Countdown

July 1 (12 days)
Mail hold is scheduled. Niece will house-sit. Son-in-law will take care of mowing the yard. Details and lists...
July 2 (11 days)
Started loading the suitcases - not with clothes yet, but with some of the other items I am taking. Still working on the "non-trip" things that need to be done. Completed a couple of minor projects, so list is getting shorter.
July 3 (10 days)
Reviewed travel plan details with daughter and son-in-law in Luxembourg. Working on "the pile". [Explanation: We store our suitcases under the basement stairs. It's the only big storage area in the house, so I tend to put everything there that I'm trying to get out of the way or don't want to deal with at the time. It goes in, but it never really comes back out. When I "dug" out the suitcases, I pulled out all of the accumulated stuff and resolved not to put it back. Good intentions, but now I have a bunch of stuff cluttering up the family room that I need to deal with before we leave. In the end, most of it will probably end up in the garage to deal with later, but at least the area under the stairs is organized and uncluttered!]
July 4 (9 days)
Taking time out to celebrate the 4th with friends.
July 5-6 (8-7 days)
Lots of time with family and friends. Not much time getting ready to go. Will have to hit it hard tomorrow...
July 7 (6 days)
Did laundry and packed most of my clothes for the trip today. Have plenty of room left in the suitcases and should be no problem with the weight... (hopefully). Limits my options for what to wear this week, but I didn't want to do all the laundry at the last minute.
Decided that I will NOT use my phone while in Europe. I thought about getting the International plan because the price for calls and texts was reasonable, but the data part was not. I am used to doing everything on my phone and I don't want to have to "think before I act" when using it, so I am going to go without it. Hopefully I will be so busy (and messed up sleep-wise) that the withdrawal won't be too bad. I AM taking my laptop, so I won't have to experience complete technology withdrawal. Besides, how would I update this blog if I didn't have an electronic means to do it?  :)  [Side note: Thought about expounding on "think before I act" as a life philosophy, but I decided not to. (Ha!)]
July 8 (5 days)
Making progress on "the pile" in the family room, and adding random items to the suitcases.
July 9 (4 days)
Today was shopping and errand day. I saved up all the running around for today, and ended up with 13 stops on my list. Whew!
July 10 (3 days)
Crossing items off of the "to do" list, but procrastinating some on the cleaning. Social activities are being added at the last minute, but that's ok. 24 days is a long time to be away from friends and family that are part of our daily lives.
July 11 (2 days)
Wasn't home much today. Not the original plan. Oh, well... Suitcases are packed except for toiletries and last minute laundry. I am ready to go, but the house isn't ready to be left yet. One more day...
July 12 (1 day)
Moved what was left of "the pile" out of the family room (in an orderly manner) to be dealt with another day. A few things to finish in the morning. We leave for the airport at 11am.
July 13 (departure day)
Everything is ready. We leave for the airport in 2 hours. 17 hours of travel time to Luxembourg.