Our problems started 2 weeks ago when we decided to put new tile down in the kitchen and add banquette seating. We thought that with 3 weeks before Christmas we would have plenty of time for these minimal renovations. Come to find out that we had asbestos backed vinyl underneath our existing tile. Oh the loveliness of owning an older home. We, at this point, had to find an asbestos removal team, get them to come out last minute, and still leave enough time for the tile installer and my dad to get back in there before our family came for the holidays. Well, we finally found someone to come and remove the asbestos. It was only going to take one day, then the tile guy could come back still giving us time to spare. This, of course, not only put strain on our nerves but our wallets too. It came to total about 4 times the original cost!!! We also went 2 weeks with the refrigerator in the family room, the dishwasher in the dining room, and no hot water. Talk about crappy situations. Now that it's finished it looks beautiful and definitely worth all the trouble. The only thing we have left to do is move the light over the table. That will just have to wait until AFTER the holidays.
So moving on to our next issue. We all traveled up to DC last weekend for my cousin Kyle's wedding. We left Thursday morning and all went to the rehearsal dinner that night. His fiance` Erin is such a sweet beautiful girl and everything they had planned was to perfection. Friday we had a casual day touring the area and running some errands, then got ready and headed to the event at 6:00 that night. Everything was gorgeous, and Harper was the cutest thing in her little dress and feather headband.
So with the winter storm warnings for the area we had decided to get a head start on things and leave Friday night instead of Saturday morning as planned. The snow was scheduled to start around midnight but instead came about 8:00. We hit the road at 9:00 and the roads were already pretty bad. We saw several cars off the road before even getting to the highway. We finally got to 95, with full tanks of gas (thank God) and my parents leading the way in their car. We were astonished to not only see how bad the road was but how many cars were traveling on it. We traveled for about 5 hours going no more than 20mph at top speed, with thousands of other cars and tractor trailers. Cars were off the road all over the place and some even stalled out in the middle of the highway. Things had been coming to a head for the last hour or so but it was an eighteen wheeler losing control of it's trailer and almost sliding into us that put me over the edge. We needed to get off the road, it was 2am and we had the baby with us. It was by far the scariest night of my life. I couldn't get over how much danger I had put myself and my baby in. Once we finally decided we needed to get off the road we realized that all the exits we had passed for the last several miles were blocked with cars and trucks that couldn't get up them. We were STUCK!! We couldn't get off the road nor could we just pull over to take a break. People were using the break down lanes on both sides as driving lanes. There was no side of the road to pull over on. It was like an episode of "The Twilight Zone". We couldn't get off the road, we couldn't stop moving yet it was 4am and the roads were a death trap. I suddenly couldn't breath and was in a full fledged panic attack!! Finally, at 4:30am we found an exit ramp that was able to be driven on. At the end of this magical ramp, we found ourselves at the mecca of hotels. There were 7 hotels we had to choose from, however, after checking, we found not one of them had any rooms left. Talk about kicking a horse when it's down. We, so far had driven 92 miles, in 7 hours, average speed... 11 mph. We decided, at this point, our final resort was to sit in the Waffle House for a little while then go park somewhere and try and get at least some sleep before tackling the roadways again. After about an hour of shut eye we took off, luckily, finding the highway much less crowded and slushier than just a few hours before. Still not the best driving conditions but worlds better. We finally drove into our driveway at 11:00am Saturday morning, 14 HOURS after our initial departure! We are so blessed to be safe and sound, and I can not say enough about how extraordinary our sweet little girl is. She slept the ENTIRE time with the exception of our time in the Waffle house. She woke up for the last 2 hours of the trip and just enjoyed the ride. I have already marked it in the books to buy her a car when she turns 16. She deserves it.
Last but not least, to top off our super fantastic month of December, we had to cancel our New Year trip to NYC. We were so excited to go up and see the city in all it's Christmas glory. We were going to see all of Adam's family, including a second cousin we have yet to meet. It was going to be our first, much deserved, vacation without the baby.
I certainly hope 2010 brings better luck. We have definitely had a fantastic 2009, however, this past month would bring anyone down. Time for Christmas to come and bring us some cheer.
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