Home Alone, Day Eight

Okay, these titles are easy but I'm getting pretty sick of them. Just two more of them and then I'll have to start thinking of something new again.

Today was a good and productive day. We all rejoiced over our fresh gallon of milk and enjoyed cereal for breakfast this morning. :-) I don't even eat breakfast most of the time, but it just seemed like the thing to today.

We had devotions, then started in on school. I went outside to haul some more logs in to stack in the little "thingie" (what is it called???) by the wood stove and discovered that we were at the very end of our firewood. We would run out sometime today or perhaps during the night tonight. I looked at the thermometer: 30 degrees. That's the warmest it's been in a long, long time around here. I went and checked the tire paths I had shoveled to see if they had melted out any or if everything was still packed and icy. Even in the still-too-cold-to-melt temperatures the bright sunshine had done some work and I felt... confident is too strong of a word... I felt pretty sure (in a confidently hopeful sort of way) that we'd be able to get out and back in without getting stranded or sliding off the driveway into the gate or a tree.

So I came inside and we did a quick clean up of the house (JUST IN CASE we had a surprise showing--I try to keep things at least decent at all times) and we loaded up all of the library books and headed down the highway. My purpose for leaving home was to get firewood, but the kids had been dying without their usual library visit this week (especially since they were cooped up inside most of the time) and I figured we'd stop by there, too.

I took my kids to the bar today. It's the only place to find firewood. Ha! Molly's Bar sits down at the bottom of the mountain where everybody exits from the Interstate to head north up to the area where we live. In the wintertime you can drive by there and see one, two, or as many as six or eight trucks will loads of firewood parked out at the edge of the parking lot. You check out the loads, talk to the guys and see who has the best price, make your deal, and then the guy will follow you home with his load and dump it in your yard.

We drove past the bar and there were NO loads of wood today. That was my whole reason for going out! ~sigh~ We went on to the library and the kids went inside while I waited outside with Charlie.

Ah, yes. I got to thinking about the fact that we're planning on going to Alabama at the end of this month (praise God--I'm sooooooooooo excited!!!)... and we have a dog who gets carsick. I DO NOT want to travel with a carsick dog for two whole days to get there! So I got to thinking about that crazy advice I'd read online the other day. (1) Vanilla ice cream to settle their stomach and deter motion sickness, and (2) make the ride soothing and enjoyable, a "happy experience" since they're usually stressed out rather than struggling with motion sickness. I decided to mix the advice together. I fixed the dog a bowl of ice cream and let him eat it in the van on our way down the mountain. Ha! I mean, come on--what could be more enjoyable than a bowl of ice cream as you travel?! :-) It was really just one spoonful, but it kept him busy and occupied for several minutes. I had him sitting ON HIS BLANKET (Katie took me seriously this time) on Kate's lap in the front seat and he made it all the way down without getting sick. Wa-Hoo! (I can't believe I'm excited because I took a 10 or 15 minute drive and the dog didn't hork. That's so dumb.)

We were at the library for 20 or 30 minutes. When we left and drove past the bar I noticed that there was now a truck there with a load of wood! Wa-Hoo! I pulled up next to him to ask his price and it was a couple of kids in there. Teenagers, that is. The guy told me $125. I can't believe I did this (James is so proud of me), but I took one look and said, "That's not nearly enough wood for $125." He told me to make him an offer and (could you die?!) I said $85!!! That is SO a James move--the kind that would have me all embarrassed and crawling under the seat and wanting to slip the guys an extra $20 when James wasn't looking. Ha! He said $90, I said sold, and he followed me home. I pulled the dog into my lap (because it's his favorite spot and I was hoping it would be "soothing and relaxing" for him--HA!) and petted him and talked to him the whole way home. He started whimpering and looking sick (it could have been my imagination--I'm not sure how a dog looks sick), but he made it all the way home with no incident. Success! Good Charlie dog.

We got to the house and I didn't even made it completely off the road and into the drive before we slid to a stop. I backed up a bit and gunned it. I love doing that. :-) I didn't make it all the way up the hill, but purty close. The guys with the wood were in a truck, but it wasn't a 4x4 (what is the purpose of having a truck if it's not a 4x4?!) and he was having a terrible time getting in the driveway himself. Even if he made it in, there was no place to go because the only place that had been shoveled was the two tire tracks where my van was! They were going to have to dump the wood way down the hill and the kids and I were going to have to haul it all the way up to the house through 6" of snow, with no wheelbarrow or dolly. Not fun. I finally told the dudes that if they just wanted to park the truck wherever they could get it, I'd be happy to pay them $100 for the wood--if they'd haul it to the front porch for me. :-) They were strapping young men with nothing better to do and it was the best $10 I've ever spent in my whole life. Ha! It would have taken us all afternoon to do it, but those two punks hauled it up--and stacked it for me!--in no time. They'd scoop up 10 or 12 chunks of wood and jog up the hill to the house with them. I can't wait until I have teenage boys around the house. They must come in so handy. :-) I stood outside and talked with the guys a bit while they worked and learned that one--the one that didn't look a day over 16 years old--is in college. The other guy had just come to hang out with his buddy and ended up roped into hauling all of that wood up to my porch--and would not be getting paid for his trouble. Ha! So when I paid the skinny kid I also brought a bag of cookies to the tag-along. Truthfully, he seemed as excited about a bag of homemade cookies as the other guy did about his $100. I love teenage boys. :-) And James was so proud that I had haggled so well and got a good price--delivered, hauled AND stacked. I was talking to him on the phone while the guys were hauling load after load up the hill and something slipped out of my mouth about feeling a little bad and like I ought to pay them more... "NO, BEC. Do NOT pay them more--you did good, just give them the $100!" Ha!

I spent some time working on my puzzle this afternoon while the kids finished up on school. We had a very late lunch, so we also had a very late pizza party tonight. :-) We watched The Ugly Dachshund again since it has to go back to the rental place tomorrow. (If I would have thought of it I would have taken it back while I was out today!) While that was on I did some proofreading for James and worked on some stuff for the Alabama Evening Light since the deadline is tomorrow.

Now the kids are in bed, I have finished up on my responsibilities, I have blogged, and as of last night I'm all done proofreading the Sunday School stuff. I can't decide whether to go to bed or stay up and try to finish my puzzle. ~sigh~ Decisions, decisions... Puzzle it is. :-)