I feel like dancing

For all that worry, I made it to work just fine! I waited until the end of rush hour before leaving. The side streets were a little like driving on the surface of the moon. The highways were a little slow, but mostly clear. My 40 minute commute took me about an hour, but that's not too bad, considering.

And now? Now I feel like dancing:

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Well, in this case, the chicken would be ME. And the only reason I'm crossing the road tomorrow is that I have to go to work. And to a post-op doctor's appointment. And I'm certainly not chirping about it. In fact, I'm "bawking" at the prospect.

I really don't like to drive -- and that's on a good day. Tomorrow, I'll be setting foot -- more accurately, minivan -- on roads that have been described as bumpy, slick, ice ridden, rutted, dangerous. I wouldn't know myself; I haven't left the house since before noon on Saturday.

"Go slowly," everyone keeps saying. I have a 40-minute commute, so do I plan for 90 minutes tomorrow? I'd rather work from home and save myself an hour and a half on the round trip. But I really need to get back to the office. I haven't been there since December 16, the day before my surgery. There are things I need to check on and people I need to see and a frame of mind I need to get back into. Sigh.

Of course that neck surgery is another thing that is nagging me about the whole driving thing. What if I get into an accident? I envision little titanium nails popping out of my vertebrae and my spine wobbling like a Slinky. Realistically none of that will happen, the accident or a Slinky spine scenario.

Mike offered to drive me to work and if it weren't for the mid-of-the-day post-op appointment, I'd let him. Besides, there are plenty of people who have been out there, driving to and from work and surviving just fine. I know (I think) I can do it. I just don't want to.

I hope by this time tomorrow, I'll be laughing at myself for being so nervous to drive somewhere. Or maybe my nerves will be shot from the experience, which would of course make me a...wait for it...fried chicken.

Mom's Math

Q: If a mom leaves her house at 7:07am and during the course of the day, drives no further than 19.2 miles from home, returning at 8:52pm, how many total miles will she have driven for the day and how many hours will she have spent in the car?

A: 125 miles and 3 hours, 58 minutes

Q: And if gasoline costs $3.89/gallon and the car gets 17 miles per gallon, how much does it cost this mom to do all this driving?

A: Too damn much.

The I-70 Mix

We went to Ohio to visit my parents this weekend. Because it was nearly 9pm when we left to return home tonight, we told the kids no movies. Just music and sleep.

Well, only one of the three slept. I had Mike's laptop and was fulfilling song requests from he and the kids with songs from his iTunes library. This turned out to be one of the most enjoyable car rides we've had in a while. We picked songs we hadn't heard in a long time, songs that are "signature" songs for people and events in our life, and songs that we weren't really familiar with -- but that had intriguing titles and were from artists we like.

By the end of the trip (we started this about 30 minutes into our just-shy-of-2-hours drive), we had 31 songs on our I-70 Mix:

1. Light Enough to Travel (The Be Good Tanyas)
2. Cheeseburgers in Paradise (Jimmy Buffet)
3. Motherless Child (Eric Clapton)
4. Hey Bulldog (The Beatles)
5. I'll Fly Away (Jars of Clay)
6. Fat Bottomed Girls (Queen)
7. Big Rock Candy Mountain (from O Brother, Where Art Thou)
8. Write You a Song (Plain White Ts)
9. Everyday I Love You Less and Less (Kaiser Chiefs)
10. Jack & Diane (John Mellencamp)
11. All Together Now (The Beatles)
12. Suddenly I See (KT Tunstall)
13. Catch My Disease (Ben Lee)
14. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (Wham)
15. The Anthem (Good Charlotte)
16. Sweetest Goodbye (Maroon 5)
17. Another One Bites the Dust ( Queen)
18. Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash)
19. Good Riddance (Green Day)
20. Would I Lie to You (The Eurhythmics)
    
21. Black Horse & the Cherry Tree (KT Tunstall)
22. Our Time Now (Plain White Ts)
23. Here It Goes Again (OK Go)
24. Treat Yo Mama (John Butler Trio)
25. Bad Day (Daniel Powter)
26. People Watching (Jack Johnson)
27. She's Got a Way (Billy Joel)
28. Jackie O (John Mellencamp)
    
29. Harder to Breathe (Maroon 5)
30. Ascribe to the Lord (Just Friends)
31. This Beautiful Thing (Old 97s)

And if you've never see the music video for Here It Goes Again from OK Go, do yourself a favor and check it out on YouTube.