Tag Archives: vacation

Staycation

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Like many, we haven’t traveled on vacation for several years. This year has had lots of ups and downs. The downtimes left me only wanting a change of scenery. But when it came to the details and planning, we decided to keep it simple and stay home. A #staycation. We chose a Thursday, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday around our wedding anniversary. With the weekend, we had six days.

Much like a vacation, it took me about a day to really get into vacation mode. Alarms for getting up were turned off. We decided that we wouldn’t cook much, had several of our meals out, spent our days hanging around the pool, and not overplanning every day. We did play pickleball one day, went to a community theater production of Sound of Music, and enjoyed a hymn-sing at our church. As easy as it would have been to fill our time with projects around the house, we only chose a couple and moved them forward. On the day it rained, we ran errands and took care of a couple things.

Our days were comfortable and easy. We spent time in the pool, reading, talking, and laughing. At the end of our days, we climbed out of our saline pool, lotioned up from a solid dose of sunshine, enjoyed a good dinner, and then headed back home to curl up together. It was a delightful time. One I will cherish.

Unlike leaving for #vacation and coming home, there was no packing and no unpacking, and then repacking to come home, we just unplugged and shifted gears. Our change of pace and schedules thoroughly confused our dog, Eli. He didn’t know what to do with himself.

It was a great vacation, even if we didn’t go anywhere.

All the best,

KK

It’s like wearing clean underwear

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There are habits and characteristics we take on as adults that we probably don’t realize come from our parents. How many times have you said something to your child and had the immediate thought, “I just sounded like my mother?” My mother has always believed in a spotless house. She can find dust before the dust bunnies. I’m not sure her three daughters caught the “house-cleaning” gene. Don’t get me wrong, we all like a clean house, but we generally aren’t as obsessive about it unless visitors are coming. In addition to day to day straightening, once a month our home gets a good top to bottom vacuum, dust and bathroom clean-up. For me the big house-cleaning-white-tornado comes with visitors or our leaving town. It’s like wearing clean underwear. What if something happened while we were away and somebody had to go into the house?

house-cleaning

**Not my house

There have been times that I have been known to literally vacuum our way out the door. In addition to all the preparations there are in leaving for a short weekend trip or a full vacation, I feel it necessary to clean the house. And even if we leave at five in the morning, the beds are made before our departure.

Of all the quirks I could have inherited, this is a productive one and my husband is wonderfully patient with me about it. As I see it there are two good outcomes from this habit.

First, like I said, should something happen and someone need to come into our home while we are away, they will find order and cleanliness. This can only help with the matter that has brought them there.

Secondly, when we come home, we come home to a clean house. We can ease back into reality of work or school without having to do anything around the house. It’s like extending vacation-mode a little longer.

KK

The Thrill of Delivery

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Today is October 30, 2014.

My first email this morning was amazing. It was from the Franklin Covey Company informing me that my 2015 planner had been shipped!! [Please note, I will not be running down the street in Steve Martin new-telephone-book-style when it arrives, but I might just do the Snoopy dance in my foyer.] This along with the fact that I have to go to Staples today for some paper clips, ink and envelopes makes me smile. It’s like back to school day for a forty-something year old!! Of course, knowing my new planner is on its way and that it’s the end of the month moved me to examine the current state of the 2014 planner.

snoopy dance

The fourth quarter pages were inserted with the previous months being removed. Then I ventured to review my 2014 goals pages. Not too shabby. Several items checked off while others will move forward into 2015.

This all may sound juvenile to some, but come on, we are all grown up and completely responsible for our commitments to raising a family and bringing home the funds to care for them. We must have those moments in day, week or month that just let us experience child-like excitement.

What stirs your child-like thrill? Don’t have one? Go find one, they can be located on the playgrounds or neighborhoods when the ice cream truck music wafts through the air. Or when the first snowflakes fall and the snow day announcement comes. This high level thrill can also be found when that ONE gift is opened at Christmas or birthday; the thing they never thought would arrive. Or find yourself outside a school on the last day at the last bell. You’ll see the excitement that drifts from our scheduled behavior somewhere in our mid-twenties.

Give it a listen and let me know if you don’t find yourself a little happier in your heart.

 Linus and Lucy piano Peanuts theme song Vince Guaraldi

All the best,

KK

Going on Vacation? Don’t forget to call the bank…

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mickey on vacaLike many others, we planned a summer vacation. Being a list maker, I started the pre-trip to-do list based on our plans and how long we were going to be gone. The kennel was called, the days-off were requested, hotel rooms reserved, triple A was called for tour books and a budget established; all the things necessary for a fun few days away.

All of the items on the listed were checked off and in order to be fiscally responsible we decided to put our vacation cash in the checking account and use our debit card. About two days into our trip, my husband tried to use my debit card to purchase our tickets for a boat tour in Chicago. The charge was denied.  We called the bank.

We have to give kudos to our bank, Republic Bank & Trust, for putting us through to a service representative (live and English speaking) who was kind and understanding.  I went through and answered a half dozen security questions and took what felt like a quiz about my work history. After passing with flying colors, she informed me that by using our card to make out of town purchases, it raised security flags and since they didn’t know we were out of town, the charges were denied.

That’s what I forgot to put on my pre-trip list, call the bank!  The bank representative asked where I was and when I would return home. She then informed me that we have a $500 a day spending limit on our debit card. That wasn’t a big deal to us and our budget, but good to know. She then informed us that we can request the limit increase if necessary. We were fine with it. The bank lady kindly released our card so we could finish our vacation.

The whole ordeal cost a little time, but with the excellent customer service at the bank, and a lesson learned about banking security, we were back to having fun and had the funds to do it!

Next year’s vacation list will have “call the bank” as number one.

All the best,

KK

Summer V-A-C-A

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Every summer we go on a vacation of some kind. Some years we’ve gone with extended family and others it has just been us.  We drive on our vacation taking our time, seeing and doing what we want and enjoying each other.  We load the car with snacks and summer vacationthings to do on the drive and we take off.  While there is plenty of video game playing and movie watching, we also play those tried and true games of GHOST, count the cows, “I see something you don’t see” and “I’m going on a trip and I’m taking…” alphabet memory game. Oh, and not to forget the license plate game!

Our vacation plans unfold as soon as we have our baseball and marching band camp schedules.  We should have all of that this week, so where should we go?

Where are you going? Do you take “busy” active vacations or do you like to totally downshift and just escape and relax?

All the best,

KK

 

 

 

The Best Laid Plans — Rock!

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For those of you who are learning to communicate with a teenager, this is for you. It’s mid-week on spring break when we did not take a vacation. My son is asked to do three chores one of which is to vacuum. To help with this torturous activity he wears his head phones. The following is our exchange:

He walks into my home office and says:

“Just about done, just have to do the basement steps.”

“Great, what are you listening to?”

“Of Mice and Men.”

“Cool, is it the soundtrack or the audio book?”

He looks at me in a puzzled manner not so uncommon these days and says, “no, the band, mom.”

I bust out laughing and say “I thought it was the book.”

“Oh,” he says “is that one of your classics?”20140402-142228.jpg

I love being the parent of a teen. It is a blast when our generations collide and we both learn a little something about each other. We googled the band so I could hear. Then I warned him that when his high school literature teach mentions reading Of Mice and Men not to stand up and say, “rock on!”

Still learning about parenting,
KK

 

Travelin’

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winter windGloves – check; hand warmers – check; swim suit – check; sun screen – check; rain coat and umbrella – check; baseball “mom” t-shirt – check; team spirit wear – check; sweatshirt – check; sweats for under wind pants – check; Gatorade – check; travel snacks (something sweet, something salty) – check; stadium seats – check; cooler – check. Is the hotel one we get points at? It must be baseball season. We travel and we prepare for whatever season decides to show up. We could have a little bit of spring and a little bit of winter. Images of the parent/fans in the bleachers could easily be mistaken for football season with scarves, gloves and blankets.spring image 2 Late in the season the image is more like survivors in the desert. It must be baseball season.

The parents spend the first few games trying to remember each other’s name, memorizing the names and numbers of the players they don’t know and always encouraging all the players on and off the field. Sometimes it’s the encouraging words of another player’s parent the really helps lift spirits.

The coach does his best to get the team ready for the season inaugural tournament. He reminds everyone that none of the teams will have had a lot of field time practice. “Let’s have fun and learn something. We can have more fun if we get some hits. So, go be aggressive at the plate.”

While outsiders think we are crazy, those of us on the inside know that baseball season with our middle schooler’s travel team is all about the memories being made. There will be button-busting victories and there will be dirt-kicking defeats. One will be celebrated with food and fun at the hotel indoor pool and the other will be quickly forgotten with food and fun at the hotel indoor pool.

Traveling home is usually quiet. Everyone is tired in the best way. At home laundry is separated. The white baseball baseball equipmentpants are the key player in a laundry chemistry project including pre-treatment spray and Fels Naptha. After a 30 minute soak, the uniform is the first to get washed. The result will be somewhere between “like-new clean” and “ready to hit the field.”

 Yes, in a few days we will be back on the field ready to take on the next team and the new challenge. Batter up!

All the best,
KK