O'Hare Drama

Oops, guess this post is a little more than overdue, eh?

The short version (which I've gotten better at telling over the past week) is that some time between curb checking our luggage and the security check point that couldn't have been more than 50 yards away I either got pick-pocketed or thought I had put my wallet in my coat pocket but didn't (the fingers aren't as reliable as they should be these days).

Once I realized I didn't have the ID necessary to get through security, I completely flipped out. Visions of not being home for Christmas slam-danced through my head. I ran around the area where I lost the wallet, checking in with ticketing agents, janitors/cleaning people (apparently referred to as "scrubs"), and other sundry official-looking folks, periodically checking in with Jody, who was looking through our carry-ons even though I knew my wallet wasn't there.

After virtually forcing Jody, Vi, and all of our crap through security, I took a breath and resigned myself to a few hours of looking for the wallet before returning to Wisconsin for another form of ID, driving back to O'Hare, and attempting to get on a stand-by flight. What a way to kick-off a vacation, huh?

I kept checking in with my folks, who were getting to know me by this point, just saying "no wallet yet, sorry" when I would approach them. Many suggested I check lost and found, and while I already had, I went back down to file a report.

As I was doing so, the woman behind the counter asked "Did you lose something, too?" (there was another person there filing a report).

"Yeah, a wallet."

"What did it look like?"

"Black with a devil on it...?"

"Is your name Bridget McCullough?"

"ZOMG!!!1"

The upshot was that the wallet was found by a scrub, sans cash but avec cards, in a restroom trash. I have no idea how much cash I had on me, but it couldn't have been more than $50 since I'm a plastic kinda gal. I really did not care in the least bit about the $$, I was just so glad to have my ID!

Essentially snatching my wallet out of the woman's hands, I sprinted back upstairs and to security. The TSA agent who knew me and my plight took me to the front of the line, where I called Jody to let him knwow that I had my wallet back and would meet him and Vi at our gate.

So that is that! I guess I/we were lucky to get out when we did because O'Hare was a total cluster right up to Christmas Day. Flying into Hartford was a mess as well and we narrowly missed having to fly to Bangor, ME on account of the weather. Yeah, good times.

The good news is that the week got much, much better from there. A merry Christmas, indeed. :)

A Brief List of Things I've Forgotten Today:

• To put out Violet's dirty diapers for the service to pick up. Good thing it's winter and their living in the garage for a few weeks won't totally stink up the joint.
  
• My GI cancer support group meeting--it was going to be a casual and child-friendly white elephant gift exchange sort of affair but I had put it out of my mind since I thought it would conflict with Violet's nap schedule. Turns out we totally could have made it if I had planned for it and probably could still make an appearance if we left right this second but that is in all likelihood not going to happen.

In other news, I am still riding a major high from booking our flight and hotel for our spring break trip to Puerto Rico. Please leave any and all advice, suggestions, and recommendations in the comments.

Craaaaaaaaap.

I had to pay $49.95 to get a warantee good for phone support for two weeks on the laptop that I knew had to be looked at by an actual person since the hard drive wasn't firing up (I wish the phone support guy could go off script for TWO SECONDS and listen to me vs. saying "your display is bad, please back up your hard drive..." Um, guy, I would if it weren't for the fact that more is wrong than just the display).

Long story longer, posting will be sparse over the next week or two. The up side is that my house might actually get organized between now and then. Either that or I will watch my weight in TiVo.

Also, It was snowing when we landed in Madison today (returning from trip to see family in SC--more on that later). See above.

Catching Up

I'm way overdue for a recap of our week back east (and I know the longer I put it off, the less likely I am to actually do it), but that's going to take more time than I have this second, so let me give you the wee-cap:

1. Violet was a-MAZ-ing on both the flights out and back. Seriously. I've said it before and I'll say it again: we SO won the baby lottery.
   
2. They both said "I do."
   
3. My friends rule.
   
4. So does my family.

Fancy!

Matty and Amanda got married!!!

Travelin' Toddlers

Calling all parents! We are going to be taking our first trip via air with Vi this week. Rather than save a few bucks, we decided to bite the bullet and get her her own seat because while a 6 month old does well in a lap, a 15 month old does not. Not my mine, anyhow (referring to both baby and lap).

Please leave any and all insider tips you may have picked up along the way in the comments--thx!