Tuesday, December 1, 2009

I'm back baby!!

10 Things I learned this Thanksgiving

1) If you leave on a long trip at 2:00 in the morning, thinking the kids will sleep most of the way, your thinking may be completely wrong.

2) A human being can easily live on pumpkin pie alone.


3) Renting a house is fun, but you have to cook and do dishes…which is not always fun.

4) If boys play video games for 2 days straight, they can still communicate with real people if engaged.


5) It turns out, I no longer want an electric flat surface cook top. It is way too stressful to keep clean.

6) 12 people generate more garbage in 4 days than one would think. This is especially apparent if the garbage can in the garage only fits two bags of said garbage.


7) Husbands may be reluctant to go shopping on Black Friday, but if they do, they are more apt to impulse shop than any other.


8) If you have a million desserts around, your diabetics WILL want to eat them... for breakfast, lunch, dinner AND all the snacks in between.

9) If your car is only two years old, this does not mean it will not break down when you are 380 miles from home.


10) Rental car companies want your first born child if you need a van only going one way into another state.

Thanksgiving was great. Really, really great. Lots of great family, lots of great food, and lots of room in this awesome house I found through weeks of blood, sweat and tears searching the web.

Black Friday was great. Really, really great. Lots of deals, lots of electronics bought, lots of movies for the ride home bought for 3.99. The line around Target almost gave me a mini seizure, but my sister in law and I took turns waiting in line and shopping. We were quite the tag team.

The diabetic’s sugars were great. Really, really great. L did have high sugars one night, but otherwise everything went pretty smoothly. I owe most of the success to Lawton. I could be aggressive with the boluses because I knew he would alert me if there was a potential problem…which he did. Man, I really take that dog for granted sometimes…

The food I ate was great. Really, really great. Lots of desserts (Hello pie, cookies, donuts, fudge and apple bread!), and lots of Thanksgiving dinner leftovers. A lotta love went into each dish, for sure.

The ride home sucked. Really, really sucked.

Our car…our NEWISH car….our 2 ½ years old car…broke.

It just broke.

I woke up a couple hours into our trip home with my hubby pulling off the road. “Are we getting gas?” I asked. “No” he replied, “Our car is overheating.” And sure enough there was smoke and all sorts of warnings on our dash, including our stabilitrak shutting down. We added water to the engine, but the sensor still went all the way to nuclear hot. We have OnStar and they were pretty helpful…a little too perky for the moment if you know what I mean, but helpful none the less. Not one repair shop was open on Sunday in the ho-bunk town we were in. Our OnStar plan would tow us to the nearest Saturn dealer, 88 miles away in Medford, Oregon… going west…we needed to go south to Cali. So we said goodbye to the tow truck driver and our SUV, and rented a van to get home. You should have seen us making the drive to the rental place in our broke car…we were so pathetic. My hubby would drive to get the car up to speed, and then turn it off to coast in neutral as long as we could. It was seriously a miracle we made it there.

We still have no idea what is wrong with the car and we still have no idea how we’ll get it back.

Our 8 hour trip home turned to 13. The kids couldn’t watch the movies I bought, so it was up to them to entertain themselves. L in particular was sitting in the very back of the van by himself…bored to death. He sang the ABC’s at least 30 times, using different voices. The other boys took turns passing around the only Nintendo DS with battery life.

We are safe and sound at home, and that is all that matters. My dad dropped off his old van for us to use…the boys have to take off one shoe while we drive to swat the spiders that happen to crawl by…but we are EXTRAEMLY thankful to have something to get around in.

I’m a little overwhelmed getting ready for Christmas…and I am behind reading blogs…and missed the Sunday chat because of our car debacle…I feel out of the loop…and I love my loop. I want to be back in the loop!

So here is my first, rather lame attempt of a post to get back into the loop…
I’m back baby!!

P.S. Note to self…never ever allow the boys to eat Captain Crunch again. EVER. I don't care if you ARE on vacation..Don't do it!

12 comments:

  1. Wow sorry about your car issues Meri!! That is rough! If I lived closer I'd drive ya around so you didn't have to deal with spiders. I would rather walk...literally. :D But I have a *slight* phobia of spiders.

    Welcome back to the loop!

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  2. Oh Meri my sister from another mister . Im so glad you got home dear and no low sugar or high sugar episodes while this car mess was going on . Im so gratefull that your dad gave you something to drive too . I will pray that you can get your other car back real soon or have the funds to get another car soon . I know how that is . God bless and will talk to you soon .

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  3. Funny how we block out things we don't want to remember...but phonelady you brought it all back!

    My diabetics were dropping like fly's when we were waiting for the tow...J was 71, L was 62 and B was 48!!! It was 2:00pm before we could get to a restaurant to eat. Luckily I had some emergency sugar with me. UGH!!! It was quite the adventure!

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  4. Sounds like a great Thanksgiving....YUCK about the car crap. Never fun!
    Glad your safely home!!

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  5. Welcome back to the loop. However I have been out since last Thursday and trying to get re-established again too. I feel like I have not talked to anyone if like months. I'm glad that everyone is safe and sound and you had a wonderful thanksgiving and black Friday.

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  6. Glad you're home safe! I'm totally cracking up thinking of your boys swatting spiders with their shoes!
    I'd love to hear more about your dog! I'm interested ... Giving it some thought...
    Welcome back to the loop! You were missed! I'm going to post something about what we were talking about the other night!

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  7. I would love a lawton too... that would be great. Really, Really great:)

    Sorry your ride home was a challenge, but what a great. really, really great story it all gave you to share with the rest of us.

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  8. OH MY! I hope that wasnt supposed to be a vacation! Good to hear your trip was great regardless.....no captain crunch here! :)

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  9. I'm sorry that you had so much car drama on the way home. Ohmygosh, wouldn't it so so much fun to do a girls trip to get your car while I'm there? I probably won't be able to swing it but a girl can dream! I'm sending you an email right after I post this comment.

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  10. Bummber about your car!!! :(
    I'm so with you on the stove thing! We have a white one and I HATE it!!! We will NEVER buy one again!
    I did the Target thing too on black friday and sounds like the lines were the same! I went to 5 stores and Target by far had the longest line!
    Glad Thanksgiving was great!

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  11. We MISSED you at the chat on Sunday. I am a terrible blog reader sometimes so that is my only inside loop sometimes!

    Sounds like you made lots of memories on your trip! LOL! I am really sorry to hear about the car breaking down. There is nothing worse than a broken down car at Christmas time!

    BTW All cereal is from the devil! STAY FAR AWAY! :)

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  12. Dear Meri,
    I have been reading your blog for three months. Your words have brought tears to my eyes more than once. I am the mother of a beautiful 4 y.o. boy who was diagnosed at 21 months. His diagnosis rocked our world in ways that I never knew existed. I have an amazing husband and an amazing life, yet there are days when I am overwhelmed and saddened beyond words. Please know that your posts, more than once, have provided me with the courage to persevere. Thank you. You are an inspiration to me. Your children are fortunate to have such a strong and articulate woman fighting for their lives.

    I was wondering if you might share the contact information for the training facility of your alert dog. The idea intrigues us and we have just recently started to research the options.

    Again, thank you for your posts. What might seem trivial to you, provides me, a 35 y.o. mother of three in Michigan, with a sense of community that is not found in my day to day life. In moments of distress, when I look around and fail to find an understanding shoulder, I remember you and remind myself that we, too, can live an astounding life filled with excitement, laughter, and achievments, despite the angst of Type 1 Diabetes.

    Warmly,
    Carolyn
    cquint@juno.com

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