Fortunately....Unfortunately...

I think I've mentioned on my blog about having run out of gas in the recent past. I've been trying to avoid that of late - as soon as the gas light comes on these days I make a bee line for the nearest gas station.

Last week (and boy what a week last week was!) after having taken Dee to a doctors appointment, where I got slapped with a much higher bill than I expected, and then getting her back to school, I headed to a chiropractor's appointment that I was afraid I was going to be late for.

It was already noon and even though I hadn't even had time for breakfast that morning and the gas line on the gauge read halfway between a quarter of a tank and empty I headed to the chiropractor's office a couple of towns away. There was a gas station right across the street from where I was heading so I figured I'd just fill up there.

I made it half way there when I noticed the car start to hesitate - this is not a sensation you want to feel as you're trucking down the freeway at 65 mph. I thought to myself, "Surely not! The gas light hasn't even come on." But the next jerk was unmistakeable.

Fortunately, I just happened to be coming up on an exit; unfortunately the exit was uphill. Before I got to the top I was riding in the emergency lane as other cars zoomed past me, rocking forward in my seat trying to help my poor little van make it to the top of that hill.

The car crept to the top of the hill and crested it while I sat repeating, "Please let there be a gas station at the bottom of the hill, please let there be a gas station at the bottom of the hill, please let...."

Fortunately there were two gas stations at the bottom of the hill; unfortunately they were both on the other side of the intersection of a busy cross street with a red light between me and them.

Fortunately as I started down the hill the red light was green; unfortunately as the car died and I coasted to the bottom of the hill the light turned red. Fortunately I ended up stopping in the right-hand turning lane; unfortunately there were two other cars behind me wondering why I wouldn't turn right on red once the cross traffic cleared.

Right as the car completely died, the "Low on Fuel" light came on for a brief second and then faded into nothingness. To which I responded, "Thanks!"

I turned my hazard lights on and tried to figure out what to do. I was by myself and was heading to the chiropractor because my back was out. Dave was working 30 minutes away but I decided to call him anyway. As I went into his voice mail I realized he had carpooled with his boss that morning and his car was 45 minutes from where he was.

At that point I was so frustrated I was almost in tears as I sat through the second green light. The only thing I could say without bursting into angry tears was, "Uh, Dave....yeah....when you get this message call me," and I hung up. (When he got the message he thought I'd been in an accident.)

Fortunately one of the cars behind me was a pickup truck with a man that looked pretty strong; unfortunately he must have been in a hurry because after I sat through the second green light he backed up, put his turn signal on and pulled off.

I thought about getting out and putting the hood up, but that wouldn't get me any closer to the gas station, plus I have to figure out where the knob on the grill is that you have to pull to release it - have you ever noticed that pesky pull is never in the same place any two cars and even if you figure out where it is once, by the time you need to use it again, you've forgotten where it was?

I finally decided, bad back or not I was gonna have to push it by myself. I hoped if I started pushing someone would help me. I figured my best bet and really only option since I was in the turning lane was to turn right onto the smaller cross street and then turn left into the gas station.

Fortunately I was still on a slight downhill angle so when I pushed, the car started moving fairly easily; unfortunately as the van started picking up a little speed and I started turning the wheel I remembered that the van has power steering and when the car died I lost all power.

I was not making my turn quite fast enough and was getting a little too close to the cars on the cross street waiting to make a left hand turn. So I started trying to crank the wheel harder.

Fortunately I got the wheel turned just enough as a young man ran up behind the van and started helping me, he was quickly joined by a second young man. This made pushing the van much easier; unfortunately I realized that the van was picking up too much speed and I wasn't going to be able to turn the wheel quick enough to clear the oncoming traffic while standing off to the side pushing.

I also realized that if I didn't get into the van fairly quickly I wouldn't be able to because it was picking up too much speed and I was about to overshoot the turn for the gas station. I took a running jump and landed/fell ungracefully into the driver's seat.

I cranked the wheel and yelled to the guys to hold up so I could put on the brakes without them slamming, face-first,into the back window like unsuspecting bugs on the freeway.

Two cars stopped for us to make the turn but I wanted them to pull on through the light so I could make the turn behind them. I waved them on not realizing that the light had turned red and the second car stopped closer to where we were than I had anticipated.

Fortunately we were almost there and there were no other cars coming so the guys started pushing again. Unfortunately with my door open I was about to take out the back end of that second car that had stopped. So I started trying to pull my door closed and cranking the steering wheel the opposite way at the same time.

Fortunately we just cleared the second car; unfortunately the turn into the gas station was an incline - uphill!. I sat in the van whispering, "Please make it, please make it, please make it, please make..."

We made it up the hill and I rollled to a stop by the gas pumps. I jumped out of the van and thanked the young men profusely. They smiled, said, "No problem" and they took off - or so I thought.

As I got out to pump the gas there was a different young man standing just outside the station taking a drag on a cigarette. He looked at me and said, "Good thing you ran out just over there," to which I responded, "Yeah and thank goodness I had some good helpers." As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I thought, 'good helpers, good helpers??? I sound like such a mother! When did I get so old?"

Fortunately I was able to fill up the tank; unfortunately when I got back in the car, it still wouldn't start! Dave called right as I was about to throw my head on the steering wheel and cry.

I told him I'd run out of gas and had just put some in but it still wouldn't start. Right as I was explaining the situation the front passenger door opened - which shocked me because I always keep my doors locked, especially at gas stations - but with all the drama I'd forgotten to lock them.

Add to that the fact that I was in the part of town that when I'd served there as a missionary 20+ years ago, the mission president wouldn't allow us to be in that part of town after dark. Standing in the open door and leaning in was a teenager with a scraggly goatee, baggy clothes and wreaking of cigarette smoke.

I was a bit taken aback and then I realized it was one of the young men that had helped push the van. He told me to give it some gas. I told him I'd just put some in. He said, "No, give it some gas." I realized he meant pump the gas pedal. He said that because I'd run out the gas line was empty and I needed to pump the pedal.

He was right, the car started, but he didn't close the door. He looked at me and then asked if I was heading north. He wanted a ride. I told him I was only headed to the next town. He said that would work and asked if he could have a ride.

I don't make it a practice to pick up strangers, I've done it twice in my life that I can remember and those were under extenuating circumstances. But as I looked in that young man's eyes I felt like I should give him the ride. I also figured it was the least I could do since he'd helped me.

I told him to get in and told Dave what was going on. Needless to say he wasn't thrilled with the situation especially since he was so far away and there wasn't anything he could really do to help me. When I told him I was giving the young man a ride, Dave kept asking me if I was ok. I told him I was and that I would call him in a few minutes when I got to where I was going. I made sure my passenger heard that and knew my husband was waiting for my call.

As we got back on the freeway the young man started telling me how life really stinks (that wasn't the word he used, but it will suffice). He'd lost his job, lost his apartment and his car had been impounded. I asked him some questions about himself and chatted with him for a while.

After listening to him for a while I told him, yeah, life can be a real pain sometimes, and everybody has hard times; but it's the hard times that make us strong. They give us a chance to pull ourselves up and see what we're really made of. (Boy somebody needed to say that to me a few days ago! *smile*) He said, "Yeah I guess that's true." After that we chatted a bit more and he asked if I'd drop him off at a gas station across from where I was going.

He told me to just drop him off at the corner and he'd run across the street. As he started to get out I told him to hold on a second and I'd give him a few dollars. He asked me if I was sure I wanted to do that. I told him it was the least I could do.

He'd helped me and I appreciated it, but I told him I would only give it to him if he promised he wouldn't spend it on cigarettes, alcohol or ANYTHING bad for him. He looked me in the eye and promised he wouldn't shook my hand, told me thanks and he was gone.

I went over to the chiropractors office and called my husband to let him know I was ok.

Unfortunately my hip was killing me from a previous mishap and my entire lower back was tight and hurting from trying to push the van. Fortunately on the day I ran out of gas and had to push the van I was on my way to the chiropractor to get my back adjusted and he was able to put everything back in.

Maybe the old saying is true. Maybe clouds do have silver linings.

A Murder Mystery Party

Dee had her birthday party for her friends a couple of weeks ago. She planned a murder mystery party. It was a blast! She and nine of her friends got together for a “costume ball” and the fun began.

The color scheme was black and white with splashes of hot pink. We had a silver two layer serving tray covered in black and white donuts. A punch bowl filled with pink bubbly punch, which despite being a last minute idea turned out to be the hit of the party. The girls absolutely LOVED the punch and kept telling me so as they came back repeatedly to fill their punch glasses. Just take raspberry sherbet, pour ginger ale over it and voila – instant “fancy punch” that guests rave about, go figure,

Then there was the birthday cake. A culinary masterpiece- ha ha – that I decided to make on my own since I couldn’t find a cake to suit us in the stores. It had to be round with two different sized layers with question marks going around the top layer, a black satin ribbon around the bottom and a silver butter knife (the “murder weapon” in the mystery was a butter knife) wrapped in a black bow stuck in the top of the cake. I decided to throw pink polka dots on the bottom layer for good measure.

The pink polka dots ended up leaving my hands pink for days after a mishap with the decorating bag which I lost my grip on. I had hot pink (almost red) frosting squirt out of the back of the bag onto the white frosting on the top of the cake – which I knew would not just wipe off without leaving a mess. But it just so happened that the way it squirted out and down part of the top layer was perfect for looking like blood. So I just stuck the ribbon wrapped butter knife strategically in the top of the cake and viola, murder weapon with blood! Score!!!

No one knew who the victim or the murderer would be when they arrived, not even Dee. The girls snacked, ate pizza, played games, laughed, giggled, solved the murder and just had a plain old good time. The games included “So you think you can dance” where the girls divided up into teams of two or three and had to make up their own routine to the same song. It didn’t matter whether the style of dance they drew was a waltz or hip-hop. They all had the same song to work with. It sounded hysterical. I wouldn’t know for sure since being a “mom” I was banned from the basement while they played.

They also played a game called, actors, directors and producers, where they divided up into different teams and drew goofy scenarios out of a bowl and they had three minutes to come up with a skit to perform for the rest of the group. Again, it sounded hysterical. The girls voted on who did the best in the games and whoever won got to pick a “prize”. It was so much fun!! I had a ball – no pun intended – and took lots of pictures.

Makes You Wonder

Our 16 year old discovered he'd written a check that he didn't have enough money in his account to cover. Short six dollars, he went through his room and came up with three dollars cash and enough change to make up the difference. He headed down to the local bank and returned a short while later with a funny look on his face.

He said the teller told him they would deposit the cash but couldn't take the change because their change counter wasn't working. Seriously?? Thinking maybe he'd taken them $3 in pennies, I opened the envelope and found $2 in quarters, eighty cents in dimes and nickles and only twenty pennies. Makes you wonder - when did they stop teaching bank tellers how to count change???

Things I Don't Recommend

In addition to not singing the national anthem in front of people when you're recovering from being sick I've added two more things to my list of "Things I don't recommend."

1) Trying to lift a child (even a small one) over a row of chairs (even low ones) while wearing high heals and keeping your knees straight. I thought I was gonna cry right there in primary in front of all the kids when I sat back down on the hard metal chair I had to sit on for the next thirty minutes.

2) Never assume a three year old knows what "Jump when I say three" means!

I think I need a few extra strength tylenol and a chiropractor.

"The Rocket's Red Blare"

The kids’ high school sent out an email looking for people who’d be willing to sing the national anthem before their basketball games. I’m always game to sing whenever the opportunity arises – what can I say, we all know I’m a ham.

DJ told me his musical theater group had tried out and were singing in January. I figured, why not, so I sent an email saying I was interested, thinking that I’d probably get an email back either telling me they had enough people lined up or setting up an audition.
I received an almost instant reply asking if I could come in and audition that same day.

I was a little hesitant since I’ve been battling a cold, or something for a while now and my voice is just not “right” still. But I told them the situation and that I’d be willing to if my voice would hold out.

The lady wrote back and said that would be great, I’d audition at 6:30 and sing at 7:00. I was a bit confused by her email and emailed her back asking for clarification. Turns out the person that was supposed to sing that night had cancelled right before I emailed and she was desperately looking for someone to take their place.

I told her I would be willing to come in and audition but to please tell me if my voice didn’t sound good enough. I posted what had happened on face book and had a couple of friends comment one of which said she would never be able to hit the high note; to which I replied:

“This is why I like to sing A Capella - I can take it down to the range I want it to be in. It doesn't have to be high to be powerful. There's nothing quite like the feeling of beginning a song - one with your own twist on it - and feeling, more than hearing, a hush fall over the entire room as you and the audience become enveloped in the power of the music.

For anyone out there thinking “Huh?”, it’s even better than taking the last-second, game-winning, three-point-shot and knowing the second the ball leaves your hand that it’s gonna hit nothing but the bottom of the net!

If you know the feeling I’m talking about - this was not one of those moments. Here’s your chance to laugh with me or at me, you can choose * smile *. I don’t recommend trying to sing the national anthem in front of a crowd when you’re still getting over being sick.

The audition went off without a hitch, but unfortunately I forgot to get another drink of water afterwards and twenty minutes later, after coughing and desperately wishing I had some water I began singing. I did ok until I got to “… the rocket’s red glare” where my voice completely broke. I’ve never had my voice break that bad. So instead of a “rocket’s red glare,” the audience got “the rocket’s red blare!” But in true southern fashion I didn’t miss a beat and finished with gusto, not daring to hold out the high note on the last phrase. In the end, it all turned out ok. I got several sympathetic looks, a couple of pats on the back with encouraging words and one more funny singing story to add to my collection, and that’s ok, it keeps me humble. * smile*

Life's Little Ironies

This morning as I was taking DJ to school (actually I was just along for the ride, he was driving - I just needed the car for later) the roads were still quite slick. I found myself getting onto him for taking curves to fast, spinning the tires for fun as he started off, following too closely, not allowing himself enough time to stop and turning in front of cars too fast, etc. You know all the things moms get after their teenage, still getting their feet wet, driving sons for. He countered by rolling his eyes and saying, “Relax Mom.”

I found myself counting the miles until I could pitch him out of the car and get my hands on the steering wheel again. Once we made it to the school I took over the controls and returned home to get Dee and repeat the process, but this time I was the driver.

Things were going along fine until we got to the school. The traffic was backed up due partially to the fact that some of the drivers were being a little overly cautious – imagine, me saying that LOL.

The little road that you turn into that goes to the “driveway” of the school gets really congested. I needed to turn left. Usually when there are cars turning right I’ll stay back just a bit so the cars trying to get out of the school by turning left can go while I’m waiting for the oncoming traffic that is turning right to clear (ok, are you totally confused?).

At any rate, the cars that were waiting to turn back onto the main road were very tall vehicles, like suburbans vans, trucks, etc and were obscuring what the traffic going into the school was doing – in other words I couldn’t see that the lane I was about to turn into was backed up. I also couldn’t see that the road at the particular place I would be pulling into was packed into a nice little sheet of ice.

The oncoming car, a little red convertible mustang (with its top up, of course) turned in and I had just enough time to turn in behind it – if I hurried a bit - before the next several oncoming cars got there and I wouldn’t have to wait.

The mustang pulled in with me hot on its tail and hit its breaks. I hit mine and hit ice and started sliding. Fortunately I wasn’t going very fast, but when you hit ice that doesn’t matter.

My antilock breaks started bouncing, the crossing guard sitting on the right hand corner was watching with some interest as was the guy in the suburban on my left. I pushed as hard as I could on the brakes, not daring to let up as I prayed that we’d stop before hitting the nice shiny bumper of that little car that was getting closer by the second.

As we skidded to a stop maybe an inch or two away from the little red car I realized that I wasn’t breathing and my lungs were hurting. I took a breath, felt my heart start beating again and then calmly looked over at Dee and said, “Ok I think my heart is beating again.” Kayryn looking totally unruffled said, “Oh good.” Then we drove calmly into the school driveway as though nothing had happened.

All I can say is that if I’d slid into a car after fussing at my son that same morning, I don’t think he would have ever let me live it down. Huh, life’s little ironies.

Can I see your liscense and registration Mom?

Catching Up

It snowed a little again last night. We got about 3 or 4 more inches. This morning was our ward’s Christmas Breakfast. They had a short program too. DJ and a friend played Carol of the Bells on their electric Guitars and I was announcing the program and ended up singing a couple of songs at the last minute. They had some people cancel and needed to fill a little time so I sang Silver Bells and dedicated it to the memory of my grandpa and then Silent Night – both with a bit of a southern twist on them. I did them solo, A Cappella, and while not feeling very well – had a migraine variant. (Don’t get those very often, but don’t like them when I do.)

Dave and Dee went out this afternoon for a brief snowball fight and to build a mini-snowman. The closest I got was the snowball Dee chucked at me when I opened the door to tell them lunch was ready. Thank goodness for fairly quick reflexes. The snowball hit the door as I slammed it shut. Below is a picture of that little snowman. Keep in mind that “tree” in the background is maybe two feet tall.

When I got behind in my blogging in November I’d made a list of things to write about so I’d remember when I caught up. Then I gave that list the kiss of death by “putting it somewhere I could find it.” I don’t know how many of you have that problem but if I put something where I can find it, it may never be seen again.

Last night, a month later, I came across the list. So here are some of the highlights. DJ was in the play, The Seven Brides of Dracula. He played “the nerdy” boyfriend of the girl Dracula was after. He did a very good job too. He was quite convincing.

He also had a chance to be involved with a Young Americans workshop. They are a singing group of young people from all over the country (and from a couple of other countries as well) who travel all over the world performing.

It was quite a rare treat – “once in a lifetime” – to have them come to a local school and put on workshops with a show at the end of it involving all the students. They did a fantastic job! I was very impressed. But I have to tell you my favorite part was when DJ sang a solo dressed as Tom Sawyer (overalls, straw hat, fishing pole and all) with a southern drawl. It did my southern heart good to hear him sing like that. I wanted to stand up and cheer when he finished but restrained myself and only clapped, shouted and whistled. * smile *

Dave’s been playing in an indoor soccer league. Wow, it’s just a bit different than outdoor soccer. Dave’s a keeper – ok in more ways than one, but in this case I mean a goal keeper.

The “field” is not as long with walls and nets all around it. You can play the ball off the walls and the goal is a large shallow square in the concrete wall with a net behind it. Man those balls are moving!! Forget trying to stop them, I’d be ducking! They come at an incredible speed with a ridiculous amount of force.

None the less my husband throws himself in front of them and even dives for them – did I mention this indoor soccer “field” is on the concrete floor of an old warehouse that’s covered with some type of padding and artificial turf that feels like they included a few glass shards for good measure? Many a night Dave’s come home with bloody knees.

All I can say is he is a dedicated goalie. Of course I discovered that a few years ago when a guy slid into him on purpose and broke his nose. Though he was on the ground bleeding, disoriented and barely conscious, his teammates had to pry the ball loose so they could get him up and to someone’s car. He got his nose broke, but he saved the goal!

Dee spent November working on the story she’s writing and practicing basketball in spite of freezing temperatures. Unfortunately she didn’t make the high school team this year but she’s planning on playing on a city league team and trying out again next year. She also had one of the coaches at school ask her if she was going to try out for softball when the time comes. She played once several years ago, but hey she’s game. So it looks like she’ll be trying that next.

She’s also discovered several books that have perked her interest and has been pretty engrossed in those as well. I was pretty excited since this is a child who has always said she hated reading.

DJ just finished performing with the school’s fine arts department in their program, The Spirit of Christmas. He danced a waltz, the Jive, sang in another song, played lead guitar with the rock band, and was one of the wise men in the Nativity. The program consisted of groups from about 5th -12th grade. They did a fantastic job. We really enjoyed it. Now he’s working on the play, The Sound of Music.

Dave has some time off built up that he can’t carry over into next year so he’s been able to be home a lot during the past couple of weeks or so and we’ve really enjoyed having him home. He’s been a lot of help and I don’t think I’ve driven him crazy – at least not yet * smile *.

Well I think that should pretty much bring us up to speed. Now I just need to go wrap some presents, finish making some presents I’m working on, order one or two more things, make the neighbor gifts and get those ready, take pictures for Christmas cards and get those made and mailed and then we should be about ready for Christmas.

How many more days do I have left???