Mommy you have been on there forEVER!

Tuesday I spent a good portion of the day and frankly ALL my available internet time looking for accomodations. My husband has a conference that he is speaking at in Lake of the Ozarks. So, we decided that we would all go and make it a family vacation. Take all the kids, rent a boat and tour the lake, visit the outlet mall, Miner Mikes arcade and a few other exciting things. (we haven't taken a vacation in a while ; )

Now, we have known this for probably all of 3 or 4....months! Yes, months. I stupidly assumed that his secretary would be making reservations so I am just going happily along. Singing "I can't wait for our vacation! I wish it was here right now! I can't wait to go to..." oh yeah, by the way honey where are we staying? Then I find out that not only do I need to make reservations but the whole resort is booked! Yep, every last room.

So I am hunting through the hundreds if not thousands of available hotels, motels, condos, homes, and house boats trying to find some place that is close to the conference, nice and affordable at the same time. Trying to compare all these to each other and I find that either the site has neglected to put the prices, a map, pictures or some important peice of information. This was soooo frustrating!

NOTE ANYONE DESIGNING A WEBSITE:

People always want to know the following no matter what the item is:

1. The PRICE
2. The DESCRIPTION dimension, weight, color and anything else to help visualize
3. Too Many PICTURES
4. A MAP if it is a place, or if not just throw one in for good measure it will fill up the page ; )

Okay, you have probably found yourself in similiar situations. Looking on the internet for so long your eyes are burning and blurry, your head is pounding and you have forgotten what you are looking for. Your children are saying "mommmmmy you have been on that computer forEVER! Will you play with me, come on mommmy." And you still haven't found what you are looking for. Whatever that was!

So here is what I suggest. First, muzzle the children, next bang your head repeatedly on the keyboard, then close your eyes and point at the computer. Whatever you point at is what you will buy, reserve etc. So if you find yourself staying in a beautiful resort in the Cayman Islands sipping iced tea on the beach tell everyone you got the advice here on that SAHM i am. But, if you find yourself in Backwoods Arkansas with Bubba and his crew of pen hunting dogs.....Blame yourself. Really, why would you think that this time when you bang your head on your keyboard it would be any different from every other time!?

Here is what I really suggest:

1. Take a deep breath.

2. Set the kids down for a snack and a new movie, playdoh, or whatever you have on hand.

3. Get a pen and paper. (yes an old fashion pen and paper or crayon; )

4. Write down a list of what exactly you ar looking for.

5. Below that itemize what exact information you need to find out. Then run a search using the item and some of these descriptive terms.

6. Open a new folder in your favorites on your browser. Save any sites with promising information in this folder.

7. Methodically search each site and use your paper to make notes on each site so you do not get confused on where you saw it.

8. Utilize super sites that have already done the research for you like Expedia for travel, Amazon or Ebay for shopping.

Well, friends I got to run. It is time for preschool drop off, lunch, park time, elementary school pick up, preschool pick up, dinner, laundry, dishes, bedtime and one thousand errand in between. Take care.