How to Get Ready to Go on Vacation

I am not a particularly fastidious person. I do like things nice and tidy, but I can easily sit for an hour or so knitting knowing that there are dishes in the sink or clothes that needs folding. The one exception to my somewhat laid back approach to housework is the day before we go on vacation. We just came back from Nebraska a little more than a week ago, but we are heading up to my parents' home in northern California tomorrow for one last visit before school starts.

So what did I do today? Well, let's see. I trimmed our grapefruit tree, pruned my roses, pulled some weeds, edged the front lawn, helped Kai really clean his room, and picked every last peach on the peach tree and make three peach crisps using the delicious recipe I got from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I didn't bake the cookies. I had Paige do that for me, so that we'd have some snacks for our eleven-hour car ride. I think there are two left now.

I reconciled our check book with our latest statement. (The one that's been sitting in my bill box since we got home over a week ago.) I momentarily believed that I was about to be three thousand dollars overdrawn because I decided to call the bank to make sure that a big Visa payment that I'd sent in had cleared. The automated teller said that that check hadn't "appeared in the last thirty days" But when I checked my account balance it was down really low, like there was no way I could have covered an in-coming three thousand dollar check with the amount that was left. I felt my heart starting to pound, and then I thought to myself, "There is no way, you could have made that big of a mistake in your checkbook." I calmly checked my figures again and called the bank to talk to a real person. She said, "Oh yes, that check went through already, it was just automated, so it doesn't appear as a "check." Whatever! I was just relieved.

After that little incident, I decided to call the college where I often teach a night class to tell them that I could teach one night a week this fall. I had thought about saying no, had even planned to say no, but I decided that a little extra money is nice and one night shouldn't be too bad....I guess.

I called my university to see if I owed more money since my Master's in in the middle of being evaluted. She said that I owed another $212. That's better than $650, but I'm ready to quit giving the University of California educational system so much of my hard-earned cash. The good news was that my mentor has approved my thesis, and it has been passed to the second reader. I'll keep my fingers crossed, but I think I may actually be finished.

Somewhere in between there I packed for Kai because he went to a Dodger game with a friend and his family and won't be home until after midnight tonight. (Funny aside, he called and told me that every time Barry Bonds came up to bat, the stadium boo-ed like crazy. He was impressed with that.)

I also packed for Russ and me although I must admit that Russ did all of the laundry today because that's another quirk I have, that all of our laundry must be clean before we leave on even a short vacation. (I'll also admit that we got a new washer in May, and I have yet to do one load in it.)

It's now eleven-thirty, and I don't think we'll leave that early tomorrow. I won't be able to sleep until Kai is home safe and sound, so I think I'll just settle back and work on my sock.