Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Life keeps getting in the way

I am dropping the ball big-time on the blog these days. There just isn't time! Take yesterday for example:

6:00am Wake up, make coffee get dressed & ready for work, let the dog out, feed the critters, shut windows & blinds so the no-A/C house won't be 1,000 degrees when we get home in the evening, pack lunch & put it in car so I won't forget and leave it on the counter, fold a load of laundry
6:40am Wake up kids & get them ready to go
7:00am Out the door
7:20am Drop off kids at school
8:00am At my desk at work, frantically trying to cram my full-time++ job into my part-time (and part-pay) schedule
5:10pm Leave work
5:15pm Car starts acting funny
5:20pm Call M to warn him I might not make it to childcare by 6:00 (the time they close and start charging you $1/minute/kid if you're late)
5:40pm Car starts to totally break down on mile-long bridge with no shoulders, check engine light starts flashing frantically, I call USAA for a tow truck and start praying (to whom, I don't know) that the car makes it off the bridge before it totally dies
5:42pm I make it off the bridge, abandon car at a Denny's parking lot, run in to tell the manager why it's there, run back to the car to grab some change because my bus pass is in my other bag at home, and sprint six blocks for a bus (in high heels and a skirt, clutching a purse in one hand and pressing a cell phone to my ear with the other because I'm still on the phone with USAA)
5:55pm I catch a local bus that's standing-room only and stops on every corner
6:15pm I run in the door at childcare; luckily for me, it's a night they're open late for parent training (so no $30 late charge), and they're even feeding the kids dinner
6:30pm M arrives at the broken down VW, takes the child seats out & puts them in his car (Note to self: buy another child seat this weekend so we can have 2 in both cars at all times), and gives the VW key to the tow truck driver
6:40pm M arrives at childcare
7:00pm We arrive home; Z pretty much goes straight to bed; I water gardens, feed the dog, etc.
7:45pm I start getting B ready for bed
8:30pm B is in bed; I finish watering gardens & take a weak stab at tidying the house
9:00pm I eat a tortilla and call it dinner, collapse into bed with the Daily Show on
5:45am today: Repeat (except that M drives the kids to school and I catch a bus 2 blocks from the house -- a much nicer way to get to work than driving IMO -- I'm hoping M decides he likes taking the kids to school & I can ride the bus from home most days)

Now if only the car repair shop would answer their phone or call me back...

See why I haven't been blogging? There's always something. I'm actually at work right now...better stop blogging and do some actual work...

10:30am UPDATE: Shit. Just talked to the car repair shop, and someone broke into my car overnight. It doesn't look like they took anything, but they broke a window. Now I have to head over there to meet the police & file a report. Fortunately, the shop has the whole thing on videotape, so maybe they'll actually catch the @ssholes. Pardon my French, but I'm pissed.

5 comments:

Melanie said...

Man, that just sucks. There is no other word for it. I feel for you, girl! Hope the week gets better for you.

pittmane said...

That does suck. May the car repair gods smile on you...and make the repair CHEAP.

lisa said...

Hah-sounds like we had parallel lives-my car didn't break down-j just lost his keys and had to bus from stapleton to dt to get keys from me-on the same day that I left my purse at home including my cell phone-and I was at a conference all day-somehow we found each other, and he bussed back to the car and made it to daycare in the nick of time.
We were definitely wishing we weren't a one car family this week.
Really sorry about the break in on top of it...

~lmc

Maia said...

Wow. That sounds like a truly sucky day! I had the alternator go out on my subaru once on the way to a job at a fishing lodge in the middle of nowhere northern Colorado. The problem was I was about two hours from anywhere, and I couldn't stop the car or it wouldn't have started again, plus all the instruments on the dashboard went down with the alternator, so no speed, no gas meter, nothing. Fun. I ended up having to stay out there for three days while they ordered a new alternator at the teensy little garage.

Cavatica said...

Sheesh!