And I'm back

 Break was really busy and especially hectic once my brother and his family got there. I did a bunch of the cooking and I walked the dog a number of times (which I don't MIND, except I don't love the "baggie" part of it)

I did get some boba tea

 

 

And here's the dog; he's like 13 years old but still doing well and when he first got there he had to zoom all around the house and then run back to my mom and to me to get us to pet him. In this photo he's trying to scam me out of part of my (home cooked) cheeseburger on Friday:

 

 

But I'm home now. Got out about 16 hours before the snow it, but it also sounds less bad than what they were predicting, at least for Saturday. 

It was cold in St. Louis when we got down there around 7:30 last night. 

It was hectic on the train (of course; Thanksgiving returning traffic) and a couple of the employees were out of sorts (I heard a car attendant - not mine - arguing (well, more: complaining to) my car attendant; apparently they had been having a problem with people trying to claim they had roommettes or bedrooms they actually didn't have, and given all the rooms were sold....well, I guess it was a hassle. And apparently a guy who had been overserved AND already had a broken arm fell in the vestibule between two cars and it was hard to get him up and back to his seat between his broken arm (and apparently the booze he was carrying and didn't want to surrender). There were also a lot of loud kids, at least until Little Rock. 

So I deployed my earplugs and my Comfort Items:

 

This morning was better, even though I didn't sleep very well (loud, even with earplugs) 

After getting off in Mineola, though....Low tire pressure. Okay, fine, I got out my little compressor. It seemed to be taking a while and then when I looked closer, I saw the head of a nail in one of the treads (luckily in the TREAD and not SIDEWALL).

I seem to have bad tire luck there. A decade ago I had a flat on the way, and had to drive on it for a bit until I could safely get off (and fortunately at a business - in fact an insurance office - with someone who was good at changing tires and did it for me) and I had to arrange to buy a pair of new tires from a place in Mineola when I got back so I could drive home safely. Then a couple years ago I had a slow leak that the same tire place patched. Today, they were closed for the holiday but I found another, smaller place, and I figured since it was a simple repair, anyone could do it. Fifteen minutes and fifteen dollars later I was back on the road. 

But I needed to eat. So when I got to Greenville and bought gas (at a Valero that had the SLOWEST pumps I have ever seen) I looked up nearby places I could easily get to (I refused to get onto I-30) using my phone. 

There was a Waffle House. So I decided, heck, I could do breakfast-for-lunch and I have *never eaten at a Waffle House,* despite living 25 years in the South (we didn't have Waffle Houses in Ohio or Illinois)

 I got a pecan waffle and ham and a glass of milk. It was pretty good for road food, certainly better than fast food, and it's entertaining to watch the line of cooks doing their thing (I sat at the counter, the place was fairly crowded)

So then a stop at Albertson's, and finally home.

And I finally got around to deploying a silly thing I bought before Thanksgiving on a trip to Five Below. They had some Christmas Movie-themed dog and cat sweaters and when I saw the Home Alone* one, I laughed and said "I have to get that and put it on someone" and then I thought of my great big Discord plushie (and put the size M back and got an L instead) because he seemed so perfect for it

He has it on back to front and the curved hem for the dog's belly just allows his wings to emerge. I was thinking I'd have to make like big buttonholes on the back to accommodate his wings, but they are pretty low on his body

 This pleases me.

I also finished the waffle hat for the gift exchange and the hat for *myself* out of the blue-green sequined yarn; pictures of those will come later.