Panic is beginning to set in...

as I realize how little time I truly have left to finish up all that needs to be done! I can happily say that Bingo is enjoying these last few days here, meeting up with friends, going swimming, and "hanging out"... Me? I am packing, running errands, and generally trying to figure out what is next on my list. My horrorscope (spelt that way for a reason) was fairly accurate this morning:

Dear Reina, Here is your horoscope for Wednesday, July 23: A big transition is about to happen, are you ready? The key is to remain flexible to all outcomes. Keep a calm head and don't fly off the handle. People are watching to see how you react. Remember to breathe.

Like a broken clock, sometimes they are accurate by chance!

For those of you who didn't hear, our drive back to Minneapolis had a bit of excitement to it. We were almost 50 miles into Iowa from Missouri when we heard the most god-awful bang and then rumbling sound. Bingo and I looked at each other with horror, and thought something had happened to the trailer... I eased my way onto the gravel shoulder, in the middle of no-where (think open flat fallow fields on all sides of Hwy 27 North), and Bingo popped out of the passenger side, only to pop his head back in the car and say "Holy crap mom--we blew up the tire so bad the bumper fell off!!!" I climbed out after him and looked, and sure enough, that radial tire was toast, and the bumper was lying askew, with the mudflap in the gravel. I knew I had a spare, a full sized tire, but I also knew I didn't have a jack--the one that came with the van was a POS and was soon tossed out by my earstwhile mechanics. I called JC to get his take on what to do, only to get his voicemail, so then I called Spike. At this point we were 5 hours north of Spike, but also 5 hours from Minneapolis and help. Spike looked up Iowa contact numbers for me to try while Bingo talked to his sister on the phone, and then I called the number given on Bingo's phone while he talked to Spike. In the mix JC also called, so I was never truly "alone"--just stuck on the side of the freeway with cars and semi's whizzing past! Oh, and it was an extremely hot, humid day, and we had run out of beverages...

The Iowa contact had me call 511, a waste of time in my book because all they did was transfer me from one recorded message to another, so I moved to the recommended plan B: call 911. The woman who took my call couldn't have been nicer! She understood that this was an emergency for me, and said she would try to locate someone to help me, and did I need a trooper, or a tow-truck? (I NEEDED Spike, but that was beside the point--heehee--they couldn't help me with that one.) I opted for the tow-truck, but when she called back she said she had a trooper on the way. So we sat, and we waited...and waited...and waited... Finally a handsome young officer showed up and turned on his lights (I felt safer already!) and as I was talking to him, Bingo was more concerned by the HUUUGGGEEE bee that was sitting on the back seat. No lie: this thing was the hugest bee I have ever seen! It was about an inch and a half long, about half to three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and had a stinger that was a visible half inch long! That sucker was very calmly sitting on the back of the chair, and seemed content to just stay there, despite our opening every door and window on the passenger side and rear of the van. The officer declined helping us to remove it, and I think Bingo was more afraid of the Bee than he was of being stranded on the side of the road...

The trooper got out his tiny scissor jack but expressed concern that it wouldn't be strong enough to lift/hold the van, and then he tried to loosen the lug nuts, without success. After straining and starting to sweat, he apologized profusely and offered to call me a wrecker, because he just didn't think he could manage it. He then retired to his air conditioned vehicle, where he enjoyed a cool drink while placing his phone call, and Bingo and I sat in the van and sweated... In the meantime, I screwed up my courage, grabbed the travel pillow, and tried to scare the bee out. Instead, he very contentedly stepped onto the pillow, so I very gingerly pulled the pillow out of the van and flicked it as hard as I could into the tall grass on the side of the road. I was Bingo's hero! Again, we waited, and waited, and sweated, and waited (the trooper continued to sit in his cool vehicle), and finally the wrecker pulled up. The driver was a Camel-smoking mechanic, who changed my tire like it was nothing, and we were quickly on our way! He gave us directions to the next gas station/truck stop where we filled up on cold drinks and snacks, and we again headed north, 2.5 hours later than we had planned for... Half an hour later we ran into a thunderstorm: thunder, lightening, and driving rain... Luckily we were in and out of it fairly quickly so it didn't delay us too much, but it was kinda scary. Spike pointed out that this was an omen stating that I was meant to stay in IL and not travel home, as in the past I always had horrid weather driving down to him, but good weather going home!

Yesterday I got up early and went for a walk around the lake with Princess and her dog Max. He gave us quite the workout, as there couldn't be a bush, tree, or bench left unsniffed... We returned home and I did a few things. Then it was off to get my hair done. I have been a "bright blonde", chemically enhanced as they say, for the better part of the past 2 years, and I have really loved it, but with the move, and being 600 miles from my favorite beautician, she and I decided to return my hair to it's more natural ashy blonde state. Three hours and a lot of aluminum later, I have lovely multishaded hair! I tried getting a decent picture using my camera phone, but it didn't really come out--I will try to get one on the regular camera so I can show it off. Today the plan is to maybe go with shopping for a dress for my beautiful daughter-in-law for the wedding, take Bingo to the clinic for a checkup later this afternoon, and still work on packing in between... I am tired thinking about it--and I haven't even gotten out of bed yet!