I Fought the Curb and the Curb Won!!

We have a tradition around here that I am not very fond of. It is not one we started, it just started on its own. When Rick is out of town, bad things happen. Last week was no exception. He was gone to New York from Mon.-Thurs. On Wed. afternoon, disaster(that may be an exaggeration, but it is the only word I can think of) struck. At 3:10, I was headed to do my daily 3 school afternoon pickup extravaganza when I cut the corner a little too close on the curb and ended up with a flat tire on a very busy road.

I looked at the clock. I had 10 minutes before I was supposed to be at Isaiah's school to pick him up. I immediately called his classroom to inform them of my situation and let them know I was trying to find someone else to come get him. He gets out at 3:20. They responded, "Well, we will stay until 3:30." At that point, I am thinking, "So are you going to just leave him there by himself?" I didn't say that. They then said they would see if there is a teacher that will be staying later. I immediately got off the phone and began scrambling to make phone calls. I first called my friend, Laura. I had just left her house and thought, "she is the closest person around." If Rick had been in town, I would have just called him. His office was very close by. Instead, not only was he out of town, but he was in meetings and unreachable.

Laura, so graciously offered to come by, stay with my truck and call AAA while I took her vehicle to pick up my kids from school. Another friend, Tosha, drove by and called to see what was going on. She was able to go get Isaiah for me right away so that we weren't holding up his teachers. That was a huge help.

The thing I love is that Laura thought to take pictures for me. She knew I would want to blog about this and remember it. See those "snazzy" rims on my truck? Well, they can complicate things. A special "key" is often needed to remove them. Thankfully, mine did not need that because I couldn't get in touch with Rick to find out where it would be, but it was a job I couldn't have done alone. Even though I "know" how to change a tire, I could not have done this task on my truck. It was a job for a professional.

The spare tire made my truck lopsided

My tire, my wagon, and my Swazi Sales stuff

After the tire was changed and I had all of my kids, I headed to the tire store to get things fixed.

We had a snowstorm coming in the next day and I did not want to risk driving on that spare too long. We were like the "Clapp Clown Car" unloading to go into the store. One of the mechanics asked how many people I had stuffed in there. All 7 of us sat and waited for the verdict. I think our presence was a bit overwhelming to the men.

At one point, Isaiah was licking tires.

Lauren loved the "tire smell" and decided they should make a candle with that scent.

She worked on her homework while we waited.

There were some kid meltdowns in the process.

Abby had a migraine, Isaiah was in timeout multiple times and 2 children ended up with being grounded from some major privileges as a result of their attitudes.

I love this picture!

I kind of wish I had a pic of me, too.

I am pretty sure it would have had a very grumpy look on my face!!

When it was all said and done, I had to buy 2 new tires. Ouch, that was painful. Seriously, it is 2012, people. Can't someone figure out how to create a tire where the sidewall can be repaired. It stinks to buy 2 new tires to replace 2 perfectly good ones!!

At this point, it was 6:15. I decided that with all of the drama, we needed something quick and easy for dinner. For all of our sanity's sake, we picked up dinner at Chick-fil-a to take home. Seriously, what is $25 more when you have just spent $437? Merry Christmas to me! Boo!! We finally arrived home around 6:45. The 3 1/2 ordeal was very exhausting.

Even saying all of that, I am thankful. I am thankful that God provided people to help me. It could have been so much worse. The weather could have been worse. I could have been all alone with no help. God sent just the right people at just the right time to help me. I was able to get it all taken care of on that day.

Needless, to say, I am driving around curbs very carefully now!!