6:04 am - Marly shuffles into the bathroom. She is up much earlier then usual. I am standing there getting ready. I take one quick glance and her and know Mark and I will be revising our plans for the day. Marly's face is red and blotchy. Her eye lashes are caked and crusty and mattery. Her nose is snotty - PINK EYE!
"Oh Honey..." I sweetly coo to my wee one.
6:07 - I yell, "MARK!!!" He is at his laptop at the kitchen table.
6:12 - Okay... I will go to my 8 am meeting at the hospital, return home, work from home, and take Marly to the doctor. We continue to get ready. Mark will take Dean to daycare and hang out with Marly athome until I return from my meeting.
6:15 - I e mail my boss and co-workers from my BlackBerry.
6:45 - My kind boss replies. Sure!
7:10 - Mark calls and makes a Dr. appointment. It is at 10:30 or 10:40. He can't recall which.
7:30 - I leave for work.
7:35- I am on 280, heading towards the 610 ramp. Something is wrong... I pull over. I have my second flat tire in 4 weeks. REALLY!!! A flat tire????????? I call Mark.
7:38 - I call my boss and explain my dilemma. There is no way I will be in attendance at the meeting.
7:40 - I wait in my car. We decided Mark should take Dean to daycare before helping me.
*I have never in my life had AAA or roadside assistance. Growing up in the country, if something went wrong, you called your husband or dad on the two-way radio, and help was on the way... or some neighbor came along to help you. For whatever reason, Mark and I have never invested in AAA.*
7:41 - I make a Facebook update, tweet @AndreaThomberg...then decide to call 911. I am sitting in a high flow traffic area, and I think Highway Helper would be a good idea when we do change the tire.
*Have I mentioned I have no coffee to drink? I tweeted that too...*
7:42 - I continue to play with my phone, then decide I might as well start to change the tire while I wait.
*Have I mentioned I know how to change a tire? My dad taught me after college. On my way to an internship interview in Duluth, I got a flat somewhere along Hwy 23, probably north of Mora. What did I do? Well I called my Dad (of course)! He told me to call a tow truck. Back at home, he showed me how to change the tire in our heated farm shop, with a floor jack and an air wrench. So... that is NOT exactly the same at the bitter cold roadside, but I know the basics.*
7:47 - I have the spare out and the car jacked up. It is bitter cold. I am properly clothed besides my feet. I have dress boots on.
7:55 - As the MnDot Hwy Helper pulls up, I realize I clearly do not have the strength to loosen the lug nuts.
*Have I mentioned my feet are freezing cold? My dad calls me EVERY SINGLE FALL to ask if my emergency kit is in the trunk. The same warm clothes have been in their for 10 years, but I didn't have boots with.*
8:00 - The Hwy Helper has power tools in his truck. He asks me if I loosened the lug nuts before I jacked up the car. Hmmm... your suppose to loosen the lug nuts first???
8:17 - The Hwy Helper finishing changing the tire, throws the flat in my trunk, and I am on my way.
8:19 - I call Mark and tell him it is all taken care of. He is about 300 feet away when I call, with Marly in the Pacifica. They turn around and head back home.
8:23 - My feet are frozen solid and I NEED a latte. I make a quick stop at the Caribou drive thru.
8:31 - I trot into the Noble Park Mobile. The service manager looks at me and says, "Weren't you just here a few weeks ago?" Indeed I was. I alert him I would like to order another new tire just like the one I bought at the holidays!
8:45 - I head home. My car has some unusual tire size that the shop doesn't carry on site. It will arrive later in the day.
9:00 - Mark heads to work.
9:15 - I log on to my work account on my home computer and try and get some work done.
*But first I finish my medium 1/2 caff latte....
10:11 - Marly and I head to the clinic, since Mark never did recall if the appointment was at 10:30 or 10:40. The silly donut tire is on my car.
10:50 - The Doogie Hauser doctor confirms Marly has pink eye, with a minor ear infection.
*We are very happy with the clinic we use, but our favorite pediatrician works part time, so we don't often see her when we need a day of appointment. The clinic has two new pediatricians who are FRESH out of medical school. Dean saw one of the two this fall. Marly saw the other new one Wednesday. They have plenty of openings, since they are so new (and young).*
11:15 - We are at Target to get Marly's prescription. Might as well pick up all those other things we need while we are there. $112 later and we are out the door... $112!!!!!!!!!!!!! How does that happen?
*That doesn't include the prescription co-pay which was covered by my medical flex account*
And then.... It was back home to have lunch, concentrate on work, play with play dough and Chutes & Ladders, get Marly down for a nap, do more work...and put together a nice supper for all of us with some of my $112 worth of merchandise from Target.
*I took a photo of my flat tire when I was changing it, but I don't know how to download photos off my fancy smancy Blackberry Torch, even though it has a computer cable that also operates as the charger.*
How was your Wednesday???
1 comment:
Last time I was at Target, my total was $101, but then I used my Target cc and got 5% off, so I was under the $100 threshold. The cashier jokingly told me that I wouldn't be allowed back in the store if I didn't spend the required amount! Ha ha, but so true...
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