Quick trip to MN, then a cold

I took a quick trip to Minnesota last weekend, where my Dad gave me a cold, so I’ve been in my jammies for the last two days. The room has finally stopped spinning enough for me to write up a quick post.

I flew out on Thursday, and got to have dinner with Sweetie and her sweetie, Jeff (too many Jeffs!). Poor Jeff was in for a grilling, but he came through with flying colors. (My first question was what makes him good enough for my best friend, and his response was that he probably isn’t good enough – good answer! Not that he’s a not a good man, but no one is good enough for my Sweetie.) After dinner, Sweetie and I had some “girl time”, but I’m not at liberty to divulge anything that we talked about (like Las Vegas, what happens during girl time stays in girl time!).

The above pictures are my mom’s cats. Alexis (on the left) was actually originally my cat, but Mom got attached, and wouldn’t let me take her with me (actually, I couldn’t take her with me when I first moved out, but later, when I could, Mom wouldn’t let me). Allie has been a part of my life for 17 years, and I probably won’t see her again. But it was really good to see her on this trip – she’s gotten really thin, and has kidney disease, but perked up while I was there. I’m not sure if that’s because I was there, or because of the fluid treatments that my Mom has been giving her (probably the latter), but I’m glad I got to say good bye.

Callie, on the other hand, is a bit of a terror. Mom and Dad have a lot of antiques and collectables at their house, and many of them have had to be put away, because Callie likes to knock things off places she wants to sleep. She’s also a clutz. But she’s cute and fuzzy, so she does her job.

Friday I spent the day with Mom and Dad at the Science Museum. (That picture to the right is me reading science news stories at the “current science” exhibit.) In the evening we had dinner with my brothers and their families. It was really good to see everyone. Since I’ve been traveling so much for work, I haven’t seen them since the AAS meeting last June in Minneapolis.

Saturday, Mom and I went shopping at “The Mall” – The Mall of America, that is. I picked up a couple outfits for the cruise and mostly behaved myself at the scrapbook store (Archiver’s). In the evening we went to Red Wing to have dinner with Grandma B. She showed me the quilt she’s been making for me and Andrew – it’s beautiful (see pictures above).

Sunday brought the real reason I had gone home – Grandma M’s 95^th birthday! A lot of people showed up for the party, and two of her grandchildren (me and Karen) surprised her – she had no idea we were coming. It was a good day.

I flew home Monday, already coughing and a bit dizzy. Sigh. The last two times I’ve seen my Dad, he’s given me a cold. What am I going to do with him?

Tags: trip report