What to do? What to do?? So much to accomplish, so little time.

Yesterday I cancelled our first night motel reservations because, after reading the confirmation, I discovered that any changes/cancellations would have to be made by noon the day before. That just wouldn’t do. What if we had bad weather and decided postpone our departure by a day or two?

So I called the motel to cancel the reservation I’d made a couple of weeks ago. I got an understanding front desk worker who told me I needed to cancel the reservation through the website where I’d made them. Then if I’d call him back, he’d make sure we got the same room, same deal, without the absurd penalty in case we needed to make last minute changes. He also put us in their “prime room” (Room 123) on the first floor because that’s where they prefer to put senior citizens. I guess there are a few perks to reaching “maturity.”

There are a lot of things I need to do before we leave. In addition to motel reservations, I need to print coupons for restaurant discounts and since most of those have less than a two week “use by” restriction, I need to wait to do them. There are also things to do for both here and for Saginaw: newspapers delivery, magazines subscriptions, car insurance (currently we have our truck and Malibu in “storage.” When we head back, the Jaguar will be “stored.” Before we leave, our lanai furniture will need to be moved to the garage, refrigerator cleaned out, stuff stored in the refrigerator, all the last-minute laundry done, and of course packing.

Just before we take of, I’ll take photos of everything in drawers, closets, the pantry, and refrigerator. It helps to know where items are when we look for them and we aren’t sure if we left them in Florida or if they’re in Saginaw.

Packing is difficult. I always take back too much stuff, but miss the items I need.

Some years I’ve tested the “take it all back with me” theory and other times, I’ve tried leaving everything in Florida. This year, I think I’ll go with a moderate approach. I’ll bring back my favorites, but leave an ample wardrobe in Florida so I could “get by,” if we decided to fly in instead of driving.

I maintain a packing list. The list has a column to indicate what will make the “round trip” and what will go north and stay there.

Eventually I hope to have it all figured out so the process is smoother and I actually know what I need to take back. As it is, I’ll probably take the wrong stuff and wish I had items that I left behind.

This year, I’m doing one thing differently. I’ve always left behind modems, routers, and printers so everything was working when I walked in the condo. But I’m toting my favorite Lexmark all-in-one printer back and forth with me this time. It uses ink more efficiently than any other printer I own, but I’ve found a lot evaporates when I leave it in Florida over the summer. I’m going to box it up and take it back. It’s the only printer I own that works wirelessly and I hate to revert to cables. (I have a total of five working printers!)

I also need to have my Original Dulcimer Players Club workshop scheduling materials printed out and/or loaded in my computer so I can work on the huge scheduling task while we drive the 1,300 miles northward.

So I have two weeks to get it all done. And between now and when we leave, I need to absorb enough fun and sun to carry me through until we can get back to this paradise!