Better to be Lucky

Like about 93% of the citizens of the United States, I had a run-in with a little storm this past week. The monster that hit the Midwest and East Coast managed to impact, but not completely ruin, a quick trip I had planned back to Boston earlier this week.

For the record, KLC predicted that I could/would get stuck since New England had already experienced so many storms this winter already. I was casual and said that surely there couldn't be many more, and I was positive that I would have no problems on this quick trip back. Um, yeah.

The plan was to fly in late Sunday night and leave Tuesday night. The first part worked fine. I got to see my parents and then went into the office on Monday for the meetings that brought me back East. Then people in the office started mentioning the changing weather reports for Tuesday, and by the early afternoon it was clear that I stood a very strong chance to proving KLC right.

This is where being a government employee comes in handy. We are able to change flights without penalty, so I got myself on the first flight out (6:25am) to Dallas and then back to Seattle. Surely, I figured, Dallas was southern enough to miss this storm. (If you see a recurring pattern of me being wrong here, you are picking up on something.)

Getting to the airport at 5:30 am, I saw my flight was listed as "on time." By the time I had gone through security, however, and was waiting for my bagel and coffee, things had changed. In that 15 minutes, my flight and nearly every other one to Dallas and a lot of other cities were now cancelled. Imagining myself in the masses trying to wait in line at American airlines, I decided to seek out any human being in the concourse where I was suppose to fly from.

The only counter with anyone at it? The 6am flight to Seattle ... through Chicago. I knew this flight existed but didn't pick it the day. I had thought Chicago wouldn't be a good place for a connection because a blizzard was supposedly headed that way. Knowing I was on a perfect streak for wrong until this point, I decided to go with my anti-instinct and get on the plane. (There is a Seinfeld episode about this with George, but I digress.) After all, Chicago is halfway to Seattle, right?

Well, it turns out that not listening to myself works wonderfully. The flight to Chicago landed without a problem (and it was virtually empty so I had a whole row to myself). The connection to Seattle took off less than an hour later. It was early enough in the day that it was barely snowing. In short, I got back to Seattle by 11:30 am Pacific -- hours or probably days if I had not changed my flight plans. I might have been more lucky than smart on this little adventure, but I'll take it. And, I think I will wait until spring or, better yet, summer before I risk another trip back to New England.

The Faux Nap

The kids are tired. They even lie down in their bed. Then, thinking we can't hear them (even though we are in the next room and hear everything), they start to whisper. That turns into full-on conversations. Now, it's simply bouncing around.

The thing is they actually slept for an hour yesterday. At 3 1/2, are they done with naps or what?

Astronomy Descends on Seattle

Every year, the first full week after New Year's is consumed for me with an annual astronomy meeting. It's the biggest one in the US and means I get to spend lots of time in a convention center/hotel. This year, coincidentally, the meeting was in Seattle (it rotates through several cities and won't be back here for a while.)

I don't think this meeting was ever in Boston in all of the years while I lived there, so it was a new experience to try to go to the meeting and all of its secondary activities (believe it or not, but astronomers and the press who report on them love to be social) while also being at home. Throw in some sickness in our house and a little snowstorm on Tuesday night and it's been a bit of a messy week.

The 2,000+ astronomers are leaving, however, as we speak. So the astro-geek factor will go down in Seattle by just a little bit very shortly. And I can get back to the day-to-day business of dealing with scientists over the phone and email. Until the next meeting ...

Making the House a Home

Last month, my Mom and Dad gave us a most excellent housewarming gift: a light fixture that hangs over our dining room table. Being my mother's daughter, I firmly believe that "good lighting is very important" (a saying I've heard many times over the years from both of my parents) to making a space warm and useable. This light is extra important because this dining room table is also our kitchen table, art space, reading room, and basically everything else we do on the main floor.

So we love the light (it was made by a company in Vermont). And, we use it multiple times a day. On this Christmas Eve, while you're back in New England battling various colds, etc., we wanted to take the opportunity to say thanks, Mom and Dad, and we miss you. More footage tomorrow after Santa visits Seattle ...

A Puppet Show (in Theory)

The twins have been to several puppet shows in their lives, and have enjoyed every one. In anticipation of KLC coming home from work the other day, they decided to 'put on' a puppet show for her. The reality was by the time she got home, they had run out of patience with each other (and were probably a little tired and cranky with it being the late afternoon.) Nonetheless, I found the preparation very cute.

We Will Trade With You

The twins are at the stage where they probably still need to nap sometimes, but generally won't. And I mean this in the sense that it seems like a conscious choice on their part. I don't know exactly when this comes full circle, but there are many days when we say to them (either internally or actually out loud), "wow, I'd love to take a nap right now."

When we ask them if they are going to go "sleepy" or "night-night," their response is often a simple "no." It's not a problem to keep them in their room for a supposed quiet hour. (This is really in principle only. Since they still share a bedroom, they are often bouncing around for this faux nap period.) The problem comes toward the end of the day when they basically start to lose it because they are so tired.

This cycle manifested itself when we took a quick trip to Portland for some family holiday celebrations this weekend. By the time we left Portland for the 3-hour trip back to Seattle yesterday, the kids were wiped out. But did they sleep like KLC and I so desperately wanted to ourselves? Of course not. If not for audio books from the library, I think the last 30 minutes of the trip would have been ugly. It seems to be futile to explain that in a certain number of years, they would pay someone for the opportunity to fall asleep during a dark car ride.

Christmas? Already?

I'm struggling a bit to understand where time is going. Somehow, Christmas is a week and a half away. It hasn't snuck up on me entirely. I have managed to get gifts, attend a holiday concert, and, of course, watch Rudolph and Frosty several times. (It was for the children. I would never watch those things for their awesomeness, er, I mean, for myself.)

Maybe some of the time-warp effect comes from the newness of virtually every aspect of the holidays. This is the first time that I won't be spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family and friends in Massachusetts. It's strange -- and rather nice -- that I managed to spend the first 36 sets of holidays there. It's just a bit odd having the first one away in my mid (ok, late?) thirties.

I'm very excited to spend Christmas with KLC and the kids in the new house. I think we've had more fun shopping for the kids than they will have getting the toys. (FYI, the kids are mildly obsessed with Santa.) My only wish is that I was able to import my friends and family to Seattle for part of the season as well. I will make do with Skype and email and cell phones, but everyone is welcome to come visit us here in the Pacific Northwest during any time of the year. We will even let you watch Rudolph or Frosty.

(PS I noticed it was 27 degrees in Boston today. I have no idea if that mammoth storm raging across the country will hit New England eventually, but they often do. Let me just say that it is in the 40s today here in Seattle with some off-and-on rain, but *no snow or ice.* I'm just saying ...)