Planning, packing and repairs...

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

The trial run on rolling the clothes as opposed to folding was a great success! Hardly any wrinkles and I can get more in as there are fewer wasted pockets of space! I've found another shirt I can tuck in that is nylon; easy to wash and dry, and red for a change of color from black.

We spotted a leak in the street in front of our house last week; on the city side of the water meter so it was their nickel that made the repairs yesterday. And, we found a leak in a supply line to one of the toilets that could have been a major problem while we were gone. That's one reason that I like to invite friends to stay in our house while we're gone. Nothing worse than coming home to a water damaged house!

Today I worked on estimating how often we would be hitting the ATM for Euros; that required guesstimating the amount of Euros we'll be spending each day and also the anticipated ratio of the Euro to the Dollar. Then I entered all of the hotel bills into my accounting system; again an estimate not knowing the exact amounts and the conversion rate. But after several hours of diligent work on the computer, I now have a good idea of what we'll need to finance this adventure. Our plane tickets are "air miles" and that takes a big hunk off of the bill. When you're gone for two months those bills arrive and even though everything is set up for auto pay you still have to have the right funds in the right accounts. Good thing that I enjoy accounting!

I heard from our friends who live just outside of Paris; I met them while in Australia. We're meeting them for lunch on our first Saturday. They have a little three year old girl and a new baby boy born last fall; we're excited to see both of them!

We have four children who live nearby and since we'll miss the traditional Easter Brunch at our house we've been having each "family" over for dinner separately. The last one is scheduled for March 23rd. It's been a nice change and wonderful to sit around the table together for a meal. It's always buffet style when the family gathers as there are too many of us...we number twenty five with just the local ones! Add San Diego and there is another eight if everyone comes. Then we have four more in San Francisco and another three in New Jersey. But it is delightful when they all come for Christmas and sometimes for Easter!

For those who enjoy reading blogs, my twin sister Mary has resurrected her old blog from our twin trip in 2009 to Europe. She and her husband are leaving the end of March for a thirty day cruise (two back to back) to celebrate their thirtieth wedding anniversary. They fly to Sydney Australia for a few days and then leave from there. To follow Mary and Phil's trip you can log on to http://www.the-traveling-twins.blogspot.com/

Only 18 more days......