you are what you listen to??

i was lamenting to andy all the things that have been going wrong in the last few days ... and he said,"sounds like a country song ... " let's see if i can put it to a tune ... or maybe song titles:

"my big sister lives in texas"

"work is slow, and money's tight"

"our transmission died ... "

"the house is a mess and i can't find the will to fix it"

"my kids don't listen, they talk back and sass me"

"my sister-in-law and her husband don't like me and come to find out neither does our niece"

"the boy won't use the toilet"

"i can't park in the garage again ..."

"i asked for flour tortillas and i got corn instead"

"laundry, dishes, scrub the toilets - a mother's work is never done"

"i'm trying to lose weight, but those peanut butter m&ms are just so dang good"

by now i'm sure you're NOT going to rush out and by the album ... but just let me tell you - it could be worse, so i'm trying to count my blessings!

let me vent for a minute or 2 or 9 ... (i won't be offended if you stop reading ... )

so, saturday was a BIG day for me ... it's been looming - staring me down from the wall calendar just inside my kitchen! for starters: my sister took her 4 darling kids and went back to texas - we sure do miss them and want to go see them soon, it's fun to have them here ... but they have a pool and we'd have them all to ourselves if we went there! then, we were supposed to get bread at 3:30, head over to the ward BBQ at 6:00, be at stephanie's wedding reception in seattle at 6:30 and then swim with the ward at 7:00. yeah ... not gonna happen!


after hugging, kissing and waving goodbye to our favorite texans, we loaded up in our van and put it into reverse ... no movement ... forward or backward - not good! while andy phoned our car guy, i called the hawkins and asked them to get the bread for us "our transmission died and we're stuck at my mom's!" luckily they were able to do it - phew!


andy called AAA and had the van towed to the shop ...


we called around for a rental van ... the only place open after noon on saturday was budget ... 20 miles away. andy's dad was able to go get the car ... but the rude lady said that we wouldn't be able to drive it because we wouldn't be authorized drivers! i called her back ... "are you the girl that my husband was just speaking to? ... you're not ... well whoever just spoke to him said that we would not be able to drive the van that we are renting from you if his father picked it up. let me explain the situation (she sounded a little flustered) my husband and i are stranded in kirkland with our 4 children ... you people are the only car rental place open right now and the only way for us to get the van that we are renting from you is to have my father-in-law pick it up and bring it to us - please don't tell me that we have to get a taxi to come and get the van ..." she said that we could be authorized drivers on the van for an additional fee ... but we'd have to come in and sign the paperwork tomorrow (sunday). "ok ... but it's ok for us to drive it until we get the paperwork signed?" "just don't tell me that you're doing it ..." she was a nice girl - we had a heart to heart ... she liked me. [this is turning into a very long and boring story ... let me cut to the chase] the van is awesome and has push button door opening and closing! we love it ... they can keep our windstar! ... no our van is going to get fixed and we'll have our dirty kid-mobile back in no time!


so we got a rental and headed home at about 5:30 - we had decided not to go to the BBQ and try to get a babysitter so we could go to the reception and dinner ... we needed a break!


remember how i mentioned up there that my sister-in-law hates me? shoot that's a story in and of itself ... condensed: their 17 year old daughter isn't allowed to be home alone while they go on vacation - she doesn't go with them because of her job and she doesn't like to camp - and so andy's younger sister (the one that usually babysits for us) is watching her and isn't allowed to tend our kids while she's supposed to be watching the 17 yr old. we weren't aware that she was watching the 17 yr old because when we asked her tend on friday night she was at andy's oldest sister's house watching her kids ... [holy crap this is turning into another long and boring story - even i am getting annoyed with all the details!] andy's sister called and bit his head off (the one that is the mom of the 17 yr old) and now i have even more words to have with her!


i called 8 different families in our ward ... and wasn't able to secure a babysitter. so i called my last resort (only because i knew how tired they were) my parents. they graciously agreed to come!


on the way to the reception there was a car fire on the northbound side of the freeway and we were headed south. andy noticed that no one had an extinguisher and so because he's andy - he pulled over and got his from the trunk ... the guy who's car was on fire said, seeing andy in his shirt and tie, "let me, i don't want you to get all dirty!" andy pulled the pin and off he went. i called 911 and they said that an engine was en route and so he said "keep it!" and we headed on down the road to the reception ...


we had told my parents that we'd be back by 9:00 we arrived at the reception at 7:30 and relaxed for a few minutes - mingled, hugged and congratulated the bride and groom and found our good friends and sat down to visit. before i knew it, it was time to hurry out of there to get home on time! we took some group pictures - 'the party' was in fine form! we waved and hugged goodbye - called la palmera for take out and hurried home! when we finally opened our dinner it was at least 45 minutes from when we had ordered it ... and our flour tortillas were corn!! BAH!! we ate it anyway ... watched michael phelps swim to olympic history and went to bed - determined to have a better day!