my vacation tried to kill me (part 1?)

Warning: Many tedious, unnecessary details included. So, this could take awhile.( oh, and I'm not proofing it at all, so assume all mistakes are typos. Feel free to comment on any you find so I can fix them. )

So, as I posted last week, I joined the M & Ms in TN for our first annual girls' week. According to Google, from St. Louis it's an approximately 9-10 hour drive. I think the furthest I've ever driven alone is maybe 3 hours so I was excited and scared to death all at the same time. I decided to leave Sunday afternoon, drive as far as I felt comfortable with, then stop for the night. The hubby and K had to actually push me out the door to leave. But once I got on the road I felt pretty good. Traffic was sparse and the cruise control helped me avoid any speed traps. I cruised along for about 2-3 hours and then.... my check engine light came on. So I pulled over to a gas station (that was 4 MILES from the exit ramp, why did they even list it?! If you're that desperate for gas or a bathroom you probably won't make it that far anyway.) and texted Shawn. His response "Do you want me to come get you?" Hell, no. I am not a wimp! I can do this. When the engine light came on the oil warning light came on briefly also so I decided to check the oil, thinking that was the problem. I have done minor "work" on my cars in the past- check and fill the oil, refill wiper fluid, change the battery (with help) etc so I was pretty sure I could handle it. Until I realized I didn't even know where the latch was to open the hood. Not the one inside the car, the one under the grill. I finally got the hood up and boy does the engine compartant of my car look clean! Too bad nothing is ever in the same place from car to car. However, a nice fatherly gentleman stopped to help me out. We tested the oil- it was perfect so we dug into my car book again and finally found the engine warning light entry (it's BURIED). Guess what it said?! Your car is still safe to drive, just have a tech check it when you can. Seriously. Why even bother putting the light there then?
An hour lost, I headed back out on the road. The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful (except a kinda weird, kinda sweet little old lady who sat down with me at dinner so she wouldn't dirty any of the other tables while waiting for her to go order. I told her I was deaf but she kept up a steady stream of conversation anyway.) I decided to stop in Nashville for the night then finish the last of the drive Monday morning. Shout out to the security guard at the rest stop who helped me find a great coupon for the Best Western off exit 219. Saved me $40! Checked in, lugged my stuff up to the 2nd floor room (on the other side of the "buuilding" from the elevator) and tried to plug my phone in to charge. Nope, not happening. Apparently at some point between St. Louis and Nashville I broke my charger. So, the first full day of my vacation involved me missing (free!) breakfast to search out a Verizon store to get a replacement. The staff at B.W were SO helpful. They even printed off directions for me. Replacement secured I left phone in room to charge while I headed out (again) in search of food. The Waffle House next to the hotel looked fairly clean and smelled pretty good (breakfast ALWAYS smells good) so in I went. I ignored the "save booths for parties of 2 or more" and plopped myself down. Guess what? You don't have to have waffles at Waffle House. I got biscuits and gravy instead and it was pretty darn good.   After all that I was still on the road by 10:00 am... Central time. Which means 11:00 at my destination. Not too, too late. And had I not got lost on the way (thanks to some truly confusing Google directions) I think I would have made it by my promised arrival of 3:00 pm. Instead I drove in circles for an extra 40 minutes, then got stuck in some extremely expletive worthy traffic. (Only because I had stopped using my a/c after the warning light came on- apparently it's connected to the cooling system. Better safe than sorry.) Finally managed to drag my sorry, sweat-soaked ass into the hotel at about... (4:30-5:00?) way after I said I'd be there. My 9-10 hour drive took... 24 hours. :) But I still beat Mary!

Hmmm, I think I'll stop there for now. Leg is getting sore (that story will be in episode 2 or 3 or 4).

back from vacation and learned a new phrase

And no it's not an expletive (though plenty of those were involved). I've been home since Friday night and I'm still recuperating. I'll fill you all in on my awesome trip as soon as I feel like sitting at my desk for that long. I'll try to include pictures, too, but no promises.
But about that new phrase I learned- it's called a "soft tissue injury" and apparently if you hit a muscle/joint/ligament (basically about any non-bone body part I think) just right it will immediately form a huge ass lump with lots of bruising and swelling and pain involved. If that lump appears on your leg just after falling down the side of a mountain people who come to your rescue are going to freak out because they think you broke something. Even after you tell them it really doesn't hurt as bad as a broken bone should, then proceed to stand up and hobble down said-mountain on said-"broken" leg (with lots of help from strong Southern gentlemen :o)  ). But now my right leg is sporting some mighty fine colors and I got some really great pictures. :) (It's still kind of burning a little- like I'm trying to over-stretch the muscle or something. I wonder at what point do I say "Maybe I should see a doctor about this after all"?)
By the way- the title of my vacation post is going to be "My vacation tried to kill me"... so stay tuned!

fare thee well...

until we met again. This time tomorrow I will be either on the road or already sacked out at the most reputable hotel I can find on my way to Tenn. I will be back Thursday/Friday but probably recuperating through the weekend so you won't be hearing from me for awhile. (Your heart just broke a little, didn't it? Awww, I love you, too.) But once I'm back I promise to fill you in on all the excitement experienced during Tracey and the M & Ms first annual girls' week. It's gonna be an adventure!

hubby does good

I'm a voracious reader... except when I'm not. So, when Husband wants to buy me a PFNR (present for no reason), he plays it safe and buys me a book (or candy. You can't really go wrong with candy. Unless is has coconut it in it; that stuff is nasty.). It's a treat because I get most of my books from the library these days to save money. I like to read good books over and over though and that's easier if I actually have the book. Last time he came home bearing (baring?) PFNR is was two books: one that I already have and one that's actually the third in a series that I haven't read. The reason this has ended up in my blog is two-fold. First, because this is not the first time it's happened (buying a not-first book in a series I haven't read). In fact, it happens so often it's pretty much a running joke in the family. And it only gets funnier because he never does it on purpose. (Once he bought me 3 books out of a series, and guess which one he missed? But that's not his fault- the series list was upside down inside the books; last to first. Who does that?) The second reason I'm talking about this is- for missing the first two (which I'm now going to rectify) this story was actually pretty good. It's YA so the main character is a teenage girl and it involves the supernatural (because, let's face it, that's pretty much all YA is these days.) The series is called Bad Girls Don't Die and I'll try to remember to let you know how the other books compare. (But no promises on when rthat will be- I about to get super busy.)

So, you did good, hubby!

not this day

There are dishes and laundry to be done, but not this day. The floors need to be swept and the trash needs to go out, but not this day. The furniture needs dusting and the cat litter needs changed, BUT NOT THIS DAY! Today, we are going to the pool. But not the regular old boring pool right down the road. The one that doesn't even have a diving board (ok, it does have a slide but it's short and not too exciting.) We are going to the pool that has real waterslides and an innertube river and... I don't know what else because we've never been there. But that's going to change. Today.

As soon as we get off our lazy butts and go.

crazy busy

It started today. Hair appointment at 11:00 (bye-bye gray!). While there I noticed the toenail polish on just one little toe was completely gone. Like someone crept into my room one night while I was sleeping, cackling and rubbing their hands together in mad glee (I'll get you my pretty and your little toenail, too.), poured some polish remover on it and wiped it away.  This is so not acceptable, especially during the summer. (I love my feet so they must look pretty at all times. :D )  So, I texted the Sister and we agreed to meet to get pedicures. Then it changed to lunch first, then pedicures. Then it was lunch, quick runs into various stores at the mall, then pedicures. We crammed the day full! Lunch was delish. I found my hip scarf for belly dance class. And the woman at the salon did a great job on my feet- but why do they always ask me if want my eyebrows done? I swear I'm getting a complex.
After we finished and Sister helped me to my car, wobbling all over since I was wearing salon slippers instead of real shoes- mustn't smudge the polish!, I had to come home, run interference with the brat.. I mean kids, check in with the husband and gather all my library books to take back. I had ten. And out of the ten, I had actually finished... one. I was sick and tired of looking at them though, so back they went. I'm just not in a reading mood right now. It comes and goes. (Oh and my little hoard cost me $2.80 in overdue fees because they were actually due last Thursday. The library loves me. I'm one of their biggest money sources.) On the way home I stopped and got my fingernails done. They were getting way too long, which is just an invitation to nibble on them, then they crack or break off entirely. I have to keep them short; but my "real" nails are so super thin and prone to ripping so I also have to keep them... covered/? Thickened? Protected? Whatever you want to call it. I call it looking pretty. :D

Sounds like a pretty full week, right? Let alone a day. But that's just the beginning. Tomorrow I fly up to Chicago for full brain and spine MRIs. (Send me good vibes. I can't shake this feeling that it's not going to be great news. Not bad news exactly, just not really good news. You know what I mean.) After the scans I see my neuro-oncologist (who is AWESOME!) for the results then immediately head back to the airport to fly home. Luckily an amazing friend is chauffuering me around. (Thank you, Sally- you ROCK!)

Wednesday is either going to be pool and movie day or Science Center and IMAX day. We are playing it by ear. (And then Friday is going to be whatever we don't do Wednesday day. See how that works out?)

Thursday we are having (another) sister day. The sister and I are going for massages and facials, then lunch, then... who knows. Unlike today, which was an impromptu sister day, Thursday has been planned for awhile. Of course, now we have to figure out a different place to eat lunch since we used our normal spot today.

Finally, Saturday is the niece's 1st birthday party! She's already walking, did I tell you? It's exhausting trying to keep up with her! She's really gotten the hang of it. She still falls sometimes though and I about have a heart attack each time. (I think I must have missed this phase with the nephew, or maybe they had more room?) Anyway. So, sometime this week I also have to fit in birthday shopping. What do 1 year old girls like?

this i swear to be true

Ok. After editing that last post at least five times after originally posting it, I've decided to make an important announcement. (This is for you, Grammar Nazis.) For future reference, any and all mistakes found in my blog posts are the result of typos. Not me being a terrible speller who can barely grasp the English language or proper sentence structure. (Especially proper sentence structure.)

That is all. Good night.