Friday

Now don't get me wrong.

I don't expect sympathy for my own stupidity. Y'all should appreciate my willingness to share. If I can stop one other dumb mistake in the world, all my humiliation will be worth it.

Well, continuing from my previous post...

Thankfully, I didn't get the full scale case of the stomach flu! I only got the er, lower part of it, and I attribute staving off the stomach part to stopping off and buying a large bag of peppermints at the quicky mart on my way to Nashville and devouring as many as possible as fast as possible. I'm getting pretty good at plowing right through an illness I tell ya.

So we get to our hotel, and of course there is the excitement of seeing who is at the pageant and who is not and getting everything in and registering. But it's hard to be excited when you are exhausted, sick...

...and worried.

First, I didn't tell MY parents about going. Now, I have been living married with children for almost 20 years, but they still suffer the delusion that I'm 17 and going on my first date every time I get in a car. And I am understanding about it, but had they known I drove to Nashville just me & Giz (following another lady and her family for safety's sake) I would have received the lecture from HELL prior to going, a rant about being stupid, risking mine and my child's life, where are we going can we have all the information plus a sled report on the family we are following, what if something happens who will come save me and if they don't have the information they won't be able to look for me & Giz etc etc etc. Now it never occurs to them that I have a husband at home to give information to and a cell phone and a gps and I'm travelling with other people. I think they like to pretend my husband doesn't exist and I have think they WANT something to happen to me so they can fell vindicated.

Besides, a lecture/rant would have been a real pain in the ass, wouldn't have changed my mind, and taken up a bunch of time I just didn't have to spare. Plus, it really bites when my Dad is RIGHT.

Anyway. Now that we have established my IQ level (again.)

You know that icky feeling you had when you were a kid and you were in trouble with your parents? I had just that on top of everything else. Even my husband was like "what on earth do I do??" if my parents should call - it kinda reminded me of when I was in college and my roommates would lie to my Mom about my whereabouts when I was down the street at a party and she would call every fifteen minutes asking as to my location. Granted, I don't blame my Mother for worrying, but it's not really a worry where they care THAT much about ME, it's more like... they hate to worry about me but they do because it's the right thing to do so if they end up having to worry about me then they get mad at me because I'm responsible for stressing them out about worrying about me. In the end it's all about THEM. Don't make me repeat that. I know they LOVE me, but I'm not altogether sure they LIKE me. But that's another series unto itself.

And if you want further explanations, I'm sure there's a shrink somewhere with a textbook just covering that subject alone.

So now. I'm sick. I'm tired. I'm spending a lot of money knowing Gizmo is probably not going to win anything (and not because Giz isn't pretty or a good model but I'll get to it later.) I'm hiding from my neurotic over-controlling parents 386 miles away from home. And I keep trying to rationalize that I'm having fun. Oh, and Giz? She's about the happiest kid on the planet no matter where she is. (sometimes I think I need to rename her on the blog to DeeDee - as in DeeDee from Dexter's laboratory 'cause that's so HER sometimes.)

Well, check in was pretty uneventful at the hotel except for an entirely ungraceful unloading of our luggage from the car (no bellman, no carts, and it's just me and a 5 year old trying to lug everything in and up to the room making 5 trips by ourselves.) But now on to pageant registration.....

And in the middle of all this mess I'm taking work calls post production launching of a project I'm responsible for at work.

....to be continued

I Think They are trying to tell me something...

I reckon Giz ain't National Pageant material.
Now, I'm pretty objective, but apparantly I have lost that particular capability.

but..anywho before I get into that.

The last week or so has been INSANE.

Three weeks ago we had to go out of town for a family outing. My 90-year-old Aunt (who is like a Grandmother to me) was thrown a birthday bash by my parents and my mother's cousins to celebrate the event - and it was very much a family reunion as well. I happen to really hate these things, because I only see these people once every 8 years, and I'm expected to act "like family." Who the hell are we kidding? Once we all go home, does anyone write? Email? Or even send those stupid mass chain mail messages? No... It's like when you go back to a 20 year high school reunion and act all chummy with people you didn't get two words in with in four years of that educational cesspool of hormones and social torture. But as always, I digress.

The next weekend we were supposed to go on vacation, but Giz had a modeling event to go to, and the weather in North Carolina for skiing was crappy, and I had a raging case of bronchitis. The executive decision was made, and the lodge was more than accommadatinig, so we put vacation off a week. Much to the disappointment of the kids, but hey, I didn't want to ski unable to breathe and on grass at that....

Well, we end up leaving on the following Saturday and traveling halfway to the mountains to stay in a very small, but comfy Comfort Inn in Marion NC. I highly recommend staying there on a Saturday night if you are going into NC to ski from the South, it's HALF the price of the hotels close to the ski areas on a Saturday night, and only about 45min away. They even had a decent indoor heated pool and continental breakfast. It was about $80 for the night, vs $150 at the Banner Elk Best Western!

Did I mention one of the problems with a ski vacation is that you really don't get much REST.

We got up at 6am Sunday, so the ski school nazis wouldn't refuse my child entry. If you don't get there by 9:15 they turn up their nose at you (and your money, go figure, even with a crappy ski season and lord knows the area needs all the cash they can get this year!) But I respect the rules, and keep my opinions to myself when dealing with people directly, suck it up and deal. Nonetheless, since we have all our own equipment, we had to lug all that crap into the motel around 7pm and then back out at 6am (couldn't leave it, no way to lock it up in the cab of the truck.) Oh, and did I mention, that evening I got Giz not one but two pairs of the cutest snow boots at the local Wal Mart across from the hotel (one pair for this year and one for next) for only $7 each!!!

But back to Sunday... we get up early early... leave to ski... we usually go to Beech Mountain since we like the family vibe and the ski school staff is familiar with my family since we've put both kids through the program over the last 10 years. Problem is, to get ANYWHERE at Beech it's like 5 flights of stairs to get UP to the lockers, then 2 flights DOWN to the bathroom, then 2 flights back UP to get to the skis (all the while walking in ski boots and hauling tons of equipment...) So by the time you get ready to actually ski, you're EXHAUSTED. And especially when you are out of shape like I am!!

We had a good day on Sunday, and Giz loved her ski school class - she had a young lady with a tongue piercing (with which she was fascinated by) from Lees-McRae college with whom she instantly clicked.

Monday.
Giz got up, and she didn't look so good. And then she started throwing up.

I can't tell you the last time she was really sick, to be honest, but since the stomach flu was going around town severely, we knew we left for vacation with a bit of a gun to our heads that someone might come down with it. So the deal was, if I stayed in the room with Giz all day, I'd take Firstborn back for night skiing. So I cleaned out my purse, and I made calls into the office etc. for something to do. Thankfully about 4pm, Giz started feeling much, much better and hope was re-instated that she would make a speedy recovery for Tuesday's ventures.

Now, I do NOT recommend night skiing when the weather is unpredictable in NC. We ended up hauling all the gear in, get dressed etc. Well, on the second run down, Firstborn crashes and busts his binding. (Thankfully no significant injury!!) But still, we ended up packing up, loading up, drive BACK down the mountain for repairs etc. It was probably a blessing, the mountain was like skiing on bricks that night.

Tuesday. Back to normal, and the mountain was good, but the wind was terrible and you couldn't see squat. Thankfully, Miss Tongue piercing was back, and since Giz was the only kid in her class, she got private lessons ALL DAY!!! Yippee for her!!

Wednesday. Long faces. Beech was nothing but a soggy mess. So we figured we were done for the day, but we decided to stop by Sugar and see.... they had a 30-70 inch base!! But Giz wanted NOTHING to do with their ski school. I wasn't sure how it would go, but after skiing off and on with my husband and I, she ended up skiing from the very, very, top of the mountain with everyone. At this rate, I guess she'll being skiing the black slopes and leaving her poor ol' mom in the, er, powder??

We drove home and got back very late Wednesday night. No rest for the wicked, I had to make sure all the homework they had done on vacation got in the bags, get together lunch money, unpack the important bags etc. WHEW.

Valentines was flown through, for I had counted on my husband to cook supper, and even though I took all day off, I had to get my hair done, buy shoes and bows for Gizmo's pageant interview outfit, and finish unpacking the ski stuff and pack all the boxes for the pageant, rent the car, etc. And when I got home late that afternoon, expecting hubby to have supper ready and help me get the car loaded etc for the next day... I found him in a heap in a chair, with, THE STOMACH FLU.

Well, needless to say, I had to do all of it, MYSELF.

Oh yeah, never mind we were leaving for NASHVILLE on Friday??

Well, on Friday, we were supposed to get up at 5:30, and ended up oversleeping. I hate that - it's never a good way to start your day... hollering and panicking trying to get up, and get out the door. Thankfully hubby was feeling better, so I rabble-roused him and Firstborn and shoved them out the door as best and as fast as I could.

So now I'm staring down a 7 hour drive to Nashville on a bad wake up morning. And now I'm feeling queasy. Not queasy over nerves, but stomach flu queasy.

... To be continued.

I'm here, finally

Lordy.... Can I go to rehab like these movie stars do?? I need to be sequestered off somewhere to REST.

I've been busier than a bunch of relocated fire ants.

Trying to post, but I've covered about 1600 miles of driving over the last 2.5 weeks, 3 cases of the stomach flu, my son almost broke his hand, and my daughter once again ended up getting dissed at a National pageant. And did I mention we got the biggest project of my life at work launched in two countries too??

Most of this is self-inflicted, so I don't expect sympathy... I just need more time to write. And I want off the treadmill of my schedules!!!

I'll be back....

:o)