Odds and Ends

Today is cleaning day and all the dust, ash, and grime we've been kicking up has me sneezing and sniffing. But the place is coming together. Back together, I should say. When we moved into my in-laws' basement on December 31st, 2011, none of us were planning on this being a year-long arrangement. It's worked out just about perfectly, on our end anyway. I've no idea what they would tell you..."she leaves their laundry in the dryer too long, she uses the oven at all hours, what used to be the utility sink is often full of dirty dishes..." Their list might be longer, but they're far too gracious to ever say anything :)

Earlier this week we made a rather uncomfortable discovery; our suitcases, originally diagnosed as suffering from luggage obesity, were, in reality, just really really heavy! Our lightest (and smallest) suitcase weighed in at 8 lbs, the heaviest at 18! It forced us to make the difficult, but oh-so-worth-it decision to go with duffel bags instead. My friend Abby, who left on for the field on Thursday, told me a few weeks ago about some very lightweight duffel bags we could procure at Wal-Mart. Todd and I picked up four of them and immediately set about to repacking, and he was really able to shine :) He is an extremely efficient packer, but the suitcases were really limiting his creative genius. He couldn't pack them as efficiently without going w-a-a-a-y over the limit. While switching to duffels did require us to leave out some items (mostly clothes...mostly mine), it was otherwise a great move! None of our four duffels are now exceeding the weight limit! We were planning to have to pay a fee on all of them before. What a blessing!

Ok, so that was Monday. Productive day, we felt accomplished. The next day was, unfortunately, Tuesday.

I woke up at 2:45am; it seemed my dinner didn't appreciate being eaten. While I am thankful the bug didn't keep me in the bathroom all day, it did pretty much keep me in bed. About 15 hours and 7 saltine crackers later, I was able to migrate to the couch, a move that usually feels like a big deal on sick days. It has been years and years since I've had a stomach bug, and this one could have been so much worse, that I really can't complain. I only regret that it claimed not only Tuesday but Wednesday as well. I wasn't much use to poor Todd that day either. I mostly just wanted to sit on the couch.

In addition to packing and being sick and cleaning, I've also spent this week getting in all of my "last meals," of which there have been many. Hitting up some of our favorite places like Chick-fil-A (ok, that one was last week), Barberitos, Chiles, Fisherman's Dock (mine, not Todd's fave), in addition to eating my mom's chili and french dip has been a calorie counter's nightmare, but a food lover's dream! This week, I've been the food lover. The calorie counter in me can put a sock in it for now. I have no idea what kind of food to expect in Germany or South Africa, but somehow I just don't think it will taste like my grilled chicken nuggets or mini burrito. I'll let you know.

Tomorrow is our last Sunday at our home church, and then the families (mine and Todd's) will meet over here for lunch. I expect we'll all hang out most of the day, maybe play Balderdash if I get my way ;) And in a perfect world, everyone will smile and laugh and not think about the next day.

Again, I'll let you know.

In the mean time, take a look at our four checked bags! In addition, we each have a backpack (Todd's has my camera equipment), I have a purse, and Todd has a big carryon bag. Not bad for two years!