Mesa back!

Sorry everyone, I never got around to posting a 'We're leaving on vacation/see you soon' entry. Just flat out ran out of time with working, packing, cleaning, all the usual crap. We enjoyed a very pleasant feast at my mom's on Thanksgiving Day, and then left the next morning (11/26) for Tucson, Arizona. We spent some time there with Tim's oldest brother Tom and his wife Josie, and enjoyed the charms of the desert and the Catalina Mountains, and then the following Tuesday drove to the San Diego area to see one of my brothers, Bryan. He actually lives in Carlsbad, about 30 miles north of downtown San Diego. Nice area, and he lives just blocks from the ocean. And near many good breweries *G*! We just flew back yesterday, and we have spent all today doing mountains of laundry, sorting through a large US Postal Service tote full of mail and packages, and cleaning up cat messes from one end of the house to the other. I told my neighbor who was coming in to take care of the cats to not worry about the inevitable hairballs and upchucks, I'd take care of them when we got back. I really need to get a carpet steam-cleaning service in this place...!

One of these days I will post a summary of our vacation, maybe even complete with pics. Still need to download some software. We had an an absolutely wonderful time, and today really was a wallow in 'vacation is over' gloom. The gray snowy, rainy weather was the perfect backdrop for it all. From palm trees, flowers and sunshine back to reality. It hurts. At least I have one more night off work, so I can work on some Christmas stuff. I'll make some candied orange peels later and bring some decorations up from the basement. Some serious baking needs to commence, and packages need to be mailed this week. At least we got cards out! It was the nicest time we've ever had writing Christmas cards. Pleasantly aching from a four-hour canyon hike, bowls of ice cream, chocolate syrup and crushed Oreos at our elbows, and gazing at the sunlit Catalina mountains out the windows while we leisurely stuffed and addressed envelopes. Pretty sweet.

We'll see how long the sweetness lasts. Christmas angst is just around the corner...