Moving

Ok, sorry guys - but this blog is moving!

I've discovered tumblr.

I want something a little easier, a little more modern, a little more instant gratification - and tumblr seems to fit the bill.

So, please come follow me over here! I promise, no more moving... for now. ;)

Wild Ride

So, I was driving home from a friend's kids' birthday party tonight. I was WAAAY out in the suburbs and I was taking the side streets because its construction season here - BLAH!

So about 45 minutes into my drive (with at least another 30ish to go), I notice a car driving in front of me very slowly. Now, I have a lead foot and have no patience for traffic - so I change lanes to go around the car.

Just as I whoosh past the car I notice that it has a flat tire. Not just a low tire - a really flat tire. Flop, flop, flop kind of flat.

Now, I have been living on my own, far away from my family for over 10 years now. My brother lived somewhat near me for some of those years -but not for the last 5ish. So, I have a lot of experience with cars breaking down.

So, I slow down so that I can at least make sure that they get pulled over safely. I figure as soon as I see them pull over I can keep on keepin' on.

But they don't pull over.

So, I keep driving slowly. We are on a road without any shoulder to speak of, so I am figuring that the driver is hoping one will come up soon.

But after the car continues on past a couple of small business parking lots and such, I get more worried. I know how freaked out I got the first time I had a flat tire - I drove on it just long enough to completely ruin the rim. (Never made that mistake again!)

So, I slow down even more and keep driving super slow until I'm pretty sure the car is stopping. We both come to a stop and I back up far enough to not cause complete confusion to the other cars that are going to be coming up on us. It wasn't a super busy road, but I didn't want to have to get to far away from my car. I figured I'd just make sure the driver had a cell phone and someone to call and then I'd be on my merry way again.

But as I approach the car, the driver rolls down the window and I see a youngish girl and she looks pretty panicked. So, I approach her with a smile and my cell phone - I didn't want her to think I was a serial killer!

She spoke English pretty well, but it took me a couple times to really get her story. She's just moved into the area. She knew the tire was low, but had asked a co-worker where she could go to get that foamy stuff you can put in tires to make them last a little longer when they are low. But she never could find the place they'd directed her to and when her tire got really flat she just kinda freaked out. It was well after closing time for any tire places and I asked her if she had roadside assistance - Nope. I asked if she had anyone she could call to come get her. She didn't.

So, then I asked if she had a spare tire. I've never changed one completely by myself (lets be real - when a girl is changing her own tire on the side of the road, some guy always stops and takes over!) but I know how to do it! She didn't think she did, but I also knew that I never knew I had a spare tire until the first time I needed it. I told her to pop her trunk and that I'd check. Sure enough - there it was! She didn't have a jack, but I knew I did. I told her we'd get the spare put on and that would at least tide her over until tomorrow.

Of course, I didn't even get the jack completely situated under the car when a truck pulled up next to us with a young man and woman inside. They asked if we needed any help, to which I replied, "If you'd like to be the one to change this tire!". They laughed and backed up up to get behind us.

A short while later the guy had the lug nuts off and was working on wrestling the remnants of the tire off of the car when a police car finally pulls up behind the three of us! The policeman gets out and asks if everything is okay. We quickly explained the situation and he said he'd stick around with his flashing lights just to make sure no one got hurt since we were literally still in the road due to there being no shoulder.

We finally got the spare on and started loading all of the stuff back into our cars. I thought I was finally going to be getting on home albeit with a story to tell.

But, when the guy went back to turn on his engine - only to find it was dead! We'd been using their headlights to see during the tire changing and it had drained his battery! We all just busted out laughing - the cop included. The poor girl with the flat felt soooo bad! But we reassured her it wasn't a big deal.

I had jumper cables and the policeman blocked off our side of the road just long enough for me to pull a U-turn and get in between the other two cars. A few minutes later their truck was running! I joked that we could practically start our own auto shop here on the side of the road - I do need new brakes ya know?!

A few more laughs, thank you's, and we all made sure the girl with the flat knew where to go for a new tire tomorrow - then I was FINALLY on my way home!

Seriously, this kind of thing only happens to me right?

Mysterious Ways Indeed

Wow, long time no blog over here! I promise to get the rest of the pics from my week with Bug up soon. We had such a great time and I can't wait until she and lil Bean come stay with me for two nights in July - Double the Fun!

But I wanted to tell you guys about the awesome event that happened to me today. I'm so stinkin' thrilled!

First, you should know that I am HORRIBLE with money. My finances have been a mess since I graduated from college and was actually put in charge of my own bills. Truth be told, no one ever really taught me about money management. So, I sucked at it for a very long time - and I've been trying to dig myself out of that hole for the last 3 years or so. I live pretty much paycheck to paycheck and only recently even opened a savings account again. Since about February I've been doing slightly better. My bills are getting paid on a regular basis, I'm overdrawing my account less frequently, and I actually have money in a savings account! Yay me!

So then yesterday I went to the auto repair place to get an oil change. I was pretty excited that a $40 oil change wasn't causing me all kinds of stress over whether or not I could eat for the rest of this month. I was totally patting myself on the back for being so good with my money.

Then, the mechanic told me I need $400 new brakes and rotars.

UGH! I was so ticked off. It wasn't just that I needed to spend $400 - it was that it would pretty much wipe out my savings. The savings that was allowing me to not worry as much about paying my bills. The savings that was supposed to allow me to take a real vacation sometime this year. The savings that have helped to have less anxiety - which is greatly needed in my life.

To say I was upset would be an understatement.

But today I got a phone call from my old, old, old job. During a brief period of unemployment I'd got back to work at the preschool that I'd worked at during college and gradschool. Apparently, at some point during those couple months, there was a paycheck that I never cashed. So, they told me that they could reissue the check and I could come pick it up.

I wasn't too excited.

I expected it to be no more than about $80 - my daily rate of pay for substituting.

I mean, there has never been a time where I wasn't depending on every paycheck to get me through the week - especially since I was unemployed at the time!

I picked it up a few minutes ago.

It covers my brakes.

Completely.

Almost to the penny.

God is good.

A Bug, a Bean and a....

BOY!!!

After six granddaughters in my friend Lisa's family - each born once a year since 2003 - the newest baby is a boy! Its been a running joke in the family and all the siblings have "fought" to claim the title of "first boy" in the family! (I think it has something to do with Grandpa being a farmer - he needs some help out in the fields!) I'm so excited for Lisa and her hubby! And, we've decided it might be possible that Bug is a little psychic - she's been telling everyone for weeks that they baby in her mommy's tummy is a boy! She also thinks his name should be Pablo... I hope her heart isn't set on that one!



I can't wait to meet Baby Boy!

Randon Conversations

So, last night I went out to dinner with my bestie Kass and her newest "guy she's seeing" (she refuses to use the word boyfriend). We were having a great time and were sitting around after dinner chatting.

Somehow we got on the topic of random thoughts that enter you mind - like when you are looking out the window of a really tall building and for a split second you mind flashes to what would happen if the window plane fell out? Or when you are driving on a bridge and you wonder what would happen if your car swerved out of control and flew over the railing? (Gosh, I hope those of you reading this blog also have these thoughts... otherwise we will seem crazier than I intend... )

Anyways, I mentioned that I went to the aquarium a couple months ago and had a random thought as I was watching the dolphins swim in the underwater viewing area.

What if the glass somehow broke and all the water and dolphins came rushing out over all these people?

To which Kass jumped in to say that she totally would have that same thought and we laughed for a minute about the various terrible parts of that scenario - the rushing wave of water, all the people bumping into each other, the possibility that a dolphin would bite you...

To which her guy Ray jumped in and insisted that a dolphin would NEVER bite someone.

We totally disagreed - we both think that a dolphin's natural instinct when confused and threatened would be to bite someone. Not try to attack and devour them! Just, in the chaos of flailing limbs and thrashing bodies.... they might react out of fear.

Ray absolutely insisted that would never happen. We took a poll of the waitresses and bartender - the stock response was something along the lines of, "Awwwww... but dolphins LOVE people! They'd never hurt anybody! They'd probably carry you to safety on their dorsal fins!" Seriously people? This is not Flipper we are talking about! This is an animal that is used to living in a calm, contained tank - suddenly flushed out a broken window into a crowd of terrified people. Pretty sure its not going to be thinking about MY well being!

Anywho - so I posed this question on Twitter and Facebook:

JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION - don't give alternate options!! You are in the downstairs "underwater viewing" area at your aquarium watching the dolphins swim around underwater. All of a sudden the glass breaks and out rushes all the water and the dolphins. Do you think it is a POSSIBILITY that - in all the chaos and confusion - a dolphin might feel threatened and bite/snap at a human who was flailing around?


Thoughts? Please discuss.

Bug: Day One, Part Three!

We got home and rested most of the rest of the afternoon. And by "rested", I mean she watched Princess and the Frog again while I attempted to rest my eyes.

We went out to run an errand and play at the McDonald's playland for a little bit and then I told her that I had a birthday surprise waiting for her back at home. We made a deal to go home, take a short bath, have her bday surprise, and then bedtime. She tried to guess what her surprise was all the way home and through her bath. (In which I let her use all my kitchen utensils and measuring cups to make up for the lack of real bath toys.)

While she finished up playing in the bath, I got her surprise ready:

I got her out of the tub and into PJs and then made her wait while I lit the candles.

Her face when she walked out was perfection:


And we ended the day pretty much the way we started it - eating in bed! This girl is a total homebody and would probably be perfectly content if we did this for the next 48 hours. But I have other plans in store for us - and of course, I will be blogging them!

Bug: Day One, Part Two!

So, after breakfast and hanging out in bed for a while, then it was finally late enough to start getting ready for our day. We got up, put on swimsuits and coverups, and hit the road!

A short stop for a donut and we were at my friend Jill's house to pick up her and her daughter Megan for the water park!

I was a little nervous about how Bug would do - she is NOT the adventurous type. (Classic "slow to warm up" temperment since BIRTH) But she was awesome - so brave, so excited, and SO MUCH FUN.


Just the fact that she was in the water without me is a HUGE deal!

Much less all the slides she went down...

And all the other fun!

Megan, who is almost three is a complete wild child - but such a sweetie too!

This look says.."I'm fading fast".

But she insisted on "one more" dip into the lazy river... which isn't so "lazy" when you are the one pushin the innertube "as fast as you can" around the bends!

About an hour later it was really time to go and Bug was requesting to "go straight home" which is code for, "Please get me somewhere quiet, FAST".

And this was her about 5 minutes after we got in the car:



Note the arm still stuck in the Goldfish bag...

Mission: "Have enormous amounts of fun" was accomplished.

(Stay tuned! The day isn't over yet!)