This Has Been Some Day!!!

The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

"I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." ~ Alexander (Judith Viorst)

This site is a no cussing zone; it's not that there is nothing to cuss about, I just don't do that. Well, I did out loud once when I was running late to work, had to take Nyssa to school and backed two thirds of the way through my garage door that I just knew was already up. And there was the time my two dogs got into the "mother of all fights" with mouths clamped on necks and growling and rolling about on the ground and me trying to pry them apart and my dad standing there with the video camera. I had to look at the tape to make sure I didn't say any of the "bad words", 'cause I sure was thinking them in my head. Fortunately, all that is heard on the tape is "Put the camera down and help me!!!!!"

But, I digress (ramble, off on a tangent, whatever). This has been a morning and the day still has 12 hours to go.
6:00 AM - wake up ten minutes before alarm, and three and a half hours after going to bed. Feel much like "death warmed over." Shower and apply make-up (well I tried). Come out of the bathroom to hear the loud chattering of birds and chirping of crickets. (My alarm with nature sounds has gone off, probably for 20 minutes now.)
7:00 AM - Fix Nyssa's lunch (goes to work today at 8:30 AM.
7:15 AM - Get all the wet Kleenex out of my van from where my coffee spilled yesterday, a whole travel mug of coffee. (I guess this really started then), move small open box with pens and "foil covered chocolate candy" in preparation for Max's ride to the vet.
7:16 AM - Get Max and put him in the car. Drive in bumper to bumper, stop and go traffic three miles to the vet. This takes 20 minutes due to traffic. I am serenaded with "whowhowhowhowhowhowhowhowhowhowhowhowho" all the way from an anxiety ridden dog who stands up, sits down, gets tangled in his leash and knocks over my little change box trying to get out of the car when we arrive. Leave him at vet for grooming.
7:50 AM - Arrive back home and make Nyssa breakfast. Pull out all the dog bedding from the doghouse, shake and throw in washing machine. Start washer.
8:30 AM - Leave to get Nyssa to work. She follows in her car. (First day at candy factory) Head out with directions from MapQuest.
8:35 AM - First street has traffic dead stopped, construction. Go back into subdivision to take different route.
8:37 AM - Start hearing low roaring noise in van. By end of the block it sounds like a grinding noise and flapping. I have heard this before. Pull to the curb. Yes, I have a flat tire. Completely flat to the rim.
8:38 AM - hand Nyssa the map and directions and say "I'm sorry but you are on your own."
8:38 - 8:42 AM - Walk/run two blocks back to the house. Wake Dad up. Call automotive services but no roadside help.
9:00 AM - Find my instruction manual for the van. Go with Dad to the van.
9:00 - 9:10 AM - It takes a full ten minutes to find the spare tire (not actually a tiny doughnut one but "compact"). By the way, if not for the manual I would have never found it.
9:10 - 9:15 AM - takes another five minutes to find the jack, get it out of the secured bay and put together under the left front of the frame. By this time I am sitting in the middle of the street reading a manual. I have never changed a tire before. I have always had the good fortune to be next door or two doors down from the tire fixing place when the tire went flat and never before did it happen so fast.
9:15 - 9:25 AM - It takes ten minutes to slowly, slowly jack the car up high enough to take the tire off. The jack is a crank type, it is not easy to turn and Dad (77 yrs old) gets out of breath after three turns. I can't seem to keep the two parts of the cranking devise together. Finally, we get the tire off and the spare on.
Our main problem is that he has to have Mom at her physical therapy at 11 AM and I have to be another direction at 11:30 AM.
9:40 AM - We have the tire on, the nuts tightened and the dead tire in the back of the van with the strange jack and the now busted open bag of dog food. He will follow me to the service place to see if tire can be repaired. The tire is almost bald and now is the moment I find out that I am getting four new tires for Christmas. But, the tire sale isn't until January so I have to get this tire plugged. I do not see a nail, just some of the steel belting showing....it might not be fixable.
9:40 AM - I get in my van and start forward. I make it about 75 yards when the same grinding sound of the flat tire rim on pavement is present. I again pull over. The small spare is flat...not low, flat.
9:40 - 10:00 AM - Fortunately, Dad has a battery run air pump in his van. Attach to spare tire and start. Nothing happen, air goes, nothing. Reposition the pump and start again. It takes 20 minutes to pump the spare from 0 psi to 60 psi.
10:00 AM - Dad follows me to the automotive service place. They cannot fix the tire. I can use the doughnut for two weeks, cannot drive over 50 mph. No road trips. But I get two 2006 calendars.
10:15 AM - Limp back home in van. By this time my hair is flat and frizzed by the cold wind and the perspiration of changing a tire. But never fear I have a hair appointment at 11:30 AM.
10:15 - 11:00 AM - I vacuum out the dog house. I mop the linoleum floor of the dog house thoroughly and vacuum the sun porch. The back sliding door handle is loose so I tighten the screw on that.
11:05 AM - I leave for my hair appointment and take the long route that does not require any expressway travel. The spare stays inflated, no nails (I avoided the road construction, house construction and the roofing sites)
11:30 AM - I arrive on time at my hairdressers only to be asked "Did I have you down for today?" It seems that when we made the appointment no dates were exchanged, only days and times. She said "Friday at 11:30 AM" and I assumed it was this Friday, she assumed it was next Friday. Someone else is already expected at any moment. So we reschedule for Tuesday, December 20th. I was going to go get a new pair of shoes to replace my favorites that broke on Monday but now my hair is really bad so I think I'll just go home and hibernate.
11:50 AM - I decide to stop and get a buritto and caramel-apple thing at Taco Bell. I deserve it, this has been a weird day.
12:00 PM - I get home, sit down to eat lunch, open the bag and there is my burrito but.....where is my caramel-apple thingy?

Sigh. And how many more hours are left in this day?

(end of post)