Packing
Setting up to leave tomorrow morning for Mississippi. I always love spelling that state name. *laughs*
There's four inches of snow on the ground and more is coming down, the whole concept of 60° F during the day seems ludicrous, and my more pessimistic nature can't help but think it'll be raining the whole week.
So I'm packing accordingly. I'll probably wear what I have to to stand out in the church parking lot while waiting for the vans to the airport, but that'll probably be heavier than anything I'll need there. My eyes feel heavy and my throat's a little scratchy, but John's been fighting a sinus infection all week, and hopefully I'm just going to hold it at this level for the next week. I've done that before.
It's been a little crazy all week, but Jet's in good spirits. One of the best things about having folks come to stay here is that we haven't had to go through the routine of eating everything out of the refrigerator all the way to the bitter end. In fact, we're all going out for noodle soup tonight, and Isabel even rescued a butternut squash that I'd forgotten about.
My in-laws are the best. They're accommodating, friendly, and easy to get along with. We all negotiate stuff pretty straightfowardly and they ask a lot of questions about the stuff they don't know how to do or deal with beforehand. That's really really nice.
I spent nearly half an hour entering all the celphone numbers of all 20 members of the build crew into to my celphone. It's kind of fun that most of the married folks, even, each have their own celphones, so nearly everyone can be reached on the trip, something that wouldn't have happened even five years ago, I think. It's like the old Dick Tracy communicators, but everyone has one, now.
Kind of fun.
Both John and I are bring a rolling bag this time around as Southwest still allows a couple of free bags per person, thank goodness, and it's just nice to have the room and not worry about it. We're both right at 29 pounds so we'll have room to bring things home was well. I'm not going to bring much in terms of entertainment with me as I know how tired I get on the trip and all the things that I bring will probably just be left where I put 'em. I might bring knitting for the inevitable waiting, but sometimes it's just nice to sit back and nap while waiting. *laughs*
I'm bringing the laptop, as there's supposed to be wireless access in the dorm, but I'll probably only be using it to update here. I even have half of the next chapter of Twin Souls down, and want to see where that goes while I'm working, but won't promise anything. I now know that I'm going to get tired and make allowances for myself while doing this. There is the plane ride, too, but I'm pretty good at just sleeping while I'm on a plane and I'm driving one of the rental cars for the crew. I like driving and I'm good at it and feel happier when I'm driving than when I'm riding with someone I don't trust.
Tools were sent a few days ago with the folks that are making the drive down instead of flying down. Many of the plane tickets were covered by the Biloxi Bash moneys, and it'll be covering our rental cars down there as well as our housing. It's dorm housing with a kitchen for us to cook in. The Bash money will be covering our food while we're there, but mostly just sandwiches for lunch and breakfast. Jennifer, one of the ladies who feels her strengths don't exactly lie in construction, will be doing the coordination and buying of all the food for our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for those that want to eat in the dorm for free. The rest of us are probably going to be contributing to the local economy. *laughs*
Jet's happily building Lego mechaton from the book now instead of just whatever he imagines, and he loves the little marines, so I bought a bunch of parts from Lego as well to make more in different colors so we can tell whose is whom's. *laughs* He'll get them while we're away, so it should help a little. Wow. He just paid me for the shipping on them to make it easier for me to get them. That was very cool of him.
I think we're set. As set as we'll ever be.
It helps having done this before. It also helps having traveled so much I am not nervous about that part of it at all. We plan for all the stupid things that have happened to us before, everything from being frozen off the road to the airport to running into traffic, to getting there when the lines go all the freaking way around the airport. We don't assume anymore, so it makes travel a far, far more relaxed process. I've also honed my lists of what I have to have with me to just four things.
Everything else can be bought, through experience, I know it can all be bought and none of it is irreplaceable. That makes travel packing very, very easy indeed.
Take care, all. I'll see you on the other side.
There's four inches of snow on the ground and more is coming down, the whole concept of 60° F during the day seems ludicrous, and my more pessimistic nature can't help but think it'll be raining the whole week.
So I'm packing accordingly. I'll probably wear what I have to to stand out in the church parking lot while waiting for the vans to the airport, but that'll probably be heavier than anything I'll need there. My eyes feel heavy and my throat's a little scratchy, but John's been fighting a sinus infection all week, and hopefully I'm just going to hold it at this level for the next week. I've done that before.
It's been a little crazy all week, but Jet's in good spirits. One of the best things about having folks come to stay here is that we haven't had to go through the routine of eating everything out of the refrigerator all the way to the bitter end. In fact, we're all going out for noodle soup tonight, and Isabel even rescued a butternut squash that I'd forgotten about.
My in-laws are the best. They're accommodating, friendly, and easy to get along with. We all negotiate stuff pretty straightfowardly and they ask a lot of questions about the stuff they don't know how to do or deal with beforehand. That's really really nice.
I spent nearly half an hour entering all the celphone numbers of all 20 members of the build crew into to my celphone. It's kind of fun that most of the married folks, even, each have their own celphones, so nearly everyone can be reached on the trip, something that wouldn't have happened even five years ago, I think. It's like the old Dick Tracy communicators, but everyone has one, now.
Kind of fun.
Both John and I are bring a rolling bag this time around as Southwest still allows a couple of free bags per person, thank goodness, and it's just nice to have the room and not worry about it. We're both right at 29 pounds so we'll have room to bring things home was well. I'm not going to bring much in terms of entertainment with me as I know how tired I get on the trip and all the things that I bring will probably just be left where I put 'em. I might bring knitting for the inevitable waiting, but sometimes it's just nice to sit back and nap while waiting. *laughs*
I'm bringing the laptop, as there's supposed to be wireless access in the dorm, but I'll probably only be using it to update here. I even have half of the next chapter of Twin Souls down, and want to see where that goes while I'm working, but won't promise anything. I now know that I'm going to get tired and make allowances for myself while doing this. There is the plane ride, too, but I'm pretty good at just sleeping while I'm on a plane and I'm driving one of the rental cars for the crew. I like driving and I'm good at it and feel happier when I'm driving than when I'm riding with someone I don't trust.
Tools were sent a few days ago with the folks that are making the drive down instead of flying down. Many of the plane tickets were covered by the Biloxi Bash moneys, and it'll be covering our rental cars down there as well as our housing. It's dorm housing with a kitchen for us to cook in. The Bash money will be covering our food while we're there, but mostly just sandwiches for lunch and breakfast. Jennifer, one of the ladies who feels her strengths don't exactly lie in construction, will be doing the coordination and buying of all the food for our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for those that want to eat in the dorm for free. The rest of us are probably going to be contributing to the local economy. *laughs*
Jet's happily building Lego mechaton from the book now instead of just whatever he imagines, and he loves the little marines, so I bought a bunch of parts from Lego as well to make more in different colors so we can tell whose is whom's. *laughs* He'll get them while we're away, so it should help a little. Wow. He just paid me for the shipping on them to make it easier for me to get them. That was very cool of him.
I think we're set. As set as we'll ever be.
It helps having done this before. It also helps having traveled so much I am not nervous about that part of it at all. We plan for all the stupid things that have happened to us before, everything from being frozen off the road to the airport to running into traffic, to getting there when the lines go all the freaking way around the airport. We don't assume anymore, so it makes travel a far, far more relaxed process. I've also honed my lists of what I have to have with me to just four things.
- myself
- my purse with my ID
- my medications
- my nightguard
Everything else can be bought, through experience, I know it can all be bought and none of it is irreplaceable. That makes travel packing very, very easy indeed.
Take care, all. I'll see you on the other side.