Unhappy Ending to the Trip

I'm back in VA. Sydney was uncooperative when I tried to put her in her carrier to go into the apartment. As I tried to zip her up, she turned and scratched me in the face and even my inner bottom lip.

After Frank couldn't get her in the carrier either, we just let her out of the car and hoped she would run inside. Eventually, she did.

I hope this doesn't scar:



I'm not showing my inner bottom lip. Lucky you.

Bactine numbs your tongue pretty good if you accidentally get it in your mouth.

To me, the scratch looks a lot brighter red than in the picture. (But I'm a drama queen.) I'm wearing a band-aid so that the scratch isn't so obvious.

A Long Line of Gaggers

Family "secrets" come out around Christmas. Siblings get together and talk, and the younger generation learns things they did not know. Some things I knew already but it's fun: my Great-Grandpa Sprenkle had three women to choose from when he married my Great-Grandma Sprenkle. How did he narrow the list to three? Those were the only three women that he had impregnated.

I also learned that my very tough Aunt Cinny and my Great Aunt Norma also have quick gag reflexes. Norma's husband Bob had to come home at lunch to change their daughter's diapers. Not just the dirty ones, also the wet ones. Norma said, "People always said it would be different with your children, but that's not true." I knew it!

Norma is proud to hear that I carry on that tradition: gagging even when people just tell stories with too many details. Glad I make someone proud.

80,000 Miles

The Sprinter passed 80,000 miles today! The Sprinter is almost 9.5 years old.

How Christian Saved Christmas

Jessie was making seafood chowder (a Christmas tradition) and couldn't find the chicken bouillon we had just bought. We looked throughout the kitchen and the dining room. No luck. So, Christian took to the garbage. He went out into the garage and started digging. He came back unsuccessful. Jessie knew that some Old Bay was also thrown out, and he hadn't found it, so he went back to the garbage to find either Old Bay or bouillon. Success! Christian found the bouillon, and Jessie made the yummy seafood chowder. Thus, Christian saved Christmas. Horray!

Dad was at the butcher shop earlier this week. He noted that the butcher shop was going to be closed Christmas. He asked, "What if Scrooge wants to buy a goose that day?" The worker didn't acknowledge Dad.

P.S. Merry Christmas to all!

That Feeling

Frank was imagining what it's like being Sydney: spending most of your life in that groggy, just-waking-up state.

You don't know what that feeling is? It's something like this: