All right already.....

It appears the case of the missing blog has reached monumental proportions and guilt has overcome me. Let's see if I can weasel my way out of the mess I created.

Excuse number one: I'm too busy...

Excuse number two; My dog ate it...

Excuse number three; Craig put me in a time out

Real excuse follows...

In the last five weeks I've attended a 50th birthday party for my dear friend from Germany, Waltraud. I spent the week before the party making name tags for fifty-four party attendees. Of course, I put off making them until the last minute but that explains why no updates that week. It was a great party....Craig even danced!!! We got home from the party at 2:30 a.m. I did rock out some great new boots - which should not have been worn on the cobblestones. The heels definitely need some work done - but it was cool being over six feet tall!!

Two days following the birthday I flew off to Brussels with three girl friends. Brussels is a beautiful city known for Belgian beer and CHOCOLATE!! We went to one pub that had 2,004 different brands of beer. No...we didn't sample them all. Now chocolate was another story!!! We visited seven different chocolate stores and I ate myself sick (well almost)!! I purchased 92 euros worth of chocolate (I'll let you do the conversion to USD)!! The weather was very accommodating and we had a spectacular time! Two museums, three pubs and seven chocolate stores in 24 hours - it better have been spectacular!!

Immediately after my return from Brussels I had to psych myself up to attend a Halloween party. I do not do Halloween!!! Four of us - including Craig - went as the cast from "Grey's Anatomy". I was the patient with a real IV and everything. Craig, ever the good doctor, treated fellow party-goers with shots of vodka served through a syringe. Yes...it was another very late night. Craig didn't dance that night but I certainly wowed them with my moves!!!

Three days after Halloween three of us left Wrocław for a road trip to Berlin. We stayed with Waltraud in her friend's apartment. It was so nice to spend time with someone from the area. We visited some great "neighbor" places instead of just the tourist sites. One evening a group of us went to an old East German dance hall. It was amazing. There were people from ages 18 to 90 all out on the dance floor living it up. As we were waiting for the underground someone was trying to teach me "jump style" dancing. Why, at my age, do I think I can participate in such silliness? I'll try to attach a sample from You Tube. Suffice to say I've only mastered the first four moves!!!

After a week off, Craig and I headed to the mountains with seven other couples and their six kids. We had the whole lodge (called pensions in Poland) to ourselves (pictured above). One of the couples couldn't speak English but we all managed to thoroughly enjoy ourselves. Of course, we danced but also played Twister, musical chairs and had a scavenger hunt. I do have two blackmail pictures of Craig if you are interested. Because of the eight inches of snow that fell we had a few problems getting out on Sunday. Cars in Poland tend to be rear-wheel drive so it took a whole lotta pushing to finally get ourselves out. I did manage to take a tumble throwing sand- or maybe I ached for two days because I went sliding with a three-year old!!! It was sooooo fun!!! I'm not sure who laughed more - me or Tahlia!

I am now ready for a rest. But not before some general comments about my life in Poland over the past few weeks.

1) Had to stand in line at the vet's office today (remember they do not make appointments) so I could get Oliver's pet passport validated before I head out of the country. I sat next to an older lady with a duffel bag. I assumed she was waiting for the "patient" behind door one but when her bag started moving it made me laugh out loud. There were not even any air holes in that bag!!! Oliver also had it out with an 80-pound lab/dachshund/german shepherd mix. Oliver won!!!

2) This week I had my hair cut and roots dyed (I'm always brutally honest). As she was washing my hair, my hairdresser told me she hoped I would like the new color. oops...shouldn't you discuss that before you do it??? It was just fine...whew!!!

3) I learned about shoe sizes. I couldn't figure out why they didn't have half sizes but now know that a size 9 is 39, 9-1/2 is 40 and 10 is 41. Get the picture? Polish people tend to be smaller in stature and with smaller feet so shoe shopping can be a bit challenging. Other than the rockin' boots mentioned earlier I've held out on buying shoes.

4) Once again the market did not have potatoes. Go figure...

5) PETA does not have a chapter in Poland.

I am exhausted....who said retirement was so tiring???

Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving. Craig and I had chicken fajitas and I'm told someone was going to save me a piece of pumpkin pie. I would also be ok with some of Michelle's homemade toffee - is that enough of a hint?

See some of you soon!