The Mad Cow Strikes Again

Don't you hate when you plan for several days to go see a high school play with your kids, plan your whole day around showtime (even iron pants, which you NEVER do!), wonder why the parking lot is so empty (maybe because it's a matinee), then have somebody tell you it's NEXT Saturday? I sure hate it. The boys sure hate it. But you know, I'm not the only one with the Mad Cow. Drew must have a touch of it, because he started telling me we had to buy tickets last week, and he even checked showtimes for me on the school's website. So I'm not in this one alone.

Want to hear about my worst attack of Mad Cow? Prepare to be amazed:

A big meeting in New Orleans was coming up - I'd already reserved the hotel room and cancelled work for the week, plus made arrangements for my mom to get the kids to and from school while Dean was working. I talked to somebody actually giving a talk at the meeting and mentioned that it was coming up, and he said he needed to check with his secretary because he thought it was a ways off - he'd better get on the ball, huh!

That Sunday I kissed the family and drove to NOLA only to encounter tons of traffic from Mardi Gras parades - I mean I could hardly get to the hotel! Who was the idiot who scheduled the biggest meeting of all during Mardi Gras??? I finally get there after calling them and asking for suggestions, then have a heck of a time finding parking. I drag my rolling suitcase to the front desk and try to check in.

"We don't have you in the system."
"WHAT??"
"Did you have a reservation?"
"Of course! I'm with the big meeting."
"Uh....(very embarrassed)...ma'am, the big meeting is NEXT week."
"Oh....uh....see you next week I guess."

Then back to the car for the big breakdown. No, I take that back, I didn't cry until I got out of the damn Mardi Gras traffic - no need to bring all those drunk revelers down! I had a 2-hour drive back home to think about which nursing home I was going to move into...that is if someone didn't commit me to a psych hospital first. Can you imagine the phone calls I had to make? Now my mom has to rearrange the following week's schedule and I have to cancel another week's work, plus scare up some work for THIS week. Now how did I make the hotel arrangements for the correct week then write everything down wrong after that? That's Mad Cow for ya'.

I don't know if that was worse than my Orlando meeting - I can't remember which one happened first. With that one, I made my hotel reservation and a secretary made the flight reservation. (Can you see what's going to happen here?) Yes, I arrived in Orlando at 11 PM only to find that I booked my hotel room a day later. I had to walk around the corner to a Motel 6 to spend the night, again dragging a suitcase. Did I mention it was 11 PM?

I think I could go on about other trips (yes, there was a ski trip where we discovered I booked the wrong return date when we tried to fly home - oops!), but I think you pity me enough now as it is. So if you're ever planning a trip with me, I think you know who's going with us....and remember, that cow is MAD!