Rosehill Academy

Thursday, July 15, 2004

Before 8:30 am, We...

Had run the dishwasher twice, the clothes washer four times, finger painted, hosed off, gave the dog a bath, bathed the two boys, and pancakes were on the make.  It was a busy day that only got busier.
 
Brian went down for a nap, and since Kate had a friend easier, it was decided that DC and I would be the best grouping to go to town to get an oven coil and make a Wal-mart run.  Nice, easy trip that would give DC some quiet time and some Mommy time.  A good thing, right?
 
Corlew's was easy, even the parallel parking and crossing the street.  (There's a karate studio right next to it, will have to drop by at some point when they're open and see if it's feasible for DC.)  So, we zipped over to Wal-mart, taking the side street by all the restaurants and clipping a curve, just like I always do.  A nice, easy trip?  Right...
 
Despite the fact that I've run over that curb a hundred times before, in both the Focus and the van, this time something bad happened.  The right rear tire blew.  So, I limped the rest of the way into the parking lot and decided, since I couldn't see a tire and lube place there (and it's been awhile, so I couldn't remember if there was one), I decided to change the tire myself.  So, I got the first nut off the spare and was working on the second when a very helpful gentleman offered his services.  He helped me get the other stubborn bolt off and looked in the back of the van to get the jack.  Me, being helpful, told him to use the jack in the box, since Dev had bought it to replace the jack he discovered he didn't like way back during the Box Incident.  The jack, which it turns out, is not a jack, but a platform to place SUVs on after you jack them up.
 
So, we dug out the old, sucky jack and assembled it...  Sand apparently doesn't mix well with jacks.  It wouldn't budge up or down.  So, I have a blown tire and no jack.  But, like all good Super Wal-marts, that one does have a tire and lube, so I thanked the nice man for his help, tossed the spare in the back, and limped around the back of the store to to service center...
 
To be informed that there were four people in line for tires before me and that it would take 3.5 hours for them to replace my poor tire.  Three and a half hours with DC, in Wal-mart.  AAAHHHH!!!
 
So, we set off to find a phone, which, of course did nothing but eat my money.  So...  We trekked to the other entrance and used the phone there to call Nora and tell her that we had a bit of a snafu.  The best solution we could come up with was for Nora to wait until Brian woke up to toss the two girls and him in the car so that they could rescue DC.  It was a good plan.  I liked that plan.  Brian couldn't sleep that long, right?  This was at about 1 pm.
 
DC and I went and bought some gauze pads and "sticky tape" to make a big bandaid for his poor ankle, which is still suffering from fire ant bites.  After paying for them, I set off to the McDonald's within the store to get some lunch (Diet, what diet?).  DC objected, because we had not yet gotten his promised toy.  Turn around, back to the toys.  He finally settled on a Transformer that was a bit more expensive than I had planned on allowing, but at that point I figured ten extra dollars was nothing compared to keeping the peace.
 
We paid for the Transformer (because Brian could wake up at any time, right?) and settled into Micky D's, where DC had his usual burger and fries.  And managed to dump them spectacularly on the floor.  I hadn't been there even a half hour and by that point I was sure one of us was going to be in tears.  Probably me.
 
Replaced the meal, for free even, and we ate, which wasted about half an hour.  Also bandaged DC's ankle, which made him quite happy.  Next it was get a cart and follow the actual list I had.  We spent the next hour or so wandering Wal-mart, comparing hydraulic jacks and the merits of Geotrax track or roadway as a toy for Brian.  I decided on both, since that was the same amount of money I spent on DC.  Also looked at the digital cameras and talked to one of the photo people about them.  Of course, the one I like is the most expensive they have...  But I was good, even despite the fact that we have $700+ more in Savings than I thought we had (How in the heck did that happen?).   [Addendum: It's a really good thing I didn't.  Just looked at finances again...  Looked at the wrong number when figuring out Savings.  *thumps head on the desk*  I need a nap!]
 
Just about the time that DC started to melt, Nora and the rest of the kids arrived to find the van almost done.  It had only been 2.5 hours, but that's not something I'll complain about.  So, we all walked through the toy section again, and DC scored some kiddie K'nex and Brian a phone.  And actual phone, no less, because it was only $5 and the only toy phone they had was one he already owns.
 
Oh, also got a new bathroom scale since the old one was left in LA, and is pretty much dead.  It says I weigh 170 lbs!  The old scale was telling me 180.  I checked Brian's weight on it, for accuracy, and it was within 2 pounds of the last time he was at the doctor.  So, despite that fact that I have totally fallen off the diet wagon, I have lost weight!  Yay me.
 
As you can probably expect, I'm exhausted. 
 
DC has a plan, he informed me, to make his Aunt Kate feel better about the loss of her playhouse.  Er...  Nora never managed to get that story up, did she?  Tuesday night we had a storm.  A tornado was spotted in Gallatin, and a perfectly healthy oak tree fell down and smashed Kate's playhouse into kindling.  It also possibly squashed her Peace Lily, but we won't know for sure until Papaw cuts up the tree.
 
The problem was, the playhouse was one of her presents for her 5th birthday, as was Percy, who had been missing since Sunday (they found her last night).  So, Kate was, and is, very upset by the loss.  DC's plan is to build her a new playhouse to make her feel better.  I'm not sure if he talked to someone to come up with that idea or not.
 
And now, we are having melt-down en mass and dinner is ready.  So, just another day at Rosehill.


0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home