Spring approaches

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring! It feels like it, too -- cold, and windy, and yet with that freshness in the air. This coming week we have either a chance of rain or a chance of snow every day from Wednesday to Sunday, and that's very spring-like too. Still, it's not like March in the old days. Where's our heavy snowfall? Will that happen the last week of March, when we're gone? (It could.)

Yes, we are going to Arizona for spring break, it's really happening. We have enough plans in place now that I think we are really going to do something. Yesterday Rocket Boy and I went back and forth over whether he should rent a car and drive out here or fly out and then drive my car, and we finally hung up without making a decision. Then, this morning, I woke up knowing what he should do: rent a car, drive out here, do the trip, and then drop the car off at the Denver airport and fly back. I called him at 9 am (10 am his time) to tell him my wonderful idea and discovered he was on hold with Enterprise, having had exactly the same idea.

What can I say -- great minds think alike? or, this is why we're married? Or maybe it was the obvious idea all along, but we both needed a good night's sleep to be able to come up with it.

Anyway, the reason Rocket Boy isn't driving his OWN car on the trip is that it was smashed into a few nights ago, at 3 am, while parked in front of his house in St. Louis. Joy-riders, being chased by the police. They all scampered off into neighbors' yards after the crash, and no one was caught, and no one's claimed the car.

It's not in terrible shape -- the repair estimate is $1100, compared to the other car, which is totaled -- but he doesn't think he should take it on a long drive before it's fixed. So instead he's going to rent a minivan, so that we all have plenty of room to stretch out and not kill each other. He's going to pay for it (it's not going to be cheap). And my credit card will pay for everything else: gas, hotel rooms, meals and snacks, entertainment, and the cat-sitters.

Oh, one other good thing: Rocket Boy's plane ticket won't cost him anything. He finally has enough "miles" on Southwest for a free ticket. Whoop de doo.

It would be a lot cheaper if he'd fly both ways and we take my car. But my car is 16 years old and I need it to go on running. What if my car dies in southern Arizona? If we have car trouble in the rented minivan, we can exchange it for a replacement. So maybe this is the best way to go.

The bottom line is that it's important to us to travel, and expose our kids to interesting experiences. And we don't have many more years to do that with them. So it's worth it. Just a little bit terrifying, thinking of all the money we'll owe our credit card companies.

***

This week is going to be devoted to getting ready for the trip, so my mind is buzzing about that. Mostly it's a timing issue: when to do the laundry so we have the maximum number of clean clothes available to pack. If I do my laundry on Saturday and the twins' laundry on Sunday, that should work. I'll need to empty the fridge, so I must take that into account when planning meals. Must make packing lists. Must vacuum and dust and tidy up (for Rocket Boy and for the cat sitters). Must research hotels. I should probably make a reservation for Monday night in Albuquerque and possibly Tuesday/Wednesday in Tucson. Rocket Boy doesn't like to plan ahead like that, but with four people, two of them teenagers, I find it's better. I'll see.

Rocket Boy should arrive on Sunday afternoon and then we'll leave Monday morning -- that sounds awful, but I'll do the driving that day. Just head straight down I-25 to Albuquerque. Tuesday we'll drive to Tucson, Wednesday we'll hang out in Tucson, Thursday we'll go to Phoenix, and Clarkdale, Friday we'll see the Grand Canyon and start driving home, and Saturday we'll get home. Something like that. Rocket Boy has all these mines and canyons and things that he wants to see. I plan to be pretty flexible. I don't have particular things I want to do except for the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, which is really cool, but I know he wants to do that too. Oh, and I also want to look for birds, but I can do that anywhere. I'll just enjoy whatever I see.

Well, OK, I would really like to see a Vermilion Flycatcher again. They're such pretty birds. And maybe a Pyrrhuloxia, a roadrunner, a Phainopepla, various hummingbirds... there are all kinds of fun birds to see down there. Mustn't forget binoculars!

I decided I wanted a new swimsuit (for those hotel pools), so I ordered a Lands End suit from Amazon. I would have preferred to order it from Lands End, but I earned $80 worth of Amazon gift cards through the ABCD study recently. I don't understand why there are Lands End swimsuits on Amazon, but anyway, I bought one, it came a few days later, and I'm happy with it. 

I told the twins they need to try on their swimsuits. I can always grab the next larger size at Target, but I need to know that I need to do that.

The cats are getting their nails clipped on Tuesday. I see the orthodontist. That's all that's scheduled. I got my hair cut this past week. 

I have to finish the biography of William McKinley. It's due next Sunday and I certainly do not want to bring it on the trip! But I'm finding it slow going. I will have to make a reading schedule for it.

I have a whole week to get ready. Must not stress out. It will be fine.

***

This past week was OK. I tried my new plan of two days a week on each of these things: files, lifting weights, and yard work. I worked on the files both Monday and Thursday, and that was very successful. I got a lot done in 30 minutes. 

Lifting weights on Tuesday and Friday, on the other hand, was a total failure. Did not go near the weights either day. 

Yard work was mixed. I spent 30 minutes on it on Wednesday and was truly amazed by how much I got done. I filled the big compost bin with leaves and branches. But on Saturday it was cold and I didn't want to go out. I did take a walk, all bundled up. I don't like the cold wind that's been blowing.

So I'll try it again this week, see what happens. If I could spend two days on the files and one day on the yard, that wouldn't be bad. I should switch the days, though -- Wednesday looks like bad weather. So maybe I'll work in the yard on Tuesday and Friday, see if I feel like lifting weights on Wednesday and Saturday. I don't know what the problem is with the weights. I used to lift weights three times a week, every week. But that was a long time ago.

Cooking was mixed, too. I made Grandma Peg's goulash and nacho casserole, both of which provided a day of leftovers, too, but that's all I did. We had frozen pizza one day and fried sandwiches another. It's OK. We're having the stir-fry tonight (that I had planned for last Thursday). And I'm going to forget about the corned beef & cole slaw tacos idea -- I thought I would be able to buy corned beef at the grocery store, but maybe it's the kind of thing you have to make yourself or get at a restaurant. I don't know a lot about beef. 

I've gone for a walk on 7 of the last 9 days, which is very good for me. I'm not enjoying it -- the cold, the wind -- but there is no ice, so I make myself go out. And there are starting to be rewards, the first spring flowers and all that.

Most of the week was spent worrying about something that is not my business and so I probably should not write about it here, so I won't. I think there will be less to worry about this week.

It should be a decent week, with lots to get done, but plenty of time to get it all done.