So I've Been Gone, What of it?

I'm feeling a bit defensive as there are those who have been complaining b/c I'm not writing a blog - well guess what people, I have a life. And while not normally so busy, the past month has been crazy to say the least. Usually my life is not much of a life other than work and sleep, so it's nice some different things have been on my calendar.

First, I had a week off in August to RELAX. This means no computer, no television (don't worry, I taped everything in advance on my DVR), no phone - "not a single luxury" (everybody sing along!) We went up to the Adirondacks, Big Moose Lake to be exact, and spent time boating, hiking, going to movies (three!), reading A LOT of great books, taking ski lifts up mountains, feeding deer in our backyard (I'll post some really cool pix later); and most importantly, spending time with my lovely and loveable Baby J. She is the sweetest thing ever, and it was really nice to be with her. If you want to hear the details of the trip on a podcast, go to www.saturncast.com and listen to show #3 where I give my trip report LIVE.

Then I had to work for four days. While it doesn't sound like much, I had to work hard as I took a long weekend for Labor Day to go to Virginia to see the family and of course my niece (3) and nephew (13 months). While I love my sweet angel of a niece, my nephew was a HUGE grump. So much so I now call him Sir Grump-a-lot. Mr. Bean calls him Earl of Grey Socks as that is all he is getting for Christmas b/c of his attitude. I think I held him for a total of 5 minutes in 4 days. Had a great time with the family; however, the plane ride down was horrendous and we got stuck in Philadelphia which was not a place I wanted to be stuck in. If you want to hear that saga, I would recommend going to www.saturncast.com and listening to show #5.

The worse part about the trip, however, is that it just confirmed my panic of flying planes, especially small ones. Because to go to where my family lives, you have to ride those crappy prop planes which only hold 50 people - yes, almost the same type that just recently crashed, and yes, I was thinking of that the whole time with every bump, etc. I DO NOT LIKE FLYING. I was having a full blown panic attack each time. Large planes don't bother me so much but those small planes make me want to have a heart attack. So before the next flights, I'm going to have to get some drugs to help.

If you don't listen to podcasts, you can also go to www.saturndiary.com which is a blog where you can see the show notes for both shows to read the saga and also see the two blogs written while stuck in Philadelphia to hear our morbid story. You see, Mr. Bean is aka Christian Huygen - I always liked older men.

Then, work has been insane ever since. I've been working weekends, long hours and it won't end until our trip to the Mouse on September 30th. I'm excited but it seems like a REALLY long time until then because of work issues.

And finally, Mr. Bean and I ditched the trip to California and are going to Paris instead. Although I'm excited about the trip, it was hell to get plane tickets. If you want to hear my rant on the issue, surprise, surprise, go to www.saturncast.com for the special news alert by me regarding all of the problems I had buying the tickets or go to www.saturndiary.com to read the show notes.

So I've been busy. Deal with it.