A few months ago Russ announced that he would be headed to Nashville this coming weekend for the “Southern Fried Pipe Show”… and I WAS going with him.  Typically, when he goes somewhere like this, I end up staying home because of dogs, cats and fish that can’t be left for an extended time.  BUT, this time he said he wasn’t accepting any excuse… I WAS going.

Ahh… vacation.  Time to relax and have fun.  Right?

So, we started yesterday (Sunday) with the preparations of getting ready to go on vacation.  Russ did most of the packing (after I picked out what I wanted to wear and gathered up all of the toiletries, etc.)… but otherwise, yesterday was a fairly quiet day.  Of course, Saturday provided a bit of a scare as there was some lack of communication with our neighbors regarding dog/cat/house-sitting, and I found out that they had other plans for this weekend.  BUT, after a scramble to find someone, Angie came to the rescue to pick up the days that Darren and Reta aren’t able to be here.  Thanks to Darren (although he is only interested in being able to play pinball while he’s here), Reta and Angie for coming to the rescue and allowing me to go.

BUT, today started the pre-vacation chaos of getting the oil changed in the car, getting cat food purchased and picking up stuff the house/doggie/cat-sitter might need, getting things ready for the dogs (they are banished to the linoleum when we travel, in case of “accidents”, so I move their beds and such onto the linoleum, get the kiddie-gates and doggie playpens strategically placed so they can’t get to the carpeted rooms and get a pile of towels out to take care of mopping up any accidents, along with getting all of their treats put where the sitter knows where they are, etc), calling the doctor and getting prescriptions refilled, getting “last minute packing” (like medications) items gathered up (they’re all stacked on the kitchen table), fixing a broken nail, getting my wheelchair repaired, cleaning the 30 gallon fish tank, etc.  Wednesday I will run a few errands in Springfield, as I travel to our Arkansas house (where we’re leaving from), and get my new glasses re-adjusted, the car washed, etc.

The BIGGEST issue today was working on getting Russ’s cellphone replaced; a few weeks ago it hit the pavement and the screen shattered.  I’ve tried, off-and-on, to get an online claim filed, but there was always a “try again later” message that would pop up.  SO today I set about getting this issue resolved… my first call to the company was at 9:30am.  I spoke to them the last time (after speaking to them a few times this evening) at 9:25pm tonight – and was assured I should get the phone tomorrow.  I guess we’ll see.  🙂

SO… now I need a vacation to recover from getting ready to go on vacation.  Something is wrong with this.  VERY wrong.

I am looking forward to the trip… even though the reason behind this trip was the pipe show (and there are TONS of activities surrounding that going on ALL weekend), Russ has assured me that the ONLY thing he’s going to attend is the actual pipe show (which is on Saturday) for a few hours, and the rest of the time we’re going to play “tourist” and see all the cool stuff.  We’ve been through Nashville before, and we’ve even stopped to eat there as we traveled through, but we’ve never had the chance to play “tourist” and do “the cool stuff” (we even have tickets to the Grand Old Opry to see Steep Canyon Rangers and Ricky Skaggs; I love Bluegrass!).  BUT, I feel bad that Russ is going to miss out on all of the fun stuff happening at the pipe show (which, honestly, is why I wanted to stay home; I have a SEVERE allergy to smoke… whether it’s from a fireplace, a cigarette, a pipe or a cigar.  It causes me to have a pretty severe asthma attack… and in the case of this event, where there will be NUMEROUS folks smoking, I fear the attack would be more than I could “tackle” with meds I bring with me… and I definitely don’t want to visit any hospitals in Tennessee!)… but he has assured me that he’s perfectly fine with it, because he wants this to be a trip for “us”, not just “him”.  I guess we’ll see if he changes his mind (I can see it happening – so much fun stuff to do, so little time, and I’m the “stick-in-the-mud”) and I end up spending my vacation in a hotel room while he’s out having fun.  I hope this isn’t the case, but I’ve packed my iPad and have some books on it, just in case it is.

SO… if I post an update over the weekend, you will know that he is off doing the pipe show thing and I’m at the hotel.  If you don’t hear from me, you will know that we’re out having fun in Nashville!

Hopefully I get to come home and take a vacation to recover from having so much fun in Nashville!