May--June, 2009

Greetings Family and Friends!

Spring has finally arrived! No one is happier than I am for warmer weather and blossoming trees. We spent the last few weeks of winter down south at Disney and on a cruise. The Disney World trip included all of the grandkids so it was a great time--for most everyone else. I got sick. A good lesson was learned: carrying Purell in your pocket does no good if you do not put it on your hands--often!

Our cruise was great! It was a celebration of my mother-in-law's (the snow angel maker) birthday. She turned 88. There were eight of us cruising together to celebrate and celebrate we did with a dinner at Sabatini's (specialty restaurant on board ship), a night at the Chef's Table and renting a bungalow on Princess Cay's private beach.

But the greatest news of all came when we were told after the Disney trip that we would be grandparents again! Our seventh is due in November. We tried to tease that it was a little Disney souvenir but the timing was off just a bit. This grandchild was actually a stowaway.

I am on Facebook and Twitter so if you are into all that social networking stuff, please look me up. I'm usually on there daily.

Smiles, Karen

SMILES:

I haven't shared any grandkid humor with you for a while so here goes. I have to admire my daughters-in-law. Their patience is phenomenal. This little escapade would have rattled me.

Caleb is 3 1/2 and, as all kids his age, very impressionable. Several times he has gone with Rob and Leah to functions where there has been face painting for kids--you can see where I'm going, can't you? Well, Leah gave him several watercolor markers one day to color with and when she turned her back for a moment, he disappeared into the bathroom only to reappear a few minutes later with goggles drawn on his face and several other undecipherable markings. Thankfully she found it would all wash off because a few days later, to 1 1/2 year old Annalise's delight, he drew goggles on her face too!

Mother's Day Moment:                               Mom's Great Adventure

     Mother's Day is around the corner and maybe that's why my mother's been in my thoughts lately. I think I owe a lot of my travel itch to her. When we were little, Mom used to pop us into the car and we'd "get lost." I'm still not sure if we were literally lost on those day trips or if she just did that to make it adventuresome. With my mom, it was hard to know. She was a great storyteller. (I think I owe that to her as well.)
     Today I had to cross over a bridge to get to the Lowe's I was headed for. The bridge always brings back memories of visiting my uncle who lived on the other side about 20 minutes from our house although at my young age then, it seemed like hours. The bridge has been modernized. Gone are the iron rails that I remember, replaced with concrete sides, but the memory of our first trip over that bridge with Mom driving lingers. READ MORE. . .

Seen on a church sign: Cowboy wisdom: Never squat with your spurs on.

Coming in July: We will be starting up with new posts to the A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts blog. Lots of new tips, stories, and interesting tidbits for Christmas. If you missed last year's posts, they are still archived there. And if you are in India, you can now purchase a copy of ASOCF there as well as in several European countries. We're international!!

   Travel Tips:

When we travel, we always have a little medical bag we take with us. It includes our favorite medications for all the little things that might plague you along the way like a cold, aches and pains from overindulging in activities, antacid for overindulging in eating, bandages, antiseptic, etc. I refresh it before each trip and check it against the list I keep inside the bag to be sure I have all I need and the medications have not expired.

Here is my list. You will want to make your own but these are the essentials for those things that you can treat on your own.

  • aspirin (and/or ibuprofen)
  • Tylenol
  • antacid
  • Hall's lozenges
  • Bonine (my preference for sea sickness)
  • decongestant
  • Imodium tablets
  • laxative
  • Swimmer's Ear (a good practice if you get in the water)
  • Bandages (small and knee-scrap size--trust me on this)
  • Neo-to-go (Neosporin has this compact little spray now)
  • New Skin (liquid bandage)
  • Cortozone 10 (anti-itch cream for bites or rash)
  • antihistamine tablets

Needless to say, I don't pack large boxes or bottles of everything except for the one essential Bob has to have, Nyquil. If he gets a cold, he can't survive without it. That always gets packed in a Ziploc bag. Everything else fits into smaller containers that I've collected over time. Just be sure to keep a little paper with the dosage information on it.

If you are traveling in the USA, there's not a whole lot of need to pack much of this since you can usually find a pharmacy unless you are out in the wilderness somewhere. Traveling out of the country however means you may not be able to get the things you need/want. Names of products are different and in some countries, even require a doctor's prescription.

UPDATE ON PASSPORTS: Beginning June 1, 2009 you will be required to have a passport or a passport card for travel anywhere out of the country including Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean. Read more here.

Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks." Matthew 12:34

Karen is scheduling speaking engagements now for 2009/2010. Check out some of her speaking topics at her website and listen to a sample.

Pic From The Past

One of my friends from summers spent at Put-In-Bay, Ohio, sent a picture of me as one of her bridesmaids xx years ago. Okay so it was in the late 60s! What fun to look back. Can't believe I was that skinny.