I HATE OHIO

I have never found Ohio to be a very interesting state. Sure, they have some good amusement parks, but do they have anything else to offer in Ohio? All I can say is Ohio and I do not have a very good history. We just can't seem to get along. I remember many years ago, (I'm gonna guess and say about 8yrs) my husband and I took our 2 (or was it 3) young kids to Kings Island. We borrowed my in-laws' minivan for the trip. On the way home, the van broke down. The transmission completely locked up. We had to spend an extra night in Ohio, take an extra day off work, rent a car, and have the minivan towed home for repair.

Lets move forward a few years. I believe it would be late 2004. We took a trip to Niagara falls with my parents and my grandmothers. I have both Grandmas and 4 kids in the SUV. My parents took my Dad's MR2. The trip was great! We all had a really nice time. Coming home we passed through Ohio. It was getting late in the afternoon, and we really wanted to get home that night. I was trying to push it as far as I could without stopping, but in Ohio we hit road construction and heavy traffic as rush hour approached. After being stuck in traffic in Ohio for a few hours, I really wanted to keep pushing it to Indiana before we stopped for dinner. But the kids were getting hungry and crabby, so what can you do? We decided to stop at Ryan's (a dinner buffet) about 100 miles from the border. Kate was 2, and miserable. She was hungry and tired and so was I. This made both of us a bit crabby. Then Austin, who would have been 8, insisted on carrying his own plate of spaghetti which of course ends up all over the floor. If I remember correctly, we may have even had a few spilled drinks. It was just one of those nights where if something could go wrong, it did. I was getting quite frustrated as every minute spent there was that much longer until we would get home. Finally dinner is done and we are on the road. As we are leaving Ohio an hour and a half later, we come to a toll booth. I reach for my purse and have the sudden dreadful realization that it was left at the restaurant. I have to turn around and go back for it. I frantically call 411 for the phone number to the restaurant so I can verify they have it, and make sure they will be open when we get there. I explain what happened and the manager said they will wait for me. To make a long story a little shorter, we did not make it out of Ohio that night. We got my purse, and a hotel room. Again, I missed an extra day of work. We finally made it home the next afternoon.

November 17, 2007 - 2:30 AM. As I have mentioned before, I work nights. I worked last night, came home and napped somewhere between 1-2 hours. Then I got up, made lunch and headed to the kid's school for their awards assembly. After school, we all worked on cleaning up the yard (raking), and the house. Then it was pizza night at my parents house. At 9:00pm we headed home. Finally at 9:30, I can lay down for another hour before I need to leave for work. When I get to work at 11:00pm, I find that it is a slow night. I'm really tired, and secretly hoping they will send one of us home tonight. I often have luck when we throw names in a hat, and I am hoping this could be my lucky night. Around 2:30am one of my co-workers comes by and makes the suggestions I have been wishing for. OK, she got the ball rolling, and I'm going for it! We check with the other 2 secretaries, and they don't want to leave early. Even better, now my odds of getting some sleep are 50/50! Since there are only 2 of us, I suggest we flip a coin instead of pulling names. My co-worker agrees, but is somewhat reluctant because she knows I have the winning streak. I reach in my pocket and pull out a quarter. I don't know why, but I felt compelled to check what state was on the quarter. I'll bet you can guess... OHIO! At that moment, I knew I was not going home. Sure enough, my co-worker won the toss. She is headed to the boats in New Buffalo. I bet she wins big! I am stuck here at work. Oh well, I'll sleep tonight.