June 1st...I have no picture for today...if I had even tried to take my camera out today, I probably would have dropped it. Or lost it. Or had it stolen. That's the kind of day I had.
It started off simple enough, puttering around the house for the first few hours after we wake up, watching DVR from last night and folding some laundry. I knew I had to go grocery shopping and pay bills and I figured I would wait until after lunch to get all that done...maybe, maybe I would do it just before lunch and get something while we were out. Or maybe I would just put it off one more day, I hadn't totally decided yet. I asked a friend to go to lunch with me figuring I needed to motivation to get out of the house anyway and when it turned out she was already busy I decided to put the kids down for a nap and put off my errands until the afternoon. Averi was wide awake but I was eventually able to get her down and as I was putting Cael in his bed I had a total epiphany. I told him to hold on one second and I bolted to the calendar on the fridge. Go Figure! Dr. appointment at 2 oclock! I thought to myself CRAP, it is 12:15 and I have to be in Nashville for Averi to get her helmet checked in less than 2 hours! Plus needing to eat and get gas...I had to leave in less than 15 minutes! Last time I parked in the wrong parking garage and spent 30 minutes walking to the right area of the hospital, so this time I called the front desk and left my cell phone number for them to call me back with directions. Then I woke Averi up got her dressed, Cael was already dressed and awake thank goodness, packed the diaper bag, grabbed a sippy cup and we bolted. I remembered as I was backing out of the driveway that I needed to put oil in my car and was instantly afraid to drive all the way to Nashville without getting any, I contemplated (like many moms do...I hope I'm not the only one) leaving the kids in the car, leaving the AC on and parking next to the door so I could just whip in and whip out. That may have worked out OK, I have never actually gone through with it before, I always get scared of kidnappers and end up taking them in with me, but I was in a huge hurry! It didn't matter though because right in front of me, a cop car pulled in to the space next to the door. Never mind that idea! I figured I should get gas anyway since we were already going to be there for a minute, so I pulled to a pump and started getting the kids out. Before I even had Cael unbuckled my cell phone rang and it was the hospital. The lady said
"...spell her name for me?"
"B-R-U-N-E-R"
"....who is she coming to see?"
"Dr. Wit--Oh crap! that's MY dr!"
"*laughter*"
Good grief! Had I not needed gas, I would been on my way to Nashville when they called, and for no reason! Averi doesn't get her helmet checked until next week! Talk about a basket case. So now I had an hour to kill before my own Dr appointment. We drove around, ate some KFC, and ended up sitting in a room at the clinic for an hour and a half just to get a referral to another dr. Sheesh. By this time it's 3:30 and we are all sweating bullets. Averi is cranky because her nap was interrupted, Cael is miserable because he hadn't napped at all yet, and I am miserable because I was wearing dark jeans and a black t-shirt! That's what you get when you have an AC in your house that works...a complete shock when you step outside.
Not even a mile and a half down the road, both kids are asleep and I still have to go to the bank and get groceries so I thought about the best way to tackle this. Ah-hah! The bank has a drive through window perfect! Well...like an idiot I pulled up to the tubes instead of the window even though I didn't have a deposit slip to fill out. It was too late to back up by then so I figured oh well, my old bank would be OK with this...(my old bank served a town of 500 but still...)
As I was pulling up there was a sign that read "Please stop at the first station" So I did. The closest one to me. The first one. After I spend a few minutes writing my account number and cash total on an old envelope that happened to be in my glove compartment, I stuck them in the tube, sent them up and realized there was a car behind me. That's when I realized by FIRST station, they meant the farthest one. As a courtesy. Just like at the gas station, so the car behind you doesn't have to wait for you. Whoops. If I didn't feel flustered enough by the point, the teller sent my retard envelope back to me with a real deposit slip and asked me to fill it out. I grabbed the tube to get my money out and asked her if I should pull forward to the other station. She said "Yes Please" So I did. I pull up and I go to grab the new tube thing, only to realize the old one is still in my lap! I could practically feel the poor lady behind me wringing my neck through the air. I contemplated what to do next...do I get out and run this back to her? do I drive off with out warning and head for the hills and never come back? Before I could make a decision though, the teller sucked up the green tube (the one in my lap was blue) and asked over the loud speaker "Darci, could you send me that blue tube back, and I will send you the right one?" Even in the privacy of my own car, I had never been so embarrassed! I did what she asked, avoided eye contact at all cost with the lady behind me and FINALLY got my money deposited. Ugh!
Now...I still needed to get groceries, even though all I wanted to do was go back into my air conditioned house and curl up in a ball. I got to Wal Mart with both kids still asleep, I tried to park near a cart station but there weren't any spaces so I was quite a ways away by the time I got a spot. I got Cael out first because he always wakes up as soon as I unbuckle him. Except today. He stretched out, wrapped his arms around my neck and fell right back into la la land on my shoulder. Awesome. Now I had to figure out how to shift his dead weight enough to let me get Averi out. It was a scene let me tell you. Poor Averi was awake, looking at me with those big blue eyes like "Just grab me mom. What are you doing? It's hot in here!" I got her on my hip finally, used my toes to close the door hoping it latched because it was going to have to stay that way, I had no fingers to reopen and shut it, and penguin walked all the way to the carts. You would think that someone passing me by would have said "Do you need a little help?" But no. I got a few giggles, and a lot of looks that said "that poor girl..." but no offers to help. Have you ever tried to put a 6 month old who is constantly kicking her legs into the front of a cart while balancing a 500 pound toddler on your chest? It's not fun, especially when it's about 50,000 degrees outside and I am STILL in dark pants and a black shirt!
I finally got her in, managed to get the cart inside the store, but it was a complete joke. Just to turn a corner I would have to pull the cart to a complete stop, shift my one hand to the other end of the handle bar and push with all my might, hoping it would make the corner and not knock over the big Mt. Dew castle that the employees probably had a ton of fun building. In the middle of the isle. I finally said enough was enough, I grabbed a pillow on clearance for $2.50, stuck it in the back of the cart and laid Cael down on it. THIS of course woke him up...the offer of being comfortable! Now they were both awake, I could steer with both hands and finally get one step closer to going home and going to bed. So...I made sure no one was looking, I picked up that pillow, put it BACK on the shelf and walked away. Wal Mart customer of the year, I know.