random rants and ramblings, or workblogging part 92,387,536,776,598

It's been a jumbled up crazy kind of time here in okiemom land.

so last week I went to the courthouse, as I generally do 2x a week for my job, dropping off docs to be recorded & picking up some, etc. I clipped my keys on a carbiner clip I have on my bag. Walk thru the parking lot, thru the courtyard, halfway across the courthouse, treasurers office, clerks office, 2 elevators & back across & down to the garage again. No keys.....

Shit....

I trace my steps over & over, looking under every car I may have passed, the stairs, check in all the surrounding buildings front desks in case they were turned in, had the sheriffs deputy even feeling bad for me. I was stuck.

Finally, after about an hour or more of this, I broke down & called Jeff, who seemed quite annoyed, he fired up the mammoth behemoth & trekked downtown, after borrowing 10. to put in the tank of the beast & came to my rescue. He unlocked the door w/ his key & lo & behold, guess what sat on the front passenger seat?

(insert stupid moment here)

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We have got till Nov to decide to either buy the house we're in (not) or move. We choose to move. We have found the perfect home, it's a mobile home, now to find somewhere to put the damn thing.

4 bedrooms, an office for Jeff, 2 living areas, a HUGE kitchen & pantry, big utility rooms, 3 bathrooms. I'll be in 7th heaven if we get it.

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Anyone remember my huge work dilemma?

It has arisen again. Same job, same company, I finally interviewed, It pays MUCH more than IM making now, so keep your fingers crossed. A few of you know the issues I face @ current job, & how its pretty much dissolved 1 friendship, so all loyalties aside. I'm taking it if it goes thru.

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Trip part 2

After eating we loaded back up, first feeding the gulls.lol then headed back for the docks just in time to line up.











WHOOPS! I forgot to grab the tickets from the glovebox, so we all raced back to the car, got the tickets & rushed back to the boat, thinking we were going to get crummy seats.

It wasnt too full so the girls alternated between the upper deck on the outside & the lower deck which was inside.

Me & Jeff pretty much stayed above deck & snapped a few hundred photos.











It was quite chilly & the girls couldn't take the cold much, so I plied them with a few dollars & they found the snack bar!

We traveled into the American side lock & watched the water rise,

then we sailed on out across into Canadian waters,










also visiting the Algoma Steel plant,

& seeing several sailboats,

freighters & ships along the way.

WHAT A VIEW!

Then we came back into the Canadian side lock & watched the water go down to join us into Lake Huron





















& back into American waters.

This was a fantastic tour.

Trip part 1

OK, ok, I'm finally getting with it!

Trip

We started out bright & early about 4 am. Stopped @ QT for a top off of the tank & filled our mugs & the girls got a drink. They were snoring before we even hit the interstate.(of course Kayla had stayed up all night long....)
All went well til we were nearing Miami, Ok on I-44. It was foggy & still rather dark. We saw a city type truck & they waved as we passed by. Odd I thought.
Then traffic was slowing down, then slower, slower.....dead standstill. We were sitting there for almost 20 minutes when finally Jeff got online via mobile broadband & contacted the Highway Patrol. Seems there was a semi on fire up ahead. Great.......So we sat & sat & sat & sat & sat some more. Eventually , folks were getting out of their cars & gathering to talk on the roadside. We were making sandwiches from the cooler in the trunk & the kids were still snoring away. After almost 2 hours of sitting, we finally started to move.














As we neared the Miami exit, the accident revealed itself. Seems a semi pulling a car transport full of new cars hit the concrete barrier in the fog & lost control, it rolled on its side taking the trailer with it, & caught on fire. We never found out the fate of the driver, or if there were any other injuries. Anyone out there knows, it'd be much appreciated.
The rest of the trip goes pretty smooth, various stops for drinks & potty breaks earned Jeff the nickname of Peepot & Abi the name of Peebody.
We made it into Michigan & still burning daylight.Cant imagine how good time we'd have made without the 2 hour stop. We were trucking along pretty good, thinking wed see the exit we needed for I-196, when Jeff noticed the "Welcome to Kalamazoo County" sign.



Whoops. He'd missed his exit some ways back. So we turn around & manage to make it back to our motel we'd reserved.
When we got there, there was a misunderstanding of the price. Seems they'd jacked their rates. Hmmm, must have something to do with the owner being under house arrest for smuggling illegals in from India. LMFAO
We get to our room & all seems ok til we open the roll away bed. Not only is there a condom wrapper shoved inside it but the mattress is torn & looks like someone wiped their ass across it.
Just a forewarning; don't stay at the Flat River Inn
(Flat River Inn & Suites. Flat River Inn & Suites 1104 West Washington Greenville, MI 48838. Phone: (616)754-3668. )

Other things we encounter are the fact its not too terribly clean & both nights that we stayed, when we awoke in the morning, I had a headache & Jeff felt sick. I also had a throaty cough. Kayla couldn't seem to get woke up for awhile. We're thinking there was a mold issue there as there was evidence of prior water damage in the room. Jeff put a call into the Montcalm health dept. hehehe

So Sunday morning we headed over & grabbed the boys & took off for Holland. There we saw the Nelis Dutch Village & Windmill Island. The kids had a really good time, we plunked down a bit of cash & walked all over. It was fantastic, a little cliche but very quaint. :)

Afterward we went out for Chinese. Mmmmmmmmmmm

After dropping off the boys we went back to the hellhole motel & got everything packed for a very early am departure. We all crashed pretty early.

bright & early we took off, still half asleep for Sault Ste. Marie. Going over the Mackinac bridge was awesome, if a little daunting, 5 mile suspension bridge, longest in the US.









While looking for a bathroom, I noticed a sign near a little rustic restaurant that offered rooms for as low as 20-40. I mentioned it to Jeff & we decided to go inside & check it out. They showed us a room, it was fairly charming, a little outdated, but CLEAN. big priority. We went ahead & reserved a room.

We went on our way & soon came to Sault Ste. Marie, driving around a little we finally found the docks.Jeff went in & bought the tickets for the Soo Locks tour & me & the girls took the opportunity to snap a bunch of photos. It was a nice 55 degrees or so at this time.

When he came back, we looked around the shop & office a little & in the gift shop, then went to find food. We found a BK up the way & Abi was determined to save her fries for the Seagulls. LOL We wore our BK king crowns while eating too!

To be continued.......