First of all.... prayers and PD coming for the job.
Second of all.... make that trip happen! It sounds so exciting and you know what? Take the advise of an old lady..... do it while you can! I grew up with VERY conservative parents (both fiscally and with life experiences) and was NEVER told "DO IT!" I was never encouraged to travel or try new experiences. I was taught to play it safe. And so now, here I am, a somewhat-frustrated wanna-be world traveler who, for the past 17 years has had neither the time or money to travel. WHY didn't I do it in my 20's?? Because no one ever told me I COULD! I have strongly encouraged both of my kids to take these adventures when they can! In fact, we are throwing around the idea of taking a 3+ week backpack type tour through Europe, just DD and myself, the year she finishes her undergraduate work. I'd love her to find a group of responsible, smart friends to do this with, but she claims she'd like to do it with me. This would be about 5 years from how, so it would be a great mid-50's birthday gift to myself and a college graduation gift for her.
If it is a matter of finances, I'm sure that you could probably find someplace in your current budget to save even just a few dollars a week to put away for this trip. In 2005 when we were trying to save for a trip out West (kind of last minute.... only had about 7 months to save), I made up posters for around the house to remind EVERYONE what we were saving for...... I reminded them about EVERY LITTLE THING..... printing too much "junk" from the computer, using too many paper towels when they dry their hands, too much take-out coffee/soda, eating cheaper meals (such as meatless), saving on the electric bill by shutting off lights, saving on the oil by turning down the heat, etc. I put everything in the context of what would be saved (for example.... saving one roll of paper towels a week = $1 saved) and what that money could go towards ($1 = 4 tokens for an arcade at
Disneyland)..... or even bigger stuff (bring coffee from home instead of stopping at Dunkins 5 x week for 1 month = $40 saved = 1 adult dinner meal at Goofy's Kitchen).
Sorry to ramble here on you. Just want to encourage you to make this happen!
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Happy cloudy Wednesday friends! DD is off to her final AP exam and DS is STILL home sick. I probably could have pushed him to go today because it seems like his fever is gone, but he still had a headache, so I'm letting him have one more day at home. But that will mean he misses today's TaeKwon Do class and won't get to turn in the paper work to test for his first stripe this weekend. Not sure if he can do it as a drop in. I need to call the studio.
I did 5 loads of laundry yesterday....washed, dried, folded and put away, so you would think I could skip that today, right? I do have one more colored load, but will wait for tomorrow to do it in the hopes that the skies will be sunny and I can hang it out.
I got a two-page layout nearly finished for DD's swim book yesterday and will complete it today (just needs the journaling), but it went much slower than I anticipated. Because these are events that are many years past, it is taking me time to double check the dates, locations, etc. And I keep thinking that a particular year is "finished" and then I will find a ribbon or photos from that year and have to go back and rearrange things. But I THINK that 2005 is finally done!

And parts of 2006 are done too. I just PRAY that DD doesn't come across a stash of ribbons/medals that weren't in the notebook where we have been filing them for years.
I MUST hit the TM today, as I am feeling really pudgy around the middle.... probably could use some ab work too.... haven't done that in ages.
Okay.... off to finish that journaling, make beds, and hit the TM before I have to leave here at 11:15 to pick up DD. TTYL.................P