Busy in November

It's been a while since I updated. There are two main reasons, which seem somewhat contradictory. The first is that I've been busy, and the second is that nothing has been going on. Another part is that I had some pictures from a brunch I went to with some American women that I had been meaning to upload, and never got around to. I will soon, but they are somewhat boring - more sculptures and art, blah blah blah.

November has been a busy month at work. We got a big shipment of food in from Ramstein AFB in Germany (that's where I order most of the food for the store I manage in the Embassy). We hire a huge 20' container truck with a frozen compartment. With this shipment I had to order everything for Thanksgiving and Christmas - turkeys, stuffing, pumpkin pie mix, etc. I have been through this enough to know what I'm doing, and the procedure runs pretty smoothly - with a few exceptions.

In addition to the big shipment from Ramstein, I was expecting a huge shipment of wine from California & the Pacific Northwest. I ordered the stuff in late August/early September, expecting a two-month delivery time. The Marines ordered some wine for the Marine Corps ball, which was last Saturday, the 17th. The shipment arrived on the 15th. Talk about cutting it close, pulling out my hair, and turning the remaining ones gray!

As if that wasn't enough, about a month ago I took some of the people from work to the "troll shop" - a man who sells Norwegian souvenirs wholesale opens up his warehouse to us periodically. The first time they tried to deliver the goods, the driver of the truck got a parking ticket. Of course, he didn't want to come back. But he did - the week after the wine came.

In between the heavy workload at work, I've still been trying to be social - although not very well. I had a nice Thanksgiving lunch with the American Women's Club, another nice lunch at work, and got to take home some leftover turkey to eat on Thanksgiving. That with some mashed potatoes, cooked carrots and a little "gravy" was my Thanksgiving dinner this year. And the day after, while most Americans were rushing about the stores getting trampled by blue-haired ladies racing towards the last Bumblebee Transformer, I was relaxing at a day spa, getting a massage.

I hope everyone reading had a great Thanksgiving. Drop me a line and tell me about yours, and if you braved "Black Friday".