Michele, Dennis & Janice a duex, starting crafts

Michael and I got up at o’dark hundred Wednesday morning (2/26)…that’s 5 AM for you civilians and were out the door headed to the airport by 5:24 AM (six whole minutes ahead of schedule J).  Michael dropped me off at the airport shortly after 6 and I headed to USAir, where there are 2 choices: first class or self check-in…and only God can help you if you can’t figure out self-check in because no one else is there (don’t we all just love flying these days).  There’s also a new thing now with check-in and security.  I opt to NOT pay extra to upgrade to first class…and NOT pay extra to become a ‘privileged flyer’ whatever that means (keep reading and you'll find out).  When my bag gets checked, I ask the attendant which security I should head for and he says “C”.  I get to “C” and it is ONLY for first class passengers….I keep going to “D” and that’s only for those ‘privileged passengers’ that I also didn’t join….after another 2 miles of walking I hit security check point “E” which is labeled ‘steerage’…and I know I’m in the right place J.  After that, boarding and the flight were rather uneventful…and Janice was able to locate me quickly as I had on my find-me-in-a-blizzard entrelac sweater.  We talked and talked and talked ALL THE WAY HOME (and incidentally for the rest of the day and much of the night!!!)  On the way home from the airport we stopped at BIG Y (a grocery store) to get PACZKI’s (which are like the best filled donuts you’ve ever had in your life, but you have to buy them at Big Y because the other groceries that have started doing them just can’t compare) and at Joann’s for a tiny bit of fabric to go with the stuff I brought for pillow cases.  When I walked in the door at Janice’s, I saw Michelle (daughter) on the sofa and walked over to give her a hug….I looked at what she was eating….now I walked in the door with 1/2 a dozen Paczki’s and she’s eating SEAWEED!!!!!  

But she looks up at me and brightly says ‘oh, but it has sesame seeds too’…like that makes it all delicious….SHEESH!!!  Anyway, after Janice showed me the ‘en suite’ they had created for me (a bed, my own private little sitting area and private bathroom), we sat right down to enjoy some paczki’s and coffee/tea and settle into our afternoon of knitting and playing candy crush and talking.  Dennis got home around 5:30:

and Janice made a FABULOUS dinner of quinoa/spinach/onions and parmesan cheese….it was luscious and I can’t wait to try it at home.  After dinner we settled in with a pitcher of homemade Bailey’s and solved the problems of the world into the wee hours, when we both collapsed into bed for some sleep…..or so we thought? 

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I guess it was the chocolate syrup in the Bailey’s but I did ‘the rotisserie chicken’ all night long!!!!   Just turning and turning and turning….I finally just got up after 6 when Dennis had left for work…made some tea and had a few paczki’s…things definitely started looking up with those.  Janice and I sat on the couch and she sent out  a few more emails inviting people to see me at her house Friday night.  I knit for a bit, then had a nice, long phone call with an old friend Raelene…who has also taken up knitting???  Why do all of my friends wait to take up hobbies I love AFTER I have left the state?  I begged and begged BG to get into knitting when I was in Connecticut (she was all about crochet) but she would have none of it….NOW they have a knitting circle at lunchtime in my old unit!  Anyway, I knit in the morning, but after lunch we finally got busy and started working on our prospective sewing projects….Janice making curtains for her niece’s house…and I started ironing and cutting for my pillowcases:

from top of picture:pillowcase band fabric hanging over back of
chair, edgar allen poe fabric (black and white) Janice is
using to make curtains for niece, and then pile of
charity fabric to make pillow cases

Janice made a stacked beef/bean/corn casserole that was out of this world for dinner…I will definitely make it when I get home (when Michael goes on his golfing vacation that is J)….then she proceeded to make a pan of lasagna and a pan of sausage & peppers for Friday night, as well as getting most of the ingredients together for these quinoa bites I wanted to try.  We switched up our respective drinks for the Thursday evening portion of solving the problems of the world and I think we both slept much better J.