Six Word Saturday : Upside/Downside

Oy vey!  Do my feet hurt!

Upside:

Yesterday was Black Friday.  I'm a server at TGI Fridays, located in a mall.  Needless to say, we were quite busy!  

Downside:

There was no time for any of us to sit down and eat.  We never stopped from 11 am until after 3 pm, when it slowed down for a bit.  

Upside:

Thankfully, night shift comes on at 3:45 on the weekends.  I sure was happy to see them arrive!  

Downside:

Tomorrow I expect more of the same.   Boy do my feet hurt!

Upside:

I do get a 2 day break after tomorrow.

Downside:

That's because I have to drive my daughter back to school on Sunday ... a 520 miles round trip drive.  

Upside:

At least I don't have to do it all in one day.  My ex travels a lot for work and has tons and tons of points for free Marriott hotel rooms.  He got one for me, so I can break the trip up.    

Downside:

I'll miss work on Monday, so I'm not making any money that day!

Upside:

I have a date with John tonight, and by date I mean I go to his house and fall asleep on the sofa because I'll be too tired to move.   I bet I can get him to rub my feet for a while!

I just hope there's no snow in the mountains when I drive Dani back to school on Sunday!  I hate driving in snow!

Want to try your own Six Word Saturday? Go see Cate at Show My Face and link up!

OCMD Vacation Day 1

Sunday, September 19, 2010
Sunny, 80 degrees, light breezes


John and I left for Ocean City around midnight, Saturday night.  Why, you ask?  Because John had to work from 11:30 am to 11:30 pm that Saturday. (Hey! He grabs as many overtime Saturdays as he can!! ).  So as soon as he got home, he changed clothes, threw his stuff in my car and off we went!!!  Vacation time, baby!!


We stopped at an all-night diner on the way.  The food was OK, the price was reasonable.  I had scrambled eggs, scrapple, wheat toast, home fries, orange juice.  I left some potatoes on the plate.  John had a gyro, I think.  The man LOVES gyros.  Everything was fine until I went into the bathroom.  I'll never go back there again.   The toilet was moved so it sat facing the corner because the bolts were missing.  And the lid on the back of the tank was missing.  It was not exactly clean.  


Enough about THAT!!


So we continue on our journey.   The trip is approximately 160 miles, and should take us a little over 3 hours (not counting the food stop), and it did.  The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful and we arrived at the house a little after 4 am.

We checked in with the guard at the entrance (it's a gated community) and went to the house.   The house is in a development called Assateague Pointe.  It's on the mainland of Ocean City (aka West Ocean City) and it's not far from Assateague Island (where the wild ponies live and roam freely).


Fran (my friend and one week a year landlady) swapped out the double bed for a queen size bed and she had the bed all made up for us (I had full sheets packed)  I was SO happy that we didn't have to do all that before going to sleep!!!  All we brought in was the refrigerated stuff.  We unloaded after we got some sleep.


We woke up late Sunday morning to sunny skies and 80 degrees with a light breeze off the ocean.  AH!!!  My kind of day!!  Sunday was the last day of Bike Week in Ocean City, so there was an abundance of Harleys roaring all over town!  Some of those bikes were beauties!!


Breakfast was at The Breakfast Cafe in West Ocean City.  We usually eat there once or twice when we're in town.  Food is good, but it seemed a little pricier than the last time we were there, 2 years ago.


Then we did our grocery shopping for the week.  I'm proud to say we were able to use up just about everything we bought by the time we were going home.  


After we put the groceries away, we made a quick trip to Walmart because John forgot to pack socks.  (I thought of you, Garret and Jim when we did our Walmart run!)


Next up was a trip to the boardwalk in Ocean City.  We wandered up and down the boards, people watching and window shopping.  John bought me a new swimsuit in one of the shops (50% off!) for my birthday because I thought my swimsuit was at John's place but it was at home.  And no, there are no pictures of me wearing it!  John also purchased a game and some movies at an old book shop just off the boards.


While we were on the boardwalk, we saw this sand sculpture.  I think the man who does this makes a new one each summer.  It's amazing that it stays in such good shape for such a long time!  It was so long, it took 3 photos to get all of it.

We finished up our first day at Salvatore's, an Italian Restaurant that we went to a few years ago and really liked.  We'll never go there again.  The food was pretty good, when it finally arrived.  I didn't think to bring my camera the first day.  Our waiter was Chip, a Russian fellow (there are a lot of Russian students working in Ocean City).  He was a nice enough guy, and I don't think he was the problem.   We ordered an Antipasto and a Shrimp Cocktail as appetizers.  It took 45 minutes to arrive.  The only dressings they had available were Ranch and Oil and Vinegar.  No Italian dressing at an Italian restaurant.  Hmmm......


For our meals, John ordered Veal Marsala (which he said was good) and I got Stuffed Shells because they were out of Lasagna.  I also ordered meatballs but they didn't arrive because good old Chip told me I didn't order them.  John started shouting that I did, indeed, order meatballs!  I got my meatballs AND a small plate of spaghetti.  


There were only 4 tables in the restaurant occupied and it too forever for everyone's food to come out!  Honestly, I don't know how this place stays open.


We went back to the house and tried to watch the latest Harry Potter movie (in preparation for the 7th movie coming out in November), but I couldn't keep my eyes open.  It took the better part of the week to finally finish watching it!


Lots more to come this week!

Road Trip

Yesterday I had to drive Dani back to school, 2 weeks early.  The play she was in in October was chosen to be performed at a Winter Festival her school is having at some point in the near future.  So the cast had to be back early.  I think Dani is the only one in her whole building right now.

The reason I had to drive Dani back to school is because, on her way home for Christmas break, she had car trouble on the PA Turnpike.  Luckily, we have AAA.  Turned out, she ran out of oil and her engine seized.  She had to leave her car at a garage, hitched a ride as far as Harrisburg with her roommate (who fortunately hadn't left school yet and was able to stop and get her).  I only had to drive as far as Harrisburg to get her, 90 minutes instead of 4.5 hours.  So her car is now dead in Breezewood because it'll cost $2300 for a new engine and her dad paid $1500 for the car.  The man really needs to stop buying the kids cars on e-bay.  For what he spends on the cars and repairs to get them running properly, he could have bought them newer, better used cars.  But I digress.

We got everything loaded up, with barely enough room for Dani's friend, Karie to fit in the back (she took the day off from school to go with us.  I was glad for  the company on the ride home)  Off we go!  A quick stop at Wawa (like Turkey Hill, Cumberland Farms, Sheetz, etc for those of you not in the NE part of our great country) to fill my gas tank and grab a 20 oz coffee and we were off!

We made pretty good time, except that I had to stop at nearly every rest stop on the turnpike.  Getting a large coffee after drinking a cuppa at home is NOT a good idea when you have a long drive ahead of you.  This old bladder ain't what it used to be!  I counted.... from the time we left the house,  I went 5 times by the time we got to Dani's dorm.  That probably accounts for why it takes me 4.5 hours to get to her school and it takes Dani 4 hours.  Either I stop with the beverages for the trip or I invest in Depends.

Half the trip was on the PA turnpike, which was very light, traffic-wise and the other half was driving up into the mountains.  We got off the turnpike at Bedford, drive to Altoona and headed on up to Indiana (PA, not the state).  No sooner had we gotten off the turnpike and I saw a sign that warns to use caution, weather is changing.  SHIT!!!  I checked the weather for Pottstown (dry, clear, partly cloudy) and I checked the weather for Indiana, PA ( snow showers).  They LIED!!!!!  By the time we got to Altoona, it was snowing.  By Ebensburg, the snow was beginning to lay and by Indiana, we were having accumulation.  Now those of you in the northern parts of the Northeastern US and the Midwest and Canada, stop laughing at me!   I know I'm a wimp!  I really hate driving in snow.  By winter's end, I'm OK with it, but the first few snowfalls, I'm driving with clenched hands on the wheel and a dry mouth.

Luckily, we arrive without incident.  Dani found out her key card wasn't activated.  So it's off to Housing to get it activated and back to the dorm.  The girls grabbed 2 cart thingies to load her crap on and we brought everything inside  This took about an hour.  The plan was to unload, go to the grocery store for perishable items (her dad took her shopping for other stuff)  The food hall won't be open for another 2 weeks, so Dani is on her own for meals.  I really wanted to get moving back down the mountain.  Plus, Karie was supposed to be home by 6 pm for dinner.  There was no way we were going to get home by 6.  It was already 3 pm and we had to drive slower until we got to a lower elevation and no snow.  She called her mom to let her know we were going to be later than planned.  So I gave Dani $40 to go to the grocery store, which is right behind her dorm and we headed out.

Luckily, my driving skills have improved and we got down the mountain fairly easily.  The downhills always scare the crap out of me because if I start sliding, I'm screwed!  But that didn't happen!  YAY!!!  Once we got to Altoona (which is about 100 miles from the school), the snow had stopped and after we got below Lancaster, we didn't even see snow on the grass.  When we got on the turnpike, we stopped at a rest stop to eat.  And that was the first and only time I used a restroom all the way home!  

We arrived home at 8 pm, 2 hours past our planned arrival time.  With the snow, it turned out to be a 5 hour drive each way.  I sure was tired when I got home!  I was glad for the company on the drive too.  I'm also very happy that I have today (Wednesday) off from work!  By spring, Dani should have another car, so I won't have to be making that trip too often.