Princeton & the Superbowl

Pancho and I drove Eddie back to Princeton on Friday. Not a bad 2.5 hour drive. Added Delaware and New Jersey to new states that I have now kinda been to. Princeton is a cute little town. Quiet streets and those classic Northeast-looking frame houses. Weather took a cold nosedive so couldn't fully appreciate the long walk of shops across from campus while hunting for a dinner place, mostly just focused on finding anywhere to get inside.

Took the Little One around to get groceries and run errands (always nice to have someone visit that has a car). Stayed overnight in the dorms. Definitely have not missed the twin-size beds. Went for breakfast at PJ's Pancake House. I was intent on doing things that were "Princetonian" while we were there. It certainly had that local place charm to it, handwriting all over the walls, cramped and packed with people, but delicious food. Absolutely fantastic chocolate chip pancakes. We all had them. Pancho of course had to do the chocolate chip and peanut butter ones. too too much if you ask me. but we all know how I dont like chocolate and PB mixed together anyways. And we ate until we were positively disgustingly full.

Walked around most of campus. Very pretty and impressive-looking buildings. Pictures on facebook at some point this week. And then Pancho and I were back on the road to Baltimore. Drive was going perfectly fine until we were about 25 minutes from home. I was driving, we were going to make a quick stop at Superfresh to get groceries for the week and it was going to all work out fine to be home to make an early dinner. UNTIL we see a road caution sign that there is an accident blocking the 3 left lanes (of 4 total) in 7 miles. There are no more exits coming up so we have to drive through it. Right when the cars start to slow down, my gas light comes on. No big deal, I have like 4 gallons when it goes on. Its 5:09pm and Freddie had calculated we would get to Baltimore at 5:35pm. So we're inching along and it gets to be an hour later, we've gone 1.7 miles (I always make immediate note of mileage and time when traffic slows, precisely so I can torment myself in situations like these to know just how bad it is.) And the gas ticker is creeping lower and lower. Normally, you figure that when the gas light comes on you have like 50 miles or whatever which would have been more than fine. Except we had been sitting in traffic for an hour. No idea what to do because it looks like there is no end in sight to the cars. We decide to drive on the shoulder to at least try to get ahead and hopefully get to an exit to look for gas before the car dies. Freddie still said we were like 3.5 miles from an exit and we figure that a cop would understand driving on the shoulder if it meant we wouldnt die on the side of the road. Anyways, so we're doing this and other cars are trying to block the shoulder. So we try to get back into the lane, no one lets us. Its not a good situation. I'm cringing, praying that we dont rub up on another car as Pancho has to just force our way into the lane. We're still in traffic, no real way to ride the shoulder anymore. So I call AAA and I'm like uhh we're not sure how much gas we have left and traffic is basically stopped what should we do? They put us in priority to have someone come deliver gas in case we do run out. This goes on for awhile, we're anxiously watching the gas ticker mark. And then traffic starts moving, we get to the exit, I'm still begging the car to make it to the gas station, AAA calls literally 3 times to see if we still need the gas. We made it and everything ends well. lol. It was much more nerve-wracking at the time, especially when we had gone 1.7 miles in an hour. Anyways, AAA and Freddie really got us through that one.

A bunch of the boys' friends came over to watch the game yesterday. I had originally made a list to do a potluck and have everyone bring something. But one of the guys thinks it won't work, the others won't bring stuff, whatever. So it's just bring your own everything. I was a little bummed, had been thinking I might try a spinach dip recipe for the first time. Everyone in the house decides we're going to order wings to split and Pancho and I get our own beer and chips. It's all good until the second half of the people arrive (of 12 people total) and they've got artichoke AND bean dip AND a nachos dish for everyone. Apparently word hadnt quite gotten back around that the potluck was off. Meanwhile, I'm mentally scanning our cupboards, thinking if there is anything that I can whip together to save myself. Of course there isnt. So now I have to do something to redeem my baking and hostess reputation (although I still maintain that it isnt really my fault. I would certainly have made something had I known) I mentioned doing a potluck for the final game of March Madness, next major sporting event I could think of. Sigh. But I've been baking stuff every week for the house at least. They know what the deal is. :)