December 15 through 16, 2013

Surprise Mission – accomplished…maybe!

I had been planning a secret surprise mission for the last month and a half. I’ve been coordinating purchases and planning the time and the punch list until I was close to going mad! There were so many people involved in this and at times the planning was a bit challenging. I had to get everyone and everything together in the same place and at the same time - phew! I was so relieved that the date had finally arrived – I am so excited about giving Carlo this gift!

On Saturday the 14^th, Carlo gave me the Tahoe to use for my weekend away with Karen. I felt bad fibbing to him that we were going outlet mall shopping and that I was spending a couple of days with her because Mike was out of town – but I needed the Tahoe to get all the surprises to O’Wich! I loaded up the Tahoe before Family Zoo Day because I was leaving at 5:15 a.m. and didn’t want to have to do all of the loading in the middle of the night. So, the loaded truck waited until it was departure time!

Sunday morning at 5:15 a.m. I was on the road as planned. I needed to get going early because of all the surprises that were going to take place and I didn’t want to risk Carlo stopping by after work and seeing the surprises IN the Tahoe! I picked Karen up from her house and we were on the road. The covert mission was underway; we had all the surprises and most of the food to serve our accomplices for lunch on Monday.

The drive was fun and a bit stressful in avoiding Carlo’s questions and calls. Sorry honey! We stopped for a few things we needed and for breakfast…gotta feed the hungry! We arrived at O’Wich around 10:00 a.m. and already I think the snow on the ground could be a reason for ruining the surprise. This is one time I am praying it snows – after – we leave to fill in all the footprints and tire marks. I got the cabin opened, got the water running – which was a surprise to me since the days surrounding the stove delivery I had asked Carlo to remind me how to open the cabin and he said, “don’t worry about it since you won’t be opening it up by yourself” - ergh! I was excited to see the stove, the fridge and shelf moved and the additional outlet strip in the kitchen. We got the heat going, vacuumed up the hibernating flies and looked for mice. All good!

We started immediately on getting the surprises going – Karen made a bow for me and kept her toes toasty with the help of Carlo’s slippers! Who brings flips flops to the country in the middle of the winter? Oh, that would be Karen!

  

We bundled up the extra wood slats and stored them under the bed, we moved the TV and the chair and then I washed the window so I could hang the first surprise…the new blind. Not really part of the gift, but it needed replacing and it’s just an inexpensive, quick fix – and besides, the window was dirty! Then we brought in the next surprise…the sofa table THAT I MADE to go behind the couch. 

This also is not really part of the gift, but we neededsomething near the couch to set a beverage or a remote control (or three) on. I just want to mention that as far as things go one would think I have a crystal ball – again, that would be Karen! But I did prove to her that I have a slight ability to foresee the future!!! Then we placed the couch in front of the sofa table THAT I MADE and added a lamp and a vase of yellow flowers (yes they are fake, of course!) 

Then we spent a lot of time vacuuming and re-vacuuming just so everything would be perfect. 

    

  

That pretty much ended the prep portion of mission for Sunday. It was time to run out for dinner. We fueled up at Kwik Trip, picked up some bread for Monday and enjoyed an absolutely delicious steak dinner at Suzy’s. I’ve never been there before and wanted to try it for quite some time so I am very happy that we went. It sure beat a burger after our laborious day. We just kicked back for a couple of hours before going to bed. Our wait to complete the mission was almost over and all that we needed to do was to wait for our cohorts to arrive at 8:30 a.m. in the morning!

Monday: We moved the TV stand/dresser into the bedroom along with the TV. Garry and Bernie were right on time and assessed the installation. I am very happy they were able to help me with this surprise! Karen and I decided to run out to shop a little. One, to get out of their way and two, I was supposed to be shopping and really did need some last minute Christmas things. During our excursion, someone couldn't find her sunglasses and was getting quite testy about it. "Hmmmm, I believe they're on your head!" And that my friends, would be Karen!

While we were out they hung the mount (using the paper template made by moi!) – oh, if you haven’t guessed it yet…they were hanging a flat screen TV and sound bar – SURPRISE!!! 

  

Next they put in a new outlet behind the TV and rewired the satellite cable. Then the TV and sound bar went up and it looks great!

  

  

We broke for lunch around 12:30 p.m. and enjoyed delicious home-made potato salad (thanks to Karen) and a baked (in my new oven) canned ham. After lunch the rest of the surprise mission punch list got pretty easy. They ran an antenna cable from the maintenance room into the bedroom and viola, TV in the bedroom! Just think about a three room cabin with two TV’s!!! Crazy! Yes, absolutely crazy, since we go there to get away…but Carlo does enjoy watching TV – and sometimes (I’ll admit it) I do too! 

My cohorts wanted to reveal their hard work! Thank you Garry and Bernie for your help!

   

I cleaned up the install mess and Karen cleaned up the kitchen, sliced the rest of the ham and placed it in the freezer. I packed up some of what is no longer needed at the cabin, such as the toaster oven and other things that I just have no room for. I wrapped the TV and added the bow. 

Of course, Carlo will know what it is but I believe the fact that it’s already installed will be a big surprise! The picture will need some tweaking and I need to get a longer cable for the sound bar but overall I think it will be a great surprise and one I hope Carlo likes. After all the planning leading up to this day I can only hope he is not disappointed! I really – really – really hope Carlo enjoys his gifts!

♥  Surprise – Surprise – Surprise – I love you and happy many special years of us!  ♥

A big thank you goes out to Karen for all of her help. Mission accomplished!!! We did it! And here I am with KAREN!

We decided to get on the road because of the snow that was already falling with a forecast that was not good. I shut the cabin down, drained and added anti-freeze. Shut the fans off, locked the doors, shut the lights off, lowered the heat…oh my goodness…I hope I didn’t forget anything. I thought water was supposed to drain out of the front of the cabin but for some reason it did not. I opted for leaving the heat higher than normal – at 60 degrees – and ordered a tank of fuel, just in case. With the pending snow forecast, my worries of the footprints in the snow were no longer of a concern. On the ride home we found ourselves in the midst of an unexpected snow storm that dropped almost 3 - 5 inches of snow over the Madison area. The snow was a major problem for the commute. Temperatures were just in the low teens, which I heard were too cold for the salt treatments to work on the roads. Consequently the roads were not only quickly covered with snow but slippery as well. We seen three auto accidents and four spins outs and these mishaps didn’t help with the already slow moving rush-hour traffic. This storm caused our three hour ride from O’Wich to Karen’s house to be closer to four and a half hours. I was pretty stressed during the drive since the three lane areas were down to two and the two lane roads were pretty scary to drive upon! The cold temps didn’t help much for the windshield either as the wiper blades kept freezing up. Thank goodness we made it home safe and that the planning and the mission are over. Now to wait until the 27^th of December!