Scheduling Summer

Now that school's out, I'm having a toddler-like reaction to the craziness of summer.

Ah, summer - time to schedule all those appointments - no need to worry about school! Yay!

On the very first Monday, I slammed two into one day. Unintentionally. My calendar on my computer is not synced with my phone. Lil wanted to go to the pool with her Nature Camp friends, which conflicted with her original dental appointment. Quick call - Monday, 4:15? That's PERFECT. Whew. Crisis avoided there.

Until the following day when I received a reminder from her orthodontist about her appointment at 4:50 on Monday.

So I prayed to the traffic gods that play with our lives on Rt. 29 everyday starting at, um, when does morning rush hour end? 10:30 AM? Can we make it from Atholton to Ellicott City in less than 15 minutes?

Also, who wants a dental cleaning followed by wire tightening? Irrelevant question, ok?

Luckily I showed up at the dentist at 3:45 and there had been a cancellation, so my crazy plan was accommodated.

Luckily for Lil, no tightening - just a check to see they can be removed. But then when to schedule that appointment? Oh, the day of her show at CCTA? Uh, no. She's Peter Pan in one of the scenes (there are multiple Pans so they can learn lines quickly in six days).

I choose 10:30 - put it in the phone, cc my husband, who actually never looks at what I send him, just accepts as "Tentative" - and move on.

Oh, right, I have a doctor's appointment that day that I didn't see on my phone.

Did I mention Disney is due for his annual exam next week? Which the hubby refuses to attend because he's afraid of the vet scolding us for how portly our 15 month old cat is...

I'm thinking of going back to paper.

My dirty little secret

I'm a little ashamed to admit this: I don't always walk to the Mall.

Sometimes it's because I'm returning from someplace like dropping Lil off at ballet, which is based at the Howard County Center for the Arts in Ellicott City. (Even if they move to Long Reach, which I hope they do, that's still on the other side of town, and I don't know if Ballet Mobile would go with them, which I hope they would.)

But sometimes, I'm not returning. I'm driving from my house to the mall. There are a few reasons for this:



Sometimes it looks like this:



Or it's raining or really cold...

So yes, if I'm planning on doing major shopping, I will drive so I don't have to walk up the hill with all my packages. Sometimes, when it's really cold, I can't breathe because of my asthma. (Have you seen those Symbicort ads where the person doesn't acknowledge their asthma is a problem? That's me to a T. And my Symbicort makes me feel a little jittery.)

We do walk down there a lot. Luke has even been known to purchase furniture and borrow a dolly to push it up to the house.

But we definitely don't walk down to the Lakefront to Clyde's very often. And if we do shop a little at Whole Foods when it opens later this year, which is questionable because it's so expensive, I'm going to drive.

My British chum Claire over at UK Desperate Housewife has noted that one of the differences between the UK & the US is that we drive EVERYWHERE. Buses are for people that can't afford cars. (Not that I agree with that exactly, but the Howard County government study below says that essentially.) I love driving my car...I listen to books on tape and I love being in control. And my car doubles as another branch of the Howard County Library...

But I am looking forward to the Columbia Town Center development because of one item in particular. The plan mentions "multi-modal transportation," which seems to include a downtown circulator. When this comes to fruition, I will commit to using it!

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