My Life on the road | Peaches Prattlings

{January 5, 2018} Nor’easter here I come…

Oh brother! I can’t catch a break!

Tonight, I flew from 8 degree Chicago, it had warmed up from the -2 when I woke up this morning, to 16 degree Boston. And by the time I wrote this, dropped to 8 degrees.

Apparently, I send out I love the cold vibe! My first project with my company, Michigan winter, then to Kentucky for summer, then Illinois for fall and beginning of winter, transfer to Buffalo for the remainder of the winter. Next was Boston for part of the winter, then spring, then back to Buffalo and then Chicago for the tail end of winter, then spring, summer, fall and full winter and then… wash, rinse, repeat.

And here we are at winter again. Either I have a penchant for winter or someone doesn’t want me to see the sun!

But… you know what happens when I get to my sister’s house, don’t you? Snuggles and hugs from EJS and MGS, so how warm will I be? Oh yeah!

{January 5, 2018} Hilton pulled it out again!

I don’t know if you know, but it’s a little cold around the country!

Where my dad is on Staten Island, it’s currently 19 degrees, Atlanta, where SDL and Miss A just landed today is 19 as well! Chicago is 5 degrees and where I am in Orland Park, Illinois, it is a big fat ZERO! Temperatures should have some numbers!!!

I got to my hotel yesterday morning and the heater was not heating, it was blowing cold, so I switched rooms. I set the temperature to about 85! Perfect! Tonight when I got back to the hotel, it was 1 degree out and the room was nice and toasty. But, alas, alack…brrrr both the living room and bedroom started blowing cold air, no!!!

I called down to the front desk and they told me how to fix it, using the fuse box and that worked on the living room, but the bedroom is still cold and instead of moving to another room, I thought I would sleep on the sofa.

The front desk called and offered to bring me a space heater and they did! And now, it’s toasting up the bedroom and I’ll be heading back in there in a minute. Go Hilton!

Sending you warm thoughts tonight!

{January 3, 2018} Nope, I want to go back!

It was in the mid 70’s when I left home yesterday and in the single digits when I landed in Chicago this morning. Just send me back!

When I was packing yesterday, I kept looking at all my long sleeve, warm clothing and then I’d pass by a mirror and see my shorts and t-shirts! Running around I almost started sweating!

I laughed with SDL when I showed her my parka and knew that this was my reality and vacation was almost over. Sigh…

I was wearing leggings and slippahs, it was fabulous. Got my bag and immediately put on my long socks, winter boots, scarf, hat, gloves and parka. Ok, ready to face the cold.

SDL isn’t leaving until later tonight, so she’s been sending pictures all day, not fair! It’s ok, I’m glad they’re enjoying Annie, the weather and the beach. Back to reality tomorrow.

And now it’s snowing. Winter is here, stay warm!

I wanna go home!

{December 15, 2017} Hmmm…interesting or humorous

Not sure what to call it. Nothing major. I picked up my rental car in Chicago, NY plates. I happen to be a New Yorker so that works for me. Next, I am doing from Will County, Joliet, Illinois to Kankakee, Illinois through Manhattan. Manhattan, Illinois that is. By the way, Manhattan, Illinois holds no candle to its namesake, just in case you were curious. So… New Yorker driving through Manhattan, Illinois in a NY registered car. andnow, I am in NYC driving a car registered in Virgina. Go figure! Doesn’t get much more creative that that, sorry! Oh…a few miles on the treadmill and day 2 of a new workout, someone please come and lift my shoulders for me!

{December 15, 2017} I tried it, it worked!

So…tonight, I tried a new dish that I patched together and it worked. Go figure!

Last night I got to my new hotel out in the middle of no-where, but 8 miles from the client site and that works for me! I was hungry, so I found this Mexican restaurant in the shopping center next to the hotel, aptly named El Mexicano. I was in the mood for huevos rancheros, which is not something Mexican restaurants make after breakfast time, so I was in luck.

For those of you who don’t know what huevos rancheros is…it’s a dish with rice, eggs, beans, salsa and served with tortillas. One thing is the eggs are normally over medium and the plate they serve it on is very hot, so I can usually break the eggs and cook them, as we know, I do not like runny eggs at all! This time, I asked them to cook the eggs over hard, and they did! I added guacamole and then at the hotel, I built my tortillas, it was quite tasty.

Tonight, I went to the gym after I got to the hotel and didn’t get to the restaurant until about 8:50, they closed at 9pm. Noooo! What to do?! If I had only left the hotel directly from the gym I would have made it. Oh well. Think…

Ding Ding Ding! Taco Bell, which I know people poo-poo, but I happen to like it. I also know exactly what their rice and beans are cooked in, vegan all the way baby! So…Seven Layer Burrito, rice, beans, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, guacamole, tomatoes. Is that seven? I ordered it without cheese or sour cream and apparently, this is called al fresco! So, ya loin somethin’ new every day!

I really wanted huevos rancheros and, ding ding, ding…Dunkin’ Donuts! What? Add a donut you’re asking! No! I’ll tell you! I got an egg sandwich and brought everything back to the hotel. I then opened up the burrito without the dairy, put a piece of fake cheese and sliced up the egg, then roll it back up into burrito form and enjoy.

Let me tell you, it was yummy! It covered everything I wanted, huevos rancheros: eggs, lettuce, tomato, beans, rice, cheese, what more could you want? I was happy and that’s what matters. Y U M!!!

{December 13, 2017} Gee thanks for telling me that again…

When you know something and don’t really need it thrown back in your face, huh?

I am travelling next week and one of my flights is home to Hawaii, going to spend the the rest of the year at home and we have special visitors coming to stay with us, more about that later!

Now, I booked this flight a few weeks ago, I waited too long to begin with since I wasn’t sure about my schedule, and that made it expensive enough. Now, something has come up next week that I need to re-arrange my flights for this weekend and going to Hawaii. Not a problem, get on the phone with the travel company we use for work and take care of it.

I do 99% of my travel arranging myself, we have a great travel port that I can select flights, cars, hotels, the whole lot. When it gets complicated or I need to change, rearrange, whatever, I call them, and let them do the searching, they can look at more things at the same time, they are incredibly helpful.

What I didn’t appreciate, after I told this person why I was rearranging my travel at least three times, he says “most people book flights to Hawaii in March”. Gee, ya think? All my flights from February to October of this year were booked in January to avoid the high prices. This flight was not and obviously, if I am booking tonight for next week, it ain’t gonna be cheap.

So…it might behoove, isn’t that a great word! you to listen to what I am telling you and why I am doing this right now and not throw it in my face that because I am rearranging travel it is that much more expensive. Wow, thank you Kreskin.

Anyway…after all of that, I am finally booked going where I need to and I am going to be home to celebrate New Years Eve with friends and family, that sounds good to me and all that matters.

On a side note…I walked a total of 6.85 miles yesterday. I could not get myself out of bed in the morning, my alarms were being funny, so…in the evening, I got on the treadmill and did 3.49 miles. I’m comin’ for ya’ 15k!

{November 28, 2017} I’m home and it’s date night!

It’s Monday, and after a great week and weekend, it was time to head home and away I went!

I boarded my first flight, settled in, connected to WiFi and started working. I worked and watched movies on both my flights, even caught a few zzzz’s, could be why I’m wide awake at 10:17pm Pacific Island time!

PSM was able to meet me at the airport, it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other, just about 36 hours! On the way home, we decided we would get some dinner and then see a movie.

So, off to the movie theater complex and went to Gyu-Koku, Japanese BBQ, a few tasty treats for dinner and then a movie! We went to see Justice League and we both loved it!

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you all about the movie, but right now, I think I need to pass out! I just sat down and my body is telling me what time it thinks it is!

That being said, have a great night!

{November 23, 2017} I’m Thankful For…

It’s Thanksgiving 2017 and don’t we have so much to be thankful for? I do! Where do I start?

There is so much to be thankful for, every day we should be thankful, I know am, but it’s interesting that we almost boil it down to one day, but that’s not even true, is it? It’s more like we boil it down to one day to shout it from the rooftops! We are all thankful in some small way each and every day, but may not express it to everyone. Today, we feel the gratitude well up in our hearts and want to share it with everyone and that’s why we gather together with friends and family to tell them how we feel and that’s what I’m going to do with you now!

How did you spend your Thanksgiving holiday? For me, typical, ha ha. Got up, spent a little time with the family before EJS, dad and ACS went off to the local high school for the big Thanksgiving rivalry football game. Now, this is what I call a rivalry, it’s been going on since 1882! Now, that is something! They came back at half time, apparently, the visitors were sitting in the shade and in Boston, in the fall/winter cusp, pretty cold!

GES, PSM, MGS and I had a nice breakfast of eggs and home made waffles, GES was prepping for what she needed for Thanksgiving dinner at S&T S’s house. GES and I talked about what to cook for tomorrow’s second Thanksgiving lunch with ACS’ brother and sister-in-law. Then…

PSM and I went to visit his family, first stop, was to meet his mom, aunt and grandparents in two lovely cemeteries, not far from my sister’s house. It was a nice tribute and a special time for both of us. He tries to visit at least once a year and he is faithful about it and this year, I was able to join him and visit their graves and hear wonderful stories, I was honored that he asked me to join him.

The next stop was his brother, SM’s house. There, it was several families for appetizers, then some of the family go to their aunt’s sister’s house and the rest of us stayed for a nice meal. His brother doesn’t care for turkey, so there is chicken and brisket. I had plenty to eat, don’t you worry! A great time talking, catching up, laughing and just enjoying each other’s company.

A few hours later, we left to go to S&T S’s house for their Thanksgiving dinner. My sister hosts the Jewish holidays and TS host Thanksgiving and wow! Do you see the cornucopia she made? And the Oreo turkeys? They have little kids, so it’s always fun to see what cute treats they are going to come up with each year. We always arrive at the tail end of dinner, just in time for a taste of the meal, then clean up, we seem to time that just right, hmmm. Then chatting and then dessert, sounds good to me! More laughing, talking, catching up, enjoying each other’s company.

Oh yeah, of course there was some football thrown in, along with Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant. This is a Thanksgiving staple and I don’t feel the holiday is complete without it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m57gzA2JCcM

After dessert, eventually it was time to clean up and head home. Jammies, games with the girls, movies and bed. I think that is a full day.

Now, since I’ve told you about my day, I want to tell you what I am thankful for and I hope you will indulge me for a moment.

I am thankful for a job that I love that affords me the opportunity to learn new things, explore strange new worlds, to boldly go…just wanted to see if you were paying attention. Thankful that it gives me the opportunity to travel to see friends and family and explore new places. It’s brought people into my life who I value and now regard as friends.

To my friends who are my family, I am so thankful that you allow me to be a part of your lives, to accept me for who and what I am, and I know it can be trying at times, but you don’t throw it back in my face and hope you know I value and love you more than I could ever say.

My friends in Georgia, who make time for me when I come to visit, do you have any idea how amazing that is for me? The fact that we have stayed friends after I moved away, is a testament to the bonds we formed so many years ago and I cannot imagine my life without you in it. Actually, I refuse!

I am so thankful to have a group of people in my life that have stayed with me and reunited with me after the thing that brought us together is in the past. I have my kids, who I reconnected with after a very long time, who love me and make me feel welcome and loved. I knew the minute I met them that I wanted them in my life and I was lucky to help raise them and the memories they have. And that they want to spend time with me, now, that’s the real bonus!

My son, WCH, who is as wonderful, special and goofy, as ever, has brought a girl into his life and now mine who I am looking forward to getting to know better. My daughter, TYL, a bright, fabulous woman and amazing mother, has given me a grandson I get to spend time with, love on and spoil with hugs and kisses, what could be better!

KAB and CS, who first made me JJ! have given me four amazing, wonderful and very special grandchildren that I have spent the last six plus years getting to know, love and adore. Yeah, pretty special!

PSM’s family. To them, I am thankful to have been welcome and accepted as a part of the family, it was almost immediate and an amazing feeling. I am thankful to be allowed in to witness the love and affection they all have for each other and for PSM, how much they love and cherish him, yeah, wow.

To PSM’s friends, they couldn’t wait to meet me, but they were cautious, he is after all, their friend and we are all protective of our friends, especially the ones that are like family. I guess I won them over, because the love I feel when we are all together and that I am included in the events in their lives, pretty special.

To the extended family in Boston, I came as a package deal with my sister, but I was welcomed into the fold and never felt anything but a part of their worlds. I was auntie J to my nieces and why wouldn’t I become auntie J to all of their kids? I may have mentioned once or twice or a thousand times how much I love that! As my sister once said, you don’t have to be related by blood to be family.

LaLa came into our lives almost thirteen years ago and has been such a strong force in it since. The girls have a grandmother that dotes on them and when they get to spend time together, it’s definitely a treat!

Then there is my sister and her family. It’s not a visit when I come to Boston, it’s just a weekend, yup, I’m supposed to be there and it’s like any other day and that’s the way it should be, right? I sneak in late at night, kiss the girls while they sleep, big hugs when they get up in the morning, laughs, hugs, giggles, tickling, silliness. How long are you staying? Why can’t you stay longer? Oh man do I love to hear that! Sometimes it’s from GES and not just the girls! Big sister/auntie love!

My dad, what can I say about my dad that you haven’t already heard? He’s funny, goofy, smart, clever, a fighter, champion, granddad/Poppa extraordinaire. He is always in our corner, no matter what happens and will go to bat for us when we need it. GES and I were so lucky to grow up with a dad like him and I feel so fortunate for my girls that they have grandfather as awesome as he is. I am just thankful that he not only loves us, but likes us, just as we are. Oh, most thankful is that he got to pick my name! Ha Ha!

To PSM, my friend, my partner, my love. The goofy, sensitive, scary smart, talented, geeky, gentle, sexy, guy that took me to an Irish pub on our first date almost three years ago who has shared so much with me these past, almost three years! I am thankful for that brain, that heart, that love of exploring, new places, things, tastes, sounds, sights. I am thankful for his spirit his sense of indignation when someone is wronged and how he will go to bat for what he believes in, there’s a lot more, but I’ll save the rest for him. Mostly, I am thankful that he likes and loves me just the way I am, as frustrating as that can be sometimes! He said he’ll take it, and I think he means it!

Lastly, to you, my friends, I am thankful that you take this journey with me, almost every day. You are curious to what I have to say, what I want to share and sometimes, you just want to laugh and for those things and so many more, I am and forever will be grateful to you. You’ve stuck with me for almost five years and I hope you will continue this adventure wherever it chooses to take us!

{November 17, 2017} My week…not the best in a Road Warrior’s life.

And let me tell you why.

I hope as you are reading this, those of you that know me and some who don’t, please feel free to laugh as I am sharing all of this with you. I can assure you, I was not laughing at the time these events were happening, but we have to have a sense of humor in our lives, don’t we? And as I’ve told some people, they couldn’t help but laugh and that’s ok!

Last week, I was very happy, I believe I shared the one night that I cooked dinner and did laundry! Does that mean my life is so sad that laundry and cooking,which is a chore for most people is a treat for me? Ha ha. A little bit of normalcy is nice. Sometimes, things like this make me forget that I live in a hotel.

So, I was happy at the Homewood Suites, when I found out I was going to be in the same location the next week, I got right onto our travel port so I could book the next week at the same hotel, no dice. Every Hilton hotel within a 25 minute drive from the client site was sold out, seriously! And no one seems to know why! So…on a recommendation I went into Wisconsin, which this hotel was 23 minutes in the other direction from the client site. This is fine, I have no problem being a short drive away.

Now, where I was staying was near an outlet mall, great for shopping, but…there is nothing else in the area. At the outlet mall, there was a food court with minimal options, I was happy to have that one night and it wasn’t great. The rest of the area, fast food, pizza and sit down restaurants that had not a thing for me. Even the restaurant at the hotel, the best they could do was take stuff off their salads, leaving me with, um, lettuce and maybe radishes. Fun…

So, when I looked online for delivery, I found something and it had four restaurants it was associated with, either pizza, sandwiches or Olive Garden. Ok, I can do Olive Garden, it’s safe and who doesn’t like salad and bread sticks!

It said delivery, but couldn’t figure out how to do that, so I called. Nope, well, they do deliver for a minimum of $100, what? Then you need to contact this delivery service to have your restaurant removed. I think that night I ended up eating cereal. Ugh…

I had gone to the grocery store the first day for lunch and got things that I could have for breakfast and snack on at the hotel and during the day. Once night I ate cereal and fake bologna and cheese! No, not a sandwich, well,maybe a bologna and hand sandwich! Ha ha.

The reason for all of this, is there are some nights I do not feel like going out to dinner or driving to pick it up, please just make it appear in front of me! I hope laughter is happening right now!

I had checked with the front desk, ‘um, I’m not sure, we have pizza delivery’ ‘oh wait, there is a grocery store, almost like an oversized farmers market, they should have things you can eat’ great! I went, it was ginormous and surprisingly, had some amazing vegan options. Even vegan bento boxes, I was saved! I would have food for the week! Wahoo! I get this healthy basket of food, and by that, yes, healthier options, but a nicely filled basket. See that use of healthy, ooh.

I get to the register, self scan all my items and what? They don’t take credit cards? Debit and cash only?! Seriously!? There is a cash machine in the lobby, but I don’t carry an ATM card with me, it’s in my bag, in the hotel. grrrr Maybe she could have mentioned that?

I ended up at Noodle & Co, it was fine, not what I was looking for, but it was edible and I was hungry. At this point, I am on the phone with PSM just not a happy camper. “It took me frizzle, frazzle, frick, frack, to find food” and a few more choice expletives. He was very sweet, thought being empathetic would be helpful. Um…I do love that he tried.

So, that was the food saga. I’m so glad I bought food at the grocery store earlier in the week.

Now, the room…it was a nice room, a suite. It had a living room with a sofa, desk and tv, the vanity was in the middle on the right, toilet and shower on the left, then a separate bedroom.

All fine, pleasant, clean, just what I expected. What I didn’t expect was that when I turned the heat on and yes, I needed the heat, that didn’t mean when I turned it on, I expected to get an arctic blast, nope, didn’t expect that at all!

I thought it was odd, so I turned up the heat, eventually, I just turned it off. That was fun. Finally, on Wednesday evening, I called the front desk. The less than confidence inducing front desk guy came upstairs, suit too big unkempt looking and all he did was tell me to turn the heat off and let the hotel heat the room.

He told me that the maintenance guys come in at 7am and I can send them up. I informed him that I didn’t want anyone coming to my room at 7am, but I would be gone at 8am and they had free reign to it. Guess what didn’t happen…

When I got back to the hotel last night, I called the front desk, she saw the note, but said no one had been up there and sent up one of the housekeeping staff. His suggestion was to turn the heat up to 90 and leave it there, um…

Next thing I realized that every morning, the tv would turn on about 4am, what? There must have been an alarm set for it to turn on. It didn’t click until this morning, the morning I am checking out. Who does that?!

Not staying there again, we can agree on that.

Then…my flight tonight was delayed, not a problem, I wasn’t connecting anywhere, so no worries if we were late. But, that wasn’t the case for some of the other passengers. One in particular, the guy behind me. Talked the flight attendant’s ear off, as if she could make us get there sooner.

His frustration also included pushing my chair a fair amount and when I glanced back, he finally realized, stopped and apologized. Then, we land, the pilot had to tell people to stay seated, we weren’t even at the gate yet. Um, that was a good three or four times. Then, we’re at the gate and he is up and out of his seat.

This was a rather unkempt person, I was destined to meet a few this week apparently. He was up, out of his seat and practically pushing people out of the way. You could hear him, first on his phone talking to someone, that they had better have his bags wherever he was going, he had f’ing interviews and f’ing this and that.

He kept saying he had a connection and a few of our fellow passengers said they did too, but I guess his was more important than anyone else’s. It went on like this, him bouncing and complaining for a good five minutes, at least, then he almost pushed people down as he made his way to the exit. Fun, huh?

So, needless to say, this was not the most fun week I have had on the road, but I managed to get a lot of work done and a lot of good work done, so there is a plus and when you are out in the middle of nowhere, less interruptions.

Oh, my week did include holiday movies in the background and no one could say boo!

Here’s to a great weekend and next week, a new week and guess what is going to happen? I’m going spend the holiday with family and friends in Boston. Yeah me!

{November 9, 2017} A new experience… And for some cookie dough!

I got to the airport today and asked a question.

This question led to quite a few checks. And it was all for cookie dough! Let me ‘splain!

A few months ago I was traveling and left over food, as I often travel with snacks and some leftovers, especially if I’m going to eat it at the airport or on my flight. Well, this occasion, I happened to have a small jar of peanut butter and it was taken away. Apparently, you can hide a bomb in the peanut butter or bomb parts, I don’t remember, to be honest.

So, I got this fabulous new treat the other day at the grocery store and I wanted to bring it home to share with my dad, since we both like cookie and I hope we both like cookie dough. Based on what I learned from him on snacking as a kid, I say yes.

Anyway, it comes in these little cup containers, like pudding, and it’s solid, but since peanut butter is too, I thought I would ask. I asked the desk agent when I dropped off my bag if I could take the cookie dough cups with me, she looked at me quizzically and then said she would check. I told her if I couldn’t take them with me, she could have them! She LOVED that!

Off she went to ask one person, no answer, then another and another, finally, and I wish I was fast enough with my phone to snap a pic…she was standing with two TSA agents looking at the packaging and discussing!

Result…I got to take my cookie dough with me! It’s in the fridge and dad and I will be enjoying tomorrow!

Are these things really worth all that effort? You bet your sweet bippie!

Y U M!

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