We're packing...

Got the suitcase (yes, that's singluar - so far, anyway) down this weekend and started getting things together.  I found my slight-overkill packing list from our last cruise, and am using it for reference anyway.  It's quite amazing how little you need on a cruise once you abandon the thought of dressing for dinner.  Barring underwear, my stack of clothes is less than a foot high - and that's everything on my list!

 

I had to back myself off a good bit while putting together the first-aid kit, though.  We had the remains of several first aid kits in the medicine cabinet, and I started to combine them.  However, once I found myself stuffing in the latex gloves and gauze rolls and the mylar heat-retaining blanket, I came to my senses.  Cruise ships have a medical staff, and if we're dealing with hypothermia or a wound big enough to require a roll of gauze, I think they're going to be involved - and they bring their own supplies.  So it's whittled down to fit in a small ziploc bag (of course the ziplocs are coming with us).

 

I think, perhaps, that there is no experience more demoralizing for a middle-aged woman who is not still in training for the Olympics, than trying to find a flattering swimsuit.  I have been duly demoralized this weekend.  Almost to the point of looking for a bathing suit from the turn of the previous century - one of those ones with a high neck, leggings and a calf-length skirt.  I can say with absolute authority now that the world does not need to see me in a tankini or in a string bikini or halter top - ever.  After a few failed attempts to try on something that looked potentially un-frightening, I gave up and added my old workout Speedo to my stack of clothes.  It's not particularly flattering, either, but it's a workout suit, and isn't supposed to be glamorous.

 

Then we ended up at Costco yesterday - being a weekend and all, we are required to go to Costco at least once, I think.  And they had women's swimsuits for sale there at a reasonable price.  No opportunity to try them on, and they came in recognizable women's clothing sizes.  I found one that looked reasonable - not utterly glamorous, but not utilitarian either - and bought it.  It looks okay.  People will not run screaming from me if I appear in public wearing it. 

 

But seriously, after that experience, I'm eating salads and soups for lunch and dinner for the next 2 weeks.  No exceptions.