Glad to be home!

Got home this past Tuesday afternoon.  While I am glad to be back in the US, I already miss my husband terribly, and have had to deal with some other stuff that has about driven me out of my mind.  But here's to my trip home:

Uneventful, for the most part, at the airport in Manchester.  I got flagged for "additional screening" as I was preparing to board the plane, so I got the "pat-down/grope-fest" by a British female security officer, had to remove my shoes (something you don't normally have to do when flying in the UK), and had my carry-on stuff plundered. 

I was seated in an aisle seat next to a young British woman who seemed pleasant enough.  Until we started to take off and she started barfing in the air sickness bag.  Bless her heart - she was trying to be discrete, and did do a pretty good job of that, as I didn't realize she was sick until she'd been "coughing" for several minutes. 

Before take-off, there was a screaming toddler behind me, constantly whining and crying.  Thank God that stopped after take off, I would have lost my mind had that kid screamed throughout the flight - never heard a peep from him after take-off.

I managed to finish reading one book - "He is Legend" - a collection of new short stories written to honor Richard Matheson.  Stephen King and his son collaborated to write one of the stories, and it was good, as were most of the other stories in the collection.

I also worked on a cross-stitch project I had started in England, and almost finished it.  Damn needle broke when I was doing the last of the finishing touches.  I had to get a new set of needles, and I finished the project on Wednesday night.

Apparently when I fly, I'm a fart magnet.  I don't know why, but both on the flight over, and the flight back, I noticed an unpleasant odor would pop up every now and then.  And no, it wasn't me!  And it couldn't have been Steven, as he wasn't with me for the return home (he's staying in England until July 2).

Of course my seat-mate got sit again on the descent, and apparently attracted a LOT of attention from a flight attendant, who kept bringing her bags and wet towels and stuff.  I had tuned her out, literally, by plugging in my headphones and cranking the sound up really loud to the movie that was still playing.  I did NOT want to hear puke sounds as we landed!

Once we landed, I made a bee-line to the ladies room to put my contacts in, and then I headed towards customs and baggage claim.  It seemed like I had walked a mile, then I realized - OH SHIT I LEFT MY CARRY-ON IN THE LADIES ROOM!!!!  I went back and was taken to the customs area for passengers who are catching connecting flights, and security was checking my bag.  I was so embarassed, and I got a lecture from once of the guards about how much trouble this could have caused, but all-in-all, they were both very nice to me. 

Had to go through additional screening at customs by the agriculture department, apparently just a routine, random screening, then I was done.  Went to eat at our mexican restaurant, and then picked up my boys from the kennel.  Boy were they glad to see me and me them!  Took them to the dog park for a run then settled in at home.

Been a hellish week back for reasons I'm not going to discuss, but suffice it to say that I wish I was still in England, or that I would win a mega-lottery and be able to do whatever I want with certain aspects of my life. 

I've also managed to hurt both big toes now, one at work on Wednesday morning, the other one just a little while ago this afternoon.  Oh well, I've got to be more careful with what I'm doing I suppose. 

Anyways, I'm practicing my grill skills right now, and trying to get ready to start a fresh week at work.  I hope you've all had a great time living vicariously through me, with the blogs and photos on Facebook from my travels these past few weeks, but now it's time to get back to the daily monotony that is my life.  Hope you all had a great weekend, and here's to a happy Monday.