Fun With Furloughs
Friday. My furlough day. So how did I spend it? NOT in the emergency room if that's what you guessed....so it wasn't bad and yet it didn't go exactly as planned....
Woke up to a work related phone call and had to go in to take care of something. Will I get points for that? Doubtful. Oh well. So I dragged Ernie in with me, then we dropped some paperwork off at another office and then headed over to the hospital. I was thinking that we'd have a nice long visit with my mother and then we'd be off the hook for the day. Instead we found out she was being moved to the nursing home that afternoon. So we visited for awhile and then ran to her house to get stuff for the nursing home. A phone and her tv as they don't provide those at the nursing home, clothes, etc. I found it profoundly sad to be there getting those things for her and then closing up her house.
Anyway....by that point it was close to noon so we headed out to our Friday lunch. Had a pleasant time, talked about getting ready for the party and shared a pizza. When we left we still had about a half hour left before we had to pick up the boys and as we drove, blaring a Tommy Womack album, I told Ernie I felt like just driving. So he obediently turned off the road we were on and headed out to the country. I love that man. We drove.....and drove.....listening to the music.....I took pictures as we zoomed by the fields....
At one point we passed an old red barn with three Christmas wreaths on it....I made a noise and Ernie said, "do you want me to turn around so you can take a picture of it?" I eagerly said yes and he began to make a u-turn..... Evidently since we were out in the country the small bit of snow on the ground had drifted into the deep ditches on either side of the road....making it look level when in fact it was NOT. Ernie cut it too close to the side of the road and yes.....we were in the ditch.... I'm not sure when we began screaming a mixture of laughter and obscenities (mostly laughter on my part, mostly obscenities on Ernie's part) but it was soon after. Ernie was sputtering, "I have NEVER gone in the ditch before, NEVER" and I was laughing and saying, "oh my gosh, let me get a picture." This picture is looking out the windshield covered with the melting snow raining down on us from the spinning tires and honest to god----I know it's hard to see but the sign in front of us says "ROAD TO NOWHERE." I kid you not.
Of course it was almost time to pick up the guys from school so after a couple of phone calls I got hold of our neighbor Dave who said he would go get them. Then we tromped around, tried putting floor mats under the wheels and the life.....all to no avail. Someone stopped, asked if we had a phone and when we said we did drove on. Eventually someone else stopped and an unmarked police car with a couple of cops. They were all great. They asked how we got int he ditch and I said, "we're stupid." After much pushing they finally got Ernie pushed back into the corn field where he could get traction so he was able to drive up to the next access road and get back on the road. I hauled the floor mats out of the snow and climbed into the car where we laughed hysterically all the way home.
We got home and told the guys what happened...Leo's response? "You must have been really embarrassed." HA!
We also had a message that my mother was being moved to the nursing home so after sitting and warming up for a little bit we headed over to the nursing home. There was an ambulance at the door and sure enough it was my mother so it was perfect timing. We got her settled in a bit....she seemed relatively cheerful but I know she was nervous.
We headed home rather spent....unfortunately missing our friend's art opening..... I spent the evening looking at recipes, making lists and half-watching tv (Gordon Ramsey's shows just get trashier and trashier...WHY do I watch?). I'd soaked and cooked some white cannellini beans without knowing what I was going to do with them. I ended up sauteeing a bunch of beautiful leeks, mixing them with some of the beans and a bit of garlic, layering them in a gratin pan with some crumbled bacon, some shredded cheese and some toasted cubes of crusty bread. Baked it off and it was perfect for the evening....
What a day. I went to bed and slept like a rock....