Thursday, December 07, 2006

The Comedy of Errors

Yup, anything bad that could have happened to Denise and I over the past several days, did. It will be a relief to have a weekend, and hopefully mend some of the things that need repair...

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in Derby at a "Trainer of Trainers" IEP conference. Since it is quite a drive to get there, Denise and I needed to leave pretty early. I showed up at Denise's house, according to plan, ready to drive my trusty Malibu to Derby, only to find out that my trusty Malibu wasn't as trusty as I thought. I had a completely flat tire, and there was no chance to change it and still be able to get to Derby in time. So....Denise volunteered to take her "gem" of a gas guzzling SUV instead. Although the day got off to a rocky start, it did smooth out and become a bit more "normal", at least while we were at the conference.

For Tuesday evening I had invited Kym, Troy and Breona over for supper and a viewing of the taped "Grey's Anatomy" segments that they hadn't seen yet. I was a bit rushed when I got home to get dinner started, myself changed into warmer clothes, and then to meet Troy at Denise's house, as he was going to help me get my tire changed to the donut. While we were changing the tire, Denise's husband Jason came home. He wandered over and decided that he needed to help as well. He plugged the tire, but made sure that I knew that he didn't think much of the shape of the tires, or the fact that I had managed to pick up a nail in my tire while driving in town. In light of the shape of the tires, come Sat. I'll be forking over about $400.00 for new ones...

Supper went well, although not up to the standards I prefer...Oh well... Denise called part of the way through the evening to tell me that her grandfather had passed away that day. She wasn't certain when the funeral was going to be, but it could be as early as the next day, Wed.

Wednesday morning comes, Jayden's eyes are matted shut, and puffy red. Denise suspects pink eye, but also realizes that she has to be at the conference with me. She frantically tries to find a sitter since J. can't go to daycare with pink eye. Great Grandma takes her, but the last time she took care of one of the girls with pink eye, she also got infected... I again show up to pick Denise up in the morning. We get partway out of town, but the car is shaking badly, and there is an awful rubber smoky smell, so I turn around, and we take the gas guzzler again.

On the way out of town, take two, we nearly got backed over by a semi at the grain coop, who backed into the road as we were coming down it. If it hadn't been for the "gem" and it's offroading abilities, we would have been smooshed.

We arrive at the conference, and things proceed as normal until lunch time. Denise and I leave for lunch, only to find out that Denise had forgotten to turn off her lights in the morning, and the battery is now dead. Denise had jumper cables in the back, and we both know how to use them, we just had to track down someone to help us. The first person we approached, a lady from Marion County, was smoking a cigarette outside of her car. We asked whether she would help us, only to be turned down. She said that her husband told her that if anyone asked to have a jump off of her vehicle to tell them no, since she was going to need a new battery soon. Okay!?! We said "fine", and tried to find someone else. There was a man coming out of the building we had just been in (I later found out that he is a director at Derby), and so I approached him and asked whether he would help. I told him that we had jumper cables, and that we knew how to attach them, but we just need a vehicle to jump off of. His response? "Um......................................ok." He was not willing to help, and we could tell. What are these people's problems? It is the Christmas season, when you are supposed to be full of good cheer and a willingness to help those in need! We're not asking for $50.00, or a ride somewhere, just you-pulling your car up-turning the ignition on. Wow!

We got the car jumped, and set off to get lunch. I gave Denise a quick tour of Derby. We hit Dollar Tree and bought some good things for school Christmas exchanges. When we got back Denise was getting out of the car and caught her purse handle on the door lock. When we tried to close the door it wouldn't, with a 2 inch gap. We kept trying to fix it, but all I could think of was Denise sitting in the driver's seat on the way home, with her foot on the pedals, and her hands gripping the door shut, while I tried to steer from the passenger seat. It took us about 10 minutes of fiddling with the lock, and shoving it from this angle and that angle before it finally shut! Crisis averted again!

The rest of the conference went well (oh yeah, did I mention that I might have told the presenter that I already knew the information? whoops!) Thankfully she agreed with me, and thought it was funny that I told her. Oh well...the stress can get to me sometimes...

We headed home ready for some rest and relaxation. Denise's next few days don't seem to be any better than the last two though. She had a personal day planned for today, but she'll have Jayden in tow since J. has pink eye and can't go back to daycare for the rest of the week, she has her grandfather's viewing to go to. Funeral on Friday, and oh yeah, her brother gets married on Sat. She will be at her emotional end by Sunday, and will actually need a sick day to recover, I'd think.

I'm looking forward to Sat. I'll get my tire problem fixed, and then hopefully some of this will slow down a bit.

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