derailed

Yesterday I had everything all laid out, first thing in the morning the kids were going to do their chores and I was going to balance the checkbooks(4, don't ask), pay bills, and order a few things online that I've been putting off ordering. Then we would go to the storage unit, grab boxes of stuff to go through for the rummage sale this Saturday, and spend the morning doing that. In the afternoon, I would get the mowing done and at 4:30 we'd leave for a graduation party.

HA!!!

I started the whole financial process at 7:30.......four hours later I finished. Why I thought I could get it done in an hour with my children awake I'll never know!!! But I found out we still had money in three of the four accounts, always a good thing. I also found out that I had misbalanced one account, and hopefully was able to get money in to it, before any checks cleared to give me more fees. So that was kinda good, still waiting to see if it was all good. :) And I got Mom's blood pressure cuff on it's way and Lee's scriptures on their way.

So at 11:30 I head out to deposit money in the bank (oh and Mom had left and taken Max and Than with her, so for the last two hours I wasn't even dealing with the monster.....I mean Maxster!) My errands were to deposit money in the bank, drop off mail at the post office, get propane, and go to the storage unit. On the way there I realized we were on empty and would need to get gas also. Something I knew Sunday, but forgot Monday. So Amanda got to experience going through a bank drive through and Collin ran the mail over to the post office, since it's across the parking lot from the bank. Then we headed to the storage unit where we loaded up the back of the suburban with boxes. We then stopped at our local, very tiny town's gas pump and put $100 worth of gas into the beast. It could have taken more....scary I know. Then I pulled forward to the store because Amanda talked me into ice cream. When we came out from the store, the ungrateful beast refused to start.

I could tell it was a battery issue and called Brent who works about 15 mins. away from where I was. He of course wasn't real thrilled to come take care of it, reasoning that I could get someone at the store do help me. Which is a great theory, except that in previous experiences of this battery being dead, I know it's a difficult battery to jump and because it had so suddenly gone dead, for no good reason I could find, I was not excited about doing a repeat of my last experience.... I had let the boys listen to a cd while I was playing volleyball and they were watching the dog, who joined us for the day because of a vet appt. Anyway the battery went dead and it took me and the gentleman who helped me over 30 mins. to jump it. I really didn't want to do that again.

So I called Mom to see if she was on her way home and she was, so I told Brent I would just wait the 30 mins for Mom, cause then I'd only look like an idiot to my family. But he didn't want us sitting there that long. So he came and of course the first time he set up the cables, the surb started.....so disgusting. So we headed home and he followed me home as it was on the way to work. Mom ended up right behind us. So when she and I pulled into the parking space, we saw that the dogs had treed another woodchuck. So I called Brent to see if he wanted to come back and dispatch it. He did come back, but he missed and the woodchuck fell out of the tree and ran away.

Brent went back to work and I headed inside to talk with Mom. Where she asked me if I had gotten propane(yes, you noticed before I did, that I had forgotten that detail.) So I made plans to head out and get propane (it runs Mom's fridge in the trailer) and get a battery. Brent says "just tell the person at the co-op that you need a battery and they'll take it from there." HA HA The person did know more than I did, but I didn't know enough to be able to answer her questions. So I had to call Brent and he walked me through which battery to get. I did get propane there also. And then it was home again, home again, jiggty jog......

By now it's 3pm and on my nice little fantasy schedule it's says we're supposed to be riding the horse. So I tell Amanda and she gets the horse ready. The horse has only been ridden a few times this spring, by me, and she doesn't want to go where Amanda wants her to go, so she spooks and Amanda goes off sideways. Soooo.....I have to get on her, make her mind and then Amanda had to get on her and make her mind. Now it's 4pm and I change my time to leave to 5pm.

In between getting the horse ready and supervising Max, Collin and Than have started to argue over a chore and I've had to put them in time out after many second chances to work it out, and then I told them they weren't going to the party and they were in time out til Brent came home. Now because Mom's tired and Brent's to-do list got to long with having to fix the battery, I and four kids are the only ones going to a party 30 mins away......is it worth it.......

It did end up being worth it. When Brent got home we worked out a deal with the older boys and they have to do the chore they were arguing over every day this week (we usually rotate chores daily) and if they argue they add a week every time they argue. Did I mention I was sick and tired of the arguing around here???

So I and six kids went to the party and it was a blast. They had an ice cream machine for cones and floats, they had a keg of root beer for drinks and floats, and a cotton candy machine. And tons and tons of good food. Plus fireworks to end the evening.

Mom also got garden pics and they are on her computer, so hopefully I'll remember tomorrow and get them posted. maybe......