Wild Holidays....

Sorry I have not blogged in a while!! Life here has been, well, crazy! Since I last blogged we have been on two trips, celebrated Christmas and New Years, and had a flood. "What?" you ask? Don't worry I will explain.

At the beginning of the month Dallas and I headed to Barcelona, Spain for four days. We went there so Dallas could take his GRE and got a wonderful vacation out of it!! Barcelona is a must see city! We saw some beautiful churches and got to experience their Christmas Market. We also had a chance to visit one of the last active monistaries in Europe called Montserrat. It was a nice get away for the two of us. Oh, and Dallas did great on his GRE!!

When we returned home from Barcelona we were already feeling the crunch of the next trip. Our annual ski trip was only two days away. So, we had to change gears fast. On the day we were leaving for our ski trip our electricity went out. So, while we are trying to pack and get out the door we had to call an electrician to come and find the problem. The guy couldn't find the problem quickly and as a result was all over the house while we were trying to get ready. During this carnival ride of a time he came to tell Dallas and I that when he was checking the light in our basement he noticed there was about an inch of standing water down there. Well, we couldn't very well leave the basement in that condition, because with it shut up for a week everything would have mildewed. So, Dallas went down there with a bucket and scooped out all the water. In doing so he realized the drain outside of the basement door was clogged causing our little problem. So, we called our housing dept. to have them call our landlord to let him know there was a clogged pipe! But, for now, all was good! So, the electrician finished what he was doing just minutes before we had to catch our ferry!!! Oh and it was a light fixture outside hidden in a rock that had broken and had water in it that was the problem. Needless to say, by this point we were ready for the ski trip!!

Our annual ski trip was phenominal!! The most fun I have had in all three years. The group that went was so much fun and very understanding of the different skiing abilities in the group!! I skiied everyday, but one. Most days, however, I only skiied until lunch and then took a break while everyone did their last two runs. We got a lot of skiing in because for the most part there was NOONE on the mountain!! We were also there for Christmas Day which was interesting. Lots of people skiing with Santa hats on!! All in all it was a great end to our three years of skiing we have gotten to enjoy in the Dolomites!!

Our great times ended there. When we arrived home on Thursday our landlord was outback with a couple of people, which concerned us. Turns out, yep, you guessed it, the basement flooded while we were gone. 3ft of water was standing in the basement for three days before anyone found it. Did our housing office call and let Gaetano know to come and clean the pipes? NO. So, he didn't have an oppotunity to clean them before the big storm! Augh! So, Dallas and I have pulled up all our things and have been cataloging and cleaning what we can since Thursday. Our little bitty house looks like a free market!!! It is crazy because we are doing all of this while we are trying to get our house ready to pack out. Which we are suppose to do next Wed. Oh and if matters could get worse, and in a place like this it can, our heat ran out New Years Eve morning. Not good since nothing was open for two days so we could get heat. So we are both sick while doing all this mess!!! I guess we are just going to have to move like it is!

I have lots of picutres from Barcelona, Ski Trip, Christmas and New Years and will get them posted soon. In all this mess I have misplaced the thingamajig that dumps the pictures from the camera to the computer!! So, stay tuned for some great pictures!! For sanity sake I will not be putting any of the basement picutres on the blog.

Hope you have all had a great Holiday Season!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!