Last ngiht was such an awesome night despite my eye issues. I got home, miserable with the pain and discomfort. But when we arrived, as we were told, his sister and Nicol were there happily cooking us dinner. they apologized profusely that duinner was not done when we got there. but like I told them after every apology, there was nothing to be sorry for. I am grateful any night there's a home cooked meal after work that I didn't have to cook myself! They made homemade lasagna and garlic bread. It was absolutely fabolous! Tasty to the very last bite. And they went through all the trouble to assure that the meal was just pefect. They had the table set, they washed their dishes as they went... man, it is so nice to be spoiled. We even got Shawn to eat at the kitchen table with us. Even if only long enough to scraf a plate and mutter a quick thanks before returning to His Majesty's beloved computer room. (To which we all laughed.) But after 10 years with my beloved troll, I will happily take what I can get!

After dinner, Samantha, Nicol, Shane and I all played a game of Life. I haven;t played the game in awhile and it was a fun break. And playing cards with the trio is absolutely hilarious. All four of us are very competitive. Well, maybe not so much Nicol. But we're always getting on one another's nerves by doing really annoying stuff. And with Shane and Samantha, there's always an underlying fire of sibling rivalry brewing.

So we had a blast. Unfortunately, it was just after 3 a.m. after the game ended, (Samantha won, I came in 2nd) and my eye was troubling me something fierce. So I begged off anything else and wished them a goodnight. And off I sulked to my oh-so-cozy bed with my oh-so-hyper doggies. After I got them settled down long enough for me to relax, I was out cold.

When I awoke this morning, I was unable to open my eye even remotely. So I crawled from the bed, climbed into my slippers and padded my one-eyed way to the door to let the dogs out. And while they romped out in the new fallen snow, I went to the bathroom to unglue my eye. I must say, it looks a hell of a lot better. It's stiull a bit puffy and red, but it doesn't hurt. It just oozes now and weeps. Ewwwww!

I got to work and the first thing taht happened was one of the people from the Tool crib paged me. I answered the call and they wondered if Hope was coming back. I told them only what I know, and that's that she said she'd be home Monday and back to work that day too. He reminded me that it's "Tuesday already" (Well, DUH!) and no one at work has heard from her. And that if she doesn't call in ro show up tomorrow, it's considered a voluntary quit. Le sigh. I knew that. he told me that he "knew I had special ways of getting ahold of her" and could I pass that info on so she wasn't out of a job. Well, gee golly, lemme get out my secret Batphone, Robin and call her on it. Grab my secret decoder ring so we can pass a message a long while you're at it. I mean, c'mon now. Last I checked I don;t have a sceret batphone, haven't had a secret decoder ring since my glow-in-the-dark one I got outta the Frosted Flakes box back in the 80's... And I surely don;t have 2 tin cans strung from my home to God-Knows-Where Canada! (BREATHE!) So I guess, she'll prolly be out a job tomorrow. Ugh. And what can I do.

But I think right now the most frustrating part about the whole Hope thing is this... she promised that she was leaving at the butt ass crack of dawn for home. She was bringing her new found hubby with her. And yes, she'd be at work. That was Saturday.As her co-worker reminded me, it's now Tuesday and no word from hope. not to anyone. Her brother called the boss (he works on day shift at the plants) and said his Mom is ready to file a missing persons.

Egads! That means she hasn't even called her family. And Hope is a huge family gal.... or always has been! Not to mention she was freaked out that her Mom had to have a biopsy done Monday on a lump they found and were worried about. she was sick to death with worry that her Mom might have cancer... and she hasn't called even her???

Okay, now I'm starting to panic. I have been offering up silent prayers that Hope has not become a statistic. that she's not lying naked, abused and/or dead in a ditch somewhere between here and God-Knows-Where Canada by the hands ogf the man she knew online a month, drove 7 to 8 hours to meet without even seeing a picture and then married. Hope is 4 foot 9 inches tall (Just above a midget and by state law is required to be in a booster seat while in a motor vehicle... tho the Secretary of State settled for putting that she must sit on a phone book or pillow) She weighs a mere 80-90 pounds and couldn;t hold her own against most pre-teens let alone a crazed man.

So where in world is she? Why hasn't she at least called her Momma? I swear to God if she is okay, and I pray that she is... the first thing I am gonna do when I see her after I hug her to pieces... will be to kick her tiny little ass from here to kingdom come.

And then I am going to ask her the mother of all questions... the one I am just dying to ahve answered after all this hubub and hype over a man she barely knows and just had to marry...

Does he shoot sparks out of his ass when he comes?!

I just hafta know.

Simply,

Sara