Mom - are you really home?

I'm home, and the girls are happy! 

As far as travel days go, it was pretty uneventful, which is exactly how I like them. The only issue was getting all that luggage home. I love traveling light, and so when I have three suitcases and two carry-on items, that is a LOT to manage. Thank goodness for carts at the airport. 

I got everything packed into the three suitcases and my backpack, except for a few things which went into the handy-dandy tote bag that I had with me. 

Packed and ready to roll!

Upon reflection, as I was packing everything, I realized I had taken a few too many things, both in the quilt and clothing departments. I must have had a few wild moments before I left. And I bought a few too many things, given that I was already tight on space. But all was good. My airline status sure comes in handy, and the one bag was 61 pounds, but I didn't care, except that it was a pain to get around. 

Since it was still early in the morning when I left my room, I tried to be quiet. However, when the suitcases don't roll well on the carpet, and they tip over as I'm trying to get out of my room? Thankfully, this was the worst incident on the trip, so I didn't really mind. 

Great Scott - the bags won't roll on the carpet.

I made it to the elevator, and then downstairs to check out, and waited for the Uber to arrive. I just warned them that the one bag was heavy, and I love that all the Uber drivers during the entire trip got out of the driver's seat to load my suitcases. They got a tip for that. If they just sit in the front seat? No tip. 

In all fairness to the Winnipeg airport, I thought I needed to get a picture of the tiles in the women's washroom. I always take a picture when I am in Vancouver, where the tiles are more intricate, but these ones are orange! 

The tiles in the women's washroom in the Winnipeg Airport

I must be living a very sheltered life because I had never heard of Corn Hole, the game, until recently. We were at a quilt retreat a few years ago, and one of the ladies was talking about a friend of hers who was making the bags for Corn Hole. Corn what? I had never heard of the game. Apparently, this friend makes a LOT of the bags, and since they have to be a certain weight, she has quite the system to make that happen. 

We were at the same retreat; they had recently had a wedding on the farm, and there was a customized Corn Hole game with the bride and groom's names. My own daughter rented a Corn Hole game for her wedding, and then there I was at the Winnipeg Airport, and they had a Corn Hole game set up in the waiting area. 

Playing Corn Hole at the airport

It seems that this game has taken the world by storm, and it's not new. If you go back in time, it is very similar to Quoits, which was first mentioned in an 1883 patent. In September 1974, Popular Mechanics published a pattern to make your own game, and the rest is history. Can you believe there are tournaments? World-class tournaments for Corn Hole? I'm way behind the times!

In the baggage area of the Toronto Airport is this very sparkly maple leaf. I'm not sure of its significance, but there it was. So as we waited for our luggage, which seemed to take a bit longer than usual, I got a picture. 

Very sparkly maple leaf

I noticed that when I grabbed one of my bags, the surface was wet, but there was no rain on either end. That was worrisome, but when I got home and unpacked, it was just surface water and had not penetrated the suitcase filled with quilts. 

As per DH, I took a limo home, not an Uber. It would be a challenge to get those three suitcases down the stairs to the Uber pickup spot, even with an elevator. The limo is right there, and there is much less confusion at the limo pickup spot.  

As I was getting the bags to the house, Miss Murphy spotted me through the window and went mad. She was barking and wouldn't be quiet. Then, when the door was open, she zipped out and wanted to get in the car. She equates my being away with being in the car! She doesn't like to be left behind. 

Needless to say, the two of them were pretty excited. Although neither of them looks excited in these pictures. 

MOM - how dare you leave me behind! 

Mom - seriously? Alone with that idiot again? 

But I swear, as excited as they are to see me, they don't really care that I am home. All they want is a walk! And later in the afternoon, we went for a walk, and all peace was restored in their worlds. 

I got home around noon and had the entire afternoon to do as I wished. Although I have a ton of work to do, I really wasn't in the mood. So the first line of business was to unpack everything. 

Any items I will not need or that don't require any follow-up work were put upstairs. The quilts that I need for the next round of events went into their appropriate pile in the living room. And the rest of the stuff got taken downstairs. Yikes—that is a huge pile of stuff that got put on the floor, and I need to process it later today. 

Stuff to put away or process today

Some of it won't take very long, as some just need to be put away, but some of it needs a bit of repair work, or finding something that was missing, or whatever. I hope to clear the pile today, but I still have two presentations to prep for the weekend. One of them is almost done, and I'm only waiting for student photos to come in. I haven't started the other one, and it will take a few hours to get it ready. 

Then that jigsaw puzzle called my name, and I had no choice but to answer the call. I had the two shades of purple to finish. These last two colors were the hardest, or perhaps I just needed to get my puzzling brain back to work. I had no choice but to assemble that line, and of course, I was missing a couple of pieces. But it soon went together. 

The line between the two shades of purple

And before I knew it, that one section of purple was together, leaving the final color. That was the hardest section of all, as the colors and shapes were very similar. 

One band of color left!

I even had to take the border section apart because it had not been assembled correctly. That's the thing about this puzzle: You think the piece fits, but it doesn't. If the pieces are in the correct spot, they fit smoothly, but they can also fit without being smooth. That is not correct, and you need to find a new home for those pieces. Some of the shapes were so similar, but not exact. It was the kind of puzzle where you count the number of pieces left to assemble, and the number kept going up as I reworked sections of that color. 

Reworking the border

But I had my trusty companion on the floor beside me, and I persevered and got the puzzle together. 

The puzzle is DONE

I really enjoyed that one, and while it was a challenge in certain colors, it was a lot of fun. It came down to shape, and in some instances, I took one piece at a time and tried it in various spots. There was no one section that I had left to do at the end. The last ten pieces were spread out all over the puzzle - well, in that final section. The missing pieces from that border? They were on the puzzle piece boards - I had missed them when transferring the pieces over. I got this puzzle from the thrift store! 

I need to take a picture of this and post it on Facebook in the CJPA with the keyword of the month and the box. And then I have one more puzzle I want to get done ASAP so I can post it. It's a special puzzle, and I can't wait to share that one with you. 

I was exhausted last night and went to bed right after dinner. I have an early-morning date with Brooke. I have to start taking responsibility for all those donuts. What is wrong with me? Oh yes -- I was enjoying life, but reality hits today, and no more donuts for a while. 

But as I was reading in bed, I heard Murphy come up the stairs and into the room. She looked at me and then went right back downstairs. I think she was just checking to make sure that I really was home. It was so sweet. The poor girl, well, both of them, are so used to us being home, and when we go away, they are not happy, despite having lots of company. It's never the same as when Mom and Dad are there. 

I see more student pictures have been posted, and I'll add them to the presentation. The participants did such an amazing job on their homework, I am beyond words with pride! Some of them stretched themselves to personalize this quilt, and I couldn't be happier! They did a stunning job, and I hope to start posting some of the pictures next week. 

On that note, I'd better get myself organized so I can get to the gym on time. 

Have a super day! 

Ciao!!!!