Well, It’s Alright…Now.

I’m just never supposed to leave the house. If you can recall our last family vacation, it didn’t go all that well… So you’d think I would be a little weary this time around. Nope. Naive as Bambi. Friday afternoon at 1:00 we loaded up my Range Rover with enough supplies to make an army comfortable and set out to visit my husband’s mom and step-father in Greenville, SC. Our son had been so excited to go all week because we kept telling him that Can-Can and Pooh had drawers and drawers of cars and trucks and a big pool in their back yard. He couldn’t stop talking about it.
So Friday afternoon our son was buckled in and the family dog was nervously awaiting the wind to blow through her hair. It is currently 96 degrees in the shade of our garage. G turns the key. Nothing happens. This is not necessarily new news. My car battery has been refusing to cooperate for months now. We decided we would jump it because, heaven forbid, we go through the trouble of unloading everything and reloading it into a functional car. Totally should have gone through that trouble…

Then, several, long minutes later, we see a small station down the hill that looks promising, or at the very least, open. We coasted the Rover right into their lot and found out they would be happy to take a look. They also said they could smell us coming down the hill. Apparently, according to Jeff, the owner, we were leaking battery acid, which had burned a hole right through the radiator hose. Awesome. (I feel at this point now in my story I should mention that this Range Rover is my father’s car. It was always his dream to own a Range Rover and he worked his hiney off to be able to get one. This was years ago and now I’m thankfully driving it.) So we thought it best to to call him and ask what he wanted to do . He said he wanted the dealership to take care of it and was having a tow truck come and pick it up. Jeff was not very pleased with this idea so he charged us a lot of money to sit there and gave us dirty looks while we waited.

So, we waited. And waited and waited and waited. We’re all stale from multitudes of dried sweat and our luggage is melting in the now 100 degree sun. My son keeps asking where the pool is and where all the drawers and drawers of cars and trucks are…thank Goodness for ‘Popular Mechanics’. I almost think he’s convinced this is Pooh and Can-Can’s new home. I’m just trying to keep my son happy with one hand while I balance the family dog in my lap with the other hand. Then my son starts telling me he’s hungry (me too honey, that bagel is long gone…) and the dog is drooling all over my used-to-be-cute-outfit. I didn’t pack a lot because the drive was only supposed to be 1 1/2 hours but I did happen to bring some of my Cereal Bars and the last loaf of my White Chocolate Pound Cake that I made before our last family vacation. (Come to think of it, I can probably blame all this mess on the Pound Cake.)
We’re sitting in this service station in Gastonia for over three hours until my father, who was on his way home from a 2 week long vacation, comes to pick us up. He hadn’t even been home yet before he dropped off my mother and turned right back around to come to our rescue. He drives up, like our knight in Davidson basketball shirt, and shuttles us home where we transfer the stuff from his car into G’s car, which is what we should have done 5 hours ago. We backed out of our tow-truck-free driveway and headed out, yet again, to Greenville.

♫’Don’t Have To Be Ashamed of the Car I Drive…
I’m Just Glad To Be Here, Happy To Be Alive…’♫

At this point I really need a shower. Badly. The whole way there I keep thinking of ways to not be rude to my in-laws but also get some kind of refresher right off the bat. We made it there safely, son and dog slept the entire way, and nothing exciting happened. (We do, however, find out that as we were driving to Greenville for the final time, a tornado blew right through my parents yard and chased my father inside before it demolished several trees and took the power lines with it. Someone was surely out to get us Wades that day…) We finally pulled into Pooh and Can-Can’s driveway and unloaded our luggage for the third time that day. I hugged and kissed them, walked right through the house, stripped off all my clothes and jumped into their pool while my son happily played with drawers and drawers of cars and trucks.

‘It’s Alright…Everything’ll Work Out Fine…

-In a large, microwave safe bowl, heat 4 TB of unsalted butter and 5 cups of mini marshmallows for 2-3 minutes or until fully melted. Stir halfway through cooking time. (*use a greased spatula for stirring to prevent sticking.)
-Add 2 cups of rolled oats, 3 cups of any cereal you’d like, and a handful of dried cranberries, dates or raisins. (I like to use any cereal that’s high in fiber and low in sugar.) Stir with greased spatula until everything is incorporated.
-Press this into a 13*9 inch, greased pan and allow to cool. Cut into bars or squares.