Whew!

Guess what? We made it back Saturday afternoon with nary a suspicious glance from Gi-gi to Big Sister's tooth!

We left Thursday evening around 7:00. The skies were clear, roads dry, and temps around freezing. We knew it was/had been snowing where Gi-gi lives, but it didn't sound like it'd be a problem. About halfway there, along the freeway, the temperature had dropped 10 degrees and we noticed a car off the freeway along the other side. A wrecker was in the process of hauling it up to it's flatbed. The thought crossed my mind that maybe the roads were more slippery than we (or the other drivers around us) thought. The car didn't look damaged, though it was hard to tell in the fading light. A few miles later we came upon some flashing lights where there was a semi in the median (from our side) and another semi overturned on the other side of the freeway (from the other lane). Yikes! Not 1000 feet later was another flatbed towtruck working out the details of extracting an SUV that had rolled UP the embankment to our right (and was laying on it's side). That's when we almost turned back. I knew the road report wasn't 911, and fyi, it's not 611 or 811 either. 511, however, will get you close. I say 'close' because it's full of voice-(not-so) recognition and superfluous information. By the time I got the information I wanted, it was clear the worst was behind us. We took it easy, though, and our normally-2-hour trip took nearly four. Boy, were we hungry for dinner at 11:00 p.m.

Next day I did a lot of knitting and sitting around. I had planned on getting together with my yarn-giving friend, but she got caught up in some other activities -- hence the knitting! That evening we went to a large gathering of Scots to listen to bagpipes, eat a dinner, and enjoy haggis. I'm not sure about Baby's dislike of the pipes... Or maybe it was that our table was right alongside the stage. Had I been so inclined, I could've found out for sure what scotsmen wear under their kilts... I'm not so inclined. But I'll tell you right now that the "scottish shortbread" in the table center didn't hold a candle to the stash we brought along of our own. After doing a comparative taste-test, a friend at the table whispered, "they could call this stuff fall-shortbread, because it really falls short..." Too true. I wore my great-grandmother's wool plaid skirt, complete with rabbit-foot pin. It scratched me once or twice. Gi-gi was awarded a beautiful boquet for attending the most consecutive years. Can you guess? Seventy-six! It would have been more but the family rule was that you had to be five years old to attend. Back then they drove their Model-something (A? T?) in from the farm for the weekend. We returned to Gi-gi's very late (in our warm Camry) and put the girls to bed. My yarn-giving friend stopped by and we enjoyed a moment's conversation and some knitting. Of course.

Saturday we returned home, dry roads and clear skies the whole way, thankfully. We attended our cousin's wedding in Town, and it was actually a great wedding. From the beginning music to the receiving line took up about 10 minutes total, and it was followed by a tastey catered dinner on-site.

We were late to get out the door for church on Sunday, so we took a couple apples and some string cheese (courtesy: Gi-gi) along in the car. Big Sister took a bite of apple and that did a great job for wrenching that cockeyed tooth out! I think we weren't even out the driveway when she had the tooth in hand. I kept it in my pocket until that evening when we put it in a glass of water. It "turned into" a 1966 two-shillings coin! She is very excited to add that to her Sacajawea dollar from last year. Of course, she didn't get a coin for swallowing the first one.

This week I am working on the taxes... It's a far simpler chore this year; no house sold or rented, no capital gains from sales or stocks, not much MK business to deal with on schedule C. The hardest part is waiting for all the paperwork in the mail. We could really use that refund right about now! Part of me is excited to have a 'windfall' of sorts... but then I realize the government wrested it from us in the first place, and we're really just squaring up now. Hubby's work hours continue to shorten. Everyone has been told to "pick a day" to stay home each week. We've nearly run out of vacation days, so we're seriously needing to tighten the belt now. Two or three co-workers of his have applied for unemployment. I'm still not sure if that's because they were officially laid-off, or if "someone had to go" and they volunteered. Either way, I can tell it's wearing on Hubby. He is concerned. See what happens? I open my big mouth and blog about how we're "deceived" into thinking the paycheck or job is what provides... and then we get to put our (dwindling) money where our (big) mouth is. They're saying that the ground is frozen and all the projects are on hold, but Hubby has worked there 8 years and the ground has frozen before... and no one was told to stay home... We're hoping the tax refund comes out well enough that we can go ahead with our counter-replacing plans next month.