Home Sweet Home

This is the little house where we stay in Craftsbury Commons, Vermont. Our pug enjoying her nap by the fire. I loved these cows!

We had a very nice visit with my son. It was great to see him again, we saw him last July when we vacationed there. Our Thanksgiving Day was very peaceful and the meal I made was yummy! I thought having to cook in a strange kitchen would be difficult but in fact it was just like being at home. I guess we have stayed at this little house so often that it is becoming a home away from home.

The drive up was very nice, the weather was perfect and we did not have any bad weather the entire time up there. It snowed the day after Thanksgiving and it made the small town look like a Currier and Ives painting. This area of Vermont is like time has stopped, it is very, very quaint.

We did not do a lot of running around this visit, we went to the craft fair at Craftsbury Commons on Saturday, I wanted to buy a Made In Vermont Pine Wreath this was a must have for us! We found the wreath and I also bought two cute little cloth-stuffed elephants (they look like they were made with a Gail Wilson pattern), a primitive cross stitched kitty picture and some home made soap and beeswax candles. At an antique shop I bought one of those weaving looms for making potholders! I sat and made potholders while the guys watched football. Later I had them judge which potholders they liked best! I also did a lot of reading and walking, I love walking the country roads. When driving back from the craft show we stopped to take pictures of the sweetest cows, they have black faces and were so unique, I wanted to keep one.

The drive home was so opposite from the drive up. First, I was sad to be leaving my son and the state of Vermont, I love Vermont! So, my husband and I are both feeling a bit sad, but anxious to get home since we had to leave. My oil light kept flashing on my car and soon it went from flashing to staying on. I barely made it off the highway to a stop that had a little store and sold gas. They sold oil, so I bought as many bottles as I could carry while my husband stayed with our pug. . .after my attempts he finally got the oil cap off and filled the opening with oil. After waiting for sometime I started to drive again, I drove the county road and once I felt the car was driving "normal" I found the entrance ramp back onto the super highway, we were driving along and the same thing started to happen again, so I pulled off an exit ramp when I found one and we bought more oil, put it into the car and off we go, and then it happened again, this time there was no safe area to pull over so in the sleet and cold my husband was pouring oil into the car while standing next to construction cones where the road became very, very narrow. I do not know how many times I called my son and called my daughter to let them know what was happening and to pray for us. I managed to drive the car maybe 4 miles to the New York State thruway exit and the car would not move. . .I drove it for about 1/2 mile or so away from the exit and I was in the far left lane of a 4 lane thruway, we could hear the gears grinding from the motor, it was dark and sleeting, I tried to get the car into the right lane where I could pull over, I told my husband that this was it, we were not going to make it and I started to feel numb with fear, cars were zooming past us and my car would not move, I wanted to be home, at that moment I thought of my Mother and Father and asked them to please help, in my heart I knew they would hear me from up above, I then said please God, help us and prayed with my heart; the next thing I knew my car was in the right lane, a merging lane, but out of the path of cars driving fast past us and blowing their horns, as if I was doing this on purpose! I do not remember turning on my hazard lights, but then my husband went to turn them on and they were on, he said make sure you keep your seat belt on because we can be hit from behind. I then found my cell phone and called home and told my son what had happened and to keep praying and I then called my daughter and asked her to email my son in Vermont because I was to email home as soon as I got home. I did not want him to worry. It was getting very late and we should have been home by now.

My husband and I were both very upset and afraid, I was still feeling numb. It was odd, because I remembered thinking all this time about our pug, if we get hit will she run from the car, what will happen to her, we did not have her leash or collar on and she was in her bed in the back seat. I then thought that if we do not make it home will my daughter put away my Thanksgiving decorations before selling the house! Then I started to focus on positive thoughts and in my mind was planning on how I was going to decorate this year for Christmas. We were both very, very tired and hungry so I guess my mind was not working as it should!

I then called 911 for help, but we were both so upset we did not know where we were exactly. After what seemed like a lifetime a State Trooper pulled in front of my car and asked if we needed help, dumb question I thought, but said YES. Again, after a long wait a tow truck arrived. . .to make this long story short, I rode in my car on the flatbed of the tow truck and my husband rode with the driver, it was too cramped in the cab with 3 adults and a very frightened little pug. I settled her back into her bed, she was thirsty so drank water that I poured into my cupped hand, she was cold and wet, I covered her with a blanket and eventually she went to sleep. I found my coat and put it on and covered up with my husbands coat, it was very cold in the car. It was also a very strange feeling to be riding in a car that was on a tow truck also. The windows were all fogged up so I could not see where we were, I closed my eyes and just kept praying and thinking about how close we came to never making it home. About two hours later we were back in our driveway. A long and very scary trip home and I was so thankful that we had not been the cause of an accident and that we made it safely by the grace of God!

I learned this Thanksgiving that there is so much to be thankful for. On Monday I spent the day getting ready to decorate for Christmas and the entire day thanking God for hearing my calls for help and my dear Mother and Father hearing my pleas for help. I strongly believe that even if someone is not on earth, they can hear you and know when they are needed, like Angels.

My car is no longer able to work, the motor seized up and it cannot be repair. What upsets me now about this is a week before we left I took my car in for service and told my mechanic I saw oil spots in the driveway and garage, to look into that along with giving the car a tune up and topping off the fluids. When I picked up my car he said what he had done, showed me the sales slip and said that he changed the oil and filter and fixed the oil leak problem. . .Monday I told him that either he or someone who worked on my car did not fix the problem and how my husband and I along with our dog could have been killed or caused a major accident when my car stopped working in a very dangerous area of the New York State thruway. He said nothing! Now I have to look for a good used car and this is not something we had planned for and not just before the Christmas holidays, but I also believe that everything happens for a reason so we shall see.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and counted their blessings. Today I finished my Christmas decorating, except for our big tree, which really is not big, it is like a tall/skinny little pine tree you would find while walking in the woods, maybe in Vermont!