Back home finally!

Oh, that was a busy Easter! And a delightul one! Where do I start, from the beginning? :)

I will be uploading many things to show today so please come back for several updates!

I received a gorgeous PS exchange from Sharon and a very cute PS fob from Milly!

And to top the good news, Nath in France got back the PS exchange she sent me some weeks ago - the number for my appartment was missing and our regular mailman is on a long sick leave, the one who replaces him does a very lousy job (basically, he delivers only a fragment of parcels and half the mail has to be picked up at the post office) and he (or anyone else who sent back the parcel from Nath) just didn't bother checking or asking where this 'name' lives. Nath is sending it back - and I am delighted it didn't get lost!

Also, a big order from the US that was undelivered during Christmas (again, I did not receive the first notice and when the second was delivred, I was in Norway) found its way back to the US after 2 months and I should receive it within the next 2 weeks. Double happy!

Post-surgery news: I am feeling super fine, no problems at all. Next week I have more tests and doctors to visit but all in all, enf of April I should have all the answers, diagnosis and decisions about how to solve this and that.
The day in hospital was so enjoyable, if I might say so, that I do not fear more surgeries if needed - small ones, I hasten to add! :) :)

For the bad news, this week my cousin's wife had a spreading spot removed under general anesthesia and while she will get the official result in more than a week, the oncologist/surgeon already informed yes that yes, it is melanoma. She's taking it fine as we all are despite the stressed thoughts we all have - we're waiting for the results and well, we cross fingers this will be treated and won't present a major problem.

Easter - well, it was an Easter in snow, ice pellets, strong winds, snow tempests. Unbelievable! We had -4 Celsius some nights. Next Monday, they're announcing +18 Celsius, so don't tell me that the weather hasn't gone absolutely nuts in Europe! :)

The stay at my father + wife was very lovely despite all the traditional preparations in the kitchen and all the dish washing. His wife has a stunning tendancy to use five times more the amount of dishes - well, she wants it elegant, but if you ask me, since half of it has to be washed by hand.... I've had more relaxing Easters :)

Judy, you asked about traditional dishes - well, this year everyone helped me and my diet and we didn't have huge amounts of food as it always was. I of course made stuffed eggs, different fresh dips and sauces, cheese balls in herbs and lots more. My father made lots of good main meals, pastry wrapped ham, some chicken specialties etc.

We took dog and cat with us for our travels. Kitty became sick after 5 min on the way to my hometown - I will spare you the smell in the car till we found a gas station, bought toilet paper, water wahed her sherpa and cleaned it well... we traveled almost 5 hours in car and she was sick most of the way. She looked so poor that I was in pain for her... She had saliva hanging from her mouth.... poor round, watery eyes... she didn't sleep one minute. Happy the dog was, as usual, happy or at least fine. I am not sure what stressed her that much. She's used to travelling - she takes the plane to Norway and back regularly without a shadow of a problem. It must have been a bad day - or she didn't do her "things" before we left home - but how do you force a cat, heh? ;-)

From my father we drove 2,5 h to my aunt and grandma - my paradise on Earth, as I always say. Grandma was 99 in January and now the changes start to be visible, while she still looks at least 15 years younger. But comparing to the last time I saw her before Christmas, she walks much more difficultly and needs a helping hand to put steps, her stick is not enough anymore. But she stills has good memory and I enjoy talks with her - when she feels for talking. It's easy to see that being that old is not funny for her.

Tosca was amazingly fine with all the cats (5) at my aunt. 18 months before she stayed there 3 months and made life hell for them. Now she let in peace the two oldest females which she used to hunt - and concentrated her efforts on the young one. One night we didnt sleep much at all with H. because the small one didn't want to leave our room and decided to go to war with Tosca. After the eventual loud meeting LOL! it was more silent till the morning.
The biiig dog had to be put to sleep last month and Happy was perfectly fine with the small female. He even started understanding that he should bark when someone is at the door!

Then, trip in car back to Warsaw, 5 hours... then we discovered that my 18 years old TV, a really good ol' friend, died of natural deaths... We went to bed at 1:30 am, got up at 7, were at the store at 8:30 am (I never bought any electronic equipment at this hour! LOL but I found ONE shop downtown that opens at 8), H. connected the TV set and a new DVD recorder (I love it!) within minutes, took a shower - 3 minutes, had breakfast - 10 minutes and at 11:00 we were already at the airport. Don't ask me how we did it!!!!

So it's been a very busy 10 days but it was such a good one. H. helped me so much so I could take it slow at times. And we had such a good, smiling, time together, laughing, enjoying the time together... :)

Watch this space for more updates today!