Day One
Thursday - 12/19/02Although I am really excited about heading South and visiting with my family, I sure hope that I'm getting all the bad stuff out of the way first. As yesterday wore on, I felt sicker and sicker through the day. By bedtime, I felt as bad as I did a couple of weeks ago. Deciding that some extra sleep just might help, I went to bed almost 4 hours earlier than usual - and woke up nearly 4 hours earlier than usual too! LOL So no extra sleep for me. Yawn! As I woke up, I heard a strange sound in my bedroom. Quickly sitting up and flipping on the light, I saw one of my dogs (Joxer) peeing on my dirty clothes hamper!! I hollered at him, he came to me and I whipped him. As I pushed him away and told him to go lay down, Joxer was very scared and bit me!! No skin was broken but my hand sure is sore now. I still have to re-pack one final time, drop my time card off at work (forgot to take it in yesterday and the pay period ends while I'm on vacation), visit DO and Cliff one last time (gotta refill my supply of Christmas cut-out cookies that we baked and iced last night). |
Day One - Again!
Friday - 12/21/02Of course, since this is a mIkIE adventure, things got weirder - both good and bad. Stopping by work, paid off.
Things didn't stay that happy though. Jim took me to the airport in plenty of time. Things went smoothly until, just a few minutes before we were to board, some light on the plane needed to be replaced. The delay was only supposed for be for 15 minutes. Unfortunately, the wait was much longer than that. They finally just canceled the flight at 8:30 pm. So, as I've done the previous times, I set up a flight for the next day. Now, I'm scheduled to leave Friday morning at 7:45, going to Pittsburgh and then leaving there at 9:45, to finally arriving in Charlotte at 11:12 am. Wish me luck!!! And stay tuned. LOL
The fun just never stops. NOT! Although I set my alarm clock, and it was turned on, I never heard it, so the next morning, I didn't wake up until Jim was pounding on the door at 6:30 to pick me up and rush me to the airport. Within 20 minutes, I was out the door. (Now, you need to know that I am NOT a morning person, and it usually takes me a couple of hours in the A.M. to feel like doing anything.) At the airport I was forced to go through the security scan (my theory is that they only scan me when I am wearing my leather jacket. Some old prejudices are hard to break, I guess. LOL). However, while I was in the restroom, no one made an announcement; but they did cancel my flight!! Yeppers, another ticket-counter trip to find another way to get to Charlotte. Even though my new flight was leaving in 10 minutes, and although it had only been 25 minutes since my first security scan, I was forced to go through that stupid process once again!! Finally I boarded a plane and was in Pittsburgh about 20 minutes later. I actually got a lucky break in Pennsylvania though. Although I was confirmed on a 1:30pm, I was able to get a standby position on a noon flight - and got the earlier flight. WooHoo! |
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 Take-Off |
 High in the Sky |
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Ah, but Fate was just fooling me. Upon arriving in Charlotte, I found out that my luggage had not made it to my plane; would be arriving on the next flight an hour and a half later. My poor mom circled the airport more times than she had ever imagined; but we finally got my luggage AND ME back home in North Carolina. |
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Gayle gave me several presents - a lovely penguin scarf, an adorable stuffed puppy, and not one, but TWO new masks for my wall. On the way back home, I stopped into our Ford location to wish my friends there a Merry Christmas. Last year, I helped Bob Bryce (one of our best salesmen at Ford for 20-something years) and his wife Loretta, with a list of their customers. In return, they chipped into the plane ticket my co-workers gave me. This year, even though Loretta does work there anymore, they gave me a box of chocolates and a $50-bill!! (Because of missing so much work lately, being sick, my money situation had gotten so bad that just the day before, I rolled up all my pennies, so that I had a few dollars to take on my trip, just in case.) The gift nearly made me cry, it was so nice of them.
The Queen City - Charlotte
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Day Two
Satuday - 12/21/02Christmas with the Bivenses | |
| As we have in previous years, my family held it's get-together at my youngest brother's house. Along with his wife and three children, my other brother, his wife and two children were also there; and rounding out the group, my mom, her husband, and my grandmother. | |
 Grandmother and mIkIE catching up since the last visit | |
| Unlike other families at Christmas, our dinner wasn't too traditional. Just for me, we have real Southern barbeque, cole slaw, and hush puppies. (MMMMMMM, my favs!) | |
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| Everyone rushing around in the kitchen Kids chillin' before dinner | |
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| After dinner, we all went upstairs to the playroom, where we all enjoyed in unwrapping presents and playing with all our new gifts. | |
 Rudolph aka Celia | |
 Donny |
 Jon |
 The Girls Corner | |
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 |  Jon and Roxy help out with the Puppet Show |
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The new batch of Bivenses mIkIE's Family |
Day Three
Sunday - 12/22/02I nearly overstayed my welcome with Jon and Lisa. LOL Although I had been helpful and gone with Jon (to help watch Jenny and Jackson while Jonathan played a basketball game), my sister-in-law was getting really fed up with Jon and I running around her house and wrestling. It wasn't her kids that were jumping all over me, it was my own brother! ROFL
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| Jonathan is #14 Jenny and Jackson tried really hard to behave while we waited on Jonathan to play his game. If it hadn't been for me, they might have been even better behaved. LOL | |
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Sunday evening, I went over to stay with my Grandmother. I really love Nana a lot and just love talking with her. We stayed up till nearly midnight chatting and chatting - and snacking on a bunch of Christmas goodies.
Day Four
Monday - 12/23/02Mom got off of work early on Monday (luckily, she and I both have very busy bosses, that are out a lot, which gives us a little flexibility in when we can do things), and came over to lunch with me and her mother. The three of us had a nice time, before I left with mom to spend my last night in town at her house.
Christmas Eve
Tuesday - 12/24/02Gosh, was it every rainy in Charlotte today (2.5 inches by 2pm). Since I had already been a little worried from the beginning on whether my flight home would be on time (it was the last flight out on Christmas Eve - I thought that THIS trip would be the dicey one to make, not the original flight down), I spent most of my day watching weather.com to see the big snowfall heading towards Ohio. Well, I should say that I got to check the weather when my mom wasn't downloading mp3s. I helped her install iMesh and now she's downloading music left and right. Soon she should have as much music as my youngest brother Jon (nearly 8GB worth of music!! that's nearly the equivalent of my whole hard drive!).
The Right Arrival Time
The flight home was supposed to be a little early; but with a little delay in loading and heading into the edge of the oncoming snowstorm, the bumpy ride (just like the flight to and from Pittsburgh) arrived in Canton, Ohio right on time. As we began to disembark, the pilot told us to be careful - snow had started to fall and the tarmac was getting slick.
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| I actually WASN'T dreaming of a White Christmas; but I woke up to a beautiful one on Christmas Morning. I hope that you had a very enjoyable Christmas and Best Wishes for the New Year! | |