Final report:
Trip down to WV, surprisingly quick under grey skies -- made it in four hours.
Celebrations with friends -- enjoyable.
Decided to start the trip back at noon today to avoid reported bad weather in NYC tristate area, and because tonight's the last night I'll have to put up the Christmas tree. On our way out, Peggy tries to shanghai us into making a stop at a local town -- any local town, she's not picky -- "just to look around for a few minutes". I decline while re-iterating "bad weather, plus putting up Christmas tree" explanation. Peggy gets angry, acts like West Virginia is going to be scrapped and recycled as soon as we cross the border, and she'll never see a West Virginia town again. She sulks for 20 minutes, then falls asleep for most of the ride home. (I, meanwhile, am operating on less than six hours of sleep.) Per a request made during one of the brief moments she rouses during the ride, I wake her as we cross back into NJ. We take a rest stop, at which point she says "I can't find my wallet" and then notes she doesn't remember actually bringing it only after my anxiety level spikes again. We make our rest stop, and as we come back out to the car I mention putting up the tree again, at which point she says, "You're going to hate me." Long story short, she forgot to do something at work on Friday afternoon, so as soon as we get home (4.5 hours after leaving WV), we're back out again as fast as she can pick up her ID badge, and then we're on the road once more for another half hour. "I'll be just a few minutes," she swears as I park. 45 few minutes later, she finally comes back out, and it's another half-hour drive back home. At which point I start trying to chip the ice that has coated the driveway since we left on Friday. I only manage to clear the little ramp into the street before I'm exhausted, sweatbathed, and about to fall over. At least the pizza arrives at that time. Meanwhile, Peggy's supposed to be completing the living room redecorating she started at something like 3 in the morning on Friday night, so that I can actually finally put up the tree. Theoretically, that's now. Effectively, though, I'm beat. I think we're not going to have a tree this year... we need tomorrow and Tuesday for the last of the shopping, and we're booked for Xmas eve with Peg's mom.
Oh, and she found her wallet. It was in her purse the whole time.
I can haz siks-pak of nervus brakedowns now?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Trip down to WV, surprisingly quick under grey skies -- made it in four hours.
Celebrations with friends -- enjoyable.
Decided to start the trip back at noon today to avoid reported bad weather in NYC tristate area, and because tonight's the last night I'll have to put up the Christmas tree. On our way out, Peggy tries to shanghai us into making a stop at a local town -- any local town, she's not picky -- "just to look around for a few minutes". I decline while re-iterating "bad weather, plus putting up Christmas tree" explanation. Peggy gets angry, acts like West Virginia is going to be scrapped and recycled as soon as we cross the border, and she'll never see a West Virginia town again. She sulks for 20 minutes, then falls asleep for most of the ride home. (I, meanwhile, am operating on less than six hours of sleep.) Per a request made during one of the brief moments she rouses during the ride, I wake her as we cross back into NJ. We take a rest stop, at which point she says "I can't find my wallet" and then notes she doesn't remember actually bringing it only after my anxiety level spikes again. We make our rest stop, and as we come back out to the car I mention putting up the tree again, at which point she says, "You're going to hate me." Long story short, she forgot to do something at work on Friday afternoon, so as soon as we get home (4.5 hours after leaving WV), we're back out again as fast as she can pick up her ID badge, and then we're on the road once more for another half hour. "I'll be just a few minutes," she swears as I park. 45 few minutes later, she finally comes back out, and it's another half-hour drive back home. At which point I start trying to chip the ice that has coated the driveway since we left on Friday. I only manage to clear the little ramp into the street before I'm exhausted, sweatbathed, and about to fall over. At least the pizza arrives at that time. Meanwhile, Peggy's supposed to be completing the living room redecorating she started at something like 3 in the morning on Friday night, so that I can actually finally put up the tree. Theoretically, that's now. Effectively, though, I'm beat. I think we're not going to have a tree this year... we need tomorrow and Tuesday for the last of the shopping, and we're booked for Xmas eve with Peg's mom.
Oh, and she found her wallet. It was in her purse the whole time.
I can haz siks-pak of nervus brakedowns now?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.