Preparing to go out of town can be quite overwhelming. In a perfect world I would like to have the house clean from top to bottom, the bags packed, the bills paid with all the T's crossed and the I's dotted and ample time to spare. I hate staying up late the night before a trip, my mind buzzing with all of the things that I still need to accomplish before I can actually leave. I had a pretty good system down before Mason but I have had to adjust my expectations just a bit. I gave up on having the house clean. The goal was to be packed in time to leave! I started pulling things together a week ago. I had a little pile of clothes and diapers in Mason's room. There was a snack pile on the kitchen counter. The portable DVD player was charged and movies were gathered. Little by little I prepared for our Arizona vacation. The day before our trip I loaded the suitcases and decided to do 2 quick loads of laundry so I wouldn't have to do so much when we returned. I was so proud of how well I had prepared and was feeling good about where I stood. I put the first load of laundry in and ran upstairs. I chatted with my friend for 30 minutes or so about our upcoming vacation and how excited we were. Then I headed back down so I could attend parent teacher conferences at the jr. high. As I hit the bottom of the stairs all I could see was water...everywhere! The hose had pulled loose from the drain and the water from the entire cycle was covering my tile, and my wood. It was in the office, the bathroom, the mud room, the laundry room, the coat closet and the hall. Lucky for me, none of it was on the carpet. I grabbed my wet vac and started sucking. You know when you pour water into a tiny little cup so when your toddler spills it doesn't make too big of a mess but you are still surprised how big of a mess that tiny little cup of water can make? Magnify that about a zillion times! And, add floating dust bunnies and lint from under the washer and the dryer. I had a monster size mess. Russell got home from work somewhere in the middle of this small little crisis and offered to clean while I went to parent teacher conferences. Before I could finish there he sent me a text that the storage room in the basement was also flooded and as he attempted to pull things out of the coat closet a shelf collapsed and I was left with quite a mess.
I finally felt prepared to leave for a trip and then had to deal with this! I guess it is a good thing I was prepared. I would have still done the laundry, still had the mess and still had to pack so oh well. There are worse things that can happen. I had been meaning to clean the coat closet. Just not quite yet. The floors did need mopping. Just not with quite so much water. We mostly got the main floor situated but we will have to put the storage room back together when we get home.
It wasn't all a bad day. I was overwhelmed at parent teacher by the compliments I received about my oldest. You spend so much time teaching and encouraging and hoping and praying that your children will choose the right and be good people. It is nice to hear that when they are away from you they choose to be kind, polite, responsible. There are huge paydays that come from this crazy job of parenthood.
And speaking of parenthood, we welcomed a new cousin and nephew that very same day(March 3rd)...Bridger Payton Wilde. There is nothing like holding a new little baby. He is so cute and I am SO happy for my baby sister, Emily. We fully intended to wait in the lobby while those of us who were 12 and older got to visit with him but we walked right in and no one asked us to leave. My kids were thrilled that they were able to bypass the hospital rules and actually get to see him.
Since this post is about things other than the plan I would like to vent for just a minute about yesterday's airport challenge. Apparently, as of February 28th, Russell no longer has Silver Medallion status for Delta. I have not charged enough on our American Express. Hello, bad economy, cutting back. We got to pay, for the first time ever, to check our bags. I am SO bugged that it was $60 to take clothes to wear on our vacation! Irritating...annoying...what can I do? Not a thing. I am so tired of getting nickeled and dimed everywhere I go. I know times are tough for everyone. I try to understand but it still bothers me! Enough said.
So, things didn't go quite as planned but no worries. I am sitting in sunny Arizona, Mason is asleep, the other boys are at the Dodger/White Sox game, I am heading out to the pool to catch a few rays and I will watch my son play in his first game of the year this evening. Somehow, it all works out!
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