Happy New Year!

My Christmas and New Year's have been pleasant and uneventful. I'd thought traveling on Christmas day would be pleasant and it was. The only downside was getting up at three o'clock in the morning and losing an earring during my travels. The plane left MD on time and we boarded on time in Dallas, only to have to wait for maintenance paperwork, to have the crew repeatedly count passengers, and then request two passengers move to the middle of the plane for "balance reasons." We left about 45 minutes late for a flight that only takes about an hour. In the end, we were only about 30 minutes late. Baggage arrived timely and we headed home. It never really felt like Christmas and I'm not sure if that was because I flew on Christmas Day (I've driven home on Christmas day before) or because I just never truly ramped into the Christmas "spirit" this year. Doesn't matter - it was a good day. We had our now annual Christmas seafood dinner; a small affair of just me, my Mom, my brother, and his wife.

No big plans while I was at home. My Mom wanted to show me the cabin she's working on at our farm. It is a nice space in what is an addition to the shop that has been there my whole life and then some. We were bandying about ideas for what space should be where when I asked the big question - where's the bathroom? My Mom and brother both burst out laughing. There isn't one. There's what will be a nice kitchen, smallish dining area, living area, study/office and bedroom, but no bathroom. Plans are in the making for attaching a bath house. I've seen the "compound" idea on a couple of shows on HGTV, but they were located where the weather isn't so fickle. LA has somewhat mild weather but the winters can be crazy with mild one day and downright cold the next. Not to mention thunderstorms and 100 plus degree days during the summer. Mom assures me she has ideas. Guess I'll trust her on this one. Right now it's only a space to spend a couple of days should she want to. I expect one day she may live up there, but hopefully by then the bathroom concept will be worked into the cabin concept.

On Monday, we headed to the DMV to title and tag my very first car in LA, which my Mom still occasionally drives, since registering it in MD just wouldn't be the best idea. LA is a state that also charges sales tax when you register a vehicle. Since we bought the car in LA, we took proof that we had paid sales tax - the receipt for the car. My Dad, you see, created a folder and just about anything associated with that car until I took over is in it, plus some stuff after it headed back to LA. Then the guy at the DMV says there is only eight years worth of records in the system. I'm not surprised as the car is well over eight years old. He also says that the receipt showing sales tax paid isn't good enough, we must show it was registered in the state of LA. The website didn't say this. No mind, we'd taken the folder (I didn't think we'd need to, but my Mom did) and, of course, a copy of the original registration was in it. The DMV guy was in awe. Granted the car is worth so little now that paying tax on it wouldn't have been all that much, but it was the principle of the thing.

I flew back on Tuesday. I enjoyed my visit. BC has grown and it's now even inching it's way back on to my list of possible places to live and work. It would eliminate holiday travel and let me sleep holidays in my very own bed. The flights back were good, but there was a little hitch. The cargo door got off the track in S'port and we left about an hour and half late. I originally had a two hour layover in Dallas, but as I was verifying the gate, the flight status was now boarding. I still had to make it to the next terminal. I caught the train and moved as quickly as I could. I was one of the last people to board. I just knew as I walking down what seemed like miles of jetway by myself that I'd get there and find the door closed, but it wasn't. I wasn't sure my suitcase would make, but it did. So, all was well. It's good to be home.

I hope 2009 is a good year for all.