Hello again! I'm back! I have some good news to share. But first, a little more info to bring you up to speed. After Tim's birthday celebration with the kids Saturday night the 8th, he and Nathan and Nicholas (and I) got up early the next morning and I dropped them off at the Tampa airport at 5:30am to catch the first of 3 flights they had that day that took them to Soldotna, Alaska. They volunteered with Samaritan's Purse to help build a church in the remote town of Dillingham, AK. So on Monday, while they were flying into Dillingham (which is the only way to get there), Nicole and I were flying out of Orlando bound for Detroit for my 6 month check up. I have an interesting story about that in a minute. But first, the lovely fiasco I had after dropping the boys off on Sunday. I had noticed the day before that our freezer wasn't feeling quite up to par, so I called Sears Home Services on that Saturday since we have a maintenance agreement with them to schedule a repair and was told the first available appointment was June 22 - two whole weeks away! Argh. What could I do? So, I took it. But when I got home from dropping the boys off at the airport on Sunday there was a huge puddle on the floor in front of the fridge. Upon further investigation, both the freezer and the refrigerator were NOT cooling! So after 5 hours of transferring what I could to our garage fridge and the neighbor's garage fridge and cleaning it, it immediately started icing up again in the freezer. But it's never been cleaner! Here's a picture of it and then our stuffed to the gills garage fridge:
But I wasn't done with the joys of home and pet ownership! One of the kittens had peed on the couch, so I went to Home Depot and rented an upholstery cleaner, and a couple hours and lots of sweat equity later, the couch was clean! So much for Sunday being a day of rest!
OK, on to the interesting travel story. Nicole and I were scheduled to fly out of Orlando at 3pm on Monday to Baltimore MD, change planes, and arrive in Detroit around 8:30pm. When we got to the airport at around 1:30pm this past Monday, for some reason the TSA scanner wasn't taking the boarding passes I had printed out. So we went out to a kiosk and printed them there, but Nicole noticed there was a line through our flight times and a new direct flight was listed instead, but it wasn't leaving until close to 5pm! Argh. So we went ahead and went through security, and on the way to our airside we passed a gate where I heard 'last call for Detroit'. What? I looked over and it was another flight on the same airline (Spirit) leaving for Detroit that had been scheduled to leave at around 8am that morning and it was now close to 2pm! So I made my way to the gate counter and asked if we could get on that flight. At first the rep said we would have to pay a $99 change fee, but when I explained that it appears our flight had been cancelled anyway and they were going to have to put us on another flight she took a few minutes and then voila - we had our boarding passes for the 2pm direct flight in seats 5D & 5E! I made a quick call to my Dad and step-mom, Diane, in Detroit to let them know of the change, which they said would be no problem - whew! Here we are happy and relieved to be in our seats on the plane and not to have to spend another 3 more in the airport!!
OK, on to the interesting travel story. Nicole and I were scheduled to fly out of Orlando at 3pm on Monday to Baltimore MD, change planes, and arrive in Detroit around 8:30pm. When we got to the airport at around 1:30pm this past Monday, for some reason the TSA scanner wasn't taking the boarding passes I had printed out. So we went out to a kiosk and printed them there, but Nicole noticed there was a line through our flight times and a new direct flight was listed instead, but it wasn't leaving until close to 5pm! Argh. So we went ahead and went through security, and on the way to our airside we passed a gate where I heard 'last call for Detroit'. What? I looked over and it was another flight on the same airline (Spirit) leaving for Detroit that had been scheduled to leave at around 8am that morning and it was now close to 2pm! So I made my way to the gate counter and asked if we could get on that flight. At first the rep said we would have to pay a $99 change fee, but when I explained that it appears our flight had been cancelled anyway and they were going to have to put us on another flight she took a few minutes and then voila - we had our boarding passes for the 2pm direct flight in seats 5D & 5E! I made a quick call to my Dad and step-mom, Diane, in Detroit to let them know of the change, which they said would be no problem - whew! Here we are happy and relieved to be in our seats on the plane and not to have to spend another 3 more in the airport!!
Anyway, after arriving and stopping by their house, my parents took us out to eat at a quaint local Italian restaurant that had been in business since 1955! I had the best Pasta Primavera ever! We got just one kinda fuzzy picture from the occasion, so here it is:
My doctor's appointment wasn't until Wednesday, but we purposely came early to spend some time with my parents and my sister-in-law, Lorrie. She had invited us out to her family's lake house where she took us on a lovely boat ride all around the lake, including a boat tour of the infamous Duck Lake zoo - it was SO cute! Yes, it is made up entirely of animal cut outs - it was pretty hysterical! When we got back from the boat tour, Lorrie fixed us an incredible dinner of grilled steak and fruit salad, regular salad, potato salad, and a birthday dessert for Diane since it had been her birthday on Sunday. After dinner, Lorrie and Nicole kayaked all around the lake and had a BLAST! They said it had been raining up there in Michigan for literally weeks, and that day was the first sunny day they had had - we were SO thankful! It was gorgeous!
Finally, it was Wednesday - the day of my check up. Nicole got up bright and early and took a walk to a nearby conservatory. She texted me that there was this cute local diner that she wanted to go to for breakfast, so I joined her for a very nice, inexpensive, and yummy breakfast! I invited my parents, but they had already eaten, those early birds! Isn't Nicole a cutie patootie!
So, Diane, Nicole and I finally left for my appointment. I have to say, I was more nervous than the last appointment I had in December, and I don't really know why. I didn't realize how I was kind of holding my breath. As the doctor put the scope in my bladder and started looking around, he kept saying how everything looked good. And then came the good news: he said we could go from my every 6 months appointments to yearly appointments, so I don't need to go back until next year from now!! Woohoo!! I felt my whole body breathe a sigh of relief! Nicole came into the room for the scope and discreetly video'd it so I can show it to Tim when he gets back. Here's a picture of us before the procedure, and then a still shot of the video of my bladder. Looks good to me!
We left there with just enough time to visit my niece, Leeann, at her new-ish work place. My only regret is that I didn't get any pictures from our short time together! She works at the same company as her boyfriend, Matt, so I was happy we got to see him, too! She gave us a tour of the place that is in downtown Detroit, and it was very cool, very millennial, open, casual - loved it!! She even gave us some leftover sandwich wraps that had been brought in earlier for lunch for the employees (we were SO happy to have those later on the plane!). It really was a perfect way to cap off a perfect trip! We went directly to the airport from there where Diane dropped us off. But our adventure wasn't over. Nicole had arranged to fly out of Orlando the next day to visit her dear friend, Abby at Syracuse University for her birthday. So, instead of driving all the way home Wednesday night just to turn around and drive all the way back to Orlando Thursday morning, I arranged with my best friend from college and her family for us to stay with them since she lives 10 minutes from the Orlando airport. I have to say, it was another highlight since we had SO much fun catching up and hanging out. She has 4 kids as well around the same ages as mine, and 2 of them were home so I think Nicole had fun connecting with them. Once again, not many pictures, but Nicole got one of their cats, Ricky & Lucy, and one of Sheryl and me.
After I dropped off Nicole on Thursday I drove home to an empty house (not counting our cat and her kittens). It's been a little strange to be alone for this long. I usually love being alone, but I don't think I've been alone for this long in a very long time, and so I'm really looking forward to picking Nicole up at the airport tonight! I did get a chance to go ballroom dancing last night where my dance studio had adopted the theme of Mary Poppins for the night. Look at the cool outfits the staff had!
Can you tell I'm alone and bored?! I don't think I've taken this much time to update this blog in ages! But it was fun, and I'm sure I'll be grateful for the details when I look back at this at a later time. Hope everyone is having a splendid Saturday! Blessings to all!
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