It doesn't does, but it could! Wisconsin and Michigan trip, day 8

And this is pretty much all she wrote. I had told Derek that I wanted to leave Madison no later than noon, which meant leaving his mom's by 11 so we could go to Fromagination and the keto bakery. I woke up at 6am, raring to go, and Derek didn't crawl out of bed until 8am. And I was already upset about it. We had a lot to do that morning. I prepared a whole bunch of Halal Cart Chicken with white sauce for Derek's mom to eat ater we left, I prepped and froze five dinners and left one dinner out for her for that night, for a grand total of six dinners. But I do not fuck with animal flesh, so Derek had to cook the chicken. He got tired the night before and opted to do it in the morning, which was why I wanted him up at 7am, but when I tried to wake him up, he shooed me off quite violently and told me he'd wake up at 8. I was pretty fucking mad. 

I got out of bed, and started doing all of the stuff that needed to get done. I put all of our dirty clothes into the laundry so I could repack the suitcase. I did dishes from the night before, and then washed all of the tupperwares Derek and I had been using during our trip that had been cleaned out, but not properly washed. I repacked our snacks and meals bags and consolidated them from three bags down to one. I repacked our suitcase once the laundry was done. All of this took me about an hour, Derek finally got up, he cooked the chicken, and then got to packing up the car. At 10:30. I get very annoyed when we run afoul of my desired schedule, and I cannot quite get myself to understand that I need to be more flexible and loose. It took Derek almost two hours to get the car entirely packed. I didn't help him, but that was by design. There was really very little I could do until he got the saw into the car, and once that was done, I had finished all of the other things I had to do (cleaning the bedding from the beds, putting the bedroom back like we found it, cleaning the bathroom, dishing out Beth's meals, etc.) and could dedicate myself to packing up the bits and bobs I could manage while helping him with everything else. Getting the car packed up was a stressful event, but we managed to get 99.9% of everything we bought and brought into the car. The only things we left with Beth to bring to us in Iowa this upcoming weekend were two empty bins and one bucket with three superfluous tools. I was pretty impressed with Derek's Jenga abilities. 

We stayed and chatted with Beth a little longer than intended, as well, and we didn't leave until about 1ish. By this time, we were already in for a penny as far as a late departure, so Derek and I headed off to Fromagination. 

Oh, my first love. Cheese. 

Since I already took photos of the inside the first time we went, I didn't do that this go 'round. I had been searching and searching for gifts for my kiddos and magnets for my fridge, since I insist on being the type of person with travel magnets. I know, I'm one of those people, and I'm fine with it. I wanted to get Rhyann a food gift, because Rhyann is very food aventurous and it's a fitting gift. I wanted to get Vivi a shirt, because she bed rots in the same clothing for days on end and I figured a shirt would have the most utility. I didn't know what to get for Laurel, and by the time I was looking for gifts, Derek had gone to the car because he didn't feel well. So Derek will just have to get her something when he's in Iowa. I found a gift for my dad, though. Anyway. 

 

These made the most sense for Rhyann. They love tinned fish. I might actually get them a subscription to FishWife for their birthday this year, even though I'm not terribly big on birthday gifts anymore, but this year I kind of want to get them something since we're going to be moving and they are starting their adult journey, and having something yummy to look forward to every month might be nice. Spoiler alert, I just looked and they no longer do the subscriptions like they used to, now it's just a build your own bundle and make a monthly go of it. Well. No thanks. 

I can't find the shirt I got for Vivian online, but here's the one I got myself:

I love it and am so excited to wear it. 

I couldn't initially find any magnets, and I was looking all around for little things I could grab and perhaps glue magnet strips to and improvise a magnet for myself. This was one such thing, but since I did find the magnets, I just grabbed it for my dad:

And then my little magnet:

If being gay was a choice, I would choose gayer than bisexual every time.

And then everything else we got was food. Derek picked himself a sausage, and the byline of the brand fucking sent me:

Buy curious. Oh my fucking lort. 

....uh, my curiosity was not rewarded. Musty ol' dick lookin' ass sausage. 

Despite what I thought the appearance of the sausage presented, Derek reported that it tasted amazing. I thought it smelled worse than it looked, which is impressive, as it looks like it belongs in the wrong rooms of antiquity. 

They bagged everything in the prettiest bag. I really want to cut out the sticker and put a magnet strip on it. I can't help myself, it seems. I just love magnets. How do they even work????

I am debating doing a separate entry for just the cheeses, because Derek and I made a whole afternoon of it, tasting notes recorded and everything. I start out with the best of intentions and sometimes don't follow through, so just in case, here is a picture of all of the cheeses we got from Fromagination:

By the time we were done, it was 2:30 and instead of going to the keto bakery like I wanted, we just drove home. It was a pretty uneventful seven hour drive. 

When we crossed the bridge from Illinois into Missouri, we of course saw the arch:

and I told Derek, "you know, every time we leave Missouri, I always think about like, being thrilled to be in whatever new place we're in, and I don't even think about hating it in Missouri. And then we cross back into Missouri and see things like the arch and I'm like...man, I fucking HATE IT HERE AND I CANNOT FUCKING WAIT TO LEAVE THIS FUCKING UGLY STATE."

And it's true. I hate it here, and I cannot wait to leave this fucking state. Fuck Missouri, fuck the arch, fuck this whole place. That's a yikes from me. 

And that's a wrap on our Wisconsin and Michigan trip! It was so much fun, we had such an amazing time.