A Time For Everything

I hope your Thanksgiving was as pleasant as mine. We gathered and ate and visited and video-chatted with Sonshine for a few minutes since he couldn't be with us. A good time seemed to be had by all.

The drive and the weather were unremarkable which is a blessing this time of year, especially for all points, say, north of Wichita. We had a half-hour's worth of flurries on Thursday which was both a blessing and a disappointment. I would have liked to have enjoyed a little more snow--a dusting maybe? Enough to cover the roofs, and the lawn, and the cars, but not enough to make driving detrimental.

We came home Saturday to allow for a day of rest and recovery and preparation for the new work week. The drive was uneventful from Omaha to Gainseville, aside from some patchy fog during that first hour on the road. But it wasn't so close as to restrict our view of the pavement of the lines, so while tiring to the eyes after a while, not too dangerous or scary.

Once we passed through Gainesville, however--which is the first five miles inside the Texas border--there was traffic. Unexplained traffic... Traffic would slow down and speed up--but not all the way, slow down and speed up--but not all the way, and just be unusually slow. There was no accident... There was just nothing. And it was so frustrating, because when you're at the end of a ten-hour drive, you want to be done and out the car and home, and yet, you're forced to spend an extra 30 minutes in the car FOR NO REASON.

Okay--

Obviously we made it safely and can now begin the express train ride to Christmas and New Years...

Thank goodness it's Friday!!!!

Yesterday was a crazy hectic loooong day and I can hardly wait for four o'clock.

Oh, man--I didn't take pictures of the mound of pasta I cooked. A whole turkey roaster full of spaghetti. But everyone, except my own Sonshine, loved it. Here's the food before it was cooked, though:



Once the masses were fed and the kids were all dressed, we headed to Dallas.


Thankfully, the band director grew up on that side of town and was able to direct us to the stadium without us hitting traffic--unlike the football team who walked on the field a mere 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. The officials gave them some extra time to warm up and ... we lost.

So far, 2 out of 2 games, we are the only band that has been dressed in marching uniforms and has actually marched. The other bands stand on the field and play. What have they been doing all summer??

And just as a side note, every HS football stadium in north Texas seems to be built the same way: home side facing due east, away side facing due west. What this means is that if you're the away team, you're in the sun until the sun falls below the stadium. And when it's 100+ degrees outside...UGH!! Luckily we were able to hide out under our bleachers for a while and the kids were only in the sun for about 45 minutes to an hour.

On another note, I want to know why FWISD, in its infinite wisdom makes us play a school in another district where we were warned not to respond should we hear impolite things said to us or on the off chance things are *thrown* at us. WHAT???

And not only that, there is road construction on every major highway in the DFW metroplex. I swear I'm not exaggerating. So that meant we were re-routed home (the long way) because our main thoroughfare was closed. We hit another closure and had to take a bit of a detour. We had FIVE buses and huge Enterprise rental truck (hauling instruments) in our caravan with the band director's bus leading the way. Then we hit more traffic backed up on another stretch of highway closer to home, so we got off the freeway, detoured around the traffic and got back on the freeway on the other side.

After all that, I had to follow the Enterprise truck to the rental place to bring the dad back to the school and his car. By the time I got home, it was almost one am. I am not a night person.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Children ARE on school buses late at night. Please don't cut them off because you're in a hurry.

Also, if you see a caravan of buses (and possibly a large rental truck) try not to get in between them. (or for a very long time) Sometimes only the first bus driver knows where he/she is going and the others are following. When you get in between them it makes it difficult for all vehicles to make it through traffic lights and such.

Thank you.

Now for some pics of our night. The kids had fun last night!



My Brown-Eyed Girl is home and this weekend we will probably head to the lake.

What are your plans for the weekend??? Whatever they are, stay safe.