One of the things to get used to here has been that calendars start the week on Monday instead of Sunday. For the most part, I have adjusted to that. However, I have to say that today feels like I have slipped back into the US model. I feel like I have spent most of the day trying to finish up last week and get a head start for this week. Except there are so many things that I need to do that I still feel like I am behind!

We arrived back home last Friday morning with a tasklist of things to get done. Not the least of was assembling some 500 vials this week for a give away and getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner.

Last year, I had my interns over for dinner, Thanksgiving style and we decided that this would be a yearly tradition. Luckily, none of the packs of pumpkin pie filling or spices spilled in the suitcase. Only two of my former interns were able to make it this year due to circumstances. However, it was a really good evening and so nice to see them again. I also had enough back up supplies because I ended up throwing away the first batch of stuffing. Who knew that stale bread (the primary ingredient) could actually be too stale for stuffing? 😉

Last night we braved IKEA to go and find some supplies for the booth this week. My little company is attending it’s first conference as sponsor and we are decorating on a shoe string budget. I am not sure how it is going to turn out – we build up the stand on Tuesday afternoon. If it’s terrible, well, it will be a learning experience!

I am creative when it comes to ideas. I am not creative when it comes to decorating or making things look cool. I know my limits. 😉 However, needs must and that doesn’t stop me from trying to put something together. I’ve just spent the past three hours trying to make a Women’s History quiz based on the categories of Trivial Pursuit. The easy part is going to be putting it into a digital form – the technical plumbing I can do.

I just need to make it through this week and have all the things go in order. And then next weekend, I can breathe a bit and tackle the next project. Don’t get me wrong, I am still loving not working for anyone else!

After a walk to Whole Paycheck to get a few things, like pumpkin pie filling to bring home for dinner next week, it’s time to do nothing more challenging than catch up on American tv. First observation from GG is that there are far more ads here about cancer treatments and your choice as a patient, whereas in the Netherlands, people would rely on their doctor to inform them and make the choice.

Today was good. We spent the day with my dad, heading over the National Museum of the American Indian first. From there, we went to the National Archives, to see the exhibit on the Vietnam War and then to a special panel discussion in the basement on the topic of veterans and what comes after serving. Definitely an intense day for us all. I think the toughest for my dad. At the same time, the conversations we had were good and I got to hear some great stories about him that I didn’t know.

I don’t see my father that often. Each time it takes me a bit of time to adjust how much it seems that he has aged since the last time. We also have a bit of the awkward conversational dance for the first thirty minutes or so each time. I found myself talking about things I had tried to teach Raven about restorative principles in his relation with the people and the world around him. Raven was often focused on everything as an absolute. I think I see some of that same anxiety in my father. Of course, I couldn’t help think about Raven, especially since the first thing that I looked at the in the museum was the Tlingit story of how Raven stole the Sun.

Can’t wait to fly home tomorrow as it is supposed to start snowing here. It’s going to be a long flight but at the end of it, there will be small powerful coffees, two small dogs and non-chlorinated water. 🙂

As I might have mentioned, on our flight to Chicago, the young man sitting directly across the aisle from GG had a very deep sounding cold and he proceeded to blow his nose mightily during the entire flight. From the sounds of his nose trumpet, it was very productive in terms of a high muccus yield. That’s understandable – it has to go somewhere in order for one to get well. What is not understandable is piling your used tissue collection under your seat for the germs to circulate merrily for the entire flight.

So, yeah, now I am making some similar noises. Not exactly how you want to spend your vacation and kind of a hassle to be honest. I have spent today holed up in my hotel room in DC, making ridiculous amounts of mint tea through the in room coffee maker and working. Part of my reluctance to go outside the room unless absolutely necessary is due to the fact that this cold comes with unpredictable sneezes which are also not dry ones if you know what I mean.

We’re just outside of DC right now. I was just looking up things to do for tomorrow since tonight we are having dinner with my dad. The plus side of having a cold like this is that I don’t have any left over energy to be stressed and nauseous about this evening. 😉

Despite the sneezing and the wheezing, this has been a good trip. We’ve had a good time, I think. Can’t really say that we did anything more than hang out together – although we did go hiking one day. The best part was just being around each other.

Tomorrow is our sightseeing day and then Thursday we leave to go home. I can’t wait to hug the boys. I hear they have been having a good time. They have also been office dogs during part of the time when my employees have been working downstairs. Hahaha, that sounds so strange to say – like I am a grown up or something!

The only sound until just now was the click of Charlie’s nails going back and forth as he roamed between rooms here in the cottage. It’s time for the annual sibling retreat and this time we are in Franklin, TN. After 9 hours of flying in an airplane seat with a buttnumbing intensity of 10, we arrived in Chicago to spend the night with Rupert and Meredith (in their new house) before heading down to the outskirts of Nashville yesterday.

We made pretty good time. I drove from Chicago down to Paducah, KY. At that point, after a pit stop at the Marathon truck stop, Rupert and I switched. What makes these roadtrips different than when we were kids is that we are now allowed to buy our own snacks and as many of them as we want. 😉

Cedric and Charlie showed up about 30 minutes after we got here and as fitting, pizza was ordered and Charlie got the benefit of the crusts. It’s good to know that we uphold family traditions.

We haven’t left the house yet for the day. Mostly because Rupert is still working and at the moment everyone else is sitting in the living room, quietly doing their own thing. You would almost think this was some sort of flexwork environment except none of us have hipster beards and the coffee comes in big mugs and has little caffeine!

Cedric and Charlie leave again tomorrow morning. We will be here through Sunday. The midterm elections happened yesterday without any bizarre incidents (except perhaps the results in some races). I think our biggest goal for the time here is to catch up, tell jokes, drink beer and boxed wine and just be family.