Good Girls, Bad Girls, and Joyrides

A great blogger I follow, Swubird, posted The Getaway recently. I comment to him a lot about various similarities in my life to some of his posts. Today I am going to reveal a little about myself that is not widely known.

In my youth I was a "good girl" with bad tendencies. Secretly I always wanted to be a "bad girl". My badness was only revealed to my closest friends.

Once my three girl friends and I planned a weekend joyride during hush-hush sessions. Our boy friends would be camping that weekend. We talked and decided it would be great fun to surprise them at their campsite.

My best friend planned to stay the night. We decided we would hook up with our other friends and in the middle of the night we would go see the boys. It all sounded simple enough. However, the campsite was not within walking distance and not one of us had a car or a license to drive.

We schemed a plot to sneak out my sister's car, a Camaro. Brilliant!

The weekend arrived and my best friend came over. We went for a swim and discussed the exit route for our joyride. After dinner I stole a set of car keys from the bar where the extra keys were stored. We said our good nights and retreated to my room to execute the plan.

My friend and I would have made excellent burglars. We sat in my room and timed the air conditioner so we knew exactly how long it ran. (The noise from the AC would cover any noise we might make during our escape.) I informed her of the stair that squeaked if you stepped on the wrong side of it. We also decided it would be best if we crawled across the living room floor to exit out the patio door instead of the front door, which made a racket when you opened it.

Our escape went off with out a hitch. We made it out the back door and through the gate to the driveway where we found the Camaro was blocked by mom's car.

Feeling quite a bit of adrenalin we decided to take mom's car. I sneaked back into the house to retrieve the keys.

When I returned, I slipped into the driver's seat and turned the key to on. I moved the gearshift to neutral and we pushed the car out of the driveway and down the street a ways.

I looked toward the house and saw it was still quiet. I started the car and slowly drove down the street.

Once we got off my street, we turned up the radio and tuned it to our favorite station. Cruising through the city we did not see one other car. We went to pick up the other girls.

Down on Rosewood our two friends sat waiting for us on the curb. I turned off the headlights and inched the car up to them. I rolled down the window and whispered loudly, "you girls need a ride?" They laughed and jumped in the car.

I headed to Pat Booker toward FM 78. Once there we would be home free because 78 was rarely patrolled at the time. We were on our way.

I am a good driver. Technically, I've been driving since the ripe old age of 3. My dad would let me steer the car on family road trips. Also, I was preparing to get my hardship license the next year so I could drive my grand parents to doctor appointments. I had experience, but apparently not enough.

Our joyride took us down 78 to a few crossroads and eventually to FM 1103. I was not familiar with this road and followed the limits until one of my friends said, "this road is fun, go faster!" So, I did.

We cruised up and down hills. It was fun, almost like being on a roller coaster. We were laughing, singing with the radio, and talking about the guys. We were cruising about 70 mph when I hit some loose gravel.

The car fishtailed and the road turned into a sharp curve. I managed to slow it down but I couldn't get complete control of the car. The next thing I knew we were in a ditch. We were all okay.

The week before there had been a deluge of rain. The dirt banks by the ditch were mud. We assessed the situation and figured if I accelerated enough, and they pushed from behind, we could get the car out.

"STOOOPP!" The girls screamed. I stopped and got out of the car. My friends were mud from head to toe. The rear tires were dug into this mud, which was more like quicksand at this point.

My mud-soaked friends and I decided to walk back to the main road where we hoped we'd find some help. After walking about a mile we saw a truck coming. We began flailing our arms and signaling for them to stop. Of course they went on. Who picks up strangers in the middle of the night?

We kept walking. A few minutes later the truck we tried to call down returned. They saw the car and figured it was ours.

There were three good 'ol country boys in the truck. Fate would have it they had a winch on the grill. They pulled the car out.

Beaten, we headed back home. Our joyride lost it's appeal and dawn was on the horizon. Once I was back on the main road, we hit the car wash to see if the car had been damaged and to spray off my mud-soaked buddies.

The car was physically okay but caked with mud. I sprayed down my friends and we began cleaning the car. I thought we did a pretty good job.

There was a knock on my door. Sleepy eyed I opened it to find my dad glaring at me. "Do you know what happened?"

"What happened to what?" (It's always good to answer a question with a question.)

"Come with me." I turned to my friend and said I'd be back. I followed my dad downstairs and out the front door. My mom's car sat in it's spot glistening in the morning sun. I thought WOW, we really cleaned that baby up good! Then I saw a clump of grass and mud plop down on the drive way. The entire under carriage was caked with it.

Dad asked me to explain the grass and mud to him. I looked him in the eye and denied knowing anything about it. He believed me.

You see, I was daddy's little girl. I was also a good girl.

Increase Your Blog Traffic and Connect with Alpha Inventions

I came across something posted by a friend of mine in the SR forums. It's a blog traffic generator thing called Alpha Inventions. You know how I am, liking to check things out sometimes (okay a lot), so I submitted this blog. You can submit your blog at alphainventions.com.

My first impression is Alpha Inventions is it's really nifty. The creator, Cheru Jackson, developed it as a way for blog readers and owners to connect faster, get blogs more traffic and exposure.

I sat on the site for quite a time just reading blogs as they flashed before me. I will have to work on my speed reading skills because you only have a few moments to browse the blog unless you click it.

Alpha Inventions is a blog traffic generator. They also encourage you comment on blogs you read when you're there. Personally I had all I could do to just stop a blog I became interested in, let alone comment. As I become more accustomed to it I'll get comments going.

The submission process is swift. You just enter your blog URL and click Notify readers about my blog. Alpha Inventions is free but you can donate if you wish (you get a bonus if you do).

I'll have to check my stats next go round so I can see if I gained any traffic from Alpha Inventions. Since I've been slow posting lately, I don't know how well it would help me. I think it would be really good for the blogs I follow though. Check it out: alphainventions.com.

Roofs and Toilets

The weekend was full of chaos for my brood. We've been spending a lot of time at mom's house doing various tasks she can't do and dad didn't get to address. This weekend involved finishing up a roof patch.

In reality the roof needs to be completely redone. A temporary fix became necessary as the shingles lifted and scattered through the yard. We're looking into roofers and will not call the same company that did this one because of the shoddy work we saw. As the roof was being taken care of, another problem came to light.

When my sister-in-law was in for dad's funeral she had her ex replace the toilet in the hall. This was a good thing, which needed to be done.

First, I must say the toilet issue has been looming for years. The old toilet was somewhat functional but proved to be a heated issue when she came to town. My husband and brother-in-law have been trying to get a new toilet in there and always hit a brick wall with it.

Let me tell you this, they just don't make toilets like they used to. Mom has this thing with new fangled objects. (I'll probably be posting more about these oddities, so bear with me.) As we all know, toilets of recent years have become water savers. Mom believes the new toilets won't get rid of the waste deposited in them. We've been trying to convince her regardless a new toilet was necessary. We failed.

My sister-in-law succeeded. Of course my husband and brother-in-law were upset that mom never let them take care of the toilet issue. I said, "who cares as long as there is a new toilet in there." Another point I mentioned is they did not have to do the deed. This saved them from a day of work better spent on other pressing issues. I swear my voice fell on deaf ears.

So, the new toilet failed over the weekend. Investigating the guts of this contraption, we found there are specialty parts in it that may never be replaced without being special ordered. That said, Saturday night we were trying to get a plumber out for emergency service. The lines backed up. Why? Because the water saving toilet did not have the oomph to pass waste to the sewer.

Okay, so mom was right. A lesson to the tune of $275 was learned. At this point the toilet is working. We'll see what happens with it when we go back to work on the laundry room.

Dear Dad...

I haven't been around. In the midst of the Holiday hustle and bustle, my Father-in-Law passed away. He died Christmas Eve morning in his home. He was 74 years old.

Dear Dad,

When we first met I knew I had to be a part of your family. Your sense of humor, strength, and finesse entered my heart and will live there for eternity.

I remember you asking me to dance that night. I took your hand and you led me to the floor. We danced as your son watched, beaming as if to say, that's my Dad!

When your son and I became one, you accepted me for who I am. You took my daughter as one of your own. You never once blinked an eye.

I wish we had more time to talk. I will miss your stories and the laughter we shared. I will also miss your Manhattans--I never could get those just right.

I hold you in my heart for who you were and how you led your life. I will strive to live out my life as you did yours: Open arms, giving, and fun filled.

Know this, I love you and I will never forget you.