Bullets before bon voyage

Just 4 days till hubby and I head out for the KLOVE Friends and Family Cruise... This will be our first pleasure trip (I don't really want to call it a vacation) sans kids in the 20 years we have been parents. Excited doesn't begin to describe it. We're meeting 2 other couples from our old church in Omaha. I am counting on it being a great time. I plan on doing a lot of reading, hitting the gym a bit, some water aerobics, relaxing, catching up with our friends, and of course... listening to and meeting the musicians!

My big sis Pam is going to move in with the kids while we're gone and take over the parenting duties. I expect she'll have the entire crew whipped into shape by the time we get back. Emily will probably help her with some of the transportation issues (getting kids to/from school, classes, lessons, etc.). After all, Pam will be trying to carry her usual medical transcription workload at the same time. I don't have such a thing to deal with.

Before I go, just some things that have been on my mind lately:

• My new best friend. These are the bomb-diggity! No more soaking and scrubbing the crock pot. I will never make a meal in the crock pot without these again.

• One of my new listening favorites on my iPod. He is what I remember country sounding like when I was a kid. Great songs on this album. I rarely buy whole albums on iTunes, but I got this one. Still hard to believe he isn't even 19 yet!

• Brian and I have started couponing. It's a little labor-intensive at first, but I can see that it will be less so after we get used to the whole thing. We will not become extreme couponers, however! It is neat to see the savings. We attended a class held by a local couponing expert, Kristan Stanford.  She was full of really great info. Any local folks who are interested should look into her classes; they are held several times a month by the local paper.

OK, my list wasn't as long as I thought it would be. Should have taken notes in the car when all these things were going through my head and maybe I could remember the rest of the bullets. Oh well... for another day, I guess.