply that it’s unusable.

Saturday, I drove to Chester, South Carolina to meet up with Pete and Tracy who were visiting Pete’s family. It was a long, long drive, but good to see them. I ate some barbecue and hung out there, and had a good time.

Kate had to work while I was traveling, and that was a drag because it would have been nice to have her along when I got lost in Chester as I left and was quite worried that I’d never be heard from again. I did eventually find my way and make it home.

Today we I got up early. I went to Lowe’s (twice) and bought grass seed, a sprinkler and other appropriate lawn tools. The previous owner left us with some dead spots in the back yard, so I was attempting to fill them in. Kate also had to work today, so she missed out on the fun of digging in the red dirt down here.

Can’t honestly say I know much about the whole grass-growing process, nor do I find any particular joy in mowing the lawn, but I’m cautiously optimistic that it will look nice when it’s all filled in. It’s quite a transformation you go through when you suddenly own a piece of property and feel compelled to care for it.

We are both pretty wiped out.

Work is going well. Its fun to learn new things. I am surprised by the number of parents who do their children’s homework for them and the number of people expecting me to do their homework for them… “I was assigned to make a kite for this class, can you pick out all the materials I will need? What do you mean you don’t know how to make a kite?” “My teenager needs to make a board game can you pick out all the supplies to design the board and the game pieces?”

Well I don’t want this to be one of those blogs where people complain about work all the time so I will leave it at that. Plus its not so bad because I get to learn how to make all sorts of different things just by helping people find specific things for their projects. And most people are nice. And I am pretty sure that I get every other weekend off, which is pretty sweet in the world of retail.