En Route...

UPDATE: We were able to get on an earlier flight out of Atlanta! And we totally fooled the baggage handlers into thinking our suitcase had nothing but boring clothes so the tools came through just fine. As did all our luggage. Which is cool since I was afraid with switching flights the suitcases might decide to take their own vacation and go to New Orleans or somewhere.

My eyes are barely open and I'm mainlining the caffeine as we get ready to head to the airport. We have a looooooooooong layover in Atlanta. Okay, okay, only five hours but to me that's long. But I am prepared with a couple of books! Plus some work I can do on the computer that doesn't require internet. Trying to catch up as I'm several months behind on inputting new contact information (folks who sign up for our prayer letters).

We should be home by around 10 p.m. tonight barring 'unforeseen situations'. Which I am learning to take in stride 'cause they seem to crop up with great regularity. So you can't call them 'unexpected' as I'm expecting them all the time.

The D had a rough day yesterday; she was still pretty shook up. She made it back to southern Michigan mid-afternoon and had time to unwind (somewhat) and get a good night's sleep (hopefully) before taking care of some things this morning and heading back to Indiana where she's scheduled to work this afternoon/evening.

Last night we slept on hubby's latest creation; he built a platform for Beth's guest bed. He made it 16" high so she has lots of underbed storage now. But that meant the bedskirt would have been a mini-skirt. Fortunately Beth had a good amount of 5" white eyelet trim (not the ruffled kind) that I was able to sew along the bottom of the tailored bedskirt, making it the perfect length. And getting rid of the boxsprings meant getting rid of the squeaks too.

We love the whole platform concept because it means you only have to have a mattress, no boxspring necessary, and it gives you space to store things. Which is good when you have lots of stuff and not so much room. We're planning on having them for every bed we use in Argentina :-)

Ivan was able to use his new tools in the making of the platform. Beth gave him a set of DeWalt tools that brought a big ole' smile to his face! We've packed it in our bigger suitcase (fit in just right) with some clothes tucked around the edges and on top to disguise it, in hopes no one sees what's in it and decides to take them. We also took pictures in case something does happen. I mean, poor Amy Beth ended up in Memphis without any PANTS! I guess those baggage handlers liked her style. So we are praying our craftiness in "hiding" the big black box of tools with an assortment of underwear and cute little summer tops will do the trick and save the tools.

And since we used our suitcase for that instead of our clothes, and we only brought one little carry-on bag besides, Beth loaned us a duffle bag. Not wanting to haul even the little black wheelie bag all over Atlanta for five long hours, I filled it and then packed it into the duffle, adding all the rest of our stuff around it (duffle bags are cavernous!). Got it all in nice and snug and we think we're within the allowable 50 lbs. Sure hope so! If not I'll be unpacking the duffle bag at check-in, re-organizing lighter things into the black wheelie bag which we'll then carry on with us. Love the vagaries of travel!

And now it's time to actually commence with the traveling. See you tomorrow interlings!