A Date Which Must Live in Infamy...

So...last weekend Ty took off a few extra days so he could get a bit of a break. He was looking forward to having those 6 days off. And really, why wouldn't he? He could get some things done around the house, and just enjoy some time with the family, right? Don't be so sure.

On his FIRST DAY OFF, we decided that we would take our little family out on the town. CT needed new school clothes, so we planned to go out to lunch and take him shopping. We just had to make one quick stop at the bank to get a couple of cashier's checks to pay some bills. I stayed in the van with the chiddlers while Ty ran inside the bank.

While he was there, I called my long-time friend, Leesh. I'd missed a call from her before we left home, and I was calling her back. We talked for a while, and I invited her to join the family for lunch that day. She said: "Sure! Just call me when you're on your way and I'll meet you somewhere."

Several minutes later, Ty comes out of the bank looking half amused. As he climbs into the van, he says: "So the guy almost didn't give me the checks. Apparently my driver's license expired two months ago."

I was stunned. Ty NEVER forgets to do this kind of stuff! At that moment, I wondered if the world had truly gone mad. Either way, we had to run home and get some of Ty's identification documents so we could go to the Driver's License Division and renew his license.

Once again, I opted to stay in the van with the chiddlers while Ty went inside. After about 15 minutes, (I'd already called Leesh and told her about the unexpected delay), Ty called my cell phone and asked me to run home and get another form of ID for him while he finished up the paperwork and everything. So, I jumped into the driver's seat and headed home.

When I pulled back into the parking lot of the DLD, Ty was outside waiting for me. I gave him the ID, and tried to find a parking space in that tiny, crowded parking lot. I was just trying to turn in to one of them when a weird smell reached my nostrils. I looked out the windshield and noticed that THERE WAS SMOKE COMING FROM UNDER THE HOOD OF THE VAN!!!

I have to admit that I panicked. I ordered CT to get out of his seat and help me get him and AJ out of the van. What if the thing caught fire or blew up or something?

I left the van in the middle of the aisle, only half parked, and ran with the kids over to the lawn next to the building. Ty came out and I explained what was going on. He parked the van, raised the hood, and discovered that the van was literally out of every single fluid known to automobile kind. He called our mechanic and made an appointment to drop the van off the next day. Luckily, there was a Chevron station within walking distance, so he went there to buy the fluids we needed. I called Leesh to tell her that we'd hit yet ANOTHER delay in our lunch plans. I asked her to head in our direction in case we needed a ride home.

Take a deep breath. The day is not over yet.

Ty finally got the van to the point where it didn't seem to be smoking anymore. We headed home, and I called Leesh to ask her to meet us at our house. When we got there, Ty parked the (now smoking) van with great difficulty as the power steering had suddenly decided that it was done working. We picked up our other car, and went to lunch.

After lunch, we made plans to meet Leesh for dinner as well and separated. We then went school clothes shopping for CT. It went well. We got what we needed and on the way home we stopped for gas. As it was a ridiculously hot day, I opened my door to let some air into the car while Ty pumped the gas. CT opened his door as well, so we got a decent cross breeze through the car.

When Ty finished up with everything, he came around and tried to close CT's door. It bounced back at him, refusing to close. He figured that the seat belt or something had just gotten stuck in the doorway, so he checked, and then slammed the door again. It stuck, and we went home.

While we waited for dinner time, the chiddlers played in the family room while I ran upstairs and took a shower. A couple of hours later, we headed to dinner. After parking the car, CT couldn't get out, because his door wasn't opening anymore. Ty finally got it to open, but the friggin' thing wouldn't close again. He sent us ahead to the restaurant while he tried to figure it out.

We had just gotten seated when Ty finally came in to join us. He looked harassed, especially since he still couldn't get the door to close. He asked CT if he had done anything to the door, and the truth came out. Apparently, while we had sat there at the gas station, CT had been messing with the latch on his door and it was in the closed position when Ty tried to close it.

It. Was. Broken.

Yep. Two cars in a matter of hours. It's gotta be some kind of record.

Well...we had dinner. It was good, and we managed to enjoy ourselves. There was live music in the park outside, and we had fun hanging out with Leesh.

At the end of dinner, we faced just one major problem: the only way we could get home was if CT sat in the passenger's seat up front (ILLEGAL), and I sat in his usual spot in the back seat and HELD THE DOOR CLOSED while we drove home. Ty, thinking of the potential difficulties involved with such an arrangement on our usual route, decided to take the back roads. Normally, this isn't a big deal. It only takes a few extra minutes.

But as we all know, this day has been anything but normal.

Unfortunately, there was major road construction taking place on those back roads, and we met up with "Detour" signs. We followed those signs, and found ourselves hopelessly lost in a neighborhood we'd never been to before. Apparently, someone thought it would be HILARIOUS to move some of those "Detour" signs around, hoping to mess with hapless travelers like us. Well, they did a good job. We spent a good 15 minutes driving around in circles before Ty found his way out of that labyrinth. (And there wasn't even a Goblin King!)

During this whole "detour," I was desperately trying to hold that door closed. With every right turn, it was all I could do to keep from falling out of the car.

At long, long last, we got home. Leesh was going to meet us there so we could hang out and just chill for a while. Ty was out in the driveway, literally taking the broken car door apart so he could try and fix it. When Leesh got to our house she helped me get the chiddlers to bed. She also brought chocolate. Let it never be questioned why Leesh and I have been friends for 15 years and counting. She's. Awesome.

In the end, Ty and I decided that the date of August 24th will forever be stricken from our calendar. From now on, it shall just remain a blank space in the year. A day for us to stay in bed and NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE!!!

It was just one of those days where a lot of small things went wrong, one after the other, adding up to a pretty exasperating day.

ALSO, in case you were wondering, here's what ended up happening with the cars: 

Ty managed to get the car door put back together, set up in such a way that it would close. Once. It will never open again. Honestly, this doesn't bother me, since it's at least driveable now and for the most part, it's just Ty's car that he uses to go back and forth from work. You won't find me complaining.

The van went to the mechanic as planned and it turned out to be a pretty minor problem. There was a pin-sized hole in the hose for the power steering fluid that was leaking onto the engine block and burning. That was what the smoking was all about. We're just oh so grateful that it was such an easy and inexpensive fix. (This time around.)

Anyway, hope this upcoming weekend will be a winner for all y'all! (And for us, too!) :)