You Drive me Crazy...

You drive me crazy....

This blog is way out of time warp. I was too lazy to write anything for a while. I have a few more that I have to finish and they will all be posted up. :D This one is from The last Monday in July.

Life cant get any crazier than this. Well Im sure it can but this was a true test. My father wanted to take a trip out to see his siblings. We had planned this trip for a couple of weeks. I look forward to these trips because I like to hang out with them. I love my family.

The night before the trip, Sunday night, Cami was up most of the night. I dont know if she was too riled up from camp or not. My guess is that she stashed some sugar somewhere. It was about 330am before she fnally passed out. Now mind you that I have to be at my fathers by 9am. This means that I have to be up, showered and ready to go before 8am. Thats the time I have to wake Cami up and get her ready too.

So 8am rolls around. Im groggy as hell and I need a good jumpstart. I wont be getting that any time soon though because I have to get her ready. When shes tired and her medication hasnt kicked in, shes a viper. This means that its like dressing a rattlesnake in tight pantihose.

Shes showered and fed and getting her hair brushed when the phone rings and its my father wanting to know if we are awake. Hes good for that. Its the one lesson in life that I was taught by him. Always show up for something at least a half hour early. Either that or he will nail you for it. So Ive been so used to doing that. But I really hate rushing. Regardless of what it is or where Im going, I hate being rushed.

I gather up everything and we run down the stairs and get everything loaded into the car. This is a two hour drive one way and Cami doesnt have a CD player. This should be fun. But I packed her snacks and books and a video game. Off we go to grandpas house. We wnt be going over any rivers or through any woods though. Its only about 4 blocks.

We go in and get him and off we go to the gas station. He has one of those little thingys you wave in front of the winged horse and it lights up letting you fill up and get a receipt without using a credit card. So I got out of the car and went inside to get some caffine and snacks. Im still quite groggy and I need all the help I can get.

So I come out of the mini mart to see him sitting in the car with the passenger door open. He could not have pumped the gas that fast. So I asked him what was wrong. He said that the thing for his card wasnt working and that I had to pull to a different pump. I said ok and got in the car. I put the key in the ignition and nothing happened. Huh? I mean nothing. I turn it again and still nothing. Not even a dash light. Nothing. No click. No light. Nothing. Im freaking out. I check to make sure my car is in park. Nothing. I get out and check under the hood. Nothing. About half hour goes by and still nothing.

What the hell? This is really pissing me off. My father is telling me that my car is a piece of crap because now it wont start. Hes bitching because he will be late picking up my aunt. This is not even funny. My car refuses to start. But usually you can tell whats wrong by what ever happens when you turn the key. But nothing is happening. So I decided to call AAA. I start dialing the number. My father started to close his door and I caught a glimps out the passenger mirror of something. I nearly peed my pants. I could have shot him.

My car comes with a bunch of safety features. Like the doors will automatically lock when you put the car in gear. And they wont unlock until the car shuts off. You can unlock them manually though. Bot only the driver can. He hates that because he never waits til I shut the car off and hes always reaching for the handle and complains that he cant get out of the car. You would think that after three years of this he would remember that. But Im always conscious to pull into a parking spot and hit the lock so he can get out before I shut the key off.

But what I saw immediately made me have a blonde moment. Its one thing that I should have thought of checking. But being that Im not fully conscious til I at least have my caffine, I didnt think of it. When I was in the store, he got out to pump the gas. When he closed the door, what I saw in my passenger mirror was my gas cap dangling on the side of my car. He didnt put the cap back in before he got back in the car to wait for me to move it to another pump.

I was furious. My car wont start without the cap in tight. Why didnt I think of this before? I sat there so frustrated for half an hour trying to get my car started. And all this time it was the damn cap. So I put the cap in and moved forward to the next pump. It urked the hell out of me. The worst part was when he was pumping, I made sure that I watched him. When he was done, I put the cap in and closed the door. He gets in the car and starts laughing. I didnt think it was funny. He then tells me that my expressions were funny. I didnt think they were funny. But if you remember his raisin, then they must have been funny. I can laugh about my stupidity now, but that early in the morning with hardly any sleep, I wasnt laughing.

So I decided to just get this show on the road and left. We headed to the Thruway. I really dont like the Thruway but its the quickest route to where I need to go. So I get on the entrance ramp and start to pull into the ticket lane. He tells me to go to the EZPass lane. I dont have one and he does. I told him that its only for his car and not mine. He argues with me. There is no winning an argument with him unless you prove it. So thats what I had to do. I pull into the EZPass lane and the little yellow light is on. It wont go to green. He waves his little pass tag and it still wont go. It says to call EZPass. He tells me to just go on through and that he would call them. He very well wasnt going to do that with about ten cars behind me beeping the horn. This is going to be an impossible trip.

I have a headache aready and hes complaining that his pass wouldnt work. I tried to explain that to him. But he still doesnt understand why it wont work. Mind you that I still havent gotten my caffine intake yet. Im watching out my mirror for a cop to pull me over for being on the Thruway illegally. After about ten miles, I finally started to relax. Cami was just sitting in the back seat playing her video game and being so quiet. I almost didnt know she was still in the car.

About 40 miles to my destination, there is a rest stop area. I asked if anyone needed a potty break. Since I didnt have my caffine yet, I didnt have to go. But with him and Cami in the car, I figured that one of them would. Sure enough, he had to go. So I pulled in and parked the car. He got out and went inside. Cami got out and I opened my door so that I could stretch my legs and walk a little. I have a tendon problem in my right foot and it was killing me at this point. So I walked a little with her and then got back in the car. I drank about half of my drink and relaxed til he came back to the car.

He came back to the car and got in. Then told me that I should have parked in the handicapped spot so that he woldnt have had to walk so far. I told him that I dont have a tag to do that. He pulled out his. Well, shit. I asked him why didnt he tell me before that he had one. He said that he forgot that he brought it with him. Well it doesnt do me any good now does it? So I pulled out of the rest stop and went about my way.

We get closer to the exit that I needed to get off at and he takes out his EZPass thing. Here we go again. Its not like I had a ticket to give the person at the booth. So I go ahead and pull into that lane. Sure enough it says the same thing. He just doesnt get it. He needs to call them when we get a chance because I willbe damned to get back on there on the way home.

We start to head to my aunts house and I know the way. But he decides to put me on a different route. Good gawd, here we go. He said that my uncle takes this way all the time. I said ok as long as I dont get lost. We get onto this route and thats when he told me that although my uncle goes this way, he has never tried it. Ooook. Thanks for the info now. But I was able to find the right signs for roads I knew and found my own way there.

I pulled into my aunts driveway and I was so relieved to be able to be on solid ground. She came out of the shop and Cami gave her a hug. She gets in the back seat with Cami and off we go to the restaurant where we will meet up with my uncles for lunch. We had a great time there and Cami ate like a horse. She was shocked my one of my uncles filled a plate up with shrimp and ate it all. She sat there watching him do it. But she couldnt finish all her chicken nuggets so he ate those as well.

After lunch, my uncles went on home while we were going to visit my other aunt in a nursing home. Shes not doing so well. Well shes not in bad condition but she just doesnt want to do anything for herself. Cami made her get up and move though and she liked it. I guess I will have to get her to do that more often. But its such a long drive.

After that we decided that it was time to head home. I told my father that I wasnt going to take the Thru-way this time. He said he would get me to route 20. So he tells me which way to go and then we get down town. I know that if I get on the main highway there, I can get to the roads I need to be on. Nope. He takes me on a different way and tells me to go left here and to go straight and I will go right to route 20. About ten miles down the road, he then tells me....Oops. *smacks forehead*

We ended up on some really country back roads where all you see are rusted pickup trucks. Im watching signs and looking for things I would know. Its obvious that he is lost but I know alot of the back roads up in there. Dont ask me how I know though. I just do.

So I see a sign for a town that I know and decided that I could find my own way from there. I made a left when he said to go straight. Of course I argued with him. I know where I am now. I made it to the road I needed to be on and before ya know it, I was making the right turn onto route 20. Whoohoo. He wasnt thrilled that I knew how to find my way home.

One I got home, I was pretty much out of steam and passed out for a while. I was tired, cranky and bitchy. But over all it was a fun trip. :D