Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Ok...so I'm hoping that our adventure to Ethiopia doesn't run too much like that movie "Planes Trains and Automobiles" did.  I suppose in the end everything worked out, but WAAAYYYY too much drama in the middle.

I'm pretty overwhelmed by my lack of  travel preparations.  I have tickets to Ethiopia.  I have an itinerary for a tour in the middle of our trip that I haven't confirmed yet because it just seems a little too expensive.  I think I know where we're staying when we get there, but I've not confirmed a hotel room yet. I know where I want to stay at the end of the trip but haven't heard yet if I can stay there.

Everytime I look at travel information I realize there is something I hadn't considered yet.  On the bright side I do have 24 ridiculously expensive and better be worth it lithiom ion 'AA' batteries to run my sister's asesome camera.  I have also received the replacement chargers for both my camera and Sarah's camera.  Of course the first time I plugged in Sarah's battery charger it overheated but still managed to charge the battery.

A short to do list:

• Call FEMA to help clean my house since it appears a tornado has been through the middle of it--you know your house needs professional help when your kids rooms are the neatest in the whole place
• Figure out what needs to go in my suitcases so I can determine if I need to beg, borrow or steal new ones
• Laundry so I have something clean to put into said suitcases
• Locate all chargers, buy memory cards, etc
• Locate and make copies of all important docuements
• Go to bank for 'crisp new bills' so I can exchange them for Birr (Ethiopia's national currency)
• Book hotel rooms

My schedule over the next 5 days...

• Friday--finish this post, pick up the kids from swim, clean my bedroom/bathroom so I have a packing station--consider moving the packing station to the dining room that isn't too messy right now, start putting things in suitcases, laundry, continue putting things in suitcases, cook 10 pounds of pasta for a swim meet concessions stand tomorrow (yes, in my post call hazeI volunteered), start making a list of stuff I need from target, maybe try to go to target to get said list, continue to recover from severe indigestion secondary to tasty rib dinner on previous night
• Saturday--maybe try to do some more cleaning, go to Reserve Swim meet with the girls and spend all afternoon making lists and sitting and waiting for the girls to spend about 3 minutes each in the pool for thier races
• Sunday--get up too early, spend all day at the Championship meet and come home exhausted, too tired to do anything else except talk about what else needs to be done
• Monday--work in the office all day, probablly with an overbooked schedule.
• Tuesday--another day of call, fight off Satan as he sends me complicated things in the middle of the night keeping me from sleeping
• Wednesday--recover from whatever Satan had planned for my previous call day, finish packing, going to target (I'm betting at least 3 trips)
• Thurday---finish up last minute stuff and LEAVE

I'm planning on having a very exciting post following our trip entitled "What I Forgot to Pack" so stay tuned.  On the bright side, maybe I'll be so tired by the time we leave, I won't need anything to help me sleep on the plane.