Days 25-27: Does Anything Ever Go As Planned?

I'm not really sure why we make plans because they never turn out the way I expect. I guess it's a good thing the boy and I are both getting really good at rolling with the tide.

We headed north to Cincinnati on Monday to go to a cookbook signing for The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond). If you haven't experienced the awesomeness of The Pioneer Woman (cooking show, recipes, blog, etc) then you really need to check her out. She is pretty damn awesome. So much so that I've even gotten my family hooked on her show. But I've been planning to go to this signing since she first posted the schedule. It was to be my belated birthday present to myself...that may sound selfish, but cooking is never selfish.

We get most of the way to Cincinnati and my pickup sputters. Sputters. Loses power. Then dies. On the side of 1-75. With people flying by at 70+.

Of course my personal mechanic gets out and starts checking everything over. An hour goes by and he has finally exhausted what he can do with no tools. And the pickup is deader than a doornail. So I call State Farm to get a tow. Three hours later we finally get a tow...to a garage about 2 miles up the road. Seriously. We were sitting right near an exit, with our flashers on and apparently we were impossible to find. Yep. Three hours. 

By this point we had more than missed the signing, so we spent the night in a hotel and the shop fixed my pickup in the morning.

I cried when I realized I was going to miss the signing. I didn't even care that my pickup was broken down. But missing the signing? That was just too much. Luckily I called the bookstore and they got my books signed for me anyway. I even told the woman at the bookstore she was My Hero. Can you tell they made it very clear on the signing list that I was really upset I was missing the whole deal?

So the boy and I got a mini-vacation in the middle of our vacation. It may have not been in the plans, but we went with it. I'm not sure why I was supposed to miss the signing, but I know it was for a reason. And I got my cookbooks in the end :)

Tuesday involved finishing our trek to Cincinnati, drinking for a couple hours in a bar, and going to see Catching Fire. Which didn't turn out the way I was expecting. I just hope this new director doesn't ruin the final book...cuz I would cry then too. But driving home in the snow made it all worth it :) Oh how I have missed the white stuff. OK so it wasn't much...but better than nothing right?

On this eve of Thanksgiving, my now domesticated boy finished my quilting frame :) as I made some brownies and pasta salad to take with us to dinner tomorrow, then made dinner. Did I mention the boy busted his tooth on a bacon sandwich this morning? Yep, now everybody thinks I'm abusive. Did I mention he accidentally almost broke my nose? This was definitely not our couple of days. 

As you can see I'm not sure why we ever make plans...they never work out the way we planned. But sometimes that can be a blessing in disguise :)