Through Hell and Back Again, A Roadtrip tale by Lana Pewitt

We are home in Redding. I don't know how we made it here alive -really.

We left Friday morning at 330 am. When we got into Nevada we hit fog -really bad fog. Nothing went wrong for a few hundred miles. We hit snow. We were stuck in a line of traffic in snow 15 miles out of Reno. We were stuck there for almost 2 hours. When we finally started moving we counted 8 crashes, half of which were flipped and crushed. Leaving Reno was a disaster and we were starving and we were battling snow in a city we didn't know and tensions were getting high. We ate at the Waldorf Saloon and then we left. We had to exit the freeway and turn around to buy chains, the pass we wanted to take was closed for snow. Also, did I mention that our windsheild wipers weren't working? We didn't put the chains on right away and I was driving so slowly. Everyone was falling asleep but I kept on in the tracks of the truck in front of us. Suddenly everyone was stopping, my car wasn't however. I veered off to the right and then I kept going and was slowly turning around and going backward...down an embankment. We barely missed a metal pole and a telephone pole. I started sobbing. I could have killed everyone. Not even a minute later a man pulled up in a truck with a chain and pulled us out. We put on the chains and Matt drove for a long time. We were driving through snow from before Reno until Shingletown. (170 miles) The chains started to break and were whipping the car with each rotation of the tires. Eventually we just had to take the chains off. One was frozen and wrapped around the inside of the tire. Seth was up to his elbow trying to pry it off. I drove the rest of the way home. As soon as we were out of the snow we hit fog -again. Then we hit really hard rain (remember the wipers weren't working). We did eventually make it into Redding after the 11 hour drive had been extended to nearly 17 hours. I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I was worried the entire time we were driving and I was incredibly stressed.

We're here. We're getting married in 3 days. We're safe. We made it alive. I can hardly believe it.

I've stopped looking at the countdown.

Is that odd? I've got too much to do. I'm really just one half-arsed whim away from saying "To Hell!" with my Family History project and taking a C in the class. I'm almost there.

Also, it may be because things are actually happening now. I'm going through the temple on Tuesday. I've got my flowers figured out and almost ordered, I'm almost done with school, I'm making money, etc. Things are happening so the countdown is irrelevant? I don't know. But 16 days isn't very far away.

This Semester will NEVER end

 I had such a lovely Thanksgiving with my dear Rudy and her family. After dinner and naps, Matt and I rallied everyone around the TV and we finished off the night with the very stressful zombie show The Walking Dead. Now that Thanksgiving break is over and I finished 2 papers and a book, I'm back to doing homework. I have to rework one of my horrible research papers about comprehensive sex ed, that honestly, I just don't care about anymore. Teach them all abstinence! See if I care! Just don't make me write anymore! (And really, I'm super against abstinence-only education, I'm just sick of all this work) And after I edit that paper (which I should be writing right now) I need to write a 8 page research paper on Butch Cassidy, and then a 10 page portfolio of all my family history research from this semester which will include 10 more hours of research. Kill me. I know I only have 3 more weeks of school, but honestly, this will never end. And I still haven't sold my contract (if I don't, we'll have to take out a loan to pay rent for a place in which neither of us live), and once I'm married and moved into my new place we'll have to start an even busier semester with no money. I don't know how we'll do it. Semester, please go to hell.

One last post for tonight.

I HAVE to sell my contract! Please, please, please, if you know ANYONE who needs to buy a contract this winter semester (and is a girl), PLEASE leave a comment below. My apartment is only a few blocks south of BYU campus, and my roommates are wonderful. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me!

A Hot Bath and a Gallon of Water

Today ended better. I'm sorry for the whiney, spoiled post. Things didn't get better, and I definitely had a few more crashes and tripups and breakdowns. BUT I got grilled pizza and my extremely stupid genealogy assignment done, and before I crawl into bed to rest before I have to be at work at 6a tomorrow morning, I took a really hot bath and then drank from my wonderful bedside gallon of water; ending it off with a really superb run-on sentence.

I'm grateful that I have a wonderful roommate with whom to go get pizza and a wonderful fiance who will volunteer for an Eagle Scout project and bring me back more wonderful grilled pizza.

I wish I could write a happy post...

Let me think, what good thing has happened to me lately? uhm, I got charged a $90 deposit for our B&B in Rome The Vatican. Good that we have the place, bad that that money is gone.

Matthew is a gem. I'm thankful for him. He doesn't run screaming when I come home from school crying every day. He just tells me it will be alright and hugs me.

It's getting progressively harder to stay in my classes. I HATE them. Every single one. I can barely force myself to sit through them. And they require so much of me -not just going to class. I have a never ending- Honestly NEVER ENDING- pile of projects and papers and research and reading to finish. I HATE IT. I want to quit. I want to cry to my teachers and tell them I can't do it all.

In 4 weeks I get to go to the Temple. In 4 weeks I will be done with everything but finals and the wedding. 4 weeks. 4 weeks.


I can do it... (?)

This has been me this past week (and most of the semester)

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/05/sneaky-hate-spiral.html

Baby it's Cold Outside

For the last 3 years I've had fall roommates who insisted upon listening to Christmas music as early as possible (one year it was September). I've always fought against it. Since Halloween and Thanksgiving are my favorite holidays, I hate it when carols take all the glory and we wiz by those holidays only thinking of Noel. So my rule was no Christmas music until AFTER Thanksgiving.

So, I'm ashamed to say that, now that I don't have roommates pushing to listen to Christmas music so early, I kind of miss it. And, please don't tell anyone, but I added Christmas music to my ipod and I'm currently listening to a French Christmas hymn!

Oh the shame!

Wouldn't it be awful if your last name was Whitehead?

It's a real name. gross.

Speaking of gross, why is everything at the mall so gross? People cannot honestly buy/wear 80% of what they're selling. No more mall for me. I'm sticking with JCrew (sales of course).

I had my first midterm today. Poly Sci. I think it went alright.

I guess this is a wrap up post.

10 days ago Matt and I drove to San Bernadino for our marriage license. We spent the night in St George with two London-y married people Josh and Misty Everett. Lovely to see them, but in the morning at 245a Matt and I were on the road to CA. We were in California for a total of 1.25 hours before we were back on the road. Matt drove 15 hours that day (he wouldn't let me drive his car :p).

It's kind of autumny. The leaves are changing colors. I love autumn so freaking much. No other season is even .05% as good as fall. I could live all year long in perpetual fall. I really really could.

I've had very little work lately so not a lot of money which equals not a lot of food. But today I spent $12 and bought things to make a really delicious dinner:

Sage-Rosemary Chicken stuffed with...

Apple, Cranberry, Hazelnut stuffing. (bread courtesy of old cheesy biscuits) This is honestly the best stuffing. I had too much for the chicken, so while that is cooking I'm just munching on the stuffing. Love love love!


I hate school this semester. But I am determined to do just as well, because being engaged is not an excuse. And right now I'm blogging instead of studying. Boo.

love school hate books

not all books. just text books. i love learning, but books cost so much money! byu has a new thing where you can rent your books, but here's the deal. you know which classes you want to take, but you usually end up dropping or changing at least one, or the 'required' books aren't all actually required, so you wait. you wait for the first class to see which books you absolutely must buy. then you check the syllabus and reading is due almost immediately. so you can opt to rent or buy from amazon, but you have to wait several days to receive them so you fall behind. or you can spend ridiculous amounts of money at the bookstore but stay ahead. i opted to wait. i'll catch up. but i can never justify spending $400 on books I will toss at the end of the semester. even with renting and amazon there are ALWAYS books that must be purchased new from the byu bookstore, and they will always cost you an arm and a leg.

I hate being tickled

 

Recently (yesterday) I was tickled. The perpetrator, who will not be named, was relentless. As a consequence my favorite glass that I've had for 3 years was knocked off the coffee table and smashed to the floor. I am not amused.

Utilities

I am NOT OK with how much utilities cost me this month for many reasons.

1. They did not cost this much during the winter when the heat was on.
2. I'm NEVER EVEN HOME!
3. There are only 4 of us in this house. Why is the electricity bill so high? WHY?!

wimpy

This past winter of extreme cold made me soft. Since when in my life has 90 degrees been unbearable? Never! But today, I can't take it. Today it's too hot.

I scorched my feet on the pavement watering my poor plants -withering in the direct sun (poor lettuce and basil).

I'll read a book about extreme cold for the rest of the hot afternoon and water my plants again later to save them.

Thank goodness I thought to close the windows this morning or my nice, cool, little hobbit hole basement would be a boiling cave.

Last Tuesday's Special

                                                                                  

By the way... On our way to Salt Lake last Tuesday, stopped innocently at a stoplight, a woman in a huge Trailblazer backed into the passenger side door -where I was sitting. It's been a big to do. We were hit outside the police station but it took them 30 minutes to come outside to help us... The whole situation seems to be taking the same sort of feel. Nothing has happened so far with the claim and the perpetrator wont answer the insurance calls, so we're stuck, until at least Friday, sharing Monty.

 Something great happened Tuesday morning, however. I made this skirt. I took an old dress that was really too short to be allowed and I transformed it into a great high-waisted skirt that I LOVE! I was wearing this dress the first time Matt talked to me. <3

Why am I sick?

I'm sick. It started on Sunday. I have a persistent headache and nausea almost all the time. I barely eat and when I do it usually gives me a headache. I can't move too quickly or, headache. I can't look at something quickly or, headache. Today my sense of smell seemed heightened to an unearthly degree. I walked into work and smelled raw eggs. I could smell them on the counter. There wasn't a spill of them. Maybe someone dropped a bit of egg on the counter yesterday. I could smell everything. And it was awful. It made me really nauseous and I threw up a few minutes later -good thing there was nothing to throw up but BILE! ugh.

Is it the stupid birth control I started taking to help regulate my delicate stuff? Is it that stupid car ride that made me so sick? Did that somehow throw off my inner ear balance thing and now I'm sick? Is it because the Vijgebooms and LaVelles all had the flu the week before I visited them? Is it some monstrous combination of the three?

All I know is that I'm sick. And I can't even work. I tried. I stayed at work 2 hours after throwing up before I thought I would pass out. But I need these hours, which means I need to get better quickly.

I'm going to curb stomp this birth control if I don't start feeling better soon.

Letter

Dear High School,

My little brother graduated tonight. Being back on your campus made me reminisce a lot about what it was like to be that age. I admit I do not miss you a bit. Do I miss being 10 lbs lighter and in the best shape you could image -yes, of course. But when I was talking with a dear old friend (still attending) I remembered all the things about you that terrify me. The drugs, the sex (so much sex, what are these kids thinking? children should not be making babies!), the parties, the drama, the alcohol, the politics, the fashion, etc. I do not miss you one bit. And, actually, some of the things shocked me. I feel old, but maybe being in Provo for so long has made me feel so far removed. I remember a girl showing up to class with acid boils, and a girl in my class graduated pregnant. I remember tons of people getting stoned during lunch or having sex instead of going to second period. But that never affected me. Now that I know loved ones are in high school and possibly doing things that I think they shouldn't be doing, it stresses me out. I know so many kids attending you right now who are doing things I would never dream of. and yea, I know their standards aren't the same as mine. But can't they see that hard drugs will destroy (like physically destroy, like sever synapses and cause permanent damage to) their brains?! Is abstinence really harder than raising a child? Is it? I feel a little sick from hearing about your dark side. I hope these kids can pull their lives together after their 4 years of acid trips.

Broken Heartedly,

Former (always sober) High School Student

No offense, but...

Does anything nice ever come after that intro? More than anything else, it seems to be an excuse to say something rude. You may not mean to offend the person, but you certainly mean to say something that should offend them.

No offense, but you are so blankety blank.

What if I told you a joke in French? If you don't speak French would you enjoy it? Would you catch the humor that is embedded in francophone equivocation or French incongruity? Would it seem rude if I expected you to enjoy the joke as much as I do?

Tu ne sais pas? Tu ne comprends le blague? Moi, je le comprends, mais, je ne tu comprends pas quelquefois.

If you don't speak my language, you may not appreciate my jokes. If I don't appreciate your jokes, I may not speak your language. You may find it humorous, whereas I may be offended or fail to see the humor.

We all have an access point. One thing may not seem like a 'big deal' but maybe it's a smallish deal: a smallish deal that pricks where we are weakest.

I try to understand you. Request: Try to understand me as well. We can meet halfway.
My back is starting to hurt from bending over for you.

Mon Cou

My neck started to hurt a few months ago. It started slow and gradually grew to an almost intolerable pain -while I was visiting my sister and was picking up children all day. :)

I went to the chiropractor, for weeks and weeks and built up my strength and passed all the physical therapy machines. My last visit was on monday.

Today my neck hurts again. SUPER bad again. I don't know what to do. This stresses me out -not to mention it HURTS. I spent all that money to have this fixed! Maybe it's partially my fault because I find it impossible to sleep on my back which gave me neck problems in the first place apparently. What do I do? I can't afford more chiro visits...

I'm weak, out of shape and getting flabby. I miss ballet. I always felt good after ballet, and my body was kicking. Bleh. College, no money, sore neck.

Ode to an Essay

O Essay, you are so complex, your perfect form so elusive.

Completing you successfully is a task few can achieve with any level of greatness.

You come in so many forms, you come to me through so many facets.

The quintessential assessment of my knowledge,

The ideal example of my ability to BS.

You have been with me for so many years.

I am never rid of you.

I am continually asked to perfect my relation with you.

Yesterday you did not haunt my dreams.

Today you are an alarming reality.

Your six pages of analysis, your voluptuous weight,

Your fragile nature, so easily judged,

So readily dismissed as insufficient,

As sub par.

O Essay how could I have neglected you?

How could I have forgotten your need of my presence,

Of my hand in your shaping?

Your need to fill the minimum length requirement

Chases my idle fingers into action.

How could I have procrastinated your emergence?

Why did I neglect you until now?

no money...