Here we go again....

We head off on another vacation tomorrow this one a family vacation with the husband in tow. We are going to the Wisconsin Dells which is billed as the largest water park city in the world or some such thing.

I'm looking forward to some cooler weather and right now the prediction on weather is in the '80s in the daytime and the low 50's to '60s at night. With all my vacations I am not able to think how wonderful it will be or visualize how wonderful and relaxing it will be because things always happen BEFORE I leave.

Things that cause me great stress and wrecks my mind and body so that I'm so tightly wound by the time I reach the airport I'm not surprised when I'm called out as a person of suspicion and patted down in front of all my fellow travelers.

These are the stress factors I've encountered so far this week:

• The winter clothes, which in Florid- speak means jeans and sweatshirts, are boxed away, but because the weather in Wisconsin could be as low as 55 degrees those really should be pulled out. To do this means rearranging entire closets just to get to the box that the clothes are packed in. And the children are telling me, "We don't want to wear jeans! It's summer! And I don't really want to pack them because this will be just the thing that sets me over the 50 lb. limit...I just know it.

• In checking our flight times to prepare our limo driver on time of arrival, we discovered that our vacation planner, my husband, had typed in PM instead of AM so we are leaving in the evening and not in the morning. This meant that we had to reschedule the rental car and let the resort people know we would be arriving after midnight and not midday.

• The air conditioner did its little backing up of water that it does approximately every 6 months. I left for work and returned to a house that was sweltering and growing plants on its own. My husband, who worked from home, didn't notice it but he did fix the problem.

• My eye began to feel sore. I looked redder than it should. This had me wondering...Was it infected again? Should I bother the doctor? If I call him, can I schedule a visit around my swim lessons? Maybe going blind is simpler?  

• My husband's sister from Chicago arrived and rented a place on the beach with her boys. His sister who lives here joined them with her two children as did my in-laws. So, all I've heard daily since they arrived is, "Mommy, are we going to the beach? Are we going to the beach? Are you taking us to the beach? Are we going to see Mark and Teddy at the beach?" Never mind that I have packing to do, swimming lessons to teach, laundry to wash, library books to return, and birthday gifts to purchase.

• I returned home from work, opened my front door and was hit with an odor of rotten eggs. Venturing farther inside made the smell worse and I thought Humpty Dumpty and all his kingsmen had fallen through the roof of our house. It turned out to be a cheap drain cleaner that the hubby poured down the shower that morning. It took an hour of open windows in 90-degree heat with a recently unclogged air conditioner running at full speed to clear the smell out. I'm not so sure it's completely left my nostrils.

I haven't begun my packing, but since our flight is now in the evening I'll hopefully have time for that tomorrow. As for getting a good night's sleep, which I feel I haven't had since my last vacation, I'm going to partake in some alcohol this evening while out celebrating two family birthdays, and perhaps if that works well I shall start again tomorrow evening right before I leave for the airport.

As usual....vacation updates are planned so stay tuned.....