a surefire way to kill your appetite

For a special treat today, I took the kids to Applebee's for lunch. It was mostly because I had coupons for two free kids meals and being waited on sounded like fun to me.

It didn't go as well as I had hoped. First, the table we were at had a big poster of The Wizard of Oz over it--I love that movie but Pibs was not a fan of the poster. She just kept staring at it and shrinking away. The Wicked Witch of the West is not her cup of tea.

Then, right as the server was setting our food down, we heard a huge crash! Turns out an elderly woman had driven into the side of the building. She was trying to park and my guess is she stepped on the gas instead of the brake. She cleared one of those cement bumpers, the curb, plowed down a sign and damaged the outside of the building. All without any visible damage to her car.

The driver had her seat belt on and if she had been alone, it would have just been a very embarrassing situation. Unfortunately, the passenger did not have her seat belt on and went nearly all the way through the windshield. The hostess flipped out (understandably) and called 911. The manager started running around with towels and whatnot and a few diners ran outside to help. The police and ambulance showed up quickly and got the passenger out of the car and to the hospital. The tow truck came and dragged the car out of its resting place. Aside from the damage to the building, you wouldn't know it happened.

But unfortunately, I looked at it as we were walking out. The windshield was bloody and there was a perfect circle popped out of it, exactly the size of a head. Yikes. If that is what can happen in a low speed accident, imagine if the car had been driving down the highway! I cannot fathom why people would not wear their seat belt.

Needless to say, I brought two kids meals home with me. The kids didn't even take a bite of their food--they were way too distracted by all the commotion to eat. I hope that passenger is okay.