I Drove in Circles, Then Smashed My Face.

Well, more like rectangles with rounded corners. I got to drive our Semi last night, and it was AWESOME! I have had my permit for a few months now, but since we didn't have our own Semi, I hadn't driven one. Well, now that we have our own, (the reason why we went to Fargo) I can work on getting my CDL.

Here it is. It isn't the best picture, since it was taken with Randy's phone, but it is so cool:


I want to name it. Randy doesn't. I don't know if Semis get a girl name or a boy name. I guess I will have to research that. Maybe a neutral name, or a noun. Maybe just an adjective, or a pronoun. I will need to think about a neat, cool name for a neat, cool truck.

We went to a parking lot, and I unlearned all the stuff I know about driving regular manual transmission vehicles and relearned how to never use the throttle when I use the clutch, how to cause my left leg to cramp by fully depressing the clutch while releasing the parking brake, and how to turn left. Kinda like a sick, twisted, slow, lonely NASCAR race.

Amazingly, our truck has a turning radius of a Semi! I joke because I thought it would actually be worse, but even though it turned wide, it seems pretty manageable. Then again, it was dark, and I was in a parking lot!

I did manage to shift from 1st to 2nd, and down shift once or twice. I didn't get into 3rd gear, because I couldn't go fast enough in the lot. The brakes are very different, in fact, there is no feedback. When he gets back from his next run, I might get to take it out on a back road somewhere if we have time. But I am confident that I will be truckin' in no time. Pun...intended.

So where is the face smashing?

This morning Randy and I met with one of the owners of the company that Randy leases on to. She is super nice and helpful. She gave us great news that I choose not to disclose at the moment. Let's just say that it is an answer to prayer, and I am very, very thankful and happy about it. Praise the Lord!

Anyhow, after our meeting, Randy noticed one of my tires on the van was low, so we went to go put air in it. He got out, and was trying to get the air compressor to work. A trucker pulled into the pump next to us and was cleaning his windshield, fueling up, etc. I rolled down my window and yelled (to Randy) "Hey, nice butt!" (married people can say things like that!), and he jokingly said... "Hon, he is on the other side, he can't hear you". Just at that moment, the trucker walked around to the side closest to us. I got all embarrassed, and rolled the window up.

Randy was still outside, waiting for the air tank to fill, since for some reason the circuit got tripped. I have one of those driver's side windows where if you push the button down for a second, the window will roll all the way down. I wanted to talk with Randy again, since the trucker was no where to be seen. My intention was to peek my head out the window quick and say something else that married people say. I thought that I had pushed the button long enough for it to roll down, however it wasn't, so I plowed my face straight into it. I laughed and winced at the same time. Randy had heard a thunk, but had no clue what happened, since my big head didn't get out of the window. I had to tell him while laughing and with tears in my eyes from the pain. He and I sure had a good chuckle.

I think my face print is still on the window come to think of it.

Home again.

(We finally have our cable back up! I wrote this one ahead of time as well, and just saved it to my computer)

Our trip home from Fargo went good. We got a late start back to Rapid, (by about 30 hours late--haha--the joke was on Randy...not really.) We ate supper in Sioux Falls and Randy drank about a gallon of coffee, and we were off.

I don't drink coffee, so I got tired about an hour and a half after we pulled out of Sioux Falls. We pulled into a little truck stop area, and parked the truck and van, and we all piled into the sleeper of the truck. Willard sprawled out across the foot of the twin size mattress. Maynard insisted on "duddle me" (Cuddle me in Maynardese) or he would scream bloody murder. So, in order for us to fit, Maynard made a small triangle leg, feet toward Willard but not touching because then they both flip out and start kicking and hitting. Maynard still demanded to be next to me...that left about 4 feet of the mattress for Randy and I.

Since I needed to be next to Maynard, Randy had to contort himself with one knee up in the air, and I used one of my legs to hold his other leg from falling off the edge of the bed. Well, I slept pretty good, but Randy was wired and uncomfortable. He got about 2 hours of sleep at the most.

We woke up this morning and my shoulder was sore from sleeping on it funny. We went into the store to get some breakfast and use the restrooms. The boys were well rested and fired up, and Randy grabbed more coffee. I had a yummy, yet very, very bad rice crispy/peanut butter bar with chocolate on top. MMM my mouth is watering just thinking about it. The boys had a banana nut muffin and cheese. They love cheese.

A couple hours from home, I picked up a couple of hitchhikers, (Ok, they weren't hitchhikers-but a husband and wife who were stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire and they were on their way to a funeral in Presho and they didn't want to be late.) I tried to get Willard in the back seat quickly, but it wasn't working out all that great since the booster seat didn't want to fit back there without knocking out Maynard. So, I finally got Willard in the back, and it was still butt cold out, and the nice couple was getting cold, so I just threw the stuff from the front seat, into the middle row, and they both piled into the front seat. We made small talk, since, well, talking about funerals isn't really comfortable. They have two boys, 6 and 4 and another child on the way.

Willard pipes up from the back of the van, "Excuse me, Mom."

"Yes, honey what is it?"I asked.

"Yoshi peed all over back here." (Yoshi is our dog.)

"I don't think he did honey." It was probably the water dish he has back there."

"Ok Mom, its just that is all over!" all excited and exaggerated.

We all just chuckled.

They asked if it was Ok if I dropped them off at the school, where the service was. I jokingly told them no, and that I would only be able to drop them off on the freeway and they would have to walk the rest of the way. There were several cars at the school, so I found a place to pull over so I could drop them off and rearrange Willard's seat. I also grabbed an Orange Divine, hoping the sugar buzz would keep me going.

Randy had gone on ahead and we met up again about an hour later for a potty break. Maynard managed to soak through his clothes, and thankfully I packed a couple extra pieces of clothing, because the silly kid had nothing but 2 onesies in his diaper bag. And he only had ONE diaper left. We didn't want to over pack when we left, so we only filled the diaper bag with diapers, and he burned through them quite quickly. (I wonder who packed that thing-Doh..it was me!) Good thing we were only an hour from home!

We got home and unloaded the van, went and vacuumed it out and ran errands while the kids napped. Now we have no cable since the dog got carried away and got into one of the cable wires and ripped it off the house. The cable guy is coming tomorrow to fix it.

All in all it was a great trip, and though it was cold, I might even go back. Well, maybe in the summer.

Snack talk?

(A note from me...this was written Tuesday morning, but we haven't had internet access...(the dog managed to pull the cable wire off the house.)

We have been in Fargo for 3 days...Randy would say 2 nights (or four days longer than he wanted to be there (he is actually really good at math...that is just how much he doesn't like "the northern climate"))...either way, we are in Fargo, it is 13 BELOW and 35 mile an hour winds. I think it is a neat town, well city really, and I have been trying to find the positives (unlike my dear and sweet husband who says that the only reason why people ever moved here is because they came in the summer, and those that survived the winter, couldn't afford to leave.).

1. The streets and avenues line up right. I know that because I kinda got a little lost last night, after shopping and I actually found my way back!

2. The Mall is really cozy. It is really warm and homey, and there is a MASSIVE fireplace in the food court. There is also a little room with "di-doors" (Dinosaurs in Maynardese) for the kids to play with. An old friend from Grade/High School who lives near Fargo and her boys and us went there for lunch as well. I also went shopping (well browsing) at the mall last night while Randy tried to take the boys swimming.

3. They have many cool stores that I have never been to. Bed, Bath and Beyond was cool, but I couldn't seem to grasp the gigantic assortment of doo-dads and other items that would eventually become next year's garage sale items at my house! They also had a Savers, which is a Thrift Department Store. I enjoyed it, but I only got one bag, for Randy to keep his log books in. I was looking for a coat tree/plant stand, but I didn't find anything reasonable. I heard they have a Linens and Things...I couldn't find it.

4. They have many places to eat. We were going to go to someplace "different" but we ended up going to Outback Steakhouse, since Randy was craving steak, and I was craving aussie fries (awfully good).


And then there was Willard. Somewhere along the line, he heard the words "Smack Talker". I don't recall ever saying that, and I am not quite sure what it is.

Recently, his comic timing has been quite hilarious, even though 99% of the time, he has no clue what he is saying, but he is trying to be funny, and that is funny, in it of itself.

Last night at dinner, we told the boys it was time to finish up, that we had to head back to the Hotel. Willard looks at Randy and says..."quit your snack talkin'!"

Ahh kids...

That's IT!

Yesterday, on the way to church, Randy had done the "I'm a guy and I can spit far" trick out the window. He normally controls this urge quite well when I am around, however not at this moment. I was not amused and Willard could tell, so he told Randy...

"That's IT! You're out of the Herd!"

Maybe he has watched Ice Age-The Meltdown too much!