Hello everyone! Well, the performing part of caroling season might be done, but the administrative work continues. Having to do lots of stuff with numbers (I was never great at math), and also trying to do as much prep for next season as I can while I’m still here in the USA. I’m happy to report that I already created the new 2015 brochure so I can get it to the printers and back while I’m still here. We’re getting costumes cleaned, and website updates are also in the works while everything is fresh.
In addition to all the work stuff that I still have to, I’m trying to get out and see people as much as possible. Since I was away for most of the year, I went without seeing lots of friends and family. I got some visiting in during caroling season, but it was limited, as I was singing almost every day. Being busy now is good, as I know it will help the time to go by quickly.
That there’s the other part – I want the time to go by more quickly!
Miloš left to go home to Croatia on December 22nd so he could be there for Christmas. It’s been a little over a week since he left and, no surprise, I’m missing him like crazy. Yes, yes, I know we’ve gone this long apart before, and it’s NOTHING like those horrible times when we had to be apart for three months at a time. But three and a half weeks IS long when you’re used to being together more regularly. I like that we get so easily used to being together all the time – we settle immediately into a wonderfully comfortable and happy everyday-ness. With him overseas, we still talk every day, but I miss having him here all the time just to chat with about all the random things that come into our minds. (There’s that six hour time different to contend with now.) I miss our snuggling at night while watching Star Trek on the laptop. I miss him being here to help me with all the caroling administrative work. (He made the really un-fun work parts so much easier to bear by sharing the work load and calming my stress.)
But I’m also ticked off at Snapfish for dropping the ball and screwing up Miloš’ Christmas present. I still don’t have it to send him. (He knows what the present is at this point, so there’s no need for spoiler alerts. I wanted to at least TELL him what his present was, even though I couldn’t give it to him at Christmas.) I spent seven months putting together an amazing photo project that Snapfish sent late. Which turned out to be at such a poor quality level, that I couldn’t even consider keeping it or giving it as a gift. At that point, they put in for new ones to be processed with some tweaks, which STILL haven’t arrived. (Each order had “overnight shipping”, but apparently it takes at least a week for them to make the actual photo albums.) After dealing for the umpteenth time with their customer service, they will be sending an additional order directly to Croatia for free. But we are back to square one with their insanely long processing times. So it will process for a week or so. Then the overseas shipping, which can take two weeks. I guess we’ll have those copies by February? At this point, I’m going to just have to put one of the albums that are coming here in my bags to take with me when I go over. But I really wanted him to have this gift during our time apart. I wanted him to be able to look at it when he’s thinking about me. Snapfish “tries” to make it up to you by refunding your money in this kind of situation, but it was never about the money to begin with – I went in to the original order willing to spend that money. It was supposed to be this really special gift I wanted to give him for Christmas. Anyway, rant against Snapfish over for now. I’m just really mad at them.
But in the meantime, it’s resulted in me looking through our pics some more – on Facebook and in iPhoto. I always do that when we’re apart. And I think about how lucky I am – how lucky we both are – to have each other. He’s the best thing ever to happen in my life. Just a little over two more weeks to go…
