Sunday Night Means...

Monday morning the alarm goes off at 6:00 AM. YUK! I am one of those people that like to take hours to get up. First I wake, look at the clock on a Sunday and roll over to go back to sleep. This might happen once or twice. Once I am really awake, I prop up and read my book with my furry hot water bottle curled up next to me. Of course she is sleeping under the sheets where it's warm. I love to read in bed for hours if the time allows. Today was one of those days where I stayed in bed FOREVER. I also chatted on the phone with a friend and then took a nap as reading made me sleepy.

I'd planned a lazy day working on Xmas cards so there was no rush to get up. I had planned to put away all the Xmas wrapping stuff, a few decorations and other things that have been collecting since Thanksgiving in my daughter's room. So they will get put away next weekend. What's the rush?

I did finish the cards while watching DVDs so it was a nice lazy day for a winter Sunday. I also managed to do some laundry and make a crock pot meal for this week.

I hate Sunday nights!

Cold Saturday Night

I keep pushing the thermostat up degree by degree and now am at 70. I almost NEVER have it beyond 67 so you know it's cold out. I dread opening the door to hook the dog out for the last time tonight. Sure wish she would use piddle pads and not want to shred them instead. I keep telling her how much better it would be in the frigid weather but she doesn't "get it".

I had a million errands to do today but when friends called to see if I wanted to meet them at Borders and then go to the movies, I immediately said that I'd love to. We saw "Leap Year" and it's a really great chick flick with gorgeous scenery in Ireland. How can I convince my daughter and SIL to move there from Moscow?

While out, I hit some sales and already have some Xmas gifts for 2010 so I've got a running start.

I thought I'd curl up on the couch with the dog, write notes on Xmas cards and watch a movie on TV. When I turned the TV on in the den, all I got was snow. This is the second time in a week. I called the cable company and the first weekend availability is next Sat. morning so I was NOT A HAPPY CAMPER. I put a DVD in the kitchen TV (that cable box died mid week) and worked on my cards sitting at the kitchen table. Guess that's what I'll be doing this week - watching DVDs in the kitchen.

I am about to put on my down coat to put the dog out for the last time and head up to bed with a great book that I just got from the library. Once I get into it, I'll post about it.

My plans for doing some cooking this weekend have changed since I never got to the grocery store today. I don't plan to venture out tomorrow.

Height

I know I'm short but I actually am taller than Katya. Because of all the snow in the header picture by the troika, we aren't standing on level ground. Give it another year or so and Katya will be my height.

A few people wondered if Katya had gotten a lot taller.

A Week Today

It's been a week today since I flew out of Moscow and arrived back home in CT. It seems like I was in Russia ages ago. Sigh.....

OK, I've been back to work a week and it seems like I never left as I'm back in the groove. We are extremely busy and the work day flies by. I'd rather have it like this than be twiddling my fingers.

It's Friday night and T.G.I.F.

It's going to be very cold here in CT this weekend so I think I'll do some cooking and work on Xmas cards.

My Trip Home

The *#*#*# fireworks went on all night on New Year's Eve so I was wide awake all night on the couch trying to sleep and so didn't sleep a wink. Not a good way to start a long trip home but that's the way it was.

We had finished the packing late the night before I left so we didn't have a lot to do in the morning. I had my last blini fix. We were out the door before 9:00 and had a stop at the grocery store as Tami wanted to get more chocolates for me to bring home for a gift. The roads were deserted and she'd never seen them like that. We got to the airport in record time. After we walked in with all the luggage, we were shocked to find the LONG LINE. She'd never seen it like that before. After we were in line about 5 minutes, she decided to go find a porter. When she came back, he loaded all my luggage on a cart. Tami, the girls and I said goodbye and off I went following him. Having a porter has its perks as we walked right by everyone and went to the front of the line. That's the way it works in Moscow. After I got to the final check-in where I hand over my suitcases, the airline rep said it was $50 for my second suitcase. I told her that I had rubbles but she told me I had to pay at the Delta desk and get a receipt to give her. She kept my 2 suitcases and I had to go back outside the check-in area to where the line started. She assured me that once I paid my $50 and got the receipt, I could walk right past everyone and go back to her counter. It worked.

I took my time going down to the gate as the plane was an hour late and I had lots of time. I found a seat, propped my feet up on my carry-on suitcase and read my book. All of a sudden all the Russians were getting up and leaving the seated area. No announcement had come over the speakers in English so I had no idea why they were doing that. Then I saw a man that looked like he worked for the airport and I asked him why everyone was leaving and he told me that everyone had to leave the gate area. They all formed into 4 lines outside the gate and then airline personnel came and searched the carry-on luggage, pocketbooks, coats, frisked the people and passed a wand around them. A man in line across from me heard me talking to the college kids in front of me and told me about the Delta flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day so we figured that the US had new rules for all flights entering the country. The line moved slowly but I was glad for the extra security.

The flight was full and there were only a hand full of Americans. I read a lot and also had my earplugs in and wore my sleeping mask a few times when I just rested.

I took a limo shuttle back to CT and my friends picked me up. I walked in my house at 9:30 (5:30 AM Russian time the next morning) so I'd been up two whole days. I was so happy to get into my bed an hour later and get comfy in my fleece sheets.

The next morning I met my dog trainer friend at her business and got my little Liesel. She was so excited when she saw me and licked and licked my face when I knelt down. When the car drove in the driveway and she knew she was home, she was so eager to get out of the car. The entire weekend Liesel was my shadow and was always sitting on my feet or between my feet when I was standing at the kitchen counter.

Dasvidaniya Moscow!

It's New Year's Day at 12:45 AM and Tami and the girls are now asleep. I'm about to hit the couch and hopefully fall asleep. I leave for the airport in 8 hours and will bid Moscow farewell until my next visit. It's been a full and jam packed two weeks with so much fun.

I'll blog more about the week once I'm home and settled with my dachshund, Liesel. She's been away at what I call the doggie spa.

Happy New Year!

Red Square

Tuesday we drove to a restaurant Tami and the girls love not too far from the Kremlin. We had a delicious lunch and then had the task of choosing from the array of gorgeous, fancy pastries.

We went to the Matrishka Museum that another expat had posted about and spent some time there. Worth going to if you are visiting the City and have the time. Then we battled the snow and very cold weather to walk by the Kremlin. Rachael, Cecelia, Jack and Katya - It is the park that runs along the Kremlin wall where we stopped to snack and enjoyed all the spring tulip beds. The entrance to Red Square was blocked so we had to walk all around and went into GUM. We walked around there looking at the expensive shops and the beautiful holiday decorations. They erected a huge wooden slide that the girls enjoyed climbing up and going down quite a few times. They even had a 5 piece band playing and the music was all American. The cafe was outside in the open part of GUM so we overlooked the slide, watched the musicians and people. I ordered a hot chocolate and it came in a small cup and was thick, melted chocolate like a pudding that hasn't set. Tami ordered me a hot, frothy milk so I could put some of the chocolate in it. What came was lukewarm milk not frothy so I had chocoate milk.

While sitting on a bench by the slide in GUM while Tami and the girls went to put on their snowpants, I made some observations:

Russian children are very cute.
Why do cute Russian little boys grow up into unattractive Russian men?
Russian young women are very fashionable, wear very short skirts and especially in their bitterly cold winters, many are light blondes, many are a size 6, many are attractive and they wear the craziest stiletto heeled or platform boots to navigate their poorly plowed sidewalks and streets.
I saw one snow plow and one snow blower all day and it snowed all day and evening long.
There are no city parking bans so the plows can actually clean the streets from the storms. In the US, this would not happen.
Sidewalks are not cleared well. It is not safe for the elderly or pregnant women to be out walking.
If people park real crazy during normal weather, you should see it during a snowstorm.
People of all ages love to skate. I saw from kindergarten age to a lady in her 60's bundled up in her long fur coat and hat.
People don't seem to mind the cold as the streets are full of people walking all over the city, moms pushing baby carriages and groceries.
You don't see many old men but lots of old women. Men smoke and drink more and die much younger. See, we women are much smarter!

The highlight was the elaborate, cute structure erected right in Red Square for ice skaing for the winter (outdoor rink). Tami brought their skates but they do have skate rentals, a nice warm building to put skates on and a bag check area. It is the most famous place in Russia to skate. They skated and I enjoyed watching. Since I have not been on figure skates since Tami was around in junior high, I thought it was wise not to tempt fate as I would not want another broken arm and especially in Russia.

Some people really were skating too fast and when she thought some had been drinking she and the girls called it a night. As we were leaving, there was a group of about 4 or 5 that had sparklers on the ice. Real smart, skating with sparklers that could hurt someone of someone's coats. Only in Russia.....

She is going to take the girls next week but fairly early in the AM before it gets crowded.

We wanted to get into Red Square for pictures and then to hitchhike back to our car but it was closed off and guards would not let us through.

We walked back around the back of GUM and there was a winter market with lots of vendors and a wooden little sled track. Each end had a raised platform that the kids climbed stairs up so they went down an incline pretty fast (but it wasn't too high).

It was a late night by time we got back to the car and had the traffic coming back home.

What tears at my heart is to see really elderly women on the sidewalks begging. What a gut wrenching site. Part of their society. I also hate seeing all the stray dogs and cats and don't know how they survive being out in the cold.

It's late so excuse any typos.