OK, OK--man, see what happens when I actually go and pack! Well, there was an "incident" too. The dog kept following me up and down the stairs as I was packing and she fell down about 8 steps. I really thought this was it. She seems ok now. She's going to be boarded at the vet the week we're away, so I'm glad in case anything happens. She seems kinda out of it lately. I think she's going senile because if I feel down the 3 steps every time I had to go outside, I wouldn't even attempt to go up the flight of 12 to the upstairs.
My phone now is T-Mobile To Go, I've had it for about 2 years. I love it. The phone was like $50 and like I said, I paid $100 for 1000 whenever/wherever minutes. They don't charge extra to roam or for long distance. You can buy prepaid cards and add on more minutes anytime. You also don't have to pay the $100, I do that to get a years service. If you buy a $10 card, it will give you 30 or 60 days service but then you have to redeem another card before that time or else you have no phone and lose the minutes. $100 is a good way for me not to have to remember to redeem more cards.
Before TMobile, I had Tracfone for like 4 years. I was always happy with them, but they charged 2 minutes for each 1 minute of long distance/roaming at the time (not sure if they've changed). It seemed like I used my phone more while I was away and it burned through the minutes more quickly. I want to say I got like 500 minutes for $100 and one year of service through them. Still a great deal for a piece of mind phone, which is pretty much all I use it for.
I've never had any problems with getting a signal or bad reception. Bruce has a Nextel phone through work and he's always doing the "Can you hear me now" bit, and that doesn't happen with me. We live very close to an Air National Guard base and his phone gets a lot of interference from that, mine doesn't. It must be where the towers are set up around here.
When you get into some prepaid plans (I've researched many of them) alot (cingular, virgin, verizon) have a flat 10 cent/minute rate where you put like $50 on account and then it deducts like a debit card. That was just too much for me to keep track of and having more money deduct from my account. I wanted the brainless approach.
There's also a ton of threads over on the Budget Board about prepaid cell phones. Remember, the budget board isn't just for people on a Budget! Yesterday it was fashion advice, today is cell phones---it should be called consumer information board!
I think they're an awesome idea for kids so they have a phone for emergencies and don't feel the urge to chat away 1000 minutes a month on it. Any more questions?
Bruce is home and I'm going to Old Navy to see if I can get me some smaller shorts. I really never thought losing weight would make it harder for me to shop, but it really has. I really don't know the first thing about shopping in non-plus sized stores and feel so intimidated every time I walk into a store that I've just walked by all these years. For years I've had like 2 choices of where to buy my clothes and now, I really don't even know where to start--it's either WAY too trendy or WAY too not-trendy. I need to find a 30 something who wants to dress like a 20 something year old store.
That could explain why we haven't received the promised phone call from the troop leader. 
I hope you have a good trip.
I knew he was going to enjoy the shooting clinic -- he went wingshooting back in April and outshot all the other kids in his group -- hitting just about every clay pigeon tossed up for him. 
My friends keep yelling at me because I continue to wear the old shorts rolled and tied at the waist and they look ridiculous on me (not to mention the lump at my waist) but they are what I'm comfortable wearing. 
. As a former camper and camp counselor (where is spellcheck when I need it) I can tell you that if we let a camper talk to mom or dad and they were homesick it got worse from there. I bet they are having so much fun they dont' have time to call. Hang in there - just two more days 
