And she's off - almost

I leave for Mongolia tomorrow, well technically Beijing as I'll be staying the night there THEN flying to the big M.

The past couple days haven't been without some excitement. Our rather large hailstorm on Thursday night left my downstairs carpet a sopping wet mess. Mostly in Tom's room. Desperately I went to Home Depot and dropped $250 on the biggest bad-ass De-Humidifier I could find hoping that would help. It started sucking the moisture from the air but slowly. So this morning I was back there buying the biggest bad-ass Wet/Dry Vac I could find. The ones that said "Professional" seemed like a good place to start. Then comes the Horse Power. The most horse power was 6HP. Alrighty then, I quickly ignored the 5H brands and the paltry 4 and 3H brands were beneath my consideration. I did mull over the DeWalt as that's a good name but it wasn't big enough I figured. Hell if I'm dropping gratuitous amounts of cash on something like this it's go big or go home. Oh and the thing is a Blower too. It does so many things, I was waiting for it to run itself.

With the De-humidifier chugging along I was down there on the squishy carpet trying to SUCK up all the water with the ShopVac. I could feel my electricity bill growing exponentially with all the whirrring equipment. The ShopVac is pretty damn cool I have to admit, and I might have enjoyed using it, if I wasn't feeling so DESPERATE trying to fix my predicament when I should be PACKING. Breath.... breath in the good... breath out the bad... ohhhmmmmm.

Tom called today so I got to tell him the bad news that his room is even worse off than before. And to admit that this was still all my fault as my gutters were still not completely fixed and the storm sent everything over the edge. He was lazing about by his sister's pool in California and didn't seem to concerned about the whole thing.

On the plus side I talked to my friend Joan who looks after my lawn (yes I'm a Lazy ASS) and she's coming by tomorrow to fix my eaves for me. (Big BIG sigh of relief)

My packing is done. I'm pretty sure I'm about 8lbs over the accepted wieght but at this point its like, "ya charge me the $30"

However I think everything is done. Kitty Kats will be looked after before Tom comes back- check. Phone call to the parents - check. Visa & money in the purse - check. All the gear is packed - God I hope so!

Stay tuned...

4 Sleeps

I was just planning on going to bed when I thought, why don't I blog instead? My glass of wine isn't quite done and I'm not sure if I'd fall asleep right away anyhow because... there are only 4 sleeps left until I leave for Mongolia! (hence drinking the stupour inducing wine)

Yessiree Bob and Bob's your Uncle. Right now gear is strewn over my living room floor and I have lists and lists for the lists and amendments to the lists, and the lists I have in my head that really should be lists on paper!

MEC is my favorite place to shop these days and I'm in a quandary over crampons, digital cameras, SLR cameras, the eaves troughs that still need cleaning and the expensive steak I dethawed but haven't had time to cook yet and .. and.. and...!!

In short I have my typical pre-trip jitters. Which are similar to my pre running race jitters but magnified by 10. Jumpy, nervous and the ADD kicks into fucking OVERDRIVE.

But I also know that when it gets down to the wire I will calm down and systematically tick off everything on my list. I become "Miss Prepared" and while my friends and ex-hubby used to mock my anal attention to detail it pays off. Like when we travelled to Africa and I was practicing my Swahili outloud on the plane. Oh sure I looked and sounded like an idiot.. but who said the proper evening salutation to our African guides when we went to bed our first night on Safari? (That would be moi). While someone else said the name of the Tanzanian capital city when he *thought* he was saying goodnight? Man, I still smile about that one. Imagine someone walking to their tent, turning around waving and saying "Ottawa!!" to you. Once we got in the tent Darren whispered "I didn't say goodnight did I?" I got the fit of the giggles so bad I almost pee'd my pants. Which was abit of foreshadowing when I did indeed pee my pants later on in the trip. We were on day 5 of our Kilimanjaro climb and in the middle of the night, I was vomitting so violently with my head outside the tent that ya.. the bladder went. But I ask any of you reading this blog.. have YOU tried to vomit with a full bladder?? I'm just grateful I didn't need to have a BM, know what I'm saying?? Hey, this is adventure travel not Club Med, quit looking horrified.

Things are coming together for my trip. I still have to exchange some money for chinese currency, and see if all that I'm bringing will fit into my duffel bag and still meet the wieght restrictions. Oh and I have to craft an email to my roommate Tom explaining to him why all his beautiful Alpinist Magazines are water damaged due to the seepage of water into his basement bedroom from the stupid eaves troughs that I have should have cleaned in the fall but I didn't. (because of course it's the eaves troughs fault and not Lise's)

Ok so maybe it doesn't "sound" like things are coming together and just possibly my rather large glass of wine I just consumed is giving me an optimistic outlook right now. Woooo 15% alcohol ain't bad I have to say. But on an even better note I feel sleepy now so soon it will only be 3 sleeps and Bob's your uncle.