When our boys were little I got into the bad habit of going to their rooms before doing the laundry to make sure all of their dirty clothes were in the laundry room. They got more and more dependent on me picking up their dirty clothes instead of taking care of it themselves.

Deciding I wasn't teaching them anything by doing it for them I had to take action. So one Saturday I warned them that from that day on anything not in the laundry when I was ready to wash wasn't going to get washed.

Monday morning rolled around and things went fine but Tuesday the sky fell in. Neither son had clean jeans. I simply told them "gosh the wash was all done Saturday so you should have enough for the week."

"But Mom, I can't  wear dirty jeans" came from both of them as I just shrugged my shoulders and said "and I can't wash them if they aren't in the laundry.

I never had to pick up their dirty clothes again. By the way they didn't get their jeans that dirty in one day so they were okay to wear them another day in spite of what they thought.

I can't take credit for this way of handling the situation, I had just that week heard it on the radio. Another suggestion the doctor told was when your child wants to run away tell them that is ok but they must leave the same way they came into your world, naked. More times than not it will make the child laugh if you deliver the sentence right. It worked for me with our oldest son.

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With a long flight in my near future I am busy planning which crafts to take with me and how to pack them.  With regret I don't have the project ready I would like to take and rather than hurry the preliminary steps which I know I would regret later I will make myself wait to get into it when I get home.

For this time I will just take a set of pillowcases that I have kept for such a trip. I try to keep a simple project put together in a clear gallon zip lock bag ready to throw in my bag just for this purpose. My travel projects must be small, flat and simple that I don't have to think to hard to work on. I want to be able to work on the project and still visit with people or look around at the scenery. Airlines allow small scissors or nail clippers so sewing projects work well for me.

I always travel with a book also, in case I can't get to sleep at night. Sometimes a motel is noisy, the bed is too hard, at my age hot flashes can be an unwanted guest and frankly sometimes I am too excited to sleep so a good book will relax me.

An oversized canvas bag works great for me as a carry on. I stuff my purse, camera, craft project, book, snack and a set of "undies" all in it and it stays in my possession at all times. That way I am set if my bags don't get to my destination for some reason. I don't ever pack more than will fit in that canvas bag and one large carry on bag that will fit in the overhead compartment so there is no chance of loosing my things but still pack the "undies" out of habit I guess. A girl just never knows.

This trip is to Texas, stay with my in-laws and then into Mexico to OUCH get my teeth pulled by the family dentist. On my numerous trips over I will switch from my purse to a fanny pack, and with my build they look so cute, but for safety's sake I will swallow my pride. Only the necessities will be put in it which means no credit cards and no cell phone. A friend used his cell phone while in Mexico once and somehow his number was tracked, stolen and he then got a very large phone bill the next month. A good lesson for the rest of us.

One more hint I would like to share that I have enjoyed through the years involves bringing smiles to children that I run across on my ventures. I keep small change in a handy pocket, now we all know children should be taught not to talk to or take anything from strangers, but there isn't any rule about my showing a child when I just happen to spot a nickel on the floor and they can pick it up is there. Most of the time the parents don't know I have put it there but if they happen to catch me they go along with it with a smile and silent "thank you." 

If you have traveling plans in your future, be safe and take time to enjoy the little things that bring you pleasure.

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That's right a Peanut butter and Jelly marriage. We learned a very good lesson right at the start about finances I would like to share with you all.

Shortly after we were married my husband, Bob took a better paying job that involved a move. Well we were making payments on a well used, pink 8'x 30' trailer house and had just found out we were expecting our first child. Needless to say we were broke with a capital B. The raise was badly needed so we did our homework and figured out just what we would need to make the move. If we borrowed a truck to move the well used, pink 8'x30' trailer house ourselves we could save a bunch. Bob hadn't taken a vacation he had coming so we would have that check to make our lot rent and buy groceries for the coming month when we got moved. We could do it by watchng our pennies, if we could find any.

He took the job and we moved. The trailer court was so much nicer than where we were and the town was larger, a great hospital for the arrival of our expected baby in seven months. Life was getting better and better all we had to do now was wait for that vacation check.

We had managed to make the lot rent payment but it nearly broke us, not to worry, the check would be here any day now as they promised. Then we could buy groceries until then we had, you guessed it peanut butter except we didn't have any jelly! A man at Bob's new job had given him a dozen eggs and we had a loaf of bread. We would be fine for a couple of days, then a couple of more days passed, then a week. It is amazing what one can do with peanut butter, bread and eggs. One day Bob would make our sandwiches then the next day I would make them. At least it was a change. And eggs, you all know there are dozens of ways to use eggs so with a smile and the innocense of youth we lived on peanut butter, eggs and one loaf of bread for three weeks.

We made daily calls, and they made daily excuses why the check hadn't been mailed, finally they admitted that they told us wrong Bob had not earned a paid vacation, just vacation time. Yes, we were very unhappy to say the least, but we should have checked into it more to start with since we were depending on that money. You can't count on what should be you need to see it in black and white.

Obviously, we survived and to this day we still look back and laugh about our PBJ start to our marriage. Oh and by the way we still like PBJ but load on the J now.

So you see money isn't everything, attitude makes up for a lot.

Keep Smilin' and see ya soon!

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