How I Spent My Summer Vacation Pt.I or North To Alaska

Getting Ready to Leave on our Adventure

Part of July and most of August we spent any time off on getting ready to go. The Saint had the Jeep fully serviced, got new tires, and bought a Thule. We also had to make sure all the pets had sufficient food for us to be gone over 3 weeks. The Saint paid all the bills ahead, I cleaned the house, crossed things off the list as they were accomplished, and made more lists.

I even had a list of my lists. There was the Car list, the Meds list, the Clothes lists, the Toys and Amusements list, and more.

We knew the roads would be bad, and the State of Alaska Transportation site recommends that anyone driving the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Circle should have two spare tires and extra gas, food, blankets and mosquito repellent. Since we thought we might want to do this, that meant finding room for even more stuff.

August 11 finally arrived. I was so happy when work was over for the day! My plan had been to get drunk, but I was so tired I had one drink, and was asleep by 9:30 PM that night.

Our plan was to leave Tuesday the 15th, after The Saint's appointment with his massage therapist.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday were a frenzy of cleaning for me; I have to clean my house spotless when we go on long vacations. We also went shopping Saturday and I got a ton of new clothes, since I needed all new jeans. It was great. The Saint had other shopping to do, and also needed to do a few things at his work before he left for a month.

Monday I had packing on my mind, and laundry. I remember I got a little peeved at The Saint because he didn't help me clean at all - but then again, that's MY thing, not his. We packed our bags, and picked up a few last minute things, and I went over all the lists and the lists of lists....and we had it all.

Tuesday, and it was time to go. The bags were packed, the cooler was full of ice, and The Saint was at his appointment. I did all the last minute things (unplugging lamps, and mopping floors) which I finished, and then I waited for him to come home, so we could load everything into the car, and off we'd go. I was itching to leave, and finally he calls.

"I'm about a mile away from home." He sounds a little stressed out.

"Okay."

"The Jeep is broken."

I am silent for a second, before I can say, "What do you mean the Jeeps broken?"

"It's messed up. I think it's the transmission. (He explains what it's doing to me) I am going to see if I can coast down the hill to the Jeep dealer...."

"%#$@!&*!"

To be continued......

Flavored Water

I am not sure how I feel about flavored water.

I have tried several kinds. One kind tasted like chemicals, even though it claimed to be all natural. The other kind was a bit better, but still not great. I am going to try a few more though, to see if there are better flavors out there.

Aside from the chemical-taste problem, I also find calories in my water a little troublesome. True, it's like, 20 calories. But drink a few bottles of this stuff, and you're looking at dessert.

I like the idea that this water has electrolytes in it, since I sweat like an ice cube on a griddle when I exercise. Replacing electrolytes always sounds like a good plan; I don't know if the average exerciser needs it.

I keep buying flavored water because all of them are packaged in the perfect sized plastic bottles that are the perfect size to fit in my water bottle holder. I re-use them, but you can't go too long or they get scary. Supposedly they can start to release bad chemicals from the plastic also. So, I change them often.

The bottles are cute. My favorite is super-skinny and clear. I also am fond of the one with a twist-top. Although I probably pay more for that. Oh well. They fit in the cup holder. Yes, I know I could just pour the flavored water out, but that would be wasteful! Oh, the horror!

"The Look"

No, not talking about the latest fashions (not that I keep track of that anyway) or the "Look of Love", either the Eighties song by the group ABC, or the super-sappy Burt Bacharach title.

I'm talking about The Look.

The one your mother used to give you. The one your partner gives you when you have Gone Too Far.
The one you give your partner when they have Gone Too Far.

It's been called the stinkeye. I call it the fisheye, although I have recently found there is a much more obscene meaning to that expression I didn't know about.

Chap-chap in Farsi. My friend called it the Ojo de Muerte, or something like that. It crosses cultures, and continents.

The biggest problem with the look, is the "lookee" may not always understand what the "looker" is giving him the look for. And might say "what?", when the lookee doesn't want to tell the other person "what" at that particular moment. Like, said person has said something too personal. Or, it's about an hour past the agreed upon departure time. Or, said person has just tramped mud across your kitchen floor, but you are on the phone with someone you don't want to hear you yelling.

A million reasons for "The Look". All good.

Sad Times

I have all kinds of funny subjects I'm thinking about making posts on.

I don't feel very funny at the moment. I am quite sad.

T.S. took my dog Suzie to the vet yesterday because she had been acting like something was stuck in her tooth for a week or so. Turns out, the vet thinks she has cancer. We don't know for sure yet, we won't until next week, but the vet seemed pretty certain.

Suzie is such a good dog. She's my dog, too. Yes, she loves T.S. too, but we have a special bond. Maybe because I was the one that walked her most of the time back when she was a hyper young dog. Maybe because she felt I saved her from the pound. Maybe because I am the more vocal of the two of us. Whatever the reason, she's my dog.

I will never not have animals, but this is the hard time. Lots of difficult decisions to make. None of them wrong, but all of them very, very difficult.

I don't feel like being funny today. I feel like taking Suzie for a short walk. And crying.

Zori's - Thongs - Flip-flops - Bathroom Shoes

The quintessential shoe of summer. Now currently, acceptable nearly every where but the workplace (and I think the girls who wore them to the White House were FINE. What a silly thing to have an uproar about!)

When I was a kid, my mom called them Zori's. We had those thin soled rubber things for the beach that made your toes hurt. Years later, we realized Zori was a brand name; they are still made today. And look, here is a whole web page explaining the entire thing. The ZORI page.

When they came into style in the 80's I had several pair. My favorites were black, thick-soled, with a bamboo-mat insole, and thick black velvet straps. Like the traditional ones, but a little more stylish. I wore them until they broke. I also had less-comfy, but coordinated red, blue and I think pink ones.

My friend Yoko's mom thought it was so funny that bathroom shoes were so popular in the U.S. In Japan, those shoes were ONLY for when one was in the bathroom.

Now they are back in style, and I have to admit, there are some very cute ones out there - whatever you want to call them. I usually call them flip-flops.

The cheapest ones I have seen, at an end of summer sale, in undesirable colors like puce and grey, were 25 cents. Then there are the most expensive. You can get them from H. Stern, Brazilian Jewelers, and they will set you back....19,840.00. Surely nobody would spend that much on flip-flops!

My favorites are the ones that light up. I would LOVE a pair. I have a thing for light-up footwear. Don't ask me why, I couldn't explain it.

Unfortunately, my feet have mutated and I can only wear Birkenstocks - and of course, all the CUTE Birks are only in NARROW width...But that's a whole other subject.