Frizzle Frazzle

It's the eve of Christmas and it's snowing. It's been alternating between snow and ice-rain this entire week and we're only officially two days into winter. I guess we should have expected it, for we haven't experienced anything like this in recent years. My mother attempted to go get my grandma yesterday (she lives in a tiny rural town about two hours away) and had to turn around. The highway she was traveling on, wound up being closed down due to a jack-knifed truck that caused a 20-30 car pileup in white-out conditions. We didn't think grandma was going to celebrate the holidays with her family, but fortunately, one of my uncles ventured out to get her this morning.

Last night it took me two hours roundtrip to go to the next town over...and to be frank, I've never seen so many er IDIOTS driving around in my entire life! For starters, every year it seems like people forget to drive on snow, and it's bad enough when it's regular snow. We've had super-snow this year...heavy, riddled with ice, and just plain everywhere. People as a whole just aren't able to put their heads around the fact that when it's crappy and cold out and there's a foot of snow on the ground, that maybe-just-maybe it's time to use a little caution while driving.

I'm by no means a grandma driver, but all the same, I'd much rather reach my intended destination. Apparently others do not. There were cars in ditches. Cars stuck in unplowed parking lots (I'll get to a story in a minute). Drivers trying to make a left turn off the divider and spinning their car wheels to no avail. People get crabby and impatient and throw the holidays on top of it and you have a disaster.

Last night while at a strip-mall-store, this you-know-what interrupted my discussion with the salesperson, "EXCUSE ME!!" she whined/yelled. "I am stuck in your parking lot and YOU NEED to help me get out RIGHT NOW!'

First of all, this woman was rude...second, the parking lot she stranded herself and her trusty Saturn in, did not belong to the store. To make matters worse, there was a 7-UP truck stuck in it as well. This B#$%^ saw that the truck was stuck and drove around it, landing her car into an icy embankment. So the poor guys from the store went out there in the freezing ickiness to assist and she was ungrateful every step of the way. For all I know she's still there barking orders!

My other favorite episode of the evening involved a compact car and a mini-van. Both vehicles exited Red Lobster on an extremely busy 4-lane road and decided it would be a good idea to try and make a left during rush hour and a blizzard. The car proceeded to get stuck in the median and in the process blocked a lane of traffic. Not to be outdone, the mini-van driver pulled out and manuveured around the car, nearly sliding into it to try and make a left. Big SURPRISE...when they too got stuck and blocked even more traffic...as they tried to REVERSE their way out of the situation. Nothing makes people feel filled with the holiday spirit as much as being stuck in a horrendous snow storm with hundreds of dummies!~

Sufficed to say, I'm thankful this year. Thankful that I am currently off of work for nine days; thankful that I am sitting here typing this in my jammies; thankful that I got to sleep in until 9, which hasn't happened in years!

Big and exciting things are on the horizon and I'm trying my best to stay in a positive frame of mine. In three weeks I'll be heading back to school to work toward my MBA. Work is going well...and family life...will eventually work itself out.

Happy Holidays!