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Thursday, June 17, 2010

I Have a Twitch in My Left Eye.

All day long my lower left eye lid has been twitching away. It is harassing me that I have not packed yet. We are leaving tomorrow for our trip to Chicago and I have not packed yet. This is serious. I usually start laying clothes out approx. 1 week prior to the start of a trip. This time? It will be less than 24 hours. I also have not packed Quinn. I typically lay out Chris's clothes before and didn't do that this time either. He announced earlier this afternoon that he was going upstairs to pack and that I don't get to complain about what he packs. The conversation went like this...

Chris: I am going to pack my bag.
Me: Ok.
Chris: So you don't get to complain about what I've brought to wear since you haven't told me anything.
Me: Ok. But that worries me. Please don't pack your F.O.I.L.* shirt.
Chris: I am going to pack my Cubs shirt and my Spain shirt.
Me: Please don't pack your Cubs shirt. It has 2 holes in it.
Chris: Dually noted.

So I am slightly concerned. Just sayin.

I did go to the grocery store this afternoon to load up on food for the trip. This is what my grocery list looked like:
  • starbucks
  • larabars
  • bananas
  • juice boxes
  • milk boxes
  • wheat thins
  • slim jims**
  • pinwheels
  • cookie snacks
  • ritz peanut-butter crackers
  • combos (which they didn't have and I had to settle for Bold Chex Mix)
  • AMP Energy drinks
I can't remember when I bought so much junk food before. Oh, right, last summer when we drove to Chicago.

This is going to be a quick trip. Really, just back and forth and for the first time in the 24 years that I have lived in South, I am not super excited about going. I don't really know why. I keep thinking back to our trip up there 3 summers ago. It was the most perfect trip ever - we stayed at Dad's for 10 days, he and Ger offered to babysit the girls so that Chris and I could do some grown up things while we were there (i.e. going to the Taste of Chicago, the Field Museum for the Darwin exhibit, the Frank Lloyd Wright tours, seeing Jenny Owen Youngs at Schubas, etc.) and the girls got to do really great things while we were there to - Navy Pier, bowling, the Arboretum, etc. And I just don't think there will be another summer trip as wonderful as that one. Big sigh.

Post Edit: I was upstairs folding a load of laundry (after cleaning and vacuuming Q's room) when I remembered that I had put this * and this ** in the post and then did not explain those things the way that I intended. So, here goes....
* Chris has this black (which is now actually in the brownish/grayish family) t-shirt that says on the front, "F.O.I.L. ... Keepin' Algebra Fresh" (You know, first, inner, outer, last) with an algebraic example on it. His best friends, Nick and Liz, bought this shirt for him many, many moons ago (which is partly why he loves it so and will never, ever part with it)...which explains the fading, the seam tear up the side of the shirt and the bleach marks. He has not be allowed to wear this shirt out of the house (aside from functions with his family, as Em noted in the comments) for a good 2 years. But every time I am not at home when he gets dressed, he wears it. And he leaves the house in it. It may be in his bag to Chicago right now, as I type.

**When making the list for the trip, I said, "Oooohhhh, I have to get some slim jims. I love slim jims on road trips." And Chris's whole face fell and then dropped into a look of panic.
"No. No. Please don't buy slim jims. You know what those things do to people and I don't want to be stuck in the car with you after you've eaten 3 feet of slim jims."
I bought them anyway.

Do you see how our relationship works? I say, "Don't leave the house in the FOIL shirt," and he does. He says, "Don't buy slim jims for the road trip," and I do.

1 comment:

Emily said...

First of all, Chris should never be allowed to take that FOIL shirt anywhere but family occasions...where we have to accept him for who he is. :) Second, there is no substitute for Combos. You should stop at a gas station on your way out of town, they'll surely have them. Have a great trip!