My thoughts went back to Christmas, 2 years back, when YaYa’s godparents gave a “survival basket” to Elizabeth’s parents. Elizabeth was in 8th grade student at the time, and this basket was apparently filled with several of the must-haves to get through the final year at our Catholic (pre-K through 8th) school. As I remember, [...]

Sometimes, I wonder my overly focused box checking is actually a form of simply being caught out in the run around business. Here I am 90% packed for my trip to India, yet this packing for this weekend’s backpacking expedition hasn’t even begun. It’s just wrong! I could kick myself because my lack of preparation [...]

I think I referred to my “shortcomings” and subsequent bypassing our trail camp as due to “poor signage” and “less-than-stellar map reading skills.” Both of these statements still hold true, however Big Sis in all her Girl Scout persistence did uncover some additional information. This information might have been useful to have when we set [...]

Our mini backpacking trip turned out well. Long story, short: we had a very entertaining adventure full of excitement and MANY almost-peed-my-pants-moments. Big Sis arrived at my house early with overflowing enthusiasm and wearing a hat that had a striking similarity to Amelia Bedelia. Thankfully, Big Sis didn’t share Amelia’s tendency for taking everything literally. [...]