Peaches Prattlings











{August 8, 2016}   What a travel day!

Did anyone else get caught up in the Delta debacle?

My flight was scheduled for 535am this morning as it has been for the last few weeks out of Boston. I got to the airport about 430am and the security lines were crazy,  I’m so glad I have TSA Pre-Check! The lines for bag drop were crazy and at the Sky Priority line for Delta it was almost out the door with ONE person working,  what!? Apparently the system was down,  I thought just at check in,  so luckily, I had two small bags and decided to travel with my checked bag.  Off to security I went. 

I get to the gate and find out that the system is down globally! No idea why, but down, uh oh. Since the system is down, they can’t print paperwork for the pilots and if they can’t print paperwork, we can’t get on the plane. They also printed paper tickets for us in case they can’t scan. 

So, about 630, they still have no updates,  I get on the phone to call my travel company. I wait for 30 minutes to talk to someone, it’s understandable. I get booked on a 730 Jet Blu flight,  problem is…by the time I get to the terminal it’s too late to check in and get a boarding pass, so I call the travel company. One hour later,  someone picks up the phone…

I am now booked on an 11am from Boston to Chicago. So,  off to the gate I go, sit down, plug in and get to work. 

Finally get on the plane, 1st row is nice, nice guy sitting next to me, was in the same boat I was, I think quite a few people were…

I finally got to Chicago, took a taxi to the airport and got in to the office about 2pm, only for hours late.  But…everyone knew what was going on. GES texted “Are you on Delta?”, when I emailed someone at work to let them know I’d be late…their only response,  “Delta?”

How did you all know? It was on the news! While I was switching terminals,  there were at least four news stations there. 
I got to the office,  printed what I needed and in less than two hours, out the door for Amtrak for Springfield! I got to Springfield, took an Uber to the airport for a rental car, then to the hotel.  It’s about 930pm, think I’ll make it past 1030? We’ll see…

 http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2016/08/08/delta-air-lines-system-outage-causes-worldwide-delays.html



I got to sleep in a minute, it was nice. 

I got a little work done and headed to GES’. We went to a car museum which happened to have a car show happening today. 

The museum is on the Larz Anderson Estate, http://larzanderson.org/. Very interesting history, it’s the home of America’s Oldest Car Collection. There were Electrmobiles, Porsches, BMWs.

Outside there were Porsches, Lamborghinis, Ferrari, a McLaren and so many more. It was a lot of fun,  especially watching the folks at the exit waiting for cars to leave and gun the engine and take off down the street. 

After the car show we went into Brookline for one of ACS’ favorite pizza joints from when he lived there. 

Then back to the house to hang out for a bit until we headed across the street for dinner, all sorts of goodies on the grill. Good food, good conversation and lots of laughter. 

Now,  home, packed, talking to you and ready to head to the airport in a few hours. For another great week!



{August 6, 2016}   A better day and a homecoming

MGS is definitely on the mend, happy about that!

We all are! Apparently she woke Papa up at 6am because she wanted to take her medicine,  good girl! Then they all went back to sleep,  well, Papa and LaLa did, MGS went down stairs and watched tv.

I ran some errands this morning eventually when I got up, after I convinced the cats to stop trying to wake me every hour starting at 6am…then back to GES’ to hang with MGS, dad and LaLa.

Then I headed to the airport to pick up GES and ACS. Now, when I was leaving, LaLa asked MGS who I was going to pick up and her first thought was EJS! “EJS? Oh! I get to see my sister!” So cute!

I picked up my sister and brother-in-law from their trip from Iceland and Copenhagen,  they had an amazing time! Sounds fabulous! We might be following in their footsteps,  who knows. 

They brought all of us treats and what did I get? Some fabulous seasoning and…she fed into my addiction…a bag! Wahoo!

MGS is better, welcome home GES and ACS. 



That first strep test, blech!

Oh my…what a day we had! It didn’t start so great. Last night I got to my sister’s house and MGS was already asleep, but over the course of the night she kept waking up,  she was a little warm to the touch and had the sniffles.

This morning she didn’t have a fever, a little tummy ache, didn’t want to eat breakfast,  but still wanted to go to camp. 

We got a text from GES about 1045 this morning, who happens to be in Copenhagen this week…she got a call from camp, MGS is running a fever and we need to pick her up and bring her home. Ok…off to camp we go. 

We pick her up, bring her home, give her some lunch and about 2pm we headed out to see the doctor. 

In the exam room we met with a great NP, Nurser Practioner, named Lauren who asked a lot of questions and some of the answers were great…”did anything else hurt?” “My brain”, priceless!

Based on her answers, the NP came up with the same suggestion as GES, strep. Hey, a mother knows…

So, being that MGS has never had strep,  this would be her first throat culture. I’m sure just about everyone reading this has had a strep test at least once in their lives. You know, the q-tip at the back of the throat and the nasty gag…let’s just say it did not go over well. 

After a while she had calmed down and the results were in, positive for strep. So…off to CVS for medicine, Gatorade and treats for being a trooper!

I’m happy to say that when I left tonight she was doing much better! Thank goodness. 

Feel better MGS



{August 4, 2016}   Happy birthday daddy!

Today is a very special day! My dad’s birthday!

Have I ever told you my dad’s name? I don’t think so, so here it is, it’s DWS. Ha ha, what did you think, I was going to reveal someone’s ‘real’ name?

My dad…what’s so special about my dad? Well, what haven’t I told you? Well, he’s the best dad on the planet, sorry everyone else, that’s just the way it is.

He’s funny, not just when he tells a joke, but when he gets a joke, it’s awesome! Especially when he thinks it’s funny, he laughs so hard and heartily, it comes from his gut, sometimes laughing so hard he cries. Performers at comedy clubs love him and call him out after the show, his laughter is infectious. We have a very similar sense of humor and laugh at the same things, we love a lot of the same literature, music, movies, art, we can spend days talking about anything.

He taught my sister and I so much growing up, we learned so much from him and our mom. We learned love and patience, sometimes, and tolerance and acceptance. We learned what joy there is in a good back scratch.

Not only is he a great dad, he’s an amazing grandfather, or Papa to EJS and MGS. To see them together is a treat, he’s silly, goofy, generous, endearing, spoiling, you name it, he’s just that good!

We learned how to be good parents and I learned how to be a good grandparent. What could be more special?
He’s a confidant, a friend, a pal, a buddy, a co-conspirator, a hero, a teacher, an inspiration. Do you know the phrase ‘Anyone can be a father, not everyone can be a dad’, that’s who he is, a dad, our dad. And I fully admit, I’m a daddy’s girl, always will be! GES will tell you the same!

Now, if I tell you the three of us share a similar sense of humor, you might not believe me, but just check out the cards that GES and I sent to dad…the same goofy card!

Today, I started my day by sending him a text of me singing happy birthday and I got to come home early from Chicago so I could hug him and tell him happy birthday in person!

Happy birthday daddy, I/we love you!



{August 2, 2016}   A great class!

Today I taught a new class and it was great! 

A while back I was told I would be teaching this new class, I’m also the only one teaching it, no pressure!

I downloaded the materials and started looking and studying, but I had to hold off on some parts and testing because there we changes coming. The classes also got moved from July to this week and next, great, more time to prep!

I worked with a bunch of awesome people to get the data set up so we would be ready today and it was worth it! The extra time and staying late to get cases built.

The funny thing was, I was going through all the scenarios so much over the last two weeks that I didn’t really pay attention to how I would teach, but then when I started teaching today, it all clicked and made sense. 

I also had a great co-trainer who works for the client and has been on the testing team so she has all these hear “real world” examples and can speak to b what works in the live environment. 

The learners have been great, some were apprehensive about learning something new, worried they wouldn’t get it, it’s normal,  no one likes change, but they all wanted to find out what’s coming and we worked together today and they left on a positive note and I think they’re ready for more tomorrow. 

I was jazzed,  it was great! I had my runner’s high at the end of the day! I love that!!! Can’t wait for tomorrow! Let’s go!



Yup, that was just today. 

I got to sleep in, ha ha. The alarm went off at 545am, normal weekday alarm. I snoozed until the backup 6am, for a Monday morning,  when I’ve had to get up at 4am, this was sleeping in!

Showered,  dressed,  kisses and hugs for Miss A and SDL, then off to the airport with a quick stop for petrol. Return the car, drop the bags and head to security. Surprisingly, it was relatively painless. I was early, but that have me time to pick up breakfast and get settled on the plane. Uneventful flight, whew. 

Head to the office,  work,  prep for my new class tomorrow, lunch with LJ, prep, work, meeting,  done for the day, ahh…

Somewhere in all of that, my big girl granddaughter, LB, had her very first day of kindergarten. When I talked to her on Friday, she was nervous, today…piece of cake, she loved it and she’s ready for tomorrow. Now, her little sister didn’t feel the same, she missed her big sis!! I’m very proud of her! Go LB!

LJ and I left the office, went to my hotel to drip my stuff and then headed out to have some pampering, a much needed mani. Let’s just say the trip there was not so great, awful Uber experience, but it’s over, let’s see how Uber handles it. 

The mani was great! It was vegan and organic and the best part…inexpensive for a mani! Looks good too! I didn’t even know that a mani or pedi could be non-vegan!

Hungry! Time for dinner. We went to The Handlebar,  a vegan friendly restaurant I had heard about. Let’s just say…just because it’s vegetarian or vegan, doesn’t mean it needs over spicing to make it taste good!  My mouth was on fire! No thanks!!

Off to the hotel, as I unpack I turn on the TV and I find one of my favorite movies was on, The Replacements. For those of you who know me, you know that I don’t know football or that in not that interested in sports. But,  you also know that I enjoy many sports movies, football for one and I just love this one! I took a minute to sit down and watch the last thirty minutes. Man,  I love that movie!

Now,  I’m talking to you, chilling out, watching Air Force One, great action,  love Harrison Ford, pretty good way to end the day, wouldn’t you say?



It was another good day. 

I got up and looked in and KS was gone already so I flipped on the bed and chatted with RJS and the cats in her room for a while. Then it was out to the living room for coffee and tea for more talking and snuggling with the cats. 

Then off for some breakfast and Old Navy,  she loved everything I got so we went in search of treats. She did get a fabulous shirt that was very her. Off to Target, I needed a baby shower gift. 

The request was for books, diapers and wipes, done! I even got a book for the big brother to be! One of the books was The Ugly Duckling, the cool thing is it was in English and Spanish. I was inspired to get SDL The Three Little Pigs, since she’s prepping for a trip in the fall to a Spanish speaking county. 

Of to the baby shower for CC, she looks and feels great! It was a very nice shower,  we played one game, but I enjoyed how we started. We all talked about how we met CC and one thing we love about her. That was very sweet and touching, really nice to hear what everyone else had to say. 

It was a nice shower,  everyone was very nice and I got to meet CC’s sister,  who’s been in the states for a while. 

We played one game, then we all wrote something cute on a diaper for her to look at when she’s changing diapers. 

After the shower, went to SDL’s, waited for SDL, Miss A and DJL. Dinner and then bath time while I drove DJL home,  back to the house and snuggle with Miss A, talking talking to SDL while Miss A feel asleep.

This is my favorite time, just the three of us,  talking, snuggling and just enjoying each other’s company. 

Now,  talk to you then crash,  alarm is going off early!



{July 30, 2016}   Good morning, goodbye, hello

I spent the night at SDL’s and got some good morning kisses from Miss A!

Could anything be better? Nope! I woke up to what I thought was a crash, nope…just her hitting the wall and mirror with her legs on the changing table, oh my! I’m up!

I got to catch up with her while she ate breakfast, we both wore a little.  Then I helped her get dressed,  did her hair,  got her loaded in her car seat, kisses and they were off! I’m glad I’ll see her tomorrow for some quality time. 

I was hoping to get together with TYL, but today was moving day into their new place,  so it didn’t work out. 

Fortunately or unfortunately,  that left me with some time on my hands…tax free weekend in Georgia…so,  first stop…The Children’s Place, guess who benefits from that! Next was Old Navy and Marshall’s, I think I am now officially “dressed” out! I can wear some of them in the fall with leggings and boots..ooh.

Then,  off to RJS’ for a visit, dinner and Slimer l slumber party. I did a fashion show for her,  like I used to do for my dad and she helped me make the go/no go decision. 

Then it was catching up,  eventually we got hungry and cooked dinner together for herself,  me and KS. Yum! Spaghetti squash, green and yellow zucchini and sautéed Vidalia onions. According to KS, I did alright by the onions,  fit not having grown up in the South! Why, thank ya kindly!

Then it was more talking and laughing. Lather, rinse, repeat! Until it was time for bed. 

All the while being entertained by their babies, Max and Maddie.

A great afternoon and evening. Especially since PSM and I mark our one year six months today. Happy anniversary. Xoxo 

Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings! I’ll keep you posted. 



Got your attention, didn’t I?

Well…the day started at ST’s house, I crashed at hours place last night when I got to Atlanta. We motivated and went to Waffle House! Yum!

I worked for a few hours then fought Atlanta traffic to get to Dallas and see KAB, Baby A and his sister Baby E, CS, Lily Bean and her sister, Princess L. It took me almost three hours to get there so I didn’t have a lot of time with them,  but the time was well spent! As many hugs, kisses and snuggles as I could get. Oh and the giving of gifts of course! 

I left just in time…as the no nap melt downs were about to start. Oh my but I do love those fabulous wee tots! Their mom’s too! And how much do I love my new artwork for our new place in Hawaii!! JJ’s ‘tweet hearts’! Those are Baby A and Baby E’s footprints turned into birds!
I left and headed straight to girls night dinner with two of my besties,  SDL and CKM! We had Thai food, lots of laughs and catching up and then on to the movies to see JB…the new Jason Bourne movie! CKM noticed when we were sitting, she was in a J sandwich,  ha ha. 

After the movie,  back to SDL’s, kiss the sleeping Miss A, talk to you and then pass out. Full day,  huh? Wonderful day! Let’s see what tomorrow holds!



et cetera