A mother of three is always thinking about at least 5 things at once. What's going on at the present moment with each of the kids, what she has to do next, and what she is doing currently. It's exhausting to keep that much straight, and we drop a ball a lot, especially if those three kids are young and disrupt her sleep on a regular basis.
I didn't realize just how much I do in any given day until I went away for a weekend. About half-way through the weekend I suddenly realized why I was so relaxed. I only had to think about 1 or 2 things at a time! We had only two appointments the whole weekend -- the start of the wedding on Saturday and the start of church on Sunday. We had minimal luggage and our own rental car. So we could move fast and with little advance planning.
Turns out, taking knitting on board a commercial aircraft is a piece of cake. Security screening was a lot slower than I expected - the lines were way longer than I thought for an early early Saturday morning! When we finally got to the screeners, I had no trouble getting my knitting needles through security. However, they did inspect my scissors to make sure they had round tips, not pointed ones.
Scott had our suitcase, and he got stopped. After going through all the pockets and the clothes (I was SO glad I packed all my loose items, underwear, etc in ziplock bags so my stuff didn't get totally messed up), they finally fished around my makeup bag and dug up an old pair of haircutting scissors I had forgotten about. Those were a no-go. I had three options: go back out to the entrance of the airport and mail the scissors to myself, check the suitcase with the scissors inside, or leave them with security to be destroyed. We didn't have time to mail them. We didn't want to check the bag. The scissors were old and cheap. So we left them behind and hurried to our gate where the plate had just opened up boarding to all rows.
We had a smooth flight, but I didn't pull out my knitting because this super-skinny girl sat by the window, pulled the shades down, buried herself in her parka, and slept the whole way. She pulled her hood down over her eyes so you couldn't tell if there was a person inside! I didn't think it was THAT cold. But I really didn't want to wake her up by accidentally jabbing her with the end of a knitting needle. So I read.
We decided to go into the city once we got our rental car. We walked around and were pleasantly surprised to find the area a very quiet, peaceful, freak-free area place. They have been very strict about enforcing a no-panhandling rule. It was really nice to just walk with no schedule.
We arrived at the wedding location exactly when the invitation said music was to start. It was clear immediately that they were still setting up. So we wandered around the hotel for half an hour, then checked back. Still not ready. 15 minutes later, we finally were able to sit down. We waited. And waited. And waited.
Finally, the groom's aunt came out and told this woman in front of us that some bridesmaids still weren't there.
What???? It was 45 minutes after the wedding was supposed to start! She went on to say that some bridesmaids never did show up to a wedding shower they had!
Eventually everyone showed up and the wedding started an hour after it was supposed to. Turns out the missing members of the wedding party were an entire family -- the best man, the matron of the honor, a junior bridesmaid, and a junior groomsman (or whatever you call them!). Guess they couldn't have gone on without them....
The rest of the weekend was awesome. I did some knitting in free moments here and there, gave the Yankees booties to my friends (the husband LOVED them -- he's a huge Yankees fan), and caught up with a bunch of people we hadn't seen in years. It was so amazing to meet people who had been praying for Big Girl for 5 years and didn't even know us. It was just so great to spend some time just the two of us. And then it was great to come home and get a huge bear hug from Big Boy, a grin from Big Girl, and head butts from Little Girl (who wanted to nurse). :)
I didn't get the Yankees hat done in time. It's done now though, and I'm hoping to take a photo before I mail it to them. The logo turned out ok. I wasn't quite sure how to make it work with the decreases in the hat, so it's a little narrow and it's a little low on the hat -- I would make the rolled part wider and move the logo up if I did it again.
I went shopping at my friend's yarn store (hee hee - I guess the real owners might not like it that I refer to it that way!) and bought my first pair of circular needles! I also found some really cute yarn for a hat and mittens for Big Girl for Christmas. I'm really excited to start that project. I also got fabric to finish up a Christmas gift I'm working on. Then I heard on the radio that Christmas is something like 43 days away! Yipes! I better get busy!
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Nov 9, 2005
Nov 3, 2005
New Travel Plans!
Today I feel like Queen of the Hot Deal. Super Sleuth. Master of the Airline Domain. Ok, ok. Let me enjoy it for a few minutes! I just found the best airfare price EVER for our trip this weekend! I've been looking every couple weeks since July, and never saw anything better than $194 per person from within a 2 hour radius of our destination. With hospital bills for Little Girl's delivery and a few surprise expenses this year, we just couldn't foot that bill plus the rental car. So we had decided that even with gas at $3 a gallon, it was still WAY cheaper for 2 people to drive there than to fly. So Scott and I have been planning to drive the 11 hours each way.
I really wasn't too bummed about it. I figured I'd get lots of knitting done, plus I love a good road trip with Scott. It was also fun to think about the silence and ease of a road trip without kids! No whining. No McDonalds Happy Meals. No potty breaks every hour. No kids' DVDs playing the whole way. No whining. 1/4 of the packing and unpacking. 1/4 of the laundry. No whining. No hours and hours of kids singing silly songs like "Where Is My Hairbrush?" "Graham Cracker Song," and "The Wheels On the Bus." No whining. Sleeping the whole night without waking up to care for a child. Taking a nap whenever, instead of only when I can find 15 minutes where everyone else is either asleep, at school, or watching a video. No whining. Actually eating all the food on my plate, instead of sharing half of it. Eating meals at regular times at all!
But at the same time, 22 hours of driving and being gone 4 days is a LOT. And I wasn't looking forward to missing 4 whole days of nursing Little Girl. See, the body continues to produce milk for awhile after the last time you breastfeed. So if I miss even one feeding, I get full and very uncomfortable. I'll have to bring a pump to get some relief from the pressure (and to hopefully keep my body making milk as I'm not ready to wean Little Girl yet!). Plus, I love the kids, and while things can get pretty intense at times each day (like when everyone is having a meltdown at once and I didn't sleep well so I just want to sit down and have a meltdown myself), I really only want short breaks before I really miss them. Their smiles and antics are the best.
So Scott suggested that I check this week to see if we could get any last-minute deals on airfare. I am getting paid to participate in some meetings at the hospital, so we have some extra cash coming in this month. I figured that we'd think about it if we could find something under $200 each. The first three airports I checked were no-shows. I didn't find anything under $250. Then I checked my last option. The first days I plugged in were the same, but then Hotwire has this feature for flexible flyers where it shows other combinations of days and their possible prices. I scrolled down and suddenly saw this unbelievable price! I first thought it was a typo. But there was one that said Saturday to Tuesday for $97 each!
I clicked on it, expecting it to be a time that wouldn't work (the wedding is Saturday afternoon) or some ridiculous terms or one-way only. Or maybe it was for some obscure airport 2 hours from where we need to go. But no -- it was actually a regular fare leaving early Saturday, and I could return Monday or Tuesday for the same price! Going in and out of the airport we wanted! Scott's mom was able to make it work with her schedule. The price didn't change between the time I found it and the time I booked it. Wow! Then we got a car rental for really cheap on Hotwire too -- I priced the discount we get through Costco, and it was about $60 more than the Hotwire price!
So I feel like I got the upper hand on the whole travel industry this week. I have NEVER seen a round-trip airfare for this low, not even back when we could buy gas for $1 a gallon! Even then, the best deal I got was $110 round trip. I always hear about other people finding great deals like this, but I've never managed to pull it off! I'm so overjoyed that we're flying. It's so much better to fly 50 minutes than drive 11. Plus we'll be gone one less day! That means I have one more day to get this house ready and get everything done that I need to this week.
Do you think they'll allow me to carry on my knitting? They won't have a problem with 18-inch long semi-pointed metal objects, right?
I really wasn't too bummed about it. I figured I'd get lots of knitting done, plus I love a good road trip with Scott. It was also fun to think about the silence and ease of a road trip without kids! No whining. No McDonalds Happy Meals. No potty breaks every hour. No kids' DVDs playing the whole way. No whining. 1/4 of the packing and unpacking. 1/4 of the laundry. No whining. No hours and hours of kids singing silly songs like "Where Is My Hairbrush?" "Graham Cracker Song," and "The Wheels On the Bus." No whining. Sleeping the whole night without waking up to care for a child. Taking a nap whenever, instead of only when I can find 15 minutes where everyone else is either asleep, at school, or watching a video. No whining. Actually eating all the food on my plate, instead of sharing half of it. Eating meals at regular times at all!
But at the same time, 22 hours of driving and being gone 4 days is a LOT. And I wasn't looking forward to missing 4 whole days of nursing Little Girl. See, the body continues to produce milk for awhile after the last time you breastfeed. So if I miss even one feeding, I get full and very uncomfortable. I'll have to bring a pump to get some relief from the pressure (and to hopefully keep my body making milk as I'm not ready to wean Little Girl yet!). Plus, I love the kids, and while things can get pretty intense at times each day (like when everyone is having a meltdown at once and I didn't sleep well so I just want to sit down and have a meltdown myself), I really only want short breaks before I really miss them. Their smiles and antics are the best.
So Scott suggested that I check this week to see if we could get any last-minute deals on airfare. I am getting paid to participate in some meetings at the hospital, so we have some extra cash coming in this month. I figured that we'd think about it if we could find something under $200 each. The first three airports I checked were no-shows. I didn't find anything under $250. Then I checked my last option. The first days I plugged in were the same, but then Hotwire has this feature for flexible flyers where it shows other combinations of days and their possible prices. I scrolled down and suddenly saw this unbelievable price! I first thought it was a typo. But there was one that said Saturday to Tuesday for $97 each!
I clicked on it, expecting it to be a time that wouldn't work (the wedding is Saturday afternoon) or some ridiculous terms or one-way only. Or maybe it was for some obscure airport 2 hours from where we need to go. But no -- it was actually a regular fare leaving early Saturday, and I could return Monday or Tuesday for the same price! Going in and out of the airport we wanted! Scott's mom was able to make it work with her schedule. The price didn't change between the time I found it and the time I booked it. Wow! Then we got a car rental for really cheap on Hotwire too -- I priced the discount we get through Costco, and it was about $60 more than the Hotwire price!
So I feel like I got the upper hand on the whole travel industry this week. I have NEVER seen a round-trip airfare for this low, not even back when we could buy gas for $1 a gallon! Even then, the best deal I got was $110 round trip. I always hear about other people finding great deals like this, but I've never managed to pull it off! I'm so overjoyed that we're flying. It's so much better to fly 50 minutes than drive 11. Plus we'll be gone one less day! That means I have one more day to get this house ready and get everything done that I need to this week.
Do you think they'll allow me to carry on my knitting? They won't have a problem with 18-inch long semi-pointed metal objects, right?
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