Car-ma

Let's see.... what was I saying?  Oh, that's right!  I wrote, "things have  actually been.... GOOD."

As my Gigi likes to say, "That'll learn ya."

We spent a fabulous day with friends on the 4th - started early with mimosas and a parade and finished with a Just Dance contest on the Wii.  No, I'm not talking about the kids.  There may have been some contraband video taken but this was done expressly against house rules and once caught I promised not to post.  You know you've found good friends when you can practice your scrunched up 80s pop star face singing into a ketchup bottle, and then dance to Abba (?!) and practice your moon walk without wanting to flee the state the next morning.  Wouldn't want to mess that up! 

But then around 4am, The Boy came into our room and started writhing around till he finally puked at 5. You know who employers LOVE?  People who call in sick after a holiday.  Matt & I had some hurried negotiations about who it was going to look worse for and I lost.  But it was fine!  I needed a quiet day to catch up - in 24 hours (of which 12 were spent elsewhere) we had somehow accumulated 4 loads of dirty dishes and there was mail and kid art piled up so high it was a firehazard. 

You think I'm joking about the dishes, don't you?

So Matt takes my car, because it gets much better gas mileage than his and doesn't reek of rancid french fries and moldy coffee.... he calls within 15 minutes to tell me it had blown up.  Started vibrating and ALL the warning lights came on.  In a fit of luck he was 2 miles from the dealership but they were busy & couldn't get to it till Friday.  I initially thought I'd get a post in on my bonus day at home, but I spent Thursday in a bleak, dark place and organized the pantry instead.  Because when a giant meteor is heading toward your financial world, it's best to have the pasta, rice, and couscous all lined up together on one shelf.

Turns out it wasn't the engine or transmission, which is what I'd spent the day sulking about - a new car is soooo not in the budget - but it was money we don't have, followed by MORE money yesterday to get Matt's car patched up, because in the two days my car was shopped he'd been pulled over twice for an expired registration.  Missouri has this ridiculous standard that vehicles be inspected & roadworthy (what?) and we were putting off the mortgage payment in work his car needed because this summer has been a constant stream of unexpected bills.  He is now the proud new owner of operational tires, brakes, rotors, and some muffler do-hickey - though despite all the money we forked over they did not fix the french fry smell.  Service these days! 

So mommy's been a little grumpy.  A mood not improved when The Girl got ahold of the syrup bottle yesterday (it was so much worse than you're imagining), when The Boy gave his friend a black eye with a tinker toy, or when I, in a pre-coffee fog, tried to make waffles with olive oil.  Not tasty, in case you're wondering.  But I hauled them off to the pool Sunday (The Girl finally went down the slide solo! Huge!), followed by a nap for everyone and we'll all carry on.  Tally-effin'-ho!

*My co-worker used car-ma in an email after I begged the office for a ride home Friday. This was followed by a series of emails citing: car-maggedon, car-pocalypse, pandCARic (pandemic?), and e-CAR-nomy. Awesome.