Vacation Preparation

has begun!!!

96 hours from now, my plane should be touching down on the Mazatlan runway, so the countdown is on! I've done a few things to get ready: My travel-size toiletries have been bought, I visited the used book store and came out with a nice stack of reading material (mostly trashy novels and mysteries), I've been to the tanning bed enough that I won't spontaneously combust from sunburn when I get to the beach, and I've started making a pile of things to go in my suitcase.

I still have laundry to do, and will probably do some up until I leave so the guys I'm leaving at home won't have to deal with the washer and dryer for (knowing them) about a week after I leave. If they time it right, they might only have to do laundry once and then there will be a whole bunch waiting for me when I get back. Can you say Passive/Aggressive??? :o)

Two years ago I bought a nice, big suitcase that held everything I could possibly need for a two-week trip with room for stuff I didn't actually need plus plenty of room for whatever I discovered that absolutely had to come home with me. Shortly after this purchase the airlines came up with the stupid 50 pound limit and if you go over that you have to pay extra. We're already paying extra these days to even take a suitcase so the whole thing kind of makes me crazy. I've gone back to my older, not so roomy suitcase and my nice, big, newer one is now a really pretty (and pretty expensive) storage container in the guest room closet. Sigh. The Silver Lining is that it forces me to only take what I actually need, as opposed to all that stuff that I'd like to have with me just in case. And to be honest, which I try to be, I don't really need a whole lot - bathing suits and coverups, a couple of sundresses or skirt/top combos for nights out, my two favorite skorts with tops for any shopping or tours, maybe a pair of shorts and a tee shirt or two for just hanging around. The condo we'll be staying in does have its own washer and dryer which makes it even easier. I'm good at mixing and matching - this top goes with this skirt and also with this other skirt, etc., so I'm going to try really, really hard to keep the clothes to a minimum. I must confess, though, that in all the years I've been going to Mexico on vacation I always seem to take too many clothes. Maybe I can break that streak this year. I'm much better than when I started, though -the first time I went I remember taking a daytime outfit and a nighttime outfit for every day I was going to be there, and then spent most of the week in a bathing suit. You'd think I'd learn.

I have 92 days left until I go back to work. Does that sound good or what????