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Married to GI Joe, and the Mother to GI Joe Jr (whom is currently addicted to the Wonderful World of Superheroes), I'm a WV Hillbilly plunked down in a subdivision. I have a backyard garden, crazy neighbors, and a goofy dog that we love on Tuesdays. We love to travel and explore new things, so feel free to browse our life. Sometimes it is exciting, most of the time it is just life. But we are having a good time at it.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Wheels on the Truck go Round and Round...

Thanksgiving Hits and Misses:

Pros:

Family:  Between the grandparents, the aunts and the uncles, and next year we'll have a nephew joining the mix.  It's nice to visit the Mountains of Home...it's good to be with family.  Even though the visits are all too brief.

Food:  My mom can fix one heck of a ham, and my mother in laws potato salad can't be beat.  We eat like fiends  for three days between the two houses (in two states).  At this point, I really don't want to see anything that resembles ham, turkey, or some sort of pie for a while now.

Travel:  We do like to travel.  It's what we do best. 

Cons:

The driving.  Oh Dear Lord...the driving.  No one in their right mind would do this more than once, but we do it once a year.  We do not travel at Christmas, so we do the Highway Hustle at Thanksgiving.  Six hours to my parents, stay the night, eat, stay the night, get up, pack the truck....four hours south to the Inlaws...eat, stay the night, find something to do to unwind the Toddler, stay the night, get up after contemplating driving the night before and deciding not to, and then six hours Home.  During this stretch...we visit no less than fifteen to twenty public restrooms.  Urgh. 

When we travel on vacation, its just different.  We either pop up the camper when we get there and go out and have fun, or we check into a cozy hotel room or cruise ship cabin, and then the fun starts.  When you get to family, you have to do dishes, eat food that Aunt Edna prepared when someone usually puts her on paper products duty and forgot, watch TV programs you don't necessarily care for, have conversations about politics/religion/child rearing/cars/car manufacturers/economy/neighbors down the street/etc...all while chasing The Toddler, who thankfully keeps me soooo distracted that I don't pay attention anymore...or at least I pretend I am sooooo distracted.

The public restrooms:  I've said it before...what is the hard part of cleaning and keeping a restroom slightly appealing?  I realize that no one in the gas station/restaurant/truck stop...really WANT to clean the bathroom...but isn't there someone in those places that is slightly less disgusting at home?  When I worked fast food, I cleaned the bathroom.  I was nineteen years old and totally skeeved out by what people did in a public bathroom and swore I wouldn't go to their house.  But geez.  Monitor the thing!

The worst bathroom award goes to the BP Gas Station/McDonalds outside of Burlington NC.  You lose big time.  Not only was the toilet just gross, and toilet paper everywhere, but the sink looked as if someone had washed their hair in it and then cleaned the mirror with toothpaste.  Uhm...a paper towel or lysol wipe would do freaking wonders!  I'm so sick of public restrooms at this point.

And let me ask a question of public restroom designers.  If your door HITS the toilet when you open it...do you see the problem????  I don't care to do the dance behind the toilet to shut the door.

And why?  WHY WHY WHY?  Everytime I went into the restroom with The Toddler was someone in a stall having a very loud bowel movement that The Toddler had to comment about...everytime...very loudly.  Keep it down...please.

Ladies...again...what are you doing in there?  You can hear the people waiting in line to pee.  Hurry up.  For goodness sakes...what are you doing??  The Husband thinks I hold the Fastest Peeing Record in the World.  I can get in and out, with washing my hands, in under a minute.  Yes, I can.

The best bathroom award goes to the rest area in Wilkesboro NC.  BRAVO!  Not only are your bathrooms spotless, well appointed, and not completely skeevy, your staff was friendly.  The Virginia Welcome Center on I85 is also another BRAVO.  You can get local brochures, maps, friendly staff and super clean
bathrooms along with indoor vending areas with tables.  THANK YOU.

Movies:  The Toddler got stuck on "Sword in the Stone"  The six hour drive back this morning resulted in him watching that movie four times in full...and we had to play the 'part with the sqwirls' about ten times.   He doesn't wear headphones yet, so you get my drift.  The Husband used to love 'Sword in the Stone'.  Not sure so much now.

Sleeping:  That one really weighs in...and should be near the top of the list...but I was so sick of peeing in public bathrooms when I got home, that's all I could think about.  The Husband and I discussed what we were most looking forward to when we got home.  His was The Bed.  Why?  Because he had to sleep in my old twin bed at my parents house for two nights.  Not too bad, but not the prime bed considering he's about six foot two and its a short twin. Then at his parents, he opted to sleep in the spare twin bed that is literally in the walk in closet in the guest bedroom.  I called him Harry Potter all weekend.  He could have slept downstairs in the other spare bedroom, but noooo...he wanted to be close.  Sweet of him huh?

You see, The Toddler isn't quite old enough to sleep in a bed without bed rails...he won't fit in a crib anymore...and forget the fancy cot we bought for traveling...yeah right.   So I bolster two pillows under the blanket on one side of the bed, tuck the covers under the mattress, and use myself as the buffer on the other side.  I told him he could sleep with The Toddler and I would happily go downstairs to the spare bedroom.  He opted out.  He opted for the bed in the closet....so there.

Food:

Yes, I know it was a Pro...but it can be a Con too.  I cannot take another chicken nugget, french fry, drive thru, truck stop coffee, ham slice, pie slice, Little Debbie Brownie...or knowing my Toddler had just eaten an ENTIRE bag of M&M's because no one thought to just give him some in an empty cup.  I'm sick of eating now. 

And being in the car...

And running out of topics with The Husband during the car ride that doesn't consist of  "can you believe my mother/your mother said that?"   After a while, its not so funny anymore and you start getting defensive about it.  Whether you agreed or not.

And peeing in a public restroom...

Yup...let the Holiday season begin!

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