Pana-Gals Packing Extravaganza

Since I have a very cool boss he let me go home early yesterday when the snow began to fly.  It was another one of those minor snow storms with only an inch or two but that still makes the commute a bit of an issue because we’ve apparently bred a lot more “flat landers” in New England who have no concept of driving in the snow. 

I returned home to what I expected – heavy consternation as the beautiful Pana-Gals continued with the process of packing their luggage for their trip home tomorrow.  My wife’s cousin was not feeling well and in a huge surprise her teenage daughter was not volunteering to help out much which drew the ire of her mother’s cousin.

The rest of the gang was hard at work vacuum sealing plastic bags to shrink their size to get more stuff into each bag.  They were then confronted with the next issue – weight and the fifty pound limit on suitcases.  This is where I come in.  Since this packing process is something I go through annually with my wife she bought a hand held scale that is used by lifting the bag with the scale and reading the weight.  Since none of them could lift the bags I was volunteered and made a half-dozen trips up and down the stairs to weigh in bags.

The initial weigh in did not bode well for my sister in law and her friend as both came in over the sixty pound mark.  That left them with extremely difficult decisions and a carry on bag rapidly increasing in weight.  My wife flitted around the outskirts offering advice and proudly proclaiming her bags had made weight.  I don’t think her pronouncements were as welcome as she thought they were. 

I snuck away to clean up the driveway.  Since this was a just a little bit of snow I of course threw the auger belt off again and locked up the chains on one of the wheels.  My frustration was minuscule compared to the daunting task facing the Pana-Gals. 

By 8 PM all the luggage made weight and the gals were exhausted.  They came downstairs and jumped on the computer.  When my sister in law started striking me about the head and shoulders I figured out that they were checking out my blog and the chronicling of their latest adventures.  We retreated to the family room to watch a movie together and I tried to placate their feelings with popcorn.  I’m really going to miss them.

The Scale I was Using

The Weigh-In - Trying to be Nonchalant About the Effort

Sister in Law Making Adjustments

Wife's Cousin and Daughter Preparing to Vacuum Seal