Sccccooooorrrrrreeeee!!!!!!!
We have a small sum of money set aside for house repairs or a mini-vacation. I was advocating for ceiling fans in the bedrooms or new medicine cabinets, but Erik and Mike are advocating for a small vacation.
I started looking into beach rentals yesterday and we could swing a couple of nights on the Maryland shore. I was talking about it with a friend today and guess what? She has a beach house that is available for FREE for two weeks. Free always fits the budget! Of course I offered to pay her, but she refused to take any money. We will leave it cleaner than we find it and be sure to stock up on groceries and leave her wine or beer or something. We won’t go a a full two weeks, but it is going to be a longer trip than we could otherwise afford. I am so happy!
Speaking of vacations, Mike wants to go to Sweden next summer. At first he asked me if he could take the kids to Sweden since I always tell him he can go and I’ll stay home. Moment of truth, though, hit me like a brick. No way are my kids going to a foreign country without me. I trust Mike 100%, but my babies need me.
Mike has a year to figure out accommodations. Surely there are vacation rental homes in or around Klippan. I absolutely refuse to stay at the family farm. I wouldn’t mind staying with one of the nieces or nephews if they had room for us, but it would be weird to invite ourselves into their homes.
Mike’s sister-in-law has it out for me and I am not even sure why. Before I found my Dealing with the Inlaws forum I tried to make excuses for her or thought she made some mistakes, but after much reading I know that she purposefully does shit to piss me off. Why else would you make octopus pasta for someone you know hates seafood and chop up the octopus into such tiny pieces no one can see it, then gloat about it? Sorry Mike, but that is just bat shit crazy. If I have a guest in my home I try to accommodate their likes and dislikes, as do all normal people. Normal people don’t trick others into eating food they don’t like. I’ve never hidden olives or beans in my dishes and tried to get Mike to eat them. I’ve tried to get him to eat both, but never through subterfuge.
Normal people don’t try to sell their guests their old fat clothes. And they really don’t get offended when their guests don’t want to spend a shit ton of money on said fat clothes. She was selling her old clothes for more money than I pay for new clothes!
So I guess we have a big trip to look forward to next year. I can see a Swedish summer vacation being really fun, but not with the family element mixed in. If anyone has any tips on travelling with kids around the Klippan/Angelholm area, I’m all ears. Mike’s family* has never met Elsa (I was six months pregnant the last time we were there). There are also three new great-grandbabies and another one on the way that we’ve never met. At least that means Elsa will have someone to play with.
I guess I should wrap this up and go take a shower. We went to the splash park this morning, so I was planning on going to the gym this afternoon. Elsa was up super early and managed to fall asleep during Tangled. She’s going on 2.5 hours of sleep and I don’t think I’ll have time for a workout before I need to cook dinner.
*For newer readers, Mike is much younger than his siblings. I am closer in age to his nieces and nephews than his siblings. His niece has two children and his nephew has one and one on the way.