It was almost a sleigh ride...

without the jingles. Let me just start out saying I've almost conquered Brad's Australia trip without harming us; however, I do have two more days left. I'm sitting here laughing and wondering whatelse could happen to me...My evening started out like this: I stopped at the groomers to pick up the dog. He is clean shaven and looks like he feels better. A little cold but clean. They must not have taken him outside because he peed like a race horse when I got him. While driving out to the interstate I noticed there were lots of cars getting off of 74 to go down 150. The highway looked ok from a distance but once I got on it it was not so ok. It took me about 40 minutes to get to Fithian. Since I had the dog I decided to go home to drop him off, change my clothes and then go pick up Lauren. Snow began falling and it was quite pretty. It was big flakes, falling very slowly but it didn't last long. I got changed and rushed out to get Lauren. Actually I drove slowly because the roads were covered. She was waiting for me with a big smile. We jumped in the tribute and headed Oakwood bound through the country to go to aunt Mary's. Again I'm driving with caution. I turned right off of Michelle's road then turned left toward JoEllyn's. All of a sudden I felt a BIG bump and I was out in the middle of the cornfield. Lauren immediately asked me what happened. I answered her calmly, "we are in the middle of the cornfield honey, but we are ok. Mommy just needs to turn around here and drive out of the field." So, I turn around and drove out where I came in. I stopped the vehicle and got out to examine to make sure I didn't have any flat tires. While I'm outside the vehicle Lauren is hallowering at me to shut the door, apparently she was cold from the wind. I got back in and thought, "what just happened to me?" Lauren repeated over and over that I hit a big bump and ran off the road. So I finally realize that the road wasn't straight and that I had to turn. (At this point I'm thinking "where are the arrow signs when you need them?") I came to a stop sign and now the roadway looks familiar to me. It's straight! I tried to call Brad, like he can do something, but couldn't get him. So I called Stuart. He must have known from my voice that something had just happened because he immediately asked me if I needed help. So I started to explain to him that I was ok but I just ran right into a cornfield. I asked him to get Brad on the phone. Stuart was so kind. He thought he was going to have to come and pull me out of the field. I totally appreciated his concern and help getting me connected to Brad. In the meantime I hear this little voice from the back saying "Mommy be careful, there is a car coming". At that moment I just about lost it. If she was just a little bit older I would have stopped the vehicle and let her drive. She was in a better frame of mind than I was at that point. I talked with Brad and we laughed about the incident but I have to say I am so thankful that nothing big really happened to us. I was quite the "thinker" at the time of the incident but now that it's over it was pretty scary. So I'm sure if you ask Lauren she will share with you her side of the story. -- We did have a good dinner with aunt Mary and uncle Ken. Uncle Ken and I had a nice visit while aunt Mary showed Lauren all of her christmas bears, santas, snowmen, etc. Lauren did take a bath there. That gave aunt Mary and I a few minutes to open gifts. We left there around 9:30 and headed over to Moon Baby's to get the ornaments. Lauren was quite excited about going over there so she stayed awake for that ride. All the animals came running up when we got there so it was fun for her. The ornaments are now wrapped with snow and care and I will get those out tomorrow. Lauren fell asleep on the way home from Moon's. I am now very sleepy for staying up way too late and Lauren is fast asleep in her bed. Hopefully for the night until 7 AM.

Today was such an adventure. Hopefully tomorrow my voyage will be calm and smooth.

Good night!