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The airline industry made a sweeping change as of January 1st and after a few days of 'what the heck??' and grumbling, we are embracing the change and just saying 'to heck with it'.

God bless my stellar husband who said 'look, we want to travel now while we're both able to walk a lot and are up to the challenge of traveling.  We have plenty of years ahead where we won't feel like doing big trips - but that isn't now.  It's only money and we'll figure it out'.  I love this man.  He helps remind me that fretting about spending money is pointless.  We will adjust.

We are booking our trip to Paris in March and to ensure we will have extra legroom and upgraded seating, we are booking in Premium Economy class.  The good old days of booking economy seats and then upgrading for relatively little money are over.  Instead of being able to move to 'more legroom' seats for a few hundred dollars each leg of the flight(s), we are paying WAY more than that now to confirm Premium Economy seating right out of the gate.  Pun intended.  The airlines, recognizing that we were all doing that - upgrading for not too much money - have created multiple classes of travel on most long-ish flights - and if you want those seats, the only way to get them is to pay for them.  Now.  Right now.  It's still far less than 'first class' - and it's worth it, especially for long flights.

Eight nights in Paris at a stellar hotel, very centrally located and within walking distance of all the places we most want to go.  And Disneyland Paris 'cuz my hubby truly knows how to make me happy. We might spend our actual anniversary in the park - we haven't decided about that yet - but that's the beauty of a longer stay in just one city - we have time to figure out what we want to do and when.

Sure, I'm a wee bit nervous about the recent terrorist activities in that beautiful city - barbaric and cruel and shocking.  Life will move forward.  And for 9 days, we will be a part of it.  We saw armed guards at the airport in France last year - and we expect to see many more armed guards all over the city when we visit - and we are grateful for their service and their mission of protecting people.

So - we're at the last day of the week after the break and I'm still alive.  It's been hard to get up (hence lack of posts) but this morning, I woke up before 5 and came downstairs!  Yeah me!  I am so looking forward to sleeping in - only a friend reminded me that we are scheduled to have breakfast together tomorrow thus necessitating me getting up early to drive to Livermore.  It's OK, really - 'cuz I can also go to Trader Joe's tomorrow as well out that way which will save me driving to Stockton.  But I see a Saturday afternoon nap in my future.

We are stepping back on the refinancing roller coaster when our mortgage broker emailed to say rates are at historic lows again and now might be a good time.  Fingers crossed 'cuz we feel pretty confident that this time, our home has enough equity to roll the pool and equity lines into the loan - and that may save close to $500 a month in 'outflow' which is a beautiful thing as well. Docs are already uploaded and ready for the loan process to commence.  Hoping for an appraisal pretty quickly so we'll know what's possible.

I have a 'no meeting' day which is great 'cuz I am in the mood to toil away on some 'big' things that need a steady, firm application of effort to accomplish.

I'm obsessed with Sia - her new Elastic Heart is playing over and over and if I weren't in a study underneath Son #2's bedroom, I'd be singing at the top of my lungs.  There's something to be said for commuting - 'cuz I don't have a lot of opportunities to sing without time in the car.

Chloe is completely recovered and gets her stitches out today.  She's running around like her old self and is back to wanting to play or snuggle constantly.  I was flaming angry at H. when he left a plate (paper) on the coffee table in the family room last night and SHE ATE IT.  J. says 'it's paper - she should be fine'.  But still.  Geez, people - it's already so irritating to have a young adult living here who treats us like hired help - I told H. if she eats something else that requires surgery to remove, he's paying this time.  $2000 gone.  Poof!

Alright.  Ranting over.  Back to Happy Friday!!