Today I was supposed to pack for the beach--we're going to be at Oak Island near South Port on the southern tip of the NC coastline through Friday. My husband's parents rent a beach house there every year--in fact, it's the same house, and we stay in the same room, every year. Not that I'm complaining. It's awesome that they share their vacation with us because we're way too broke to afford our own. =P Since my husband had a night class to teach at one of his university's satellite campuses. I was planning on hanging out hat the in-law's house (which happens to be 5 minutes from said satellite campus) and typing today's blog--a little later than usual, but better than nothing. While discussing what I might write today's blog post on, we were going through the standard "Oh, I forgot ____" side conversation. We always forget stuff, and in this case, we got to add stuff that I haven't gotten around to unpacking yet from our move last year and I couldn't find--like beach towels. So, I'm also supposed to run to Target while my husband is in class to pick up some of the more important forgotten or missing items--like sun screen.
Then we thought... Hmm, maybe I should make a blog about how we pack--in other words how not to pack since we obviously are missing out on something.
#1: Let the elementary age kids pack their own bags. Generally this isn't a really bad idea--they're happy they get to help, but inevitably we're usually missing something, like underwear, socks, pajamas or some combination thereof. I haven't checked Ty and Luke's bags yet, so I'm currently blissfully unaware of what's missing there this year.
#2: Use a packing list. Again, in theory this is supposed to be a good thing, right? Perhaps I should also add that I only reference the list half the time, pack a lot of stuff that's not on the list and neglect to get at least a small chunk of what's on the list. Why do I do this? I don't know honestly. For some reason I get extra scatterbrained when it comes time to pack and it's getting worse as I get older.
#3: Start loading bags into the car before everything is packed. In theory this is not a bad thing; in fact, it might even be a good thing. Of course that might also assume that we're following our packing list and checking things off as they get packed. Hahahaha... yeah that's funny.
#4: Pack my entire craft room (or at least try to). For some reason, I always get super optimistic about crafting--usually cross-stitch or crochet--when it comes time to go on vacation. It may sound like I'm taking my work with me, and I guess if you want to be technical about it, I am. But, this is what I really love to do with my time (along with reading and playing video games). So, I found myself this morning looking at a huge pile of yarn trying to decide which ones I really wanted to take with me--the primary obstacle to taking all of them was that there simply wasn't room in the car. Chances are, I won't even need half of what I did pack, but I tend to operate under the rule that if I think about packing it and don't then I will end up regretting it sometime during the trip. This is a no-no because honestly it's not necessary, and on top of that, it's highly distracting which leads to neglecting the packing list.
So that's my analysis of what I do while packing that fails. =P You'd think after 10 years of this, I'd learn something. XD
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