Yikes! I have been preparing for our trip to France and I am sick of it. I should have taken Rachael’s advice and had her help me pack! I am trying to be conservative in what we bring, because our rental car only fits 5 people and 3 suitcases (there are 5 of us going, my mother-in-law Janice, Chris’ Gramma Rose, my sister-in-law Nicki, and me & Chris). We may need to make 2 trips from the airport to get all of the luggage…

I’ve also been doing some of that last minute stuff around the house that I always do before we leave – cleaning, laundry, vacuuming, organizing. I don’t know exactly why I do all of this, but I think it is because I like to come back to a clean home. Travel is stressful, and it is so great to come back to a place that is neat and organized 🙂 I’ve also been getting Bear ready for his stay with my parents. He got a bath this morning and I gave him a haircut. I cut his hair a little close this time – he kind of looks like Shaun the Sheep from Wallace & Grommet’s “A Close Shave”!

Chris has been sick for the last several days, and since we will be in another country I don’t want to be stranded so to speak in terms of cold medicine. So I am bringing a bunch of medicine – DayQuil, NyQuil, Tylenol Cold & Flu, Tussin DM, sore throat lozenges, regular Tylenol, and my first aid kit. Can you tell I’m a nursing student? Trust me – it is no fun being in another country and being sick. When we went to Spain for our honeymoon we both got terrible head colds & had not thought to bring any medicine. The only thing that we could get was some Tylenol and this awful, horrible cold medicine that tasted so bad it actually made me vomit. I do not want to go through that again!

In other news – Chris has been super busy this week, too. He has been trying to get all of his paperwork completed, some job applications sent out, and his dissertation printed & submitted to his reviewers. He has added a few more applications to his wish list. He is going to apply for a post-doc at the University of Nevada and a job at a university in New Zealand. Wouldn’t it be so cool to live in NZ? I would love to do that, but maybe only for 2 years or so.

OK – I guess I had better get back to packing. Tomorrow, I’ll be on my way to Paris! Au revoir!