Planning a trip . . .

So the little girl says to me, “Mommy, I have to see the Alamo.”

And what’s a red-blooded Texas girl supposed to do?

By golly, get her kid to the Alamo!

So I’ve been planning our trip all evening.  We’ll be going Monday – Wednesday of Spring Break.  Leaving early Monday and coming home late Wednesday.  I booked our hotel.  What a scary experience!  Not really, but you never know if the website is reflecting the true ambience of the hotel.  I finally decided that I couldn’t tell diddly squat from the different websites and decided to take my chances with Priceline. 

If you’ve never used Priceline, it’s a little on the scary side for a quasi-control freak like me.  Okay, okay, an honest-to-goodness control freak like me.  You fill in all this info regarding what part of town you want to stay in, what level of establishment you want (4-star, 3-star, 2 1/2-star, etc.), the price you’re willing to pay, and your credit/debit card information.  Here’s the scary part:  Priceline doesn’t give you a list of hotels to choose from that will accept that price.  No.  Whichever hotel accepts your price is it.  Meaning, they charge your card and there’s no getting out of it.  You’re committed!

So I filled everything in except for clicking on that final button of no return . . . and then I clicked.  And closed my eyes.  And waited.  Well, of course there were no 4-star hotels that accepted my $60/night offer.    There weren’t any 3-star hotels that accepted it, either. 

But the 2 1/2-star Holiday Inn said, “Come on down!” when I upped it to $65/night.  So we have a reservation for two nights in a very nice, very well-located Holiday Inn and we saved about $40 over what it would have been booking it through another entity.

I tell you, though, it was SCARY, knowing that we were committed before we even knew which hotel it was for certain!

Now I’m planning our itinerary.  There’s so much to see and do in San Antonio and two days really isn’t enough.  But the longer one stays, the more one spends, so we have to draw the line somewhere.

At first I was going to book us on one of those tour things that takes you around to all the sights, but I discovered that several of the places on the tour package don’t even charge an admission fee.  The tour company was going to charge us $130 for all three of us.  With coupons I found on the net and careful planning, we can see everything we would have seen with them for less than $50.  Gee, I think that may leave us some money for a nice lunch somewhere!!! 

So we’re planning on seeing the following:  The Alamo, Mission Concepcio’n, Mission San Jose’, The Spanish Governor’s Palace, the IMAX film “Alamo – The Price of Freedom,” The San Antonio Zoo and Japanese Tea Gardens, and El Mercado (Market Square).  We also plan to eat at Schilo’s Deli (a German delicatessen) and Mi Tierra Cafe & Panaderia (a Mexican bakery that is open 24 hours).  It sounds like a lot, but God is so good.  The hotel that Priceline threw out to us is literally less than five miles from nine of the ten places listed above.  So I don’t think we’ll have any problems accomplishing our goals!

This is the famous “Rose Window” from the Mission San Jose’.  If you’ve ever seen the movie “Still Breathing” with Brendan Fraser, this is the window he shows JoAnna Going.  I loved this movie and I can’t wait to see the actual window when we’re in San Antonio.

It’s still a couple of weeks before we go, but I love planning trips and having everything all figured out.  I’ve researched all the places we want to see, printed out maps, figured out the order we should see things to best utilize our time . . . AJ prefers to just hop in the car and let the wind take him where it will!  We’re a perfect match, because I figure it all out, keep it to myself, and he’s none the wiser and perfectly content.  He has said many times that the planning is half the fun for me and it’s true.

I will be taking lots of photos and will be posting them here since I figured out I can upload them to my Blogspot page and then copy them over here.  Yes! 

It’s late — goodnight!

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AJ and I installed some window treatments earlier this evening (that would be Thursday).  We’d almost finished with the job and had all our installation paraphenalia by the front door on the very hard tile floor ready to be loaded into the truck.  You can only imagine how embarrassed I was when I caught my toe on our folded ladder  and fell flat out.  Not only that, but with eagle’s eye accuracy, in trying to catch myself I

(a) jammed my right ring finger between the ladder handle and tray, and

(b) landed on the ladder,

(c) firmly pinching said finger between ladder handle and tray.

Ohmygosh, it hurt.  I have a little bluish-black spot under my nail — very small, so I’m thinking I won’t lose my nail.  But it did hurt so very much!  And to compound the humiliation, I think my client saw it all happen . . . he said, “Are you okay?” so I’m not sure if he saw me fall or just saw the aftermath.

Just call me “Grace.” 

I am so depressed right now.  It’s not anything that serious, but it is very upsetting to me.  When Jami was born, my sister crocheted a beautiful baby afgham for her — the one I wrapped her in to bring her home from the hospital.  My sister is very, very talented when it comes to tying knots in yarn and this afghan had a beautiful design. 

For years I’ve kept it hanging on a quilt rack in Jami’s room, and occasionally Jami would use it when she was chilly.  Recently I put it in the laundry room hamper so I could wash it.  Last night it was on top of the pile in the hamper, next in line.

This morning AJ apparently discovered it on the floor and threw it back in the hamper.  When I went out to switch out a load of wash, I discovered that the dogs had chewed three holes in it.

I am just sick.

I know it’s just an afghan, but I’m a very sentimental person and it makes me so sad.  I’m hoping my sister can patch it so we will at least have part of the original afghan.  They’re not really big holes so maybe she can patch them.  I hope so. 

What literary classic are you?

Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose. You are a mystery novel dealing with theology, especially with catholic vs liberal issues. You search wisdom and knowledge endlessly, feeling that learning is essential in life.

The day after and three days before . . .

I think the little miss enjoyed her day yesterday.  She wanted Chicken McNuggets from you-know-where for lunch, so I went by the drive-thru and brought her lunch at school.  That’s always fun, although I get amused.  I go to the school to have lunch with my daughter, but I’m practically attacked by all her classmates, so I get very little time to actually visit with my girl.  That’s okay — I think the main point for her is “My mom took time to come have lunch with me . . . “

After school, her daddy and I took her by the bank to cash her birthday checks and then to do a little shopping.  She chose to go to Book Ends first, where she purchased a Hank the Cowdog mystery, and two other titles that escape me at the moment.  Then she wanted to go to Waldenbooks to get some more Trixie Belden mysteries.  Afterwards, we went to dinner at Red Lobster (not nearly as good as I remembered it being — it’s been several years since we’ve eaten there, and it probably will be a long time before we do, again). 

One more stop before home:  The Children’s Place, where she purchased a pair of decorated jeans, a t-shirt, and poncho to match.  Apparently, this season’s colors are orange and green!  Not normally the colors I would see my girl in, but she looked really cute in this outfit!  I need to let her start choosing more of her own clothes (within reason), as she’s starting to take an interest in that now.  Fortunately, she’s got a good handle on the modesty thing — no exposed belly buttons, etc.  She doesn’t like that kind of thing at all! 

And then we went home.  She wanted to stay awake until 9:35 p.m., when she would officially turn 9, so I told her she could read in her bed until then.  Just as I suspected, when her daddy went in to sing a couple of songs and say goodnight, she fell asleep almost immediately.  So sweet!

People often ask why we only have one child.  To tell you the truth, I don’t know.  We decided to see what happened when Jami was a couple of years old, but nothing.  I guess she’s the one we’re supposed to have and maybe the only one.  I’m 41 and I can’t imagine having a baby at this age, although I’m sure we’d “survive” the experience in our “old age”!    But if that never happens, well, we hit the jackpot with her.  She’s truly an awesome blessing and I can’t imagine loving anyone else more, except maybe her daddy . . . and then it’s really close!

Her OFFICIAL BIRTHDAY PARTY is Saturday.  She has 12 little friends coming over (including her two cousins) for cake and ice cream.  I have all the decorations and party favors together.  A little house cleaning, a little crepe paper, balloons, etc. and we’re set.  My sister is making her birthday cake — Ang is exceptionally talented when it comes to that kind of stuff.  Here’s a picture of the cake she made for AJ’s 40th birthday:

Too cute, huh?  I’m sure Jami’s will be adorable, as well.

I’ve got work to do, so I’m saying “adios” for now.  Have a great day!

This is THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!

This is a most awesome, incredible day!  Nine years ago today (at 9:35 p.m., to be precise), my ever so wonderful, brilliantly gifted, beautiful blue-eyed Jami entered this world! 

Can you tell I’m a wee bit smitten with my baby girl? 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY GIRL!

What Age Are You?

Scanning the net for points of interest . . .

Charles Krauthammer’s column makes me proud to be an American under the leadership of President Bush.  He explains so beautifully why our involvement in Iraq has been worth the sacrifice.  Give it a read.

And following up on my recent post regarding Indian River Community College’s discrimination against students that wanted to show The Passion of the Christ on campus, Dr. Mike Adams informs us that “sunlight can often be the best disinfectant” and “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of humiliation.”  Congratulations to Dr. Adams for a victory in the battle for freedom of speech!

On a personal note, the munchkin and I are both sick.  We’ve got a few things to take care of, but for the most part, we are going to rest today.  She’s sitting on the futon next to me, reading a Trixie Belden mystery.  (I loved these books when I was a kid.)  She’s such a fast reader, she’ll be done with it by noon (or earlier) and then she’s moving on to Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.  I am so proud of her reading ability and her love of books!  I’m not sure that I read at such a high level when I was 9, and I was a reader, too.

One thing I do want to do today is transfer last year’s client files over to CD’s and free up some space on my hard drive.  Tedious and time-consuming, but I’m hoping it will speed things up a little bit once some of the “clutter” is gone. 

Catch ya’ later —