I know this looks like chaos... but its my chaos and within the chaos there is actually organization. Its my typical mission trip packing ritual. I hardly have that much stuff that I bring with me for my own personal use -- its usually jars of peanut butter, chocolate chip cookie mix, ranch dressing, ziploc bags -- you name it, whatever can't be gotten in other countries (you wouldn't believe the list) I come to the rescue. My friends usually start giving me their list a month or two before I visit and then I start shopping and just dispense all the goodies in one area. Then, the week I leave, I pull out my good old trusty suitcases that I use specifically for these trips (the spotted leopard bag and BIG Blue -- bought especially for lots of stuff!). I scatter everthing I have to pack around and then I begin putting things in bags like they were puzzle pieces. Once I get everything into the bags, I take the old trusty scale, fearfully step on (as I don't usually weigh myself, I'm always horrified to see what the poundage is up to with me... I'm actually a lot heavier than most would think :)) and then I grab a bag and step back up and for about 3 minutes, mom and I play this game where I'm ready to die and she rounds the scale everywhich way trying to read it. I must admit, the virtue of patience is not present at these moments... Its hard to hold a 70 lb bag while someone else changes their "answer" every 3 seconds. Ugh! But - once the weight is determined, I start the whittling and rearranging process.
Tonight, I finished Leopard and Big Blue was about 10 pounds over, so now I need to see what I can transfer over to my bag once I finish packing it up tomorrow.
The moment I get to the airport and step into line, I always wait with baited breath to see if we had the correct weight on the bags. I always hate it when the bag is like 65 lbs as I always think of what else I could have put in with that spare 5 lbs.
We'll see where I'm at tomorrow! Stay tuned for what all my little bags look like once they're stuffed and ready to go!
2 comments:
Haa! All of us overseas residents certainly appreciate the stuff!! In fact, we still have a few of those super-giant ziploc bags you brought us a few years ago, and I'm thinkin' they'll come in pretty handy as we pack to come back in a few months :-). Can't wait to see you in December!
-rach :o)
Yea Anonymous! I CANNOT wait to see you! We'll welcome you back gladly to the land of ziploc bags and peanut butter! :)
Love you!
Al
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