For those of you that haven't discovered Crazy Aunt Purl, you REALLY need to visit her blog at www.crazyauntpurl.com (sorry the link isn't working) and read her April 24 post on forgetting attachments. This one reminded me of a time that upper management sent an email to the hordes of unwashed employees announcing a pot-luck Christmas party (THEY had a party in a San Fran penthouse and THEY all got cases of Dom Perignon AND bonuses, but WE had to bring a dish), so I forwarded it with a snippy email asking if we, the unwashed, were each getting a Christmas bonus frozen turkey (no lie, they'd passed out coupons for frozen turkeys the previous year), and I accidentally sent it back to the upper management suit. They didn't bother to reply LOL. Anyway, CAP's posts are little pearls of humor that never fail to bring a smile or two. I wish I could write even a bit as well as her, but I also wish I was 25, thin and rich, and ya'll know those haven't happened, so I'm not holding my breath re: any growth in writing skills. Anyway, I like to save her posts for times that I'm stranded in airports, and guess what, that's where I am. again. I've been on the road since last Saturday, and am in the middle of a three-week odyssey. I started from Spokane to San Jose, then Belize (yup, BELIZE!) to do some GPS training, then back to San Jose for my own GPs training, and now on the way to Akron.
The Belize part was SO kewl, and even better 'cause I got PAID for it. I spent three days in a Mennonite community training them to use GPS equipment to make maps. It was a wonderful experience, and I'm grateful for the opportunity -- much more fun that the usual training gig. Pics will have to wait until I get home.
So back to the present. Somewhere in the Midwest a drop of rain has fallen, and my flight to Cleveland this afternoon has been cancelled. Instead of getting to Akron in time for a bit of set-up, I'll be hauling my sorry ass into the Akron Motel 6 around midnight. Do I feel sorry for myself? Damn right!

Hope to see some of you tomorrow in Akron. I'll be the one asleep under the table.
Linda

Philly airport at 5 dark-thirty am Monday morning on my way back home from Allentown.

What sort of sadistic BASTARD would design an airport concourse with non-sequential gate numbers?!?! Really, you can see here than gates 2 and 11 are across from each other. Gate 9 is on down the direction I'm facing....but swear to GAWD, gates 8 and 10 are way, WAAAY behind me.

Linda

Good News, fellow Coasters! The luggage with my booth arrived last night -- just in time for this morning's flight to PA for the Allentown show. Yee-haw! I am full of confidence that I've had enough bad luck, and it shall be smooth sailing for at least a week or too. Many thanks for all your well wishes these past days. It's the dark early hours, and I've already gotten successfully to the Seattle airport, and even better, my next leg to Chicago on American Airlines has not been cancelled....AND I have clean clothes!! I be stylin' now! LOL

Linda

Finally I can upload the pic of the Holland tin and breakfast chocolate.

Just so ya all know that the week wasn't always a whiney mess, here's are some pics from our last day in Holland. Angela, the show coordinator always makes a special day for the English and American vendors. This year was a tour of a wooden shoe factory -- not a new slick, automated factory, but small family-run business in the country. We got to see the entire process, and then pick a pair to decorate ourselves. The day ended with a ride in a horse-drawn wagon, and picnic by a river.

Well, here I am in Zeist, and my luggage is (no shit) in ITALY! Seems that the Queen showed up last week and opened a new Terminal 5 at Heathrow, and no luggage through there has been seen since. Everyone in Europe knew about this, and it's been an extensive source of TV comic routines. Unfortunately, US travellers were not informed, So I'm still wearing the outfit I started in last Thursday. The lovely (if I say so myself, which I DO) bowls pictured previously were gifts for friends, and are also now in Italy, along with a carton of ciggies and a few other presents. I'm told that all mis-routed luggage was sent by train to Italy because they have the best automated luggage management system. Yeah, right. It will be interesting to see what the Italians return to me.

Besides the missing clothing and presents, the luggage also contained a lot of stamp re-stock, all the new designs, sample boards, and the GD'ed cover sheets. The Curse of the Missing Cover Sheets lives on, and once again we were frantically begging paper and stamp pads to make some cover sheets. Thanks to Heidi and Doris, we made covers for about 1/2 the images, and salvaged the show, so I didn't lose money....and I got to spend a wonderful weekend with old friends, as well as made some new friends. Marion loaned me a T-shirt, and another lovely lady donated another shirt to the Cause. And another lady gave me a BEAUTIFUL Nederlands tin filled with toiletries and a pair of socks. Soon I'll forget how upset I was about the missing sample boards and cover sheets, but I'll always remember these generous women and their kind efforts to improve my day. It surely worked.

Also on the Bright Side is the Hollander breakfast, which includs personal-sized boxes of chocolate flakes, which are to be sprinkled on buttered bread. Gotta love a country that starts their day with guilt-free chocolate!! For me, I just rip the top off and chug it down LOL.

I can't get the pics to upload tonight, so they'll have to wait until I get home.

-Linda

I'm leaving in a few hours for the stamp show in Zeist, Holland. I won't be back until the middle of next week, and then leaving for the Allentown, PA show, so don't know when I'll be able to post again.
Remember that chocolate is for breakfast, drive fast, and color outside the lines :-)
Here are a few of my latest felting attempts.



Linda

I spent most of yesterday stranded at O'Hare airport. Finished my book, ran out of yarn, and played with the revolving toilet seats, so there was nothing left to do but photograph these way kewl socks that my BF, Mary Kay, gifted me.