« October 2014 | Main | December 2014 »

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Thanksgiving, Work, Christmas Cards and other craziness

Collage_20141125103234571_20141125103244409Been meaning to make a post to update but time's just getting away from me these days. It's been crazy hectic with everything at work (the week before any holiday especially big ones like Thanksgiving or Christmas is always nuts) plus running last minute errands for our trip.

I also managed to get all my Christmas cards and packages done which is nice. I definitely started earlier than ever this year. I wrote my first batch on my day off Nov. 11th and the second batch the following week on the 18th. Also wrapped up and packaged up everything that needs to be mailed since I want to get that out before we leave for our trip. Hoping to get everything to the post office today.

I am holding on to a few cards that should include letters. I think I will hold on to those and mail them from Austria and/or when we get back but the bulk of it will be done.

To make things even more interesting we also have a winter weather advisory in our forecast with sleet and snow predicted for some time tomorrow (Wednesday) into Thursday morning. I am hoping we don't get a lot of snow but who knows. All the forecasts are different, pretty much ranging from 3 to 12 inches, so I guess we wait and see.

Hopefully it won't be too bad. Either way we have no choice but to deal with it and dig ourselves out Thursday morning so we can head to the airport to catch our 1pm flight on Thanksgiving. I don't know if I will update again before we leave so if not wishing all of my US friends a HAPPY THANKSGIVING. Have a lot of turkey, stuffing and other traditional foods for me. :)   

Mail Update: Owe replies to: Katie/Germany, Tiffany/OK, Charles/TN, Jessica/DE and Carmen/Malta. 

Posted by Hanna at 11:07 AM in Austria , Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Monday, November 17, 2014

November Update

20141116_131248-EFFECTSAnd it's already Monday again. Time flies. Thanksgiving prep is definitely shifting into full gear at work now. It's weird to me because I am preparing everything for Thanksgiving, knowing the holiday is coming but ultimately in our home life we will be completely skipping over the holiday this year. Our flight leaves in the afternoon on Thanksgiving so we will be spending the holiday at the airport and on the plane. :) I am not really upset over it as we don't usually do anything huge for it anyway. The last few years we have gone out for a nice dinner with Mike's sister, niece and nephew but that's about it. 

So only about a week and a half to go before we leave. And I still have so much to do before we go. I finished most of my international Christmas cards this past Tuesday when I was off. Still have my domestic cards to do and also need to get my Christmas gifts together so I know which ones I am mailing, which ones I am bringing with me etc. Means we will need to stop at Staples at one point to buy more padded envelopes as well. And I need to pick up some gift bags for the items I am bringing to Austria. 

Saturday I had to work but in the evening I met up with my friend Jana, her mom (who is here on a visit from Russia) and a bunch of her friends for a lovely fondue dinner at the Melting Pot in Darien. Since we were 7 people we were able to try a bunch of different cheese combinations and also had some chocolate fondue for dessert. Yum. 

Sunday we slept in and then decided what to once we got up. The weather was pretty gloomy and dreary but we ended up going for a walk anyway which was still nice. Today it's cold and raining but not complaining too much because it could be snowing if it was colder. Tomorrow and Wednesday are supposed to be really cold, barely breaking the freezing mark as a high for the day.  

Mail Update: Owe replies to: Katie/Germany, Tiffany/OK, Charles/TN, Jessica/DE and Carmen/Malta. 

Posted by Hanna at 10:11 AM in Food and Drink, Holidays, Outdoors, Work Stories | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, November 09, 2014

More organizing .. slowly getting there

Collage_20141109182327921_20141109182340084Another busy week. Getting things done at work both in preparation for both Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is definitely always a big holiday at work, lots of scheduling, figuring out what customers can get what delivery days so everyone is happy and taken care of. Always a bit of a challenge but it also always works out somehow in the end. :)

Spent Tuesday and Wednesday night after work at home unpacking and arranging some more. And this weekend we had Saturday and Sunday off so we were able to do a few more things over the weekend as well. Mike put together the coat rack we bought and also hung up a bunch of the pictures and deco we have.

Also went to look for a bedframe at Target but turns out that seems to be an online only item so we will end up ordering one on Amazon. A few more days sleeping on the mattress on the floor won't kill us. We did get some storage boxes I can use on the shelves of my computer table and also a rug for the hallway. Slowly getting everything organized the way we want, just takes a bit of time.

This coming week I will be off on Tuesday so I should be able to get a few more things done as well. Also planning on starting my Christmas cards on Tuesday. I know, I know, it's early but we will be leaving for Austria on Nov. 27 (Thanksgiving) so I want to make sure all the cards are written before we leave. Have also ordered some Christmas gifts for people to bring with me. Trying to be organized if possible. :) 

Mail Update: Owe replies to: Katie/Germany, Tiffany/OK, Charles/TN, Jessica/DE and Carmen/Malta. 

Posted by Hanna at 06:49 PM in Holidays, Home Improvement, Work Stories | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, November 02, 2014

Home Improvements

HelpAnd another week gone by and already November. Where has this year gone? Busy week at work but that's about normal for this time of year. Just going to get busier as we approach the holiday season. Speaking of that while running various errands today we went to Kohl's to return some items and were faced with Christmas music and holiday decorations all over the store. Halloween has barely passed. That just doesn't make sense to me. Sorry. 

Anyway, spent the morning running errands, heading to various stores. We needed to buy a new radio alarm clock and thought it would be quicker to get it in a store rather than order it online and wait for it to ship. Well apparently that was a wrong assumption. It took us four tries but we eventually found a reasonably priced one at PC Richards & Son. 

After all the errands we stopped for lunch at TKs and after that headed back home to put together some more furniture items. I am convinced that they try to make it as impossible as can be on purpose whenever you have to put together anything. We had a bathroom shelf (one of those that sits over the toilet so it can save space) and some hooks to install and let's just say it wasn't a lot of fun. 

Rearranged some furniture in our bedroom to try and get everything into its final space. Still have some items to unpack but now that the dresser is in place I can unpack the items that were sitting on top of the dresser and put them back. Also can unpack the rest of my bathroom items now that I have more shelf space in there. 

We still have pictures to hang up and some other deco items but all in all it is getting there. Plus of course the bigger purchases like the washer/dryer, bedframe, couch, kitchen table etc. Well, we will get there eventuallly.

Mail Update: Owe replies to: Tiffany/OK, Charles/TN, Jessica/DE and Carmen/Malta. 

Posted by Hanna at 05:38 PM in Home Improvement | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack