the weekend odyssey
Aug. 13th, 2007 02:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanOh man. What a weekend!
So here was the plan. Because we needed to get back earlyish on Sunday (like 5-6pm, as opposed to 8-9 like usual), we wanted to leave on the early side Saturday (which for us means like 10am as opposed to 1-2pm) in order to maximize time at the cottage, especially during those beautiful midday hours. So I get up Saturday morning and start packing everything up. I'm looking to be on track for a 9:30-9:45am departure to mom's house to pick up mom and her stuff.
Then mom calls with the news that her friend Marcia is having a medical emergency and we need to get into Marcia's house. Marcia is the mother of Brian, my friend who lives upstairs from me, but he was away for the weekend and incommunicado. So I let myself into Brian's place (we have each other's key) and poked around trying to find where he keeps his key to his mom's house, but I couldn't find it. I call my mom back and tell her to try another of Marcia's friends. I also try to get hold of Brian's roommate Charles but no dice with him either.
Long story short on that: my mom found someone else who had a key; they got into Marcia's place and got some EMTs over there and got Marcia taken care of, she's okay and everything is okay on that score. But it set me back a bit on my packing. I got myself and the kids out the door at 10:15, which I thought was pretty good considering everything.
So we get to mom's house, put all her stuff in the car, do all the last-minute falderol, and get in the car to go. It's only around 11:30 so we congratulate ourselves. ;)
We get about four blocks away and mom (who is driving my car) starts hearing a new noise from the car that she didn't like. Keep in mind, mom has driven my car several times recently (including large portions of our trip to Vermont) so she does know its noises. I heard the noise too, but not as much as mom, possibly because my hearing sucks.
Anyway, mom decides that we can't drive the 60 miles to the cottage without getting it checked out. So we turn around and drive to her mechanic, Nick, who lives a couple blocks from mom's house and has been our mechanic since I was a little kid. Nick takes a quick spin, hears the noise, and tells us it might be the brakes. Immediately we know that he'll have to check it out. Siiiiigh.
So we leave the car with Nick and walk to a nearby cafe for a quick bite of lunch. It's almost noon by now. After a bit of eating we walk back over and Nick tells us that indeed the front brakes and rotors, or whatever the hell they're called, are completely shot. He says the parts are on their way and we should have the car back in an hour and a half. What can you do? You gotta have brakes.
So we walk back to mom's place, where Isaac gets to play with his trains a bit and Ruthie promptly falls asleep nursing. We hang out for an hour or so until Nick calls to tell us the car is ready. I go to retrieve the car and, looking at Nick's invoice, I initially think it says $925. Yipes!! Turns out that what I thought was a 9, is actually a 4. Whew.
So, almost three hours later and $425 poorer, we finally get on the road. Traffic ensues and I think it was almost 4pm by the time we got to the cottage. Oh well. At least it was still daylight and a beautiful day and we still managed to have quite a bit of fun.
Sunday was another beautiful day and we had more fun, although unfortunately none of Isaac's preschool friends whom I had invited could make it. All the parents said they'd love to try another weekend though, so hopefully we'll get some of them out there soon. Isaac loves the cottage but I definitely think he'd have way MORE fun with a friend or two. And I'm hoping for one of the kids who have been taking swimming lessons to come out and help push Isaac past his lingering nervousness about the water (mind you he loves the water and has been getting better and better and better about getting his whole self into it, but he still tends to FREAK OUT if it touches his face or eyes).
Then we had to leave early on Sunday, as I mentioned, and that was hard :( and then we encountered some pretty bad traffic, alas. But we got back eventually, and had a nice dinner with my mom's brother who was just in for the day (long story).
Whew. I'm worn out from all that, lol.
Oh, and did I mention that in the midst of everything else on Sunday I got my stupid period? Nearly two months to the day since my last one. I wonder how long it's going to take to get into a regular rhythm. Also I'm thinking of getting a cup. Which one do y'all recommend?
Oh, and as for the stove/oven/hood, I ended up calling the appliance store back and ordering a new hood. It costs something like $150 plus who knows how much for installation (I couldn't tell them whether my current one is vented outside or not, because I am clueless, so they couldn't tell me how much the installation will cost). But it did seem like, how can I replace the range but not the hood, especially since I hate that damn thing so much. So that's set for Thursday. I'm so excited about the new range, I can't even tell you. Hey, a new oven is a good excuse to bake cookies, right?! :)
Oh, and before I forget, belated Happy Birthday wishes to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lunaris1013, cynthia1960, and psu_jedi! *smooches*
So here was the plan. Because we needed to get back earlyish on Sunday (like 5-6pm, as opposed to 8-9 like usual), we wanted to leave on the early side Saturday (which for us means like 10am as opposed to 1-2pm) in order to maximize time at the cottage, especially during those beautiful midday hours. So I get up Saturday morning and start packing everything up. I'm looking to be on track for a 9:30-9:45am departure to mom's house to pick up mom and her stuff.
Then mom calls with the news that her friend Marcia is having a medical emergency and we need to get into Marcia's house. Marcia is the mother of Brian, my friend who lives upstairs from me, but he was away for the weekend and incommunicado. So I let myself into Brian's place (we have each other's key) and poked around trying to find where he keeps his key to his mom's house, but I couldn't find it. I call my mom back and tell her to try another of Marcia's friends. I also try to get hold of Brian's roommate Charles but no dice with him either.
Long story short on that: my mom found someone else who had a key; they got into Marcia's place and got some EMTs over there and got Marcia taken care of, she's okay and everything is okay on that score. But it set me back a bit on my packing. I got myself and the kids out the door at 10:15, which I thought was pretty good considering everything.
So we get to mom's house, put all her stuff in the car, do all the last-minute falderol, and get in the car to go. It's only around 11:30 so we congratulate ourselves. ;)
We get about four blocks away and mom (who is driving my car) starts hearing a new noise from the car that she didn't like. Keep in mind, mom has driven my car several times recently (including large portions of our trip to Vermont) so she does know its noises. I heard the noise too, but not as much as mom, possibly because my hearing sucks.
Anyway, mom decides that we can't drive the 60 miles to the cottage without getting it checked out. So we turn around and drive to her mechanic, Nick, who lives a couple blocks from mom's house and has been our mechanic since I was a little kid. Nick takes a quick spin, hears the noise, and tells us it might be the brakes. Immediately we know that he'll have to check it out. Siiiiigh.
So we leave the car with Nick and walk to a nearby cafe for a quick bite of lunch. It's almost noon by now. After a bit of eating we walk back over and Nick tells us that indeed the front brakes and rotors, or whatever the hell they're called, are completely shot. He says the parts are on their way and we should have the car back in an hour and a half. What can you do? You gotta have brakes.
So we walk back to mom's place, where Isaac gets to play with his trains a bit and Ruthie promptly falls asleep nursing. We hang out for an hour or so until Nick calls to tell us the car is ready. I go to retrieve the car and, looking at Nick's invoice, I initially think it says $925. Yipes!! Turns out that what I thought was a 9, is actually a 4. Whew.
So, almost three hours later and $425 poorer, we finally get on the road. Traffic ensues and I think it was almost 4pm by the time we got to the cottage. Oh well. At least it was still daylight and a beautiful day and we still managed to have quite a bit of fun.
Sunday was another beautiful day and we had more fun, although unfortunately none of Isaac's preschool friends whom I had invited could make it. All the parents said they'd love to try another weekend though, so hopefully we'll get some of them out there soon. Isaac loves the cottage but I definitely think he'd have way MORE fun with a friend or two. And I'm hoping for one of the kids who have been taking swimming lessons to come out and help push Isaac past his lingering nervousness about the water (mind you he loves the water and has been getting better and better and better about getting his whole self into it, but he still tends to FREAK OUT if it touches his face or eyes).
Then we had to leave early on Sunday, as I mentioned, and that was hard :( and then we encountered some pretty bad traffic, alas. But we got back eventually, and had a nice dinner with my mom's brother who was just in for the day (long story).
Whew. I'm worn out from all that, lol.
Oh, and did I mention that in the midst of everything else on Sunday I got my stupid period? Nearly two months to the day since my last one. I wonder how long it's going to take to get into a regular rhythm. Also I'm thinking of getting a cup. Which one do y'all recommend?
Oh, and as for the stove/oven/hood, I ended up calling the appliance store back and ordering a new hood. It costs something like $150 plus who knows how much for installation (I couldn't tell them whether my current one is vented outside or not, because I am clueless, so they couldn't tell me how much the installation will cost). But it did seem like, how can I replace the range but not the hood, especially since I hate that damn thing so much. So that's set for Thursday. I'm so excited about the new range, I can't even tell you. Hey, a new oven is a good excuse to bake cookies, right?! :)
Oh, and before I forget, belated Happy Birthday wishes to
lunaris1013, cynthia1960, and psu_jedi! *smooches*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 09:58 pm (UTC)I personally couldn't get the thing to flip to the correct angle inside, but maybe someone with more flexibility could :)
no subject
Date: 2007-08-17 08:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-24 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 10:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-14 01:04 am (UTC)My cousin used to be the same way about water on her face/eyes so I think your idea about the other kids is wonderful. If it got on it in the bath, lake, boat, whatever, she freaked out and we had to wipe her face. It wasn't until recently when I started to take her swimming at a local pool and she saw other children jumping from the side into the water that she got over it. She gets on the side of the pool now, jumps in, goes under for a couple seconds, comes up, starts laughing and goes on with no freaking out! It still happens a little in the bath but now I can remind her that it's just like the pool and it won't hurt her and she calms down.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-14 10:53 am (UTC)