Did you ever wonder . . . (posted by Ann)

what would happen if you woke up in a hotel room and realized there was a person in there with you? Well, I can tell you what I'd do because I did it this week.

And no, there wasn't a person in my hotel room.

But still - I woke up at around 2 AM and thought there was. I leaped up from the bed, screamed "Holy s*#t!" and grabbed the nearest thing at hand to hit the intruder. That thing was a water bottle, and I dumped the entire contents all over me and the bed. I turned on the light - and there wasn't anyone. I was so convinced I looked under the bed, in the closet . . . No one.

I got my heart rate down again, got on the dry side of the bed, and tried to go back to sleep. After it was dark and quiet for about 3 - 4 minutes, I heard it again.

Then we played this game. I turn on the light, or make a noise, and it goes quiet. I turn off the light and am quiet, and it's back again. A little tip-toe kind of noise. Hmmmmmm.

So I got up and worked since I wasn't going to be sleeping, and eventually about 3:30 AM I decided I could sleep anyway so I went back to bed. At 4 AM, I heard a loud popping noise followed by "Squeeek!". Then dead silence.

So much for sleep.

So here's my conversation down at the desk at 7 AM when I go to check out. Picture me, slightly haggard, and a young female manager. I tell her my story, and here's her response.

"We don't have mice in our hotel."
"I never said the word mouse - did I?"
"We don't have mouse traps in our hotel, either."
"I never said you did."

Pregnant pause, followed by her handing me my statement.

"That's it? I was up most of the night and that's it?"
"If you had called us at 2 AM we could have fixed it."
"How?"
"We could have moved you to another room."
"At 2 AM, I would have had to get dressed, pack, move, unpack - I don't think so. That's not a fix."

I won't bore you with the rest of the conversation, but let's just say that Steve, Don and I will be staying at a Marriott on one of our vacations, and I'm now assessing weapon options before I go to sleep. Maybe I could bean an intruder with my BlackBerry. It might even break! Yay!

In knitting content, I give you a FIP instead of a WIP. Fish in Progress. Aren't they cute? I hope Alex will like them, and the sweater overall. It's very slow doing the two-handed thing, so I'm not making as much headway as I thought I would.


Want to see something scary? Here's the wrong side.
This week the FIP and I are in Winston Salem. I can't believe I'm travelling on my birthday, but here I am. Seems the past few years Don has been out of town for it, so now it's my turn to be out of town too. Don't feel too bad for me, though, by the time you're 47 like I am you can wait a few days for a celebration.

Here's my favorite birthday present so far. I brought PlayDoh home with me (leftover Halloween), and Steve used it very well. This is on my desk at home.













Lani, hope you get that transfer soon, I know it's really hard to be away from home. Hang in there, you said you expected it by February. That's not so terribly long away, though it can seem that way when you are sitting and knitting in a place that's not your home and waiting for a call. I bet you are turning out some great stuff - remember your cable next week!