A Quick Trip to Baltimore

You know, I really need to use my brain differently. I was certain I had posted at least once this week, and then when I came to write this post, I saw that no, it's been a week. I have a tendency to "think" posts in my brain, and apparently that does not always translate to actually writing and publishing the post. Sigh.

Anyway, as I mentioned last week, we headed to Baltimore for an overnight visit last Friday after The Tim got home from work. We were lucky, because the weather was nice and though there was a lot of traffic, it wasn't stop-and-go or problematic at all. We spent Friday evening just hanging out and catching up, and we go to meet their new kitty, whose name is Freeway. Well, we got to see her, and I had the chance to pet her for approximately 5 seconds before she looked up and realized she didn't know me! 😊

Yes, it's hard to photograph a black cat! But much like our Esme, she *wanted* to be around, but was too scared to make the final leap and just stay in the room with us. She is extremely sweet, and somewhat chatty, and apparently you can win her over with cottage cheese. 

Saturday morning we had a bagel buffet for breakfast, and then we headed to the Baltimore Humane Society, where they were having their Dogtoberfest. It had been scheduled for the week before, but was rained out. So there was a costume contest, agility trials, and various other activities. My personal favorite was the kissing booth - so many puppy kisses!

Then we headed back to their house and decompressed a bit before heading home. I wish we could have stayed the whole weekend, but I've already asked for a few Sundays off, and didn't want to push my luck. But we crammed a lot of fun and ridiculousness into our short visit. We got home in mid-afternoon to a bunch of cats who were near death from starvation and abandonment (you know how that is), so their needs were immediately resolved, and everyone lived, you'll be glad to know ...

We were amused, because even though she didn't get a lot braver, Esme clearly was glad we were back home - she even followed The Tim around when he was fixing some dinner for us.

While we were with Pat and Amanda, we talked about them making a trip to Philadelphia during December, so I hope that happens. Amanda is off work the week between Christmas and New Year's and so am I (which is another story altogether), so she might come for an overnight herself if nothing else. Her 50th birthday is December 29, so we can hopefully find a way to celebrate together during that week.

We love living in Philadelphia, but one nice thing is the proximity to Baltimore, where so many of our nieces and their families live - the other lives in Brooklyn, which is just as easy a trip. (Especially since all of the other nieces and nephews live out west and we seldom get to see them.)

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Then this week was a killer at work, and on top of that I worked an extra day as a favor to a co-worker who was traveling. Our manager has suddenly become *very* micro-managey, and besides all of the regular things we do, she had us doing a lot of cleaning and moving stuff. It nearly put me over the edge. 

Yesterday I got my Covid booster, and though I (fortunately) don't feel as terrible as I was afraid I would, I'm about two steps behind myself, and wow does my arm hurt! Still better than being deathly sick - always.

For my Friday gratitude today, I am thankful for time off from work. Even though I work part-time now, I'm still busy on days off with dr appts, house things, and other responsibilities, and it's such a nice thing not to have to make all kinds of arrangements to use vacation time, sick time, etc., like I had to when I worked full-time. It's such a bonus and cuts down on a lot of stress. And - sometimes, I even get to just have a day off during the week!

I hope your week has gone well, and that you have things that you can be thankful to think about yourself. No big plans this weekend, I'm hoping to get started on the fingerless gloves I want to knit for The Tim for Christmas (if you've been following along, you may realize that this means I finished the socks I was making for him for his birthday - FO post to come!).

Otherwise, I'm just gonna relax and start getting myself organized to see what I have to do or what is already done for holiday gifts that have to be mailed. I enjoy doing that, because I always give myself time to have fun with it rather than stress and that makes all of the difference.

So have a good weekend, whether you are busy or just able to take it easy. I'll see you next week with and FO post, and hopefully with other posts that I actually write and publish rather than just think I have ...