Joy and Frustration!

When I left for work yesterday morning it was raining ice. Then throughout the day it contininued with the addition of rain and freezing rain.

Santa came early yesterday - work passed out year-end bonuses! I was extremely excited because Drew and I are on a tight budget and every little bit counts... but I was also excited because for me, it was a verification that I am doing okay at my job- I figure they could have gotten away with giving little or nothing since I have only been there 8 months, but when my boss came in and gave it to me he said that I had was doing well and that they appreciated all my hard work - I must admit I almost cried! Which leads to my next story... I was SOOO excited and heading to the bank to deposit the check, but I was driving Drew's precious truck. Although Drew thinks his truck is the greatest vehicle every, it has a few "quirks" one of which is that the driver's side window sometime gets stuck. So I was in the best mood depositing my check when I pulled out and couldn't roll up my window. So it was freezing rain and I sat in the parking-lot for 15 minutes screaming at the stupid window, and trying all of the "tricks" like messing with the lights, radio, opening and shutting the windows, turning off and starting the car, etc. Needless to say it ruined my mood! Eventually I gave up and started driving home with the window down. Stupid truck! Fortunately for Drew the window did manage to go up while I was driving home - otherwise he would have had a very grumpy wife on his hands...

By the time I got home from work our apartment complex was slush and ice. I actually wiped out once and had a few close calls. Although the weather was horrible Drew and I decided to try and brave the roads and head to Marseilles. The interstate was pretty well salted but we still went quite slow... as semi-trailers passed us. When we got about five miles south of Bloomington we came to a complete standstill, which lasted for nearly and hour and a half. The most annoying part was no one was reporting anything about the traffic delay. I was so bored I was searching everywhere on the internet. I even emailed the Bloomington A.M. radio station to ask why they weren't covering it. Eventually that radio station did announce the problem - a semi had jack-knifed (sp?) first and then while they were getting that cleared out another truck swearved off the road. And right after the report I got an email thanking me for informing them of the traffic and stating that they had just reported on it. Thank goodness for my toy cell phone, it kept me entertained during the loooong ride. We eventually arrived safely (thank God) in Marseilles (normally a 2 hour drive) after 5 and a half hours!

Today it is snowing in Marseilles - something we haven't gotten much of in Springfield - we only seem to get ice and freezing rain. Shortly we will be heading to Grandma Spencer's for the Spencer family Christmas! (Above is a photo of Drew and his tree - he puts it up and takes it down because I could care less if we have one, yes I know that makes me a scrooge, but we are aren't home for Christmas and we don't have any guests over for the holiday).