Great Hopes

Driving. Yes, we took our lives in our own hands and drove 2 consecutive days of ~9-10 hrs each – to reach my family in the Midwest this past weekend. Wow. That really wasn’t fun.
First of all, poor little Devika freaked out completely when she saw the suitcases being packed. My guess is that she remembered those suitcases from the India trip and was scared that things were going to change again. She screamed and screamed – was quite inconsolable. Poor little whoo. :(
Once on the road, she did pretty well for most of the day. When the sun went down and it was dark in the car (except for the dual DVD player, which lit things up nicely with scenes of Barney).. she began crying and would not stop. It was either the dark.. or the time of day (tired).. I don’t know for sure. I do know that Maya, when she was only home for a few months, freaked out in her carseat when it became dark. Poor little things.
Anyhow, we had 2 more hours in the car both days when the sun set and the baby started melting. Blaaaah. Loooong 2 hours. Luckily, Maya did pretty well. No sleeping, but a decent attitude.

We also were lucky to beat the blizzards - phew! We had perfect weather.
So – we are here! Yippee! Phew. That black-Friday-dual-dvd-player-purchase saved our lives. No joke. I LOVE Barney. (Delia, feel free to pass that on to your friend (yes she knows the real man behind the dinosaur!)

Decorations. In the spirit of the season, I tried to help my parents decorate their house tonight. My mom has been out of energy from her cancer treatments, and my dad has a horrid sinus infection. They have their tree up, but nothing else. I decided that they needed a bit more cheer, and I should try to help them out.
I was at their house tonight doing some laundry (good LORD how do 2 little children create such an ungodly amount of laundry??).. while they were out at dinner (during a snow and ice storm.. yikes). I thought to myself, ‘Hey! Great time to get into their xmas stash and put out some décor while they are not here to stop me!’.

I dug into their little closet under the stairs, and pulled out a few items. One was a small reindeer made out of logs. Too cute. I grabbed him and brought him upstairs.. setting him up in a prime location in front of the fireplace. I grabbed the electrical cord attached to his.. um.. her?.. um.. ‘nether regions’.. and plugged him in.
Nothing.
I sat back and looked closely at the face of the reindeer. Didn’t I recall that something was supposed to light up? Did I leave a piece of his antlers or something in the basement closet?
I bent my head closer to inspect the face of the little guy.. was about 2” from his nose.. when all of a sudden… POP! KZUTP! A lovely electrical snapping sound.. and a decent sized puff of smoke suddenly erupted from the reindeer’s nose!
Omg. I try to do something nice and I almost create an electrical fire in my parents’ living room. Upon closer inspection of the disgruntled Rudolph, I notice that his nose – which had once had a lightbulb and red cover – was smashed in. Poor guy.. wonder who he upset during a past Xmas celebration? Or.. maybe he wasn’t leading the pack during the last Xmas sleigh ride and there was a bit of a ‘back up’. Heehee..

So needless to say, I decided to chill on the Xmas décor and only put a few ‘safe’ items out for them. Hopefully they don’t mind. If they do, I’ll remove it the day after Christmas.

So I have obviously missed several blogging days. I decided to save room in the car and not bring my laptop. Sadly, my hubbie has had to freaking WORK every day we’ve been here, and I get no time to borrow HIS laptop… so things are not working out as I thought they would. Plus, Maya was sick with a fever the past couple of nights and was attached to me at night.
We somehow accidentally left Bear-Bear at home when we took off in the car – realized it after a couple of hours (yes, we are SO freaking stupid).. and she cried for bear every day and night until we finally rec’d him today. I had to take Bear’s place and be the ‘huggy-bear’ when needed. A HUGE thanks to our neighbors for going into our house (tripping the alarm – hahahaa!), locating Bear-Bear, and fed-exing him to us. Life-savers!!!!!!!!!

So I have to sign off – stupid battery is dying on this crappy laptop and it is almost midnight. I have photos to hopefully upload tomorrow. If I can manage doing this while keeping Devika from licking outlets (yes, I heard that she did this while on Daddy’s watch today omg) and keeping both girls runny noses from dripping all over their faces. UGH. Change of weather has not been good for them.

Until tomorrow.. and maybe we'll cram 10 letters or so into one entry. ;) I'm feeling a little poetic, look out! haa