Packed and ready to go!!

It's been a busy day here at the Shanahan home doing final errands as well as getting everything organized and cleaned up. This morning I went to the bank and received lots of nice, crisp, clean, freshly minted money so that I won't have to worry about having any of it rejected by the officials in China. Next I was off to make photocopies of our passports and visas so that all the needed paperwork could be gathered. Next stop was the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for my bronchitis, well really to replace what I pulled out of the China bag yesterday and had already started taking. Final stop was to crash one of our local adopter's office holiday party, or really just to stop in and pick up some scabies cream, but their lunch party did look good.

I then worked on getting our bags packed and had our dining room set up as a staging area, talk about a disaster zone!! On top of that I've been cleaning out Maisie's room and the hall closet so that I'll be better organized with all of her stuff. Tell me why is it that when you clean out closets or a specific room, your entire house gets trashed? Then as I was trying to get better seats on the plane, Deb and family stopped in to drop of some treats made by Ian and LiLi for our journey. Chocolate mint cookies and some peppermint patties which I know Eammon will really enjoy and I may have to avoid, but we'll see how my stomach is doing.

Eammon arrived home earlier than expected as he's still under the weather and because I'm so sick, figured he could help me out too. Next the doctor called with the results of yesterdays blood work and x-ray. My blood work was OK and I don't have bronchitis, I have pneumonia!!! Can this get any better??? Eammon suggested that I delay travel so to rest for a few days and then fly to meet him in Chongqing. Well the look I shot him made him realize that there was no way in h*ll that I was going to miss that plane tomorrow. Honestly there's nothing that they can do for me here, I'm on the antibiotic and whether I take it here or in China, there's nothing much more I can do. I'll just have to take it a little slow and Eammon will have to take on more of the responsibilities in China. If this doesn't clear up and I end up getting sicker, it's good that we have travel insurance. I got a few phone calls, people wishing us a wonderful trip but no one could really hear me over the phone so conversations were brief.

So here we are, the bed linens have been changed, the house is straightened up, all the floors have been washed, everything is dusted, the bathrooms are clean and by the end of the trip I'll be happy to come home to my nice clean house and I'm sure my bed too!!

We're ready to go and yes, we're still going carry-on-only. We each have a rolling bag that meets the carry on size requirement and a standard sized back pack. It's crazy because all of Maisie's stuff is in the bag on the left and weighs in at 26 pounds. The bag on the right contains all of Eammon's and my clothing and stuff and comes in at 24 pounds. Amazing how one little girl needs more stuff than two adults combined!! Eammon's back pack is also not in the picture but it's the same as mine and neither of the backpacks are particularly full, mostly electronics and some other minor stuff. Here's the packing list if anyone is interested.

Nothing more to do other than try and get some rest so that when the alarm goes off at sparrows fart, 4:30 am, we'll be somewhat rested. I added the link this time to sparrows fart because so many of you commented on the phrase. Big thanks to everyone who's been sending good wishes for our trip, it's great having so many people following along and getting caught up in our excitement! It's almost Maisie day!!