Sleep did not come easily last nite -even tho I was extremely tired. Not sure what time I went to bed, but it must have been close to midnight. I took an advil and also drank a cup of sleepy time tea – the tea is a normal routine for me in the evening. It helps me relax and fall asleep easier – for the most part. The advil, on occasion helps me to sleep – if I’m anxious, have too many thoughts flying around in my head, or whatever. Don’t take it very often, as I don’t want to depend on it.
I woke at 5am, which is normal for me – if I go to sleep at 9pm. Went to the bathroom, and went back to bed. An hour later I woke again, and decided to get out of bed.
Set up my computer, checked email, twittered for a little while and wrote up my first day’s experiences for this trip.
When mom finally awoke – probably about 8am, we got dressed, went downstairs and had breakfast that the hotel provides for free. With a full tummy, and not much sleep – when we came back up to the room – we both fell asleep sort of. I lay down to try and rest, and was laying there for awhile when I finally fell asleep – only to be awakened by my cell phone ringing – it was my sister.
Did I tell you that my mom lives with my sister in Ohio? Well they live in Cincinnati, drove to Columbus – my sister went with my mom to the gate and made sure that she got on the plane ok. Then my sister and her husband – went to a hotel near the airport – this was Thursday afternoon – and then flew to Tampa on Friday morning. She was calling to let me know that they arrived. They get back to Columbus on Tuesday morning, a little while before Mom’s plane gets there. Talk about a time table. Everything has to run smoothly for this to work – unlike my airport shuffle on my first day.
Ok, so now I’m awake – spend some more time on the pc, mom wakes, we sit and chat – we’re both still tired, so it’s another nap time. For a little while. I don’t think I’ve had this much trouble staying awake. Of course, taking advil at night seems to make me a little groggy in the am.
Did I tell you that this hotel lets people check in with pets? We’ve seen dogs of all sizes and shapes – haven’t seen any cats yet. It’s a Residence Inn – so we have a kitchen, a living room dining room combination and a bedroom. I sleep in the bedroom – mom in the living room on the pull out sofa bed. Why doesn’t she sleep with me in the bedroom? That’s a good question. She needs to be closer to the bathroom – but even that doesn’t explain it. Years ago, my mom and I went to Germany to visit my daughter and her family – husband was stationed there. For the most part we did ok – however, when mom snores – no one can get any sleep – many nites I either lay awake and read or dozed on and off all nite. So she needs to be sleeping separately. I’m in the bedroom with the door shut and it works fine.
So we get up – by this time, we’ve talked with my brother, who wonders when we would be ready to be picked up to go to his house. We figure after lunch sometime. And where do we go to lunch? There’s a Chinese restaurant attached to the hotel – so that’s where we went to eat. It was convienent – not sure where other restaurants are around the hotel, and it was very cold out and we really didn’t want to go walking.
This restaurant offers not only what’s on the menu, but also Dim Sum. I have never had that – we don’t have any Chinese restaurants where I live, other than carry out. It was really interesting. The waiters come around holding trays with little bowls holding a variety of Dim Sum. We tried the bean curd – I know I’m not supposed to eat Tofu – since it’s soy – but one day should be ok. We had won ton soup, and I really couldn’t intice my mom into trying any of the other varieties of the Dim Sum. They were all pictured on the back of the menu. Oh, yeah, we also had spring rolls. At least I think they were – or some kind of egg roll. Mom decided to order something off the menu – so we sat there for quite awhile.
One thing that was really interesting is that the waiter that kept coming by our table kept trying to get us to try different ones – mom decided that he was a ‘High Pressure Salesman’ – her words – he wouldn’t stop coming by our table – figured by our dress – sweats – that we were in the hotel, and it’s like a buffet – you usually take more than you really can eat. We kept telling him no – and I guess that frustrated him!
And talk about frustration – remember I said there were dogs in this hotel – well from about 11am yesterday until we left the hotel at about 5pm – the dog in the room across the hall from us was crying and whining constantly. We complained to the front desk – only concerned that the dog was ok. When we got back last nite – every thing was quiet. Thank goodness, I didn’t need anything else to keep me awake.
By the time 5pm rolled around, we had showered and dressed, and were waiting for my brother to pick us up. We went to his house – now let me tell you, the first nite it was probably almost 8pm when we sat down to eat. Mom’s life at her home is close to that – they eat between 7 and 8. I guess if you don’t get up in the am until 8 or 9 – all your meals are later than normal.
Since we get up between 5 and 6 each morning – our normal eating time is about 5pm. It’s going to be difficult to get back into that routine when I get home. Anyway, so on the second day – we get to my brother’s house a little after 5pm, and my brother’s wife hasn’t even started dinner. Ok, so I’ll help – I wasn’t too hungry at that point – we had eaten a snack earlier in the afternoon. I think it was close to 8pm when we finally sat down to rice, asparagus, salmon, scallops, garlic bread, and salad. I had a little of each. I don’t eat too much to start with but it was very good. Then because Monday the 9th was my brother’s birthday – his wife had make a cake – so a little later, we had some of that. To say I was stuffed was an understatement.
My brother has 2 children. His daughter is in her first year of college, and his son is a senior in high school and applying to a number of colleges. While we were sitting around, he got a text message from one of the colleges accepting him. Everyone was estatic. Do you remember when notices came in the mail and you had to wait for the mailman to deliver it???
His daughter made it home around 9 or so – and that’s when we had the cake.
Everyone is sitting around and relaxing and my brother breaks out his MAC that he wants to show me. Actually it started as his wanting to show me the program he wrote using MySQL. When I was working for the govt – I used to use Oracle and sql language, and I was always telling him what I was using it for, and the databases I was working on and creating, and that sounded really interesting to him. So he decided to give it a try. Now he teaches others how to create the databases and how to create queries. It’s great! Of course, he’s done a lot more with it than I did – only because I’m now retired, and never got the chance to really make it elaborate. But I do use databases and MySQL for my business, so all that I learned is not lost. And as far as the MAC goes – I have a pc and a windows based laptop. The one thing he kept stressing about the MAC was that he didn’t have any of the problems that I have with windows. Wonder if it would be worth changing at this late stage. My problem would be to find software that I currently use in an apple version. Something to think about.
We made it back to the hotel about 11pm, this time I took 2 advil – since my back is really hurting. I’m ok as long as I’m standing or walking, but sitting for any length of time, my back stiffens up or twinges – don’t know which is worse.
BTW – the last thing I want to tell you is that the fortune I got in the fortune cookie at the Chinese restaurant is very approriate. “Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort” suits me to a t! Since I made handcrafted and handmade items – works for me.
See ya tomorrow!
