Thursday Thirteen #2

Thirteen Things (yes, really 13 this time) to see on the Road Trip:

1. Corn – lots of it.

2. Wheat – not as much as corn, but still lots of it.

3. Roadkill – of all kinds, really — raccoons, birds, snakes, deer, foxes — pretty gross.

4. Big Turkeys – See my Roadtrip – Day 1 post for further explanation.

5. The Fort Cody Trading Post – “Nebraska’s Largest Souvenir and Western Gift Store.” With prices to prove it.

6. The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument – We haven’t stopped at it yet, but every time we drive under it the kids beg to go check it out. Maybe the next go ’round.

7. The Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles – You can see the tanks and helicopters from the road as you drive by. Another one that the kids really want to stop and see. Maybe next time we’ll take an extra day just to stop at all of these attractions.

8. The Corn Palace Billboard – We drive by it every time we go to South Dakota and I say, “I really want to go there.” Every time I say that, hubby rolls his eyes, reminds me that it’s all the way in Mitchell, and says, “It’s totally cheesy.” What can I say? I like cheese sometimes.

9. Tons of these:

All I can say is that if I were renting one, I wouldn’t want one with the “This is obviously a rented RV” emblems all over it.

10. The Brass Armadillo – a must if you’re an antique lover, or just a “junker”. It’s so much fun to search for treasure.

11. Lots of these, too. Evidently it’s that time of year.

12. A sign that says “Watch for wind on overpass.” Hmmm… exactly how do we “watch” for wind? Perhaps, “Caution: strong wind possible on overpass” would be better.

13. A big glass building up on the hill off of I-80 in Omaha – I don’t know what it is, but we comment on it every time we drive by it. It’s beautiful, completely see-through, doesn’t look like it has floors in it from the road. If you know what it is, please, please let me know.

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Roadtrip – Day 2

Saturday

12:00 am – My eyeballs are burning, but Bingo is my friend. I’m up $120 on the night and we’ve done a lot of laughing. However, I’ve been up since 4 am yesterday and I’m pretty faded. All of the numbers on all 18 of my bingo boards are running together and I can’t figure out if we’re doing the “Any Way T,” the “Kite” or “GO Bingo”. I’ve given up on the neon orange dauber and moved on to the dark purple. It’s a little easier on the eyes.

7:30 am – Are the kids really up? Yep. We’re sleeping in the basement and we hear every little bump from upstairs. Considering that there are 13 people staying in the house, 9 under the age of 20, I shouldn’t be surprised that we hear them already. But oh, I’m so tired.

8:00 am – Schwan’s breakfast pizza – if you haven’t tried them, you need to.

8:30 am – Dressed and showered (not in that order), but still not very awake. Half of the kids are already on round 4 of the Playstation 2 and the other half have been jumping on the trampoline since 7:32.

9:00 am – Hubby and brother-in-law are putting up two awnings outside. It’s a pretty funny sight, so we’re video-taping the endeavor.

10:00 am – Moving on to the fixin’s for the High School Graduate’s Open House. I think my sister-in-law bought enough food to feed five thousand. We have way more than five loaves and two fishes, let me tell you. Her mother-in-law brought over at least 10,000 cookies and bars. We’re madly trying to get everything trayed and ready to go before 1pm rolls around. We’re in charge of refilling all things empty.

12:30 pm – Napkins, plates and plastic forks don’t work so well with wind. The board with pictures of the nephew and his friends is really cute. My favorite picture is the one of him as a little guy, with a piece of bologna in front of face, three little holes eaten out of it, two eyes and a mouth. Very cute! He’s earned lots of awards over the years and he’s been a hockey maniac. The memorabilia weighs down the table. It’s a nice tribute. He deserves it. He’s a good kid.

2:00 pm – Folks are filtering through. Youngest daughter has already downed six Scotch-a-roos (a special kind of Rice Krispy Treat — heavenly, by the way — I’ll publish the recipe at a later date) and she wants to know if she can have another. She’s also eaten a sandwich, several potato chips, some pasta salad, nacho-cheese Doritos, and two chocolate chip cookies. I swear she has the metabolism of a long-distance runner. She can pack away the food like nobody I’ve ever seen and she’s such a skinny-minny. I wish I had that problem! I decide that six Scotch-a-roos is probably plenty, particularly when they’ve been consumed in quick succession and she’s been jumping on the trampoline. I’m having a flashback to the nice little stop in Kearney, NE. I tell her she really needs to wait an hour before she has anymore.

3:00 pm – It’s been an hour and the child has evidently watched the clock like a hawk. “Now?” she asks. “Go for it,” I tell her. It’s vacation. What the heck?

3:30 pm – Hubby and I play a very competitive game of Ladder Golf. He wins, of course. I’m amazed that no windows get broken during this little endeavor.

5:30 pm – Nephew opens all of his many gifts. My favorite is the pop-up hamper filled with packages of ramen noodles, cereal, soap, toothpaste, and fabric softener. Very thoughtful. I’ll have to remember that the next time we attend a graduation. He makes out like a bandit. I’m trying to remember if graduation was this profitable when I was his age.

7:00 pm – My eyelids are drooping something severe. I’m exhausted. It’s a good exhausted, though. I drink one more Diet Coke in the hopes that I will have enough energy to make it through until nine without falling into a dead sleep. I have a fear that I will fall asleep and drool or snore and, believe you me, with hubby’s family, I will never hear the end of it.

9:00 pm – I can take no more. Jammies are on, teeth are brushed. The kids can stay up until midnight if they want to, but this cat’s headed for bed.

Roadtrip – Day 1

Sorry that I have been out of touch for the past few days. My husband’s nephew (my nephew-in-law? nephew by marriage? heck, just my nephew) graduated from high school this past weekend. We got his invitation a month or so back and decided that we would pack up the family in the van and make the trek to wild, wonderful South Dakota. Traveling with our family is always an adventure–no matter where we’re going or how long the trip may be. Here’s a bit from our little trip diary, Day 1:

Friday

4:30 am – The kids get excited because we pack the night before and get up at the crack of dawn to head out. I’m not sure why they’re excited about this deal, because I personally think it stinks, but that’s the way hubby wants it and somehow they find it exciting to get to ride in the van in jammies. We didn’t quite make it out the door by 4:00 am like hubby wanted to, but we are backing out of the driveway and heading for parts unknown at high speed by 4:30. All of the kids are asleep in the backseat. Even the draw of the dozen hand-selected donuts we bought last night isn’t enough to overpower their heavy eyelids at this hour. The sunrise is incredible. I’m tired, but it was worth getting up at this hour just to see it. I always love the very beginning of a roadtrip. It feels exciting. It’s a new adventure.

6:30 am – Donut desire has overtaken them all. Someone ate a donut picked out specifically by someone else, although no one will ‘fess up, and I thought for a minute that we would have a fight on our hands, especially since they’re all operating on very little sleep. An extra chocolate-frosted Devil’s Food donut saved the day. Blasted wind will NOT stop blowing. The van is rocking so much as we’re driving that it feels like we’re on a ship and I might need to get my land legs back when we stop.

8:30 am – The youngest is a tad green around the gills. The wind is still blowing and his stomach hurts. I’m regretting the decision to let him eat the donut with red, white and blue sprinkles. We hook him up with a plastic bag… just in case.

9:00 am – We have had to make a stop in lovely Kearney, NE because the youngest forgot that the had the plastic bag. The red, white and blue sprinkles, along with the rest of the glazed-raised, are all over him, the seat, the suitcase beside him and the floor. The prospect of driving several more hours with THAT is not appealing to me. Hubby and I take turns cleaning (without breathing) while trying not to gag. Hubby works on getting new clothes onto the youngest while I clean up the seat, suitcase, and floor. The joys of parenthood…

9:30 am – We have lost a 1/2 hour to the cleaning of the most amazing yuckiness I have seen in a long time. I don’t like glazed-raised donuts when they’re going in; I like them sooooo much less when they’re coming out. I think I’m ruined for sprinkles forever. We are now armed with 25 garbage bags, purchased for the low, low price of $6.75 at the convenience store. The youngest has clean clothes and we have threatened him with immediate death if he can’t figure out how to use the plastic bag next time. He’s almost eight and absolutely capable of aiming his mouth toward the opening of a tall kitchen garbage bag, should the need to get rid of the contents of his stomach overcome him again…. darnit.

9:45 am – Hubby sees a wild turkey in the field off to the right. He is listening to the iPod, so his sense of volume is a tad bit off. He throws his arm in front of my face, pointing out the window like a madman, and screams at the top of his lungs, “BIG TURKEY!!!!” I’m pretty sure I just banged the top of my head on the roof of the van and my heart is beating a million miles an hour. I thought someone was dying… it’s just a turkey…. darnit. We discuss the hazards of carrying on conversation whilst listening to an iPod. He could have poked my eye out… our burst an eardrum…

12:30 pm – Woo hoo! We’re over halfway there now. We stop at The Brass Armadillo to look around. Antiques are one of hubby’s weaknesses, so this is a regularly scheduled event when we make this drive. We wander the aisles for an hour, stretching our legs, laughing at the prices and searching for treasure. We find a set of Spiderwick books for cheap and a pair of tennies for the eldest daughter. Awesome because the child has grown from a size 3 girls at the beginning of the school year to a size 7 1/2 women’s now. We’ve already spent a small fortune on shoes for her and these are cute. They’re an 8, brand new, room to grow and they’re only 3 bucks. Even better, she really likes them.

2:30 pm – Back to the van with the books and shoes we go. We settle in for the last stretch of the drive.

3:00 PM – We decide to play I Spy. We spy all sorts of white, green, brown, yellow and red things. We discuss the fairness of spying something for a second that passes outside of your, and more importantly everyone else’s, field of vision. We laugh at some of the things we spy — red fenders, green trees, brown road signs, green road signs, white lines on the road, fluffy clouds that look like horses, roadkill…. ewww.

3:30 PM – We change the game to something else. One person thinks of something and the rest of us have to ask questions about that something until someone guesses what it is. Hubby goes first. He says, “I’m thinking of something big…. and round…..” From the backseat, the eldest daughter’s voice yells, “YOUR BUTT!” All of us, except hubby, dissolve into gales of laughter.

3:45 PM – I’m still laughing and hubby is getting truly annoyed. My stomach hurts now, I’ve been laughing so hard. The fact that I’m still laughing is causing everyone else to laugh, too. I think they’ve long since stopped laughing about the “butt” comment, and they’re now just laughing at me because tears are pouring down my face and I can barely breathe. Laughing is good medicine, unless it’s your own, personal butt that your daughter thinks of when you describe something big and round. Ha ha ha!!!!

4:30 PM – We hear the first “Are we almost there yet?” These kids are truly great travelers.

5:00 PM – We are finally “there yet”. We pile out of the van and run for the door. We have lots to do this weekend–clothes to wash, stories to share, hugs to exchange, growing up to celebrate, and, most importantly… Girls’ Night at Bingo!

It’s good to be here.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about STEPHANIE

1. My least favorite job in college was waiting tables at a Japanese Steakhouse

2. I am addicted to Dancing With the Stars

3. I am also addicted to America’s Got Talent (I know, it’s a sickness)

4. I love the smell of creosote bushes because they smell like it has just rained

5. My favorite Southern foods are grits and fried okra

6. I used to live in Texas and can’t shake the need to say “y’all” when referring to a group of more than one person

7. I met my husband for the first time when I was fourteen years old

8. I stink at Progressive Rummy and air hockey, but love to play them both

9. My left eye is so bad that the eye doctor wondered, at my last visit, whether I could see out of it at all (the answer is yes, I can)

10. I had all of the tendons in my left foot severed in a car accident and cannot, under any circumstances, wear heels anymore (sad because the new summer wedge heels are sooooo cute)

****Edited post-publication due to author’s failure to count… Ha ha!!! It’s been such a week, can you tell? I did totally leave three things out… fired!

11. I have brown eyes, but have always wished they were blue.

12. My favorite flowers are Birds of Paradise – my husband knows this and indulges me on it at least twice a year.

13. My biggest pet peeve in life is the phrase “moot point” – I don’t know why it bugs so much, but it does.

There’s the other three. I apologize to all o’ y’all who thought momentarily that I could no longer count! ****

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

You Can’t Take It With You

What is the world coming to when the morning news program has to run a segment about what you, as a guest, are able to remove from a hotel?

As they dive into the segment, they address the crazy things people have removed from hotel rooms—pictures, alarm clocks, silverware, towels, washcloths, irons, and even a complete marble fireplace. Said fireplace was evidently removed, piece by piece, in a “really big suitcase.”

One hotel owner described a couple that paid for a hotel room that opened to the exterior of the hotel so that they could park their U-Haul “within view” of their room. The couple proceeded to back up the U-Haul to the door of the hotel room and empty absolutely everything into the U-Haul… even the carpet. Yet another owner described a gentleman that was starting a catering business. Every time he would have a meal at the hotel, he would steal one piece of silverware. By the time he was finished, he had place settings for 60. Unbelievable!

My initial reaction was that these individual stories don’t seem to add up to much except sensationalism, right? They represent a few scattered incidents here and there, a few thieves in the mix, a microchosm if you will. Imagine my surprise when the piece went on to explain that hotels are experiencing this kind of theft to the tune of $100 million per year! People really are taking everything that’s not nailed down. No wonder rates are skyrocketing.

It’s so bad that there is an entire industry devoted to different kinds of anti-theft hangers and a patent issued for an anti-theft iron and ironing board. It’s so bad that hotels actually ARE nailing everything down—pictures, remote control devices for the TV, the TV, the furniture. What they can’t nail down, they are changing to make the items less theft-friendly. Robes that used to be lightweight are now heavy and bulky. Bath towels that used to be small are now bath sheets, not as easy to fit into the old suitcase. Hotels are even offering to sell the items folks are pilfering, in hopes that an honest opportunity to purchase will win out over greedy entitlement.

You would think this kind of thing would be common sense. Do folks automatically feel entitled just because they paid $60 a night? Did they not attend kindergarten and learn that you don’t take something that doesn’t belong to you? I traveled extensively for several years and felt guilty even taking the soap and shampoo, although I knew full well that they would discard the unused portion if I didn’t take it.

For anyone out there that might be confused about what you can and cannot remove from a hotel room, here’s a short list of things that hotels do expect you to take with you:

Soap.

Shampoo.

Shower gel.

Shower cap.

Sewing kit.

Stationery.

Shoe Shine Kits.

Slippers.

Outside of that, buy your own stinkin’ washcloths and towels! Buy your own remote (hint: the one from the hotel doesn’t work with your TV anyway, genius), decorate with your own art, buy your own bedspread (doesn’t the thought of using the one from the hotel just gross you out?), pick up a cheap hairdryer at Wal-Mart and grab an iron, too, while you’re there. Stop thinking you’re entitled to take anything that doesn’t belong to you and stop making the rest of us, by way of rising hotel rates, pay for your matching towel set.

Got it? Good.

Protected: He Said, She Said

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Protected: Letter to her Mother

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password: