Documenting

Weekend Recap: May 21st

So lets rehash last weekend. That would be May 21st, I believe. Three of my childhood friends...frenemies had invited us back to NC to watch them graduate from high-school and to go white water rafting. I'd originally agreed to raft, but once I found out there were was a crowd going,and I'd be stuck in the middle of the boat, I decided that Rob and I could hang out on the shore. That and I'd have to convince my family to squeeze Rob in the car when they came over that evening for the graduation if I left him at home. That wasn't going to happen. 

So despite working all day Friday (12 hours) with Rob in tow mind you, and then going out with friends until 10ish..

the thought of getting up at 6:30am the next morning, simply so I could "chaperon" was NOT something I was looking forward too. 

Despite going to bed at 3:00am, I was pried myself out of bed and into some clothes by 6:50am. Did I sleep on the two hour trip over, you ask. Not hardly! My sixteen-year-old sister thought this would be a great time for her to practice driving, and there was no way I could relax enough to sleep during that experience! I will admit she's no a horrible driver...but still an inexperienced one....

Anyway...

We arrived safely and everyone loaded up and headed to the river. 

Rob and I hung out on the shore, soaked our toes in the icy river and sunbathed on the docks. When our peaceful respite was interrupted by 15 or so kayakers stopping to bail water, we hiked back to the car and attempted to find another people-less spot. Unfortunately it was not to be so Rob and I continued down to the "mid-way" point. 

Rob resting after his mad dash in the river

Once there, we heard that there had been an injury in one of the boats, and one the 12-year-old boys in our group was taken away by a Sheriff... the question then was, who would get him and what would be done about it. I Volunteered to go to the end and sit with him, until the rest of the group caught up, but it was decided that I should not only get him him, but take him home. 1.5 hours away. 

You can imagine I was thrilled, but I had opened my big mouth; so I loaded Rob up and flew to the end of the route. Once there, no one, knew anything, about anything. 

"Boy? Cut Hand? ....ummm.....Brian Have you heard anything about an injury? You say he was with our company?" 

Yeah. So I wound up making the trip all the back to the beginning of the river, just to find out that he'd been sent to an unknown Hospital. Since my entire group was on the river, getting in contact with them via cell phone was not going to happen; and the LAST thing I wanted to do, was be the one to break the news to his parents. *shudders* 

Somehow, someway everything worked out, we found out where he'd been taken and one of the parents in the group, loaded up their vehicle and flew to the Hospital, while the rest of us got some food and moseyed on back to town. 

The rest of the night was pretty much a blur, a nice blur, but a blur all the same... mainly because most of my attention was on my furry delinquent child, who was tired and pitching a fit every chance he could get. 

But congrats to Devin, Patrick and Willie!!! 

I apologize for my dog barking through some of your slide show. 

The Graduates. Fun thing about being home-schooled is you get to create your graduation

My word I really should stay out of the sun. I don't "tan" well apparently. 

Other peeps. Friends. Sisters. etc.. :) 

Peeps

Hello Bloggity!

Erin 
Erin is 
Erin is tired
Erin is tired of waiting 
Erin is tired of waiting for the paperwork from the bank.


Why?


Because
Because without
Because without that 
Because without that they won't 
Because without that they won't give her the check, to give to the dealership. 


(yeah ok that didn't work so great) 


I, like everyone else, hate waiting for things. Especially when I've already created a time line of how things should go in my mind. When I spotted "my" car on Saturday afternoon, I just felt that I'd finally found the car for me, and I needed to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. 


There was six *I's* in that last sentence. 


I figured if I could get my parents out to look at it on Monday, I might be driving home with said vehicle on Tuesday at the latest. I had everything laid out...


Yet here we are Tuesday...a week later, and don't feel like we're any closer to getting it than we were last week. I have to believe that if it will work out, things will fall into place..and considering my track record with large things, its not a surprise. Unfortunately that doesn't keep me from stressing about it. 

Right now we are waiting on some paper work from our credit union, that was supposed to be here...Saturday. 

Now, let me just insert here, that I have NOT been impressed with the customer service with this place. I used them because, my parents have bought every car through them, over the years, and it  was suppsedly "quick and easy" because knew them. 

In a nutshell, these people are very slow when dealing with ME. 

With my parents? Two days, in and out. 

But when I talk to the loan officer, I get the condescending, "Oh I know you're young, so this is how its going to go..." tone. I don't get called back when I leave messages, and I have to call multiple times before I can speak with the only loan officer there. 

My mother was not happy about that treatment so she decided to call, and low a behold.. I got a call back! 

Anyway, Monday they "supposedly" sent out the information, via two day air. (Why they didn't just fax it, I don't know)  Thursday, still nothing. After calling about five times, we finally agreed to put more money down, so that my monthly payment would be smaller. (Thanks Mom, Dad!) 

So guess what that meant? Time to adjust the paperwork all over again! I literally could have cried, but was willing to give them at the CU the benefit of doubt. 

Well here we are Tuesday afternoon. Still no Package. 

So I call him. 

Voicemail.

And call him again.

"Hi we were wondering when the paperwork was scheduled to arri.."
(cuts me off) "Oh today or tomorrow morning ok? Than.."
"Oh ok, well have you spoken with the dealership? We dont' want them to sell the car out from under us"
(chuckles) "Yes of course, they know things are the works ok? We'll talk at you later" 

My own dear mother went into Mama Bear mode, and immediately called him back. Now my mother is a very meek and mild person, but she can get her point across..that and she has the advantage of being a mature adult. 

Not saying that I'm not mature, but he's not going to talk down to her. 

Argh!? 

Had I known it would take this long, I would have started the process first thing Monday morning, but ...you know God knew this would happen, so I've just got to let it go and ride the waves as they come. 


Question of the Day: If my friends go Whitewater Rafting this weekend, should I put my intense fear of water aside and go as well, or do like I did last year and hang out on the banks of the Nantahala... (which I didn't mind at all, I mean afterall...who would there be to take photos?! :) 

*Phew

Hello Blog,
Are you feeling a little neglected? Good because that means I may actually have something of interest going on in my life. Mostly its just because I'm trying to limit my computer time, to about 4-8 hours a day. 


But lets play a little catch-up shall we? 
Friday - I love Bank-that-shall-not-be-named,  they send me these lovely "Available Balance" alerts every once in a while, to let me know how much is (or isn't) in my account at the moment. So when I get this email, I click it with dread, knowing that I am about to see a very low number. Imagine my surprise when I see a couple hundred EXTRA in my account. Apparently Financial Aid had some more money to send me and did so. Have I mentioned how much I love those guys?  No? Well...I don't really but it seemed like a good thing to say right here. 


Earlier this week, I'd  been in contact with another person interested in adopting Zipper, who just happened to fit the "No Dogs" bill we were looking for. While I know Zip is a great little dog, she is not great for my family, and I was immensilly relieved to be given the "go ahead" to get Zip to her. So we made plans for her to meet me on Tuesday to complete the deal. Woohoo!


But let me tell you this. I will NEVER EVER bring an stray dog into my house unless, I have a huge fenced in yard, and a separate area for the dog to reside. Since that fateful day in June, my household has revolved around Zipper, and keeping her away from my dogs. I think Zipper really is a cat, who just happened to land in a dogs body. That being said, I am a lot more open to the idea of fostering that I've been in the past, but alas, I have a four dog limit and already have enough to do with the Pompsters. *sigh*


Saturday - A day that will forever haunt me. Let me begin by saying I have an 18yo sister and a 15yo sister, who'd ASKED ME if I wanted to go White Water Rafting with them, and some of our NC and AL friends. I'd been waffling back and forth, because i wanted to go hang out but I didn't want too raft. Well they assured me it would be fine if I just went and hung out. 
Ok great. 
Then I realized that would mean I'd be riding with my 18yo sister, on a two hour trip. *gulp*  
No offense to any 18yo's but hey I was that age once, with my brand new licenses and I can say that I DID. NOT. REALLY. KNOW how to drive. But I realized she hadn't killed anyone just yet, so I could suck it up, and convince her to let me drive. and ride along. Little did I know how close i would come to death on this trip. I also didn't realize how hard it is for me to let my YOUNGER siblings be IN CHARGE.


They decided they needed to leave at 7:00AM in order to make it to the Nantahala River by the 9:00AM meeting time, our friends had set. Which meant that I had to wake up at 6:00AM to get the dogs and I ready. Pompei was going with me, but everyone else had to stay behind. I should have known when at 7:15AM the arrive at my house, that this was going to be an interesting trip. Both sisters come busting in and head straight for my computer. 


Me: Do you have directions?
Sister 2: No let me look it up on your computer real quick
I go back to making sure I'm prepared, before coming to glance at the directions before we leave. Since I know Sister 1 will not before we get on the road. There were three options to get to the Rafting Facilities, two of which project 2 hours and 30 minute travel time, and the other was only two hours. My dear-dear-dear sister see's the shortest time, and begins looking for a way to print those directions. I on the other hand look at the roads and realize this is going to be a trip on a two lane road. 


Um...No. 


Me: This is just a two lane road, Sister 1, we won't make any time if we get behind someone slow. 
Sister 1: But we need to get there fast, we are already late, and I don't want them to be waiting for us. 
Me: But you can go faster on the highway, we can make more time there. 
Sister 1: NO we need to get there, lets go this way. 
Me: Fine. Whatever. Just email the directions, I can read them on my phone. 


Once in the car, I immediately pull up my GPS app on my phone, and begin trying to see if it will send us on an alternate route. No luck. 


Fine. Whatever. Suck it up Erin. So I sit back and try to enjoy the ride.  


The first stretch of travel is fine, we're in familiar areas...yada yada yada, though I do have some major issues with the distance (or lack thereof) she liked to follow people at, I try to make my criticism very positive and logical. 


"OMG SISTER 1, if you hit that person YOU WILL BE IN TROUBLE" or "SLOW DOWN we will get there when we get there!" or "...Um..those are brake lights, SISTER 1 SLOW DOWN" 


See? Very informative and positive. 


Then we get onto the two lane road, this has your typical Smokey Mountain curves, and sister 2 and I spent a lot of time, remind her how to try and slow down before the curve. Though why Sister 2 thinks she knows anything about it is beyond me. 

Yes honey you have been driving ...for the last couple of weeks.

Then we start realize that there are an awful lot of curves on this road, and whoa that is a steep drop off over there. I did notice there were a lot of Motorcycle activity but I was too busy trying to convince my sister to SLOW DOWN, and to QUIT ACCELERATING, since the curves were on top of each other, to pay attention to the warning signs. 


It wasn't until we got to the end of those extremely harrowing 11 miles that we all realized...we'd been on....THE TAIL OF THE DRAGON. 

*DUN, DUN, DUN*

{Image Credit}

To say I was freaked out, would not even come close to what i was feeling. Sister 1 and Sister 2, were very blase about the whole, thing because they are very inexperienced drivers, and had NO CLUE the different dangers we avoided due to God's mercy. Like This: 

{Killboy.com}

Tailofthedragon.com

Tailofthedragon.com

CLICK HERE to see a video of the road. If you are get car sick or motion sick easily, you may not want to watch. You don't have much room to any type of mistakes on this road. Its like a roller coaster minus all of the safety gear. I am willing to admit that perhaps roller coasters are safer than cars. But we made it, though I was literally shaking when I got out and kissed the ground. *No not really


They had a blast riding down the river, and Pompei and I had fun watching them float or ride past. :))
Group 1: Warren, Maegan, Kim, Jeffrey, Devin, Audrey and Patrick. 

Group 2 - Cassie, Mryna, Robyn, Westley, Walter, Grace, Kristen and Bro. W.C

This group was fun, as every-time they passed me, they were either floating sideways or backwards. 

Group 1 passes me first

Pompei playing in the water, as we wait for our other group to pass.

Hi Guys! Bye Guys!

Group 2 surfing the waves

Aaah PADDLE! PADDLE! 

It started pouring a few minutes after everyone had pulled their rafts out of the water, and climbed onto the bus. Pompei and I had parked quite some distance from the end point, and had to make a made dash back to the car. SECONDS before the rain came crashing down. On the way back to the facility, I made up my mind to either not giver my sister her keys or to make them take another route, even if it was longer. 


It took a while, but I finally convinced her to go the long route. And the ride home was much more relaxing. 


So that was my weekend, Sunday was spent at church and getting my house all set for this coming week.


But WOW, this weekend will be one that lives on in my imagination forever. *shudders*