Packing up

Leiya and I are in the midst of packing and cleaning up. At this point of my vacation I am always irritable and frustrated. It is not so much sadness at leaving people and summer activities as it is I ABSOLUTELY HATE TRYING TO GET EVERYTHING IN MY SUITCASES!!! I probably won't get back into a good mood until I am checked through at the airport.

For many years I would juggle suitcases during the last week of my summer stay, and since Takumi and Leiya and I would be traveling together I'd have 6 suitcases I could work with. Which suitcase weighs the most? Which one can the heaviest things be put in to balance things out? 6 suitcases gave us a lot of possibilities. There have been a few times when Tetsu would come to the States for a week and leave for Japan early. I always bought up heavy things during his week here and sent him home with two full, heavy suitcases. Even so I was usually shuffling things around in the suitcases at the airport check-in line when I went home alone weeks later.

The past three or four years since I travel alone, two suitcases just doesn't do it for me. I have to pay for overweight baggage. It makes me feel like I've done something wrong, that I'm a bad traveler or something. That's ridiculous because a week's tourist and me living a month with my American family, find different things that "need" to be bought. I shouldn't feel guilty about all my purchases and my lack of control but I do.

Last night while watching me stuff things into my two humongous suitcases my brother made the WRONG comment that I had too much fabric this year.

"Just stick half of it in a box and leave it here. You aren't going to get all that used up in one's year's time anyway. When you come back next year you're going to have only used a fraction of all that stuff. Put it all in baggies and number them and if want something tell us the number and we'll send it to you when needed. I know you won't need it though."

Boy did that send my bristles up! And besides, next year when I come I'll be buying more fabric so that was a dumb suggestion. (Besides most of my fabric from friends I'm putting into my carry on case. I DO NOT want to have the airlines lose that!)

Another subject...

I have said good-bye to Takumi and Bianca. They made a stop by on Sunday night. Just together time, a little shopping for Tetsu (a birthday present from his kids). Here are a couple of interesting pictures... I wonder what Tetsu will think when he sees this post.

When Leiya and I were in Long Beach with Takumi we made yet another stop at JoAnns to buy Bianca some Heat and Bond for her soon to be started applique project. And while there Takumi discovered a sales bin with books, tools, and kits. He went through the cashier's line before I did and so I didn't realize until later that he'd bought a cross stitch kit.

"Who is that for?"

"Me. It was on sale."

WHAT?!! Sputter, choke, walk into a wall. My son wants to do cross stitch?! NO WAY!

Sunday Takumi brought his already started cross stitch and spent a couple hours working on it as we all sat around chatting. He needed a couple basic lessons

"Use a florescent pen to highlight the stitches you've already done or you're going to get confused."

"Make your stitches going in the same direction."

but he was going at it with great gusto. Who would've thought...

Maybe someday I'll get to put the finished product up on my wall.