For those who asked to see a picture of me wearing the silk skirt I ordered:

I ordered it from Amazon (This skirt is a reversible patchwork silk panel skirt. It is approximately 48 inches wide, one size fits most. It is approximately 36 inches to 38 inches long. Made from vintage silk sari fabric, every piece is one of a kind.)

I’m sitting in the recliner and the cats are sitting in the window behind me. A UPS truck stops in the road outside the window. I turn to look, but he’s taking some time moving things and organizing. Minutes pass. Suddenly, Kit jumps out of the window and goes to stare at the front door expectantly. Moments later, here’s the UPS man at the front door.

Maybe we do get a lot of packages delivered.

So the reason we go to Cincinnati is because my friends live there: Susan, and Andy & Heather and their absolutely adorable kids (you saw the fantastic Natalie in the aquarium pictures).

And the other reason is of course Jungle Jim’s. Let’s just say I spent about $100 an hour there, and leave it at that.

Susan met us at our hotel. Well, actually she was sitting in the hotel bar, drinking Guinness and waiting for us.
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And we’re back to work.

It was an exciting vacation. I baked–a lot. And I branched out from cookies and made breads as well: challah, Italian bread, pumpkin bread, and cranberry walnut bread.

We had the family Christmas gathering which was insane and chaotic but also a lot of fun. (We made Lithuanian cookies again, which added to the insanity–and the mess.)

And I got some fun loot. I learned my lesson this year, and picked out my large gifts myself, so Michael gave me a wonderful new pair of boots. I had wanted a new pair of snow boots, but couldn’t find any, and found these instead.

They are incredibly comfortable. I love them!

And of course I got books. Amusingly, my brother and Michael both got me the same books (well, Brian got me more books, but every book Michael got me, Brian also got me).

We did have some excitement: Kat (who is declawed mind you) got pissy with Grandmom and swatted her with enough force to break the skin. So that eventually led to a trip to Urgent Care and antibiotics.

And Kat in the dog house (so to speak).

All in all, the holidays were enjoyable, and I am very glad I took the full two weeks off. Back to work today, but luckily it’s another week before the students come back, so I can ease into things.

I’ve joked for years that most guys I know treat me like the little sister they never wanted.

Now I have further proof.

Over a year ago, I came home to discover a surprise package. Why yes, I did in fact receive six bottles of bird vomit. How lucky am I?

So yesterday, I received yet another package in the mail. Now, before I show you what I receive, you should know that two of my friends also received packages.

Anne is very excited about her package of ramen, and MWT was thrilled to have received a box of sachima.

So what did Michelle receive, may you ask?

Was I this excited about my loot?

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Thank you Anne! You ROCK!

Thank you Anne!

You know how special I am? I got loot from Paris!

Ooh la la!

And even better, you know what kinda loot?

CHOCOLATE!

Gina, you’re the best wife EVER!

Jeri is AWESOME!

I don’t know what I did to deserve such awesome friends, but I’m glad I did it!

Janiece is the most awesome human on the planet.

Thank you Janiece!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ve got nine thousand words for you below the cut.
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I got loot from Anne today!

No, I didn’t take pictures yet. Grandmom has been watching Inaguration stuff all day, and I can’t do anything while TV is on. (In fact, it’s taken my about 15 minutes to write this pathetic post.)

Michael got what every good geek should have wanted this year: A Monty Python Cow Catapult!

I’m a frequent buyer from Amazon, so we get a lot of packages delivered by UPS. I’ve actually really liked the guy that delivered packages for the past couple years–he laughs when I scramble madly to the front door yelling, “LOOT! LOOT! LOOT FOR ME!”

However, we seem to have gotten a different driver in the past couple months.

A driver who decided that instead of leaving packages against the house where they’d be hidden, and on the deck, where they’d be sheltered from the weather, he’d leave them on the side door (Grandmom’s door), which has only a small cover. Which meant that for the past couple weeks we’ve come home to find packages sitting in the snow.

Michael called Friday, and they said they’d make a note of it. Tuesday–the day of the snow and rain and bad traffic–we came home (very late) to find my book sitting in the snow.

So I called back today to ask if they could make a note not to leave packages on the side porch.

Not only was the woman I spoke with very polite and helpful, I actually got a call back later in the afternoon from the local manager(?) apologizing for any inconvenience and stating the packages will certainly be left on the front deck in the future, because it is UPS policy to leave packages out of the elements and out of sight.

He was also extremely nice.

I have to say that although finding packages exposed to the elements was upsetting, I was very pleased with their response to my call.

So thank you UPS for taking responsibility.

Assuming Michael can get away from work at lunch, loot will be going out today: requested loot, thank you loot, birthday loot, and our old cell phones to cell phones for soldiers.

This week more loot should be arriving, so I can wrap it up and have Michael to send that out as well.

Then I desperately need to start my Christmas cards. I picked my cards up last year after Christmas, when they were cheap, so I’ve got three boxes of new cards, and one box of the remainders from last year (which were actually the previous years cards.)

If only I could get motivated…

ADDENDUM the First:
The loot is in the mail.