while you're ahead…

Let’s face it, long gone are the days when packing was done the day before, after dinner, footloose and fancy free.

Nope, now under the umbrella of ‘packing’ there are a whole other matters that require days of preparation and the execution of a military campaign.  Cancel appointments and regular deliveries, sort out dog sitters/house sitters, pay bills due when we’re away… and whilst the actual act of putting things in the suitcase itself is done by each individual members of the family it doesn’t mean that all the washing/ironing/folding etc. is.  Oh no… the washing reaches a frenetic level right up to the last hour.

(Talking of washing, if somebody can come over and help me remove No 3’s new sweatpants off him I’d be eternally grateful).

(Also… the boys have been wearing school uniform or sport kits for months and suddenly they don’t seem to have enough ‘normal’ clothes to wear… too small (when will the stop growing!!) or just not enough…  cue mad scramble and lots of arguments during hellish shopping trips… sigh).

One ‘item’ that I’ve been perfecting through the years, mainly through trial and error is the first aid kit.

Arnica cream – for knocks and bruises.  When Mr M kicked the bottom of the bag in New York and ‘grew’ a purple baseball on his shin (not even joking) I regretted not having that with me.  It’s magical stuff.

Tea tree cream – natural antiseptic.  Brilliant for cuts and grazes

Savlon healing gel –  similar to the above but good for superficial burns too. (I’m clumsy in the kitchen

Bites relief/hydrocortisone – Insects can be a major pain and I’m not very good with bee stings.

Rehydrating powder and imodium tablets – for… you know… those occasions when ‘you can’t stop going’… (with me?)

Then I always carry a whole loads of plasters and tubigrip and bandages etc.  (Those alginate dressing I should have had last year when No 3 went flying over the handlebar of his bike in Vancouver and left half his skin on the pavement… (all caught on film by the gopro mounted on the handlebar, quite dramatic).

I don’t know how the mosquito situation will be where we’re going but once a girl scout…  always a girl scout… be prepared and all that jazz.

… and these are ‘mummy’s little pills’… vitamins and pmt happy pills so nobody dies whilst we’re away and I don’t spend the rest of my days wearing orange… (Kira hormonal balance tablets are fabulous).

 

So, what have I missed?  Please do tell!

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