Lessons Learned on a Solo Road Trip

I headed to the big city earlier this week - Chicago. If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.

Oops, sorry that's New York, isn't it?

I still think the line applies to Chicago, at least when it comes to navigating the city streets. Now, don't get me wrong. I know that driving in NYC, LA and London is probably crazier, but Chicago traffic isn't a Sunday drive in the country!

I've driven in Chicago many times before but there was one big difference this time. I was ALONE. So, I learned a few things during my drive and I want to share.

1.  A four-hour drive seems like an eight-hour drive when you are traveling during drive-time and don't care about the weather, traffic and news from cities you are just passing through. There was the Chicago traffic but even if I listened, I wouldn't know where they were talking about! I never wished for satellite radio more than during this drive. A stop at Meijer allowed me to pick up the newest Little Big Town CD and alleviate my boredom.

 2. A co-pilot is needed even if you have a navigation system. The car I was driving had a built in navigation system that got me exactly where I was going, but a co-pilot would have been so useful in having the correct change at toll booths, keeping an eye out for my exit and reassuring me that the navigation system was not lying to me. I also missed having someone to joke with...like when I saw the billboard for Fair Oaks Farms (Have you been there? If not, go.) that said "Cheese. Grate Stuff." Isn't that a hoot?

3. You can blow right through toll booth (via the i-Pass lanes), honestly. I feel as if I need to explain myself here. At the second toll booth on the Illinois Tollway, ALL of the Cash lanes were green as I approached it. When I entered my chosen lane, the light turned RED! What's a girl to do? Continue forward and hope the toll collector (right term?) takes my money? Back up and choose another lane. I chose the latter. Thank goodness it wasn't rush hour! After telling this story to some folks at the conference I was attending, I learned a great tip. You have a 7-day grace period on unpaid tolls. Don't believe me? Check it out. Just pick the toll booths you missed, enter your credit card number and you are set.

4.  Blind spot alert systems are a great tool in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I normally drive a Corolla and it so doesn't have this feature (but it gets 35+ MPG, so I don't complain about lack of extras - much), but I was driving a Buick Lucerne that does have all the bells and whistles. The blind spot indicator saved me many times when I needed to change lanes quickly but also had to stay aware of what was happening in front, behind and to the other side of me.

5.  Northern Indiana is a test market when it comes to fast food. Now, this doesn't really have anything to do with a solo road trip, but I did learn it and really wanted 5 items on my list, so it's in. I love Coke Zero - it's Diet Coke masquarding as regular Coke. I really love a fountain Coke Zero and can tell you every restaurant in Central Indiana (and some gas stations) that offer my favorite drink. McDonald's isn't one of them. So imagine my surprise and utter delight when I pulled into the drive-thru in Crown Point or one of those cities in the Region (Side note: Mishawaka is NOT in the Region.) and Coke Zero was on the menu. I can only hope it tests well and becomes available everywhere!

Those are my lessons learned. I'm headed back to Chicago at the end of the month, but luckily next time I have company! I may still see if I can drive the Buick...

My Bucket List...and a Short-Term "To Do" List

Now, I don't have a long-forgotten bucket list like Hannah over at Off the Cuff but I have always had a list in my head of things I want to do before I pass...a - for a lack of a better term - "mental bucket list."

I finally got around to putting it on paper typing it up the other day, so I thought I'd share it and maybe this will spur me to mark a few off.

Of course, when I sat down and started typing, these were my first three entries:

• Go to the dermatologist.
• Clean my baseboards.
• Purge my sweater closet.

Yes, I know. These are "to do" items NOT bucket list items. So I made two separate headings of "To Do List" and "Bucket List" and went to town.
 
Some of my "to do" list items still ended up in my "bucket list" but I am an editor at heart (and by vocation) so once I was done with my list, I moved some stuff around and presto...my Bucket List.
 
Now I couldn't help adding some editorial comments because this is a blog entry, not just a list!
 
Bucket List


• Drive down a coastal highway in a convertible with a scarf on my head. (Think Thelma & Louise-like without the hand-holding cliff scene, but maybe including Brad Pitt.)
• Go sky diving.
• Take a hot air balloon ride.
• Go white water rafting.
• Go sailing. (Learn to sail first or during the trip.)

• Take each of my nephews/nieces on an amazing trip (one-on-one).
• Visit all 50 states – 14 more to go.
• Go to NYC. See at least one Broadway musical.
• Go to New Orleans and eat a beignet.
• Visit the Grand Canyon. (Visit, not hike.)
• Hike the Appalachian Trail (or at least part of it).
• Hang out by a pool in Las Vegas.
• Learn how to broom board but ONLY in Hawaii – preferably on Kauai.
• Go back to Krakow, Poland and visit some of the places I loved most while studying there.
• Go to Ireland and order a pint at a pub.
• Wear a two-piece swimsuit at a tropical resort (not Hawaii).
• Spend a month in Europe.
• Visit Vancouver.
• Learn Photoshop/InDesign.
• Take a creative writing course.
• Bake The Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls. (This should be a to do but I’m pretty sure it’ll be a once in a lifetime event for me.)
• Learn how to decorate a cake (maybe just a cupcake).
• Grow my hair longer than shoulder length just to see how it looks.
• Learn how to arrange flowers.
• Learn how to change a tire.
• Learn sign language.
• Visit a real working cattle ranch (maybe learn how to ride a horse).
• Wet harvest cranberries while wearing waders.
• Stand under a windmill and just listen. (Those big ones in the middle of cornfields. Yes, I’m that big of a dork.)

Hopefully, I have another 50-plus years to accomplish all of these!

For those of you curious, this is what ended up on my "To Do" list.

Moved to the “To Do” List

• Go to the dermatologist.
• Clean my baseboards.
• Purge my sweater closet.
• Actively play the stock market/actively manage my money (maybe a to do is learn how to manage my investments).
• Implement a time management/life management system that works for me (more a to do, right?)
• Write for pleasure every day (more a to do, right?).
• Become more knowledgeable about my faith.

Personally, I think the "bucket list" looks like more fun!
 
Now, anyone want to go to South Dakota with me?

Meet Me Monday Q&A

This is my first time participating in Meet Me Monday. Big D over at Who's the Grown Up? usually plays and I always enjoy her answers, so I decided to join in this week. Here we go:

Questions:

1. What is the best dish you can make? The best dish I CAN make is probably different than the best dish I DO make, which is a Club Cracker Chicken which is always moist and flavorful.

2. How often do you change your sheets? I try to do it every week, but realistically it's every 2 weeks (3 if I've been traveling a lot).

3. What is the longest car trip you have ever taken? I'm sure some of our summer vacations were longer in total miles, but the two off of the top of my head are 1) non-stop from Indiana to Cape Cod (Massachusetts) for a total of 17 hours and 2) non-stop from Indiana to Disney World for a total of 16 hours. Of course we stopped for gas, bathrooms and food, but we drove all night/day!

4. What is your favorite fruit? I'm not a huge fruit fan (just ask my family), but I love watermelon and grapes.

5. Would you rather have breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast? Breakfast for dinner.

That was fun. Thanks for stopping by!

Addicted to Drugstore Deals

Hello. My name is Megan and I'm addicted to finding deals - especially at Walgreens and CVS.

I have to admit that over the last year or so I've gotten so many great deals on razors, toothpaste, toothbrushes, body wash and more that I've instituted a rule on those items. RULE: I can NOT buy them unless they end up being FREE or BETTER than FREE after coupons and/or rewards.

Now, I normally don't post about the great deals I find each week because a) so many bloggers out there do a MUCH better job than I do and b) my family already gives me a hard time about the dozen men's body washes in my bathroom closet.

Don't get me wrong. My sisters (and friends and coworkers) benefit from this addiction. I've been known to load up a grocery bag with my deals and pass them out to those closest to me. They may heckle me, but they also snatch up the goodies.

But this week, I think I did exceptionally well at Walgreens so I've decided to share in my triumph.

Here are the deals I got this week at Walgreens.

4-pack Starbucks Frappuccino & 4-pack Starbucks Doubleshot @ $3.99 each w/coupon in ad; $1 off 2 Walgreens coupon (monthly booklet); 2-$1 coupons = $4.98

Schick Hydro Razor @ $7.99 w/$4 coupon = $3.99 + $4 Register Rewards...FREE

Schick Hydro Shaving Cream @ $2.99 w/$1 coupon; Free w/purchase of razor coupon = FREE + $1

2 Nivea Lip Glosses @ $1 each w/$2 off 2 coupon =  FREE

2 bags of Werther Candy B1G1 @ $2.29 w/$1 off 2 coupon = $1.29

2 boxes of Star Wars Fruit Snacks (the nephews are here this week) @ $1 each = $2

Remember you have to have as many items as you have coupons/Register Rewards to redeem at Walgreens.

I redeemed $5 in Register Rewards so I ended up paying $7.47 and getting $4 in Register Rewards to spend next week!

As for CVS, I made sure to grab the contact lens solution that was free after Extra Care Bucks and another Schick Hydro Razor which was free after ECBs and coupon. If you are a CVS shopper, make sure you scan your card at the Extra Care kiosk this week. I got $5 off of Halloween costumes or accessories and ended up making a dollar because the item I bought was only $3.99.

Happy shopping! I'll see you at next week's support group and I'll bring everyone a toothbrush.

My Achille's Heel...in a Shiny Blue Bag

With the holidays right around the corner, the gals and I in the office decided to ressurect our weekly weigh-ins. Each Thursday, we look up and down the hallway to make sure the coast is clear and then step on the scale. Then we head to the designated whiteboard in a coworker's office and check in that we weighed in for the week. Sometimes it's a simple checkmark to say we've weighed in. Sometimes it's a smiley face if we've lost weight. And unfortunately sometimes it's a sad face, you know what that means. :(

This way we hold each other accountable while not having to share our actual weights. It works great. We can commisserate if there's a weight gain. We can celebrate when there's a weight loss.

For me, it's all about maintenance. Now, I probably could go gangbusters and really watch what I eat and start exercising regularly (or even sporadically) and lose 10 pounds and drop a pant size. But then I'd have to buy new pants and even after a major closet purge last week, I still have 30-plus pairs of dress pants and way too many jeans to have to go out and start over.

So, I'm doing this to maintain my weight, especially with Halloween candy already out; Thanksgiving pies right around the corner; and Christmas cookies a couple of months away.

We started two Thursdays ago. I was doing OK. Stopped snacking between meals. Drinking lots more water and less soda.

Then on Wednesday night I ran into the grocery store to grab a couple of things. BAD DECISION!

Kroger is having it's 10 for $10 sale. Now, overall this isn't a bad thing. You can get some really good stuff - healthy stuff - for $1. But you can also get Snack Saks of mini Oreos for $1...I love Oreos!

I don't usually allow myself to buy Oreos because a) They are expensive; b) I tend to eat way too many at one sitting.

Now, my sisters can attest to this fact...I have a huge bowl of candy sitting on my counter 365 days a year and it doesn't tempt me that much. There's still Easter candy in it. Dark chocolate Kit Kats don't last long, but even then I can eat one of those and be satisfied. Not so with Oreos.

But they were on sale so I bought some...

I bought 3 saks (I had a coupon too) of them and a Nutter Butter just to add some color. I opened the first bag when I got home and ate a third of the bag. OK, maybe closer to half the bag.

So at weigh-in yesterday I approached the scale with trepidation...but I was down half a pound! Probably a fluke, not enough time for those Oreos to really settle around my mid-section, but I didn't care.

What did I do? Let's just say there are now only 2 saks of mini Oreos in my house!

Note to Self: Free Doesn't Always Equal Good

City Kids + Dairy Farm = Entertaining Education!

One warm hot day this summer, Hannah of Off the Cuff and I headed over to Kelsay Farms to 1) tour a working dairy farm and 2) observe a group of inner-city kids experiencing a farm for the first time.

A group of farmers sponsored trips to Kelsay Farms for busloads of schoolchildren from the Indy Parks summer camps. This was a great hands-on, real-life learning experience for the kids.

Aren't they cute in their matching T-shirts?

Amy (meet her over at Two Maids a Milking) took the group (and me) into the "milk house" and the milking parlor to walk us through the milking process.

She explained that her family and their employees milked 500 cows three times a day. I'm a visual learner so I appreciated her props...see the 8 gallon jugs below?

These 8 jugs represent the average daily milk production of their cows! 1 cow = 8 gallons of milk/day

They keep all of that milk in this 6,000-gallon refrigerated milk tank until the milk truck comes to haul it away.

After a trip to the milking parlor (photos turned out way too dark to post), we headed to the barn to see The Ladies "at home."

As you can see the barn is open so the cows can have a nice breeze (and when there isn't one, there are fans). To teach the kids about where the cows sleep and eat, our tour guide asked the kids about the things they have in their own homes and then pointed out the similarities between their home and a cow's home!

For example, she asked the group what they eat for breakfast, lunch & dinner. Then she asked them what they thought the cows eat.

The answer: Cows eat about 100 pounds of feed each day, which is a combination of hay, grain and silage (fermented corn or grass). They drink a lot of water too – up to 50 gallons a day. The tour guide made a great comparison to get the point across that cows drink a lot of water. She said that one cow drinks the equivalent of a bathtub full of water a day. Yikes!

Once we were done in the barn, we headed to the shed where a new born calf was resting. The calf was a huge hit with the kids.

They all wanted to pet it and all it wanted to do was sleep!

To end the tour of the farm, the group gathered in the shed for a little nutrition lesson.

When the lesson was over, everyone got one of their three servings of dairy in the form of string cheese. Yummy!

Overall, this was a great experience.Watching these kids who didn't have any idea what a working farm looked like, was awesome.

The other cool thing...Kelsay Farms opens their "barn doors" to the public in October and has a lot of awesome activities for the entire family - like a corn maze, hayrides, rope maze and a lot more.

Check out http://www.kelsayfarms.com/ for more information!