Spiders and Playdough and Fires, Oh My!

I feel slightly Dorthy-ish right this minute. This trip has hardly started, and already I am singing, "Oh my". I should be prepared for adventures by now, right? I did grow up a Binkley, and have spent the last 7 years as a military wife. Surely I should know....

Mom and I got less than 3 miles from my house when am ENORMOUS, HUMONGOUS, LIFE THREATENING, TEXAS SIZED (Okay, I might be exaggerating a tiny bit) spider dropped from the ceiling of her car directly in front of her face. While she was driving.
I think that if you were someone on the outside watching, it was probably a really funny thing to watch. She and I are both screaming. At first she thought it was a wasp, so she rolled down her window, and the wind is whipping through the car, blowing our hair, and the spider everywhere. Mom pulled the car over, and I jump out, grab Zion's coloring book out of his hands and run around to the drivers side. By this time the spider had crawled back up to the ceiling, and every time I try to swat at him, I miss, because I am standing outside the car, and he is conveniently curled up in a corner inside the car and I can't see him at all! Mom finally grabs the book and swats the thing out the door and I see him nonchalantly stroll away, like he hadn't a worry in the world.
So, I might have exaggerated his size a little, but he was big enough for me to see him nonchalantly stroll away - under the car - so I only exaggerated a little.

I suppose the whole incident only took about 90 seconds, but it sure was a heart pounding way to start the trip!

We met my sister and her husband for supper at the Sweet Tomato's at Barrett Pkwy. That is always fun, since Emilee can't actually eat anything, and Kevin doesn't eat vegetables. I guess they met us for supper, since they just sat and watched us eat! It was actually kind of convenient though, having extra adult hands. Emilee is getting all kinds of mommy practice! If nothing else, she is learning that once you have kids, you can no longer go anywhere without wipes in your purse.
Let me restate that. You can go places without wipes in your purse. I just don't recommend it.

Zion was sleeping when we got to Mom's house last night, so at 6:15 this morning he woke up and didn't know where he was, or how to find me. That was fun!
My Mom and Dad have put in a new hardwood floor in their kitchen since the last time I was here. (Which was actually a project that Emilee and Kevin did - aren't they good children?) They are beautiful. The floors look fabulous in her kitchen. I hate them.
Why you may ask? Because I have already had to pick playdough out of them with a toothpick, and I have been here less than 24 hours. Who knows what joyful and lovely junk my two year old will decide to stick in the beautiful decorative "cracks" next. My Mom's house isn't kid proof any more.

Last story... I promise.
I decided to make bread this morning. My dad has been in India all week, and my Mom has either eaten out or at a friends house pretty much the entire time, so there was in her fridge, exactly: 10 eggs, 8 mini yogurts, a bag of apples, multiple condiments,(ketchup, sour cream, mayo, etc) milk (expired) juice (expired), shredded cheese, cottage cheese (expired), a pack of tortillas. That's it. So, the expired milk smelled okay and I figured it would be fine in bread. I found a pack of yeast, some butter, eggs. I went out to the garage to grind some wheat in my Daddy's vita mix. I put the wheat in, turned it on, then went back inside. Then, I got distracted. Later, the phone rang. After about 10 minutes, I remembered.... THE FLOUR!!!!
The smell of burnt wheat is horrendous, in case you ever wonder. It is not the same as burnt bread. The machine just runs so fast, and so hard, that if you leave it running, it just disenegrates the wheat, and eventually burns it. I don't know why. I have done it before, and I will probably do it again. That is the price you pay sometimes for fresh ground wheat--- a really stinky garage.