You know those times where everything is going along JUST FINE, and then one thing goes wrong and chaos ensues?
WELL. My day was going great! I came home from work, had time for a little nap and then headed off to school to pick up my daughter and her friends from marching band rehearsal. I was looking forward to a nice, peaceful night of football, blog reading, and finishing up tomorrow’s post.
The kids piled into my car, I turned the key and…. nothing happened.
WHAT. NOOOOOOOO! I JUST DROVE here! Everything was fine! After a few more frantic tries I had to conceded that the battery was totally dead. Someone stopped to help and we tried to jumpstart it with no success. Now…
I had not just my daughter, but two other kids in the car with me.
It was raining (of course it was!)
I was WEARING PAJAMAS. I don’t mean “sweatpants that I like to sleep in” but full on, obvious pajamas- the ones in a recent blog post with little pumpkins all over them.
And the crowning blow- I was parked in a handicapped space. Now, just to be clear- I don’t make a habit of parking in handicapped spaces. But this was after hours, and it’s common for people to pull into these spaces while waiting to pick up their kids. But I couldn’t leave the car there indefinitely.
SIGH.
Now let’s look on the bright side:
My husband had to go to work, but he had just enough time to come pick us up and drive us all to our house.
Once there, I threw pizza in the oven for the kids (who were now stuck at our house instead of being driven home) while calling roadside assistance.
Yay for Uber. It was quick, easy and cheap to get an Uber back to the school.
There was an event at the school at night, so LUCKILY the gates were still open.
Roadside assistance quickly jumped my car with their extra-strong jump box, and I was able to drive straight home.
It all could have been much, much worse.
When I walked in the door, I discovered that the kids, in my absence, had decided to dye their hair. “Mom! I got dye on my shirt!” “Can you text my mom and tell her I dyed my hair?” “Where’s a towel Abby can use to rinse her hair?”
AAAACK! I raced into the bathroom, rescued my special pumpkin hand towels, gathered up red-stained shirts, told the girl to text her own mom, and basically collapsed into a heap.
Tomorrow will be a new day. I’ll get a new battery. I’ll get my quiet evening at home. And I’ll get that blog post out, the NaBloPoMo update, one day late.
Serenity Now!
How was your day? Did anything crazy happen?
28 Responses
Oh wow, what a roller coaster. And you just wanted to get the kids. I had to laugh about the “Mom we dyed our hair thing.” The ultimate teenage move, right?
I hope tomorrow will be a bit more relaxed and you get your quiet night.
Thank you Tobia! My night is strangely not as relaxing as I had hoped (is it ever?) but it’s better than last night!
Omg Jenny. SERENITY NOW. That is a lot of things! I am very glad everything worked out but sheesh!!!!
Sheesh is right- it was quite a night. I hate car issues!
Oh my. That was quite a night. I think the moral of the story is to always have frozen pizza on hand for an emergency dinner. And to never underestimate when a flock of kids will come up with, but that’s much harder.
Here’s to a peaceful night at home tonight which you have EARNED.
Ha ha, thank you! Yes- ALWAYS HAVE FROZEN PIZZA.
WOW- what a wild story Jenny! You are a patient parent 🙂
Ha ha.. thanks Jessie. I’ve had years of practice : )
Oh, no! You definitely rolled with the punches much more gracefully than I would have. AND! AND! The idea that they were dying their hair when you got home!!! LOLOLOL. I do hope those parents knew what they were in store for.
Luckily I thought their hair came our pretty well! I guess the parents now know what can happen when they let their kids come to our house.
Oh Jenny – that is A LOT to deal with. Car issues are the worst – and after dark, in the rain, with other people’s kids in tow.
I agree with others – you rolled with these “punches” a lot better than I would have; hope today has involved far less drama <3
Today was DEFINITELY less drama! And yes- car issues are the worst. Why does it always happen at night???
Oh that is a rough turn of events. I am glad you could get the car jumped and back home. Hopefully you or your husband can replace the battery easily (I would need Phil to do this, I do not know how to replace a battery… I am helpless when it comes to cars).
I told my husband I wanted to call a company to come replace the battery for $250 and he quickly said he would take care of it himself. Fine! I’ve been driving his car all day. I definitely don’t know how to install a car battery.
Yikes. Tomorrow has got to be better, right?
Yes! That’s the good thing- things can only improve after a day like that.
OF COURSE THEY DYED THEIR HAIR because why not? Oh wow! You are a zen mom– love it.
Yes, of course- why not dye their hair? It makes perfect sense, ha ha.
OF COURSE THEY DYED THEIR HAIR because why not? Oh wow! You are a zen mom– love it.
Oh crap. That stinks. I’m glad your husband was available. The hair dye thing would’ve sent me over the edge after all of that. Yikes.
What a day! But I was really glad it was not worse. When I read the headline I for a second was worried it was an accident. Car trouble still sucks and with other people’s kids, too, so sorry. I hope all parents involved were chill about the hair dying. It sounds like the typical teenage thing to do.
The hair dye – what amazing icing on that crap cake of a day. I’m still laughing. Tomorrow is another day and thank goodness for that.
oh no. that was not fun! but I guess it can happen, we just don’t know why and usually happens when we are least prepared. What a day! hope you get some good rest to recover from the stressful event.
Oh, no! Those are the worst days!
I’m so glad you’re ok and that the car was an easy fix, but ugh! No fun!
Oh goodness, these things always seem to happen at the most inopportune times. I am glad you were able to get the kids home and then run back to get the car. Will it be dead again in the morning? Did they swap the battery?
I hope tomorrow (today!) is a better day!
I can’t stop laughing! They were dyeing their hair???? At least they weren’t cutting it I guess.
SERENITY NOW indeed!
The same thing happened to a friend of mine – drove to a store, came out, and… the battery was dead. So it used its last little bit of juice to get there, then just decided that was it? Sheesh.
I confess, I kind of laughed at the dyeing of the hair. You are an amazing mom (and you rescued the special towels! go, you!)
What a day, Jenny! It’s enough to deal with car trouble – but to deal with it WHILE having other kids with you. Ack! And OF COURSE they decided to dye their hair while you were dealing with all of that. Kids, man.
Here’s to better days ahead!