Santa's Little Helpers

Mike and I are crazy. Let me just be upfront about that. We hop in the car and drive anywhere, sometimes with no reason at all. It's a good thing that the kids are used to this or else I'm sure we would have more mutinies on our hands....

This weekend, we needed to make a special trip to Pennsylvania to pick up some Christmas gifts that were being hand made by an artist there. Yes, if I could have found someone closer to do the job, I would have. And no, shipping was not an option. We were given a specific date to pick the items up on and we communicated with the artist on several occasions, including a call from my sister only a few days prior to our arrival. We were also given a specific time frame during the day in which to come.

We left on Friday night, after Mike got home from work, and drove to Toledo, OH, were we got a nice room for the night. The girls do great in hotels and we all slept well. Saturday was gorgeous, with sunny, blue skies and warmish temps for the middle of December. Once we got near Pittsburgh, we ended up making a little detour due to traffic but still arrived at our destination within the allotted time slot. Owner greeted us, asked which order we were picking up, and promptly turned white.

Owner: "But I don't have those ready yet..."

Me: "You told us to come pick them up on Saturday, December 12th."

Owner: "I must have gotten your order mixed up with someone else's."

Me: "We've spoken several times and you assured me they would be completed. My sister just added one to the order on Wednesday and you told her that was fine."

Owner: "Yes, I got your sisters order done. Just not all of yours." (mind you, I ordered mine a month prior)

Me: "Well, when will they be completed?"

Owner: "Maybe tomorrow or early next week..."

Me: "BUT WE DROVE ALL THE WAY FROM MICHIGAN!!!!!"

Owner: "Oh....that's right....I forgot....oh, dear......ummmmm................"

Needless to say, I was not particularly happy at this point. Mike and I just kept looking at each other, thinking that the whole situation was hilarious and freakin' ridiculous at the same time! After a lot of scrambling, phone calls, apologizing, more phone calls, etc. we were finally assured that our items would be ready by 6pm that evening. Resigned that we had no other choice, we get back in the car to find somewhere to eat lunch. Our car promptly gives us the "Check Engine" light and flashes that the car is low on oil. What? This can not be happening...well, we've got time to kill now, right?

So we get the car taken care of, eat lunch and go find a few Geocaches. Thank goodness for that or else I have no idea what we would have done with our time. At 6 o'clock we get a call that the items will be done in 30 min and to head back to the shop. They somehow pulled it together and got the "stuff" done for us. It was 7pm by the time we were rolling again, with no hope of making it back home like we had intended. We decided to crash in Cleveland for the night and finally made it back to GR around 4pm this afternoon. Wow.

All I have to say is this....to those of you who benefit from this little excursion to help out Santa, I hope you realize just how much we are willing to go through to make sure we stay on the "NICE" list!  :)