Detroiters at Hotels

So I’m in a fairly nice hotel in the Shady Grove area of Memphis, Tennessee. Yesterday my day of work ended up a little early so I was sitting in my hotel room, on a chaise lounge working on some documents on my laptop.

My room had already been serviced so I was just relaxing and creating a PowerPoint document. All of a sudden a big angry looking burly lady blasted her way into my room. It was so quick, there was no knock, no announcement-I didn’t hear a key at the door or anything. I seriously thought it was a break in.

I stood up and let out a line of colorful language….”What the )(*&$% are you doing? Get out of here”, I challenged her. From behind her back she held up some big towels and said “I was refilling your bath towels”.

I said, “Oh, towels. Um, yeah, thanks”.

Since I didn’t throw anything at her during the misunderstanding, or even pounce on her does this mean that I still don’t have hotel creds?

The joys of traveling

Well I’m in West Virginia. I count heavily on my GPS (A wonderful geographic location system available ONLY through Janet Leppala at AT&T). I count on it not only because I travel so much but basically because even back at home in Michigan I have trouble finding my way out of a parking lot.

But yesterday I was backtracking on a trip that I had made the day before, only two roads so I knew I wouldn’t need to bother with the GPS. So after I made my first turn I knew I went the wrong way because instead of a small town I was seeing nothing but dusty coal mining operations and no towns or homes.

But the biggest panic was when, after ten miles I start seeing signs for a Virginia Hospital. Not a West Virginia Hospital but a Virginia Hospital. I’m wracking my brains out trying to figure what I did so wrong to end me up in Virginia. Trying to remember those old jigsaw puzzles of the USA, how could I have screwed up so bad that I crossed all the way into Virginia instead of hugging the Ohio border like I thought I was.

After I finally made a U-Turn it occurred to me that it was a VA Hospital, not a Virginia Hospital.

Yep, another day in paradise.

Julia's Silence

Well, I've gotta admit, I think Linda probably nailed it on the head.

Last week I took Julia and Jenna to the Quaker Church. During the first 20 minutes the kids sit in the Church quietly then go to a traditional Sunday School. Then when they went to their Sunday Schools I just thought Julia was being really shy because she didn't say a thing the whole time in her class.

Thanks Linda for pointing it out that I probably didn't mention to her that she WAS allowed to speak outside of the Church room. Whoops, I missed giving her that little tidbit of information.

What an obedient kid!

There goes my 'Grandma of the Year' award......

Little Quakes

Quaker fun for Jenna and Julia yesterday! Jenna has been to the Quaker Church in Houston for a year but Julia had never been there. We went to the one on Hill Street in Ann Arbor yesterday. And a full crowd there too-80 people!

The gist of it is: there’s no minister, no music, no hymnal, no books. It’s like the silent prayer at a regular church but it lasts the whole hour. The kids sit in church in silence for the first twenty minutes then leave and go to their Sunday School. There are little pouches with small stuffed animals and quiet toys for the smaller kids to play with so that they can keep still so we got one for Julia.

Well, since it was Julia’s first time I thought we’d practice and sit in the lobby for the first twenty minutes to see how she did.

Julia did great! Not a peep out of her and she sat still the whole time. Jenna however made it eight minutes and then she was about bouncing off the walls. Maybe she needs the pouch of quiet toys too. Although she did have Hoppy (Thor) with her.

But when it came time for going to Sunday School Julia was suddenly stricken with shyness. She finally went in and sat down after a lot of coaxing.

When I went to pick up Julia after church the door was closed to her Sunday School so I stood outside and listened for a minute. I heard the teacher say ‘Julia would you like to tell us about yourself yet?’. Nothing. Then, the other kids talked about a picture they drew and the teacher said ‘Julia would you like to tell us about your picture?’. Nothing. I guess she didn’t speak the entire time, but when I finally got her she said ‘Oh boy can I come back next week?’