Prepping

Finding a place to live has been pretty frustrating.  The agencies that handle furnished apartments seem to allow just 90 days' notice for ending a lease, so they might not know what is available until the middle of June.  Also, some of the places which are advertised as free aren't, and they won't be.  Add to that: it is a tight market, we are a family of six, and we won't be vacating in time for apartment owners' Christmas and ski vacations.  So I am trying to focus on what I can do.

I've already made a list of things we would like to do, including when we should probably do them.  And I have tried to estimate costs and expenses.  I've gathered what I can from the packing list, and know what we still have to buy (ski clothes, hiking boots, back-up stroller tires, prescription sunglasses, etc.)  Oh, and we need to buy luggage to carry it all.  I even have a list of household things we should bring like brown sugar, chili powder, and duct tape.  Again, though, listing what we need is at odds with creating a budget, and therefore not entirely satisfying.

So, knowing I'm going to do a blog, I thought I might start now.  It's a good thing I did!  I have fallen behind technology - maybe irreparably.  When my grandparents couldn't program their VCR clock it was unbelievable to us, but kind of cute, because it was understandable.  They grew up with ice boxes, filled by a guy who drove a horse drawn cart.  They deserved a break.  But having my three year old watch me fumble with an ipod, sigh, and say, "Please I help you, Mama?" is just wrong.  I can't spend the next fifty years like that.

I hope I can learns as I go along.  I have a lot of plans.  I'd like to write about the places we visit, with links and pictures.  I will have to get a flickr account, or something.  I'd like to include maps of our hikes, probably using google earth unless I get a better suggestion.  I'd really like to use the Swiss Mobility app, but that would mean having to figure out a phone.  But it will be worth it to have hiking maps!

http://map.wanderland.ch/?lang=en&route=all