Sunday, November 11, 2007

On The Road Again

Well, we made it to my parents' house. It was a fairly uneventful car trip, disturbed only by Rachel's whining that she was hungry (because bagels, Twizzlers, and raisins did not fill the bill - I have no idea what she was expecting in the car - filet mignon?) and by my whining about how hard it was to pick up loose stitches in a moving vehicle. I'm also having a motivation problem with this knitting project, because I keep looking at the sock and thinking, "This should be a sweater." Which thought makes absolutely no sense, as I do not know how to knit a sweater. But that doesn't stop me from slipping the unfinished sock on my arm anyway and admiring how it looks as a sleeve.

It's a miracle we got the kids to sleep this evening. They were so wound up on candy and tickling and Bugs Bunny movies that I thought we'd need to use a tranquilizer dart gun to settle them down for the night. Really, all that the children do here is eat fun food, play with Legos (as if we don't have those at home), and fight over who gets to use the camera on Uncle Mike's cellphone. And they think it's just great. Larry hides downstairs, pretending to be updating the security software on my brother's computer. And I wander around, marvelling at how everything still smells the same as when I grew up in this house. (What's up with that, huh?) It's not exactly a family trip to DisneyWorld, but it's a heck of a lot cheaper.

Now I am doing laundry. Because Susie has somehow managed to pee on all of the clothing I had packed for her. But I'm used to doing laundry on vacation. It's almost a family tradition.

13 comments:

  1. If I can, I try to avoid doing laundry on trips if at all possible. Yet, I try to find rental homes that have a washer and a dryer because I know I will end up having to wash a load or two.

    I think I am going to enjoy reading your blog. :)

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  2. Until my grandparents moved, that was one thing I loved about their house. It always smelled the same. It smelled like comfort if that makes sense. They moved to FL last year, and I have yet to visit them at their place down there - and with 7 kids and a husband in another country, I don't think that is going to happen either, LOL. But I always wondered if their house still has the grandma and paw paw smell, or if it now has a new Florida version of their smell.

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  3. I have just one thing to ask. Where can I get my hands on one of those tranquilizer dart gun thingies?

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  4. My kids seem to expect a buffet line in the car, too, even if it's only a 20-minute drive. "But what ELSE do you have?" they ask me, as if I have a restaurant tucked into the backpack.

    If you can knit, purl, increase, and decrease, you can knit a sweater. And if you can knit a sock, you can do all those things. Actually, you don't even HAVE to purl if you do the whole thing in the round, or in garter stitch.

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  5. Christine - Welcome to my blog! And I don't think laundry on trips is avoidable.

    Jennifer - My grandfather moved to Florida, and the place smelled different.

    Shauna - I wish I knew...

    Amy - I know, I know, I'm just trying to work up the nerve. I even have EZ's book Knitting Without Tears, but the thought of circulars makes me nervous. And I don't think it is possible (or good precedent) to switch projects midstream, is it?

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  6. Oh, vacation. We haven't done that in a while. I love it - even the travel. Even when the kids whine - it's just the fact of being AWAY. Have a good time...

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  7. Sue, my friends and I all agree - mothers don't get to take vacations. We take trips. Where we do all the work we do at home, only it's harder.

    But it is good to get the heck out of the house.

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  8. I actually LIKE to do laundry at my parents' house, but that might have something to do with the fact that my mom will do it for me. And then we get home with all clean clothes. I love that in a trip.

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  9. Laundry... the arch nemesis for all mom's... it NEVER takes a break, not even on vacation!

    Hope you get to enjoy some of your time away!

    http://momoftheyear-not.blogspot.com/

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  10. Sometimes yarn really is just too nice to turn into a sock... Once I made some into sleeves and stuck them onto a jean jacket. (The ripping out and sewing was a bigger pain in the neck than it was worth, to tell you the truth. But maybe you're good at sewing?)

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  11. Just wondering . . . is that the same sock you've been knitting, or is it number 2 of a pair?? (wink, smile)

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  12. Isn't it funny how those smells can bring back the same memories? Don't you carry any Dramamine on your trips for "car sickness"? Easier than a tranquilizer gun.

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  13. I agree mothers don't take vacations. That's why when we do take trips, my hubby volunteered to do the work while I relax.

    Hey if mommy isn't happy nobody is.




    Jillian

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