Well that was exciting... Not!

Friday we went up to River Falls to pick up Maddie from school... oh dear I am getting ahead of myself

on Thursday I was poking around Maddie's school e-mail account. I usually try to keep track of her grades and stuff being the nosy mom that I am. Well I was having trouble getting in. I had had difficulty a while ago so had not been in for a while. I asked her if she had changed the password and she said no and gave it to me again. I copied and pasted that in and it worked.

First thing I noticed was a "to do" listing at the top of the page.
Parents 1040
Student's 1040

I asked her what that was all about and she said "Oh Yeah, I got a letter about that a while ago... they need your tax information"
"Is there a deadline?"
"Wait a minute, I'll check"
pause.... "Uh, yeah... it is tomorrow"

"WHAT?????!!!!!"

I had visions of the entire school year going away along with her planned semester abroad... it was not pretty.

I formulated a plan where she would scan her documents and send them to me and I would scan our documents and send them to her. As to the signatures they would have to be forged on her end.

I gathered up our tax information and started scanning. I could not find the Wisconsin tax forms anywhere though (I had not yet received the list from Maddie telling what they actually needed) I set Puck to that task and when he was not quick enough or helpful enough I lost it and threw papers and a pen at him. He made the fatal mistake of saying "You never handed them to me" after I had asked him three times to sign the federal forms because we did not have a copy of the originals that was already signed and dated. I do have a rather hysteric side to my personality and I was really at the end of my frustration level.

We got those signed and sent off... still looking for the Wisconsin forms when I finally got Maddie's letter and realized that they only needed the Federal forms. That calmed things down a little... Then she mentioned that she needed the W2's as well... She had only sent the back half of the document that she had so I did not realize that part.. I scanned those and sent them off and three hours of back and forth we were finally finished. I almost wish I was a drinker after that.

Next day I had taken a half day so we could get on the road early. My half day ended at 10:45. Unfortunately since we are so poor Puck took a half day as well and his day ended at 11:45 grrrr

I got home and gassed up the van, checked the oil and packed all we needed for a brief overnight with friends.

He got home and we set off. He drove the first leg, but his tremor (He has a benign familial tremor that is sometimes a problem for him and lately has been getting worse)was giving him problems. Because he had worked he had taken his meds earlier than normal so they were starting to wear off.

We switched drivers near Mauston... I had just started driving when I noticed the Brake light was on. I freaked (again my calm personality showed up Not!) We both finally determined that it probably was the emergency brake so we kept driving... just before we got to Black River Falls the car that was passing me started to honk and at the same time I felt the tire blow! I shuddered the van off to the side of the road just in front of a dead porcupine.

Puck got out of the van to see how close we were to the shoulder and motioned me to drive over a little ways... Using my Lori logic (as we have often called it) I figured it would be bad to change a tire right over the top of a dead porcupine so I straddled the thing and drove past it and over to the shoulder. This did not make sense to my husband, but there you go.

He proceeded to get all the tire changing stuff out and jacked up the van. When we un cranked our spare doughnut it looked pretty bad... metal was flaking off the rim, but it looked like the tire was still inflated. Puck got a couple lug nuts off but could not get the next one off. We were Stuck! I asked him if I should call 911 and he agreed.

Now I have used my cell phone a total of 10 or 12 times in the 8 years I have owned it. I nervously dialed 911 and it didn't go through the first time. Second time a very nice lady answered and was very helpful. I had to get back in the van because I could barely hear her with the semis whizzing by and the gale force winds. She asked me for my phone number so she could call me back (good thing I have that written on the back of the ding dang phone) Then she asked if we needed a wrecker and I said yes.

I sat and waited and worried because I had no clue what to do when the phone rang. I have never answered my cell phone! Then it rang and it seemed logical to push the middle button. Thank heavens that worked and it was the nice 911 lady. The the wrecker guy called and tried to find out where we were. I had no clue, but I did the best I could (who watches the mile markers when they are driving?)

I then called Maddie to let her know we would be late and we waited 20 minutes for the guy. He was all business and got the tire changed out very quickly. Puck asked him about getting a new tire and we ended up following him back to his garage. When we got there Puck asked him about the brake light and he told us that we probably had a severed brake line (YIKES!) but that he was too busy to fix it. He also told us that we still had brakes because of the way the van was set up. (OK that was promising) We bought a used tire and the guy gave Puck a 50 dollar discount because he noticed Puck's Masonic ring. That was nice.

We set off again in slight terror that we would never be able to stop. I drove the rest of the way which was about three hours. I got pretty good at dodging cars without touching the brakes and both of us sort of held our breaths when we came to the exit. Fortunately it was an uphill exit, but miracle of miracle the brakes held.

We got to River Falls two hours later than we had hoped and it was raining. Called Maddie and started packing (Of course she had way too much stuff) Puck and Maddie hauled things down because my knees would not take that kind of stress. I stayed in the room and cleaned and put the stuff back to rights. I wished I had a scrubbie or goo gone, but I am going to make some notes for next year so I do not come unprepared!

finally at 10:00pm we were done. Maddie finished painting over some holes and I bleached the huge pink stain left on the floor where her post-it notes had been sitting under the defrosting fridge. (lucky break that we had some bleach)

We drove to our dear friends house in New Richmond and visited late into the night. Got up and had a wonderful breakfast and more visiting. Puck called a couple garages, but nobody could get to it on Saturday. We decided to just drive home... carefully :)

Oh I almost forgot... apparently the spot we blew the tire in was a tick haven. Puck has pulled 10 ticks off his person and clothing, I have found 3 and even Maddie who wasn't even with us then has found two on her. (He had walked down into the ditch further than me and his pant have cuffs)

Maddie was nested into a small hole in the back seat which she had to crawl into from the front seat because the side door to the van no longer works. We had a couple things under foot in the front seat and 5 bins on top of the van under a tarp along with the bike.

Puck drove first again, but again his tremor caught up with him and I took over at Black River Falls... We made it home safe and sound and now Maddie is un packing... I have no idea where she is going to put all this crap. He boyfriend is here and he better be helping her clean!

It is her 20's birthday today and I am going to make a rhubarb pie. It is good to be home!