One of Those Days

I got up this morning knowing it was going to be a long day. There was a lot of packing and furniture moving to be done at the office, plus we had plans to make a run up to my sister’s house after work to pick up some things and have dinner.

Zach was in a pretty good mood this morning and we actually made it out the door on time (our new morning schedule is working out nicely). On the way to day care I thought I heard the car making a strange sound, so I turned the radio down a bit so I could hear it better. There was a bit of a squeal when I hit the brakes. I’ve been wanting to get them checked for a while now, but it is one of those things that just gets pushed to the back of my mind easily. After I dropped Zach off, I turned the radio off and listened to my car. The sounds I heard were not pleasant. It was getting worse. I called Hubby and told him that I needed to get the car in right away to have the brakes checked.

I got to the office, made a few more phone calls, and then met my mom down at the auto shop. With a sick feeling in my stomach because I just knew this was going to cost way more than we have, I rode back to work with my mom.

I kept myself busy packing up my office. Everything is now packed with the exception of my laptop and phone. I have an empty desk and chair for one more day, and then I’ll be crammed into my mom’s office or wherever I can manage to find the space to work. I did at least manage to keep a small rolling table that I’ll be able to set my laptop on to work. The next few weeks should be interesting to say the least.

A little while later, the shop guy called me back to tell me the fabulous news. All four brakes needed done. The front brakes needed new pads and the rotors smoothed. The rear breaks needed pads and completely new rotors. And the best part? All of that was going to cost me a grand total of $659. Um, that would be $659 that I absolutely do not have. Great.

There really was no other option than to have the work done. I certainly wasn’t driving the car in that condition considering the precious cargo that I tote around every day. While I was dying inside a little, I told the guy to go ahead and do the work.

After an exhausting afternoon of packing, packing, and more packing, I went to pick up my car. With taxes and the addition of a very needed oil change, the final bill came up to more than $700. It is now sitting on a credit card and I have no idea how I’m going to pay for it. I seriously think it is time to start buying lottery tickets. But hey, at least I don’t have to worry about my brakes going out for a while!

After that I picked Zach up and we headed up to my sister’s house. We had a nice dinner with her and the kids, then loaded up the truck and headed home. We drove the Suburban up there because we needed to bring some folding tables back with us. Since the ghettoburban has no air conditioning, we were riding with the windows down. I had a couple of pictures that my sister asked me to scan sitting on the console. The air blowing in the windows was moving them around a bit, so I grabbed them and decided to hold onto them. All of a sudden, a big gust of wind blew through the ghettoburban and ripped one of the pictures out of my hand and straight out the window. I. LOST. ONE. OF. THE. PICTURES. These weren’t just any pictures. They were portraits. The one that blew out the window was of my sister’s three boys all together. I am the world’s worst sister and aunt.

I immediately called my sister to tell her what had happened. I honestly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that point. I felt so terrible about losing the picture. There was really no point in trying to backtrack and find it. We were going down the highway at probably 70 mph when it flew out the window. It was just gone. She didn’t seem nearly as upset about it as I was. I even offered to try to see if the photographer could do a reprint, but she said not to worry about it. I don’t think I would have taken it as well if I had been on the other end.

Now I’m just ready to go to bed and get this day over with. I hope that tomorrow is a much better day because I’m not ready for another one like this.