Summer + Kidlet home = More $$ spent

We picked up the kidlet on Saturday morning after an awful weather-related Friday night. The drive was actually uneventful since we left after the storms behind as we headed north. The roads were clear, but this was the first time in YEARS that you could actually see some of the rivers from the roadway.

Yes, they were that flooded.

I think we might be out of our two-year drought, but I haven't seen the actual rainfall totals to know if this were true.

She had fun at the KU swim camp, made many new friends from Illinois, Nebraska and Kansas, and she wants to return next year . . .  even though the camp worked them hard.

With the kidlet home this week before going to Girl Scout camp next week--this camp is much, much closer to home--I started to look at the schedule.

*GASP!*

I will be using up gasoline like it was $1.00 a gallon, not $3.75!

Today will be relatively quiet with various jaunts to shop for items (stuff for camp, Sam's Club, Wal MartFather's Day, etc) that we will need in the coming week. I'll be driving within a radius of four miles, so if I plan it right I can do those errands without wasting too much gas.

Tomorrow is another topic though:

AM swim--McClure park--12 miles
to Weight Watchers, with a stop at home to drop the kidlet off--14 miles
to home for a shower--2 miles
to my mom's house, picking up Panda Express along the way--8 miles
to uniform shop to pick up mended/pressed school uniform skirts -- 5 miles
to hair cut (kidlet will probably convince me to head across the road to the mall)-- 3 miles
to home -- 4 miles
to PM swim -- 6 miles

Looking at the list, it doesn't look like much, but when you add traffic, roadwork on the expressways, and stoplights. OH, and I'm sure I've forgotten a stop or three along the way.  It will just eat up the day. Every day this week will look a little different, but just multiply it by the miles and I'll be filling my gas tank up every couple of days.

And I thought paying for the various camps was expensive!

Last summer had entailed about the same amount of driving, but I had forgotten that fact during the ensuing school year. I know this isn't much driving for some people, but I don't like to drive, which makes it a lot of driving.

And it isn't just the driving. It's the shopping for clothes--not clothes for me, mind you, but the kid. And I HATE the mall and shopping.

Plus she has two requests this summer:

• Having her eyebrows plucked -- I agree for her having them professionally done, since I've seen the results of many people over-plucking their own eyebrows. Her brows just need a little TLC with the shaping
• waxing her legs--She does have furry legs. In fact, she started shaving them with an electric razor when she was 9. I asked her if she knew what happened when you are waxed as her only experience with this was by watching America's Funniest Home Videos. Her response, "It rips the skin off." My response, "Yes, but the pain comes from ripping each and every hair out by the root." This comment didn't phase her.

My little baby is growing up!

Later, Peeps! I better get my walk in before I start the grind today!