It started out like any normal day when I get to go into town, but within an hour of getting there, anything I had actually planned on getting done got thrown out the window!! Because the little ones didn't have an after-school activity, an extra trip back home at 3pm was already counted on. At about $15+ in gas for each return trip to town, you tend to plan carefully!
First, I go to the wi-fi spot and get logged in. Sometimes I have trouble with the connection, so I tend to not even shut off the truck until I've tested it. It does, so I get all nice and comfortable, and 5 minutes later, it craps out totally. Okay, pack up and head across town to another wi-fi. Within half an hour of arriving at wi-fi spot #2, my phone rings... Derek's boss... One of the kids is sick at school. So I try to get in touch with Derek to see what I should arrange since I haven't even scraped the surface of what I needed to do online as well as my in-town errands.
About 15 minutes after the boss call, one of the teachers at the school sends me a PM because of the sick kid... It was more than just a sore tummy. So I drop everything and leave town to get her from school. 45 minutes later I arrive at the school and request that her brother be put on the late bus so that I won't need to come back again before having to be in town to pick Derek up from work. No go, but I *do* make arrangements to pick him up in town at 2:20.
Sick kid (who's no longer sick really) and I trek back to town after a brief stop at home to drop off school bags -- keep in mind that a trip from home takes 30 minutes and 45 minutes from the school -- and get comfortably settled in. She's happily looking through my various mail order catalogues, and playing with a random Happy Meal toy I had tucked in my laptop bag. Then of course she's hungry, justifiably so since it's now 12:15 and she is used to lunch at 11:30!
We are in line at a *very* busy fast food restaurant, waiting our turn behind a *very* big police officer. Sick kid is hiding behind me because he's scary!! Trying to hold on to her without losing our place in line. Phone rings AGAIN!! I *should* pause here to say that I don't have call display, so I have no idea who's calling, EVER... This time it's oldest kid... He needs me to drive him to pick up his no-longer-suspended licence, the bank, and insurance agent so the driveway ornament can be moved. All downtown of course!!
Sooooooooo... sick kid and I get our meals to-go, and head off in the truck again to go all the way across town to pick up oldest kid, and then into downtown for *his* errands. And I *still* haven't done any of mine yet!!! His first stop, which is supposed to be only 5 minutes, has us waiting nearly 45 minutes sitting in the truck. At least I had a now-cold burger to eat while waiting! There was no time remaining in his lunch break to do the rest, so we took him straight back to work.
He asked me to go through the coffee shop drive-thru to get him coffee and something to eat. Looking at the time, I had a bit more than half an hour or so until I need to pick up little brother from the pool, so I agree. The usually-speedy coffee shop is in slow motion, and a 5-10 minute errand turns into 20!
So now I have 10-15 minutes before pick-up...let's try to get some email done quickly since the pool is nearby. I get logged in and my phone rings...school wondering where I am because the bus is ready to go back to school. I look at the clock and it's only 2:10, but I make the mad dash to the pool, with ANOTHER call from the school just as I'm turning the corner onto the pool street!!!
Now I have two little ones and myself, so any errand running is definitely out. What were the errands I had to do anyway? I've entirely forgotten by now. There's about 2 hours until Derek is done for the day and my poor laptop feels horribly neglected. I manage to get logged in again, but by now I can't remember a single thing that I still had to do! The connection was spotty and lagging like crazy, but there was no way I was going anywhere else to try for something better! Of course this is when the rain that had been spitting off and on begins coming down in earnest. So much for letting the sproggins run around outside in the fresh air while I tried to think!
I *did* remember at nearly the last minute that I had the testing results from one of my testers to download. My phone gets cranky with attachments, so even though I had received the emails the day before, I didn't download them then since I knew I was going to be online. I try to use Yahoo mail for all my "business" related stuff, and it wouldn't let me even open the emails until I upgraded to their "new" mail!! So I finally get the files on to my computer, look at the time, and Derek is due off work any minute! I forget my manners and don't reply to my tester, don't have time to check that the files saved correctly, and I'm not expecting to return to town until Tuesday!!
We got to Derek's work just in time to find out that he hasn't returned yet from the farm he was at. Two energetic kids, one frazzled mom, and a now-fogged-up-window'ed truck makes for one horrid combination!! Twenty minutes later he gets back to the shop, and ten minutes after that, we finally get to leave.
Being such a great hubby, Derek knows right away that I'm in no shape for our weekly shopping (which was the whole point initially of my going into town!), so we decide to make just one stop at a small discount store for our smokes and any other odds and ends we could there. I remembered then that I had wanted to get a few colouring books for the kids (and me) from the dollar store earlier that day. We found some Easter-themed ones, but can you believe it, THEY DON'T SELL CRAYONS!!!
I went home, laid down on the couch, had a nap, got up and went to bed... We didn't have any Calgon in the house for my bubble bath!!!
Nicole =o)
Sent from my BlackBerry® powered by Virgin Mobile.
