Failed Friday...well, sort of

Well, it was an interesting day. I can give it that much. MIL called in the morning and said that she was done with her electrician and that she would be ready at any time to go to that garage sale and get the table and chairs (and this side hall mirror/table thing) and that she would meet us at our house. So, she comes over and we drive up to the sale (she in her car with our Littles and us in our van) two blocks from our house. I park and then head over to the car to sit with the Littles while MIL and Hubby load her items into our van. All starting out well.

MIL comes back to the car and I get out and head back towards my van and she leaves, heading for her house with the kids. We are going to head that way too. Hubby wanted me to look at something (a pop-up kennel that we ended up buying for our dog) so we look and then buy it, get in the van and go to start it. I turn the key and the van clicks. Groan. Not now. Not with a van load of MIL's garage sale purposes. Not while I'm parked in a prime spot at a garage sale. So I try it again. Click, click, click. Deep breath. I turn to Hubby. "It's not working."

So, he calls his mom and lets her know. He also heads home to grab some oil (our van is almost 10 years old - it uses oil and is a bit overdue for a change, I just haven't gotten under there yet) and comes back. The oil level is okay, but Hubby adds some more despite my telling him not to.

While we are standing at the front of the van, the windshield wipers come on and start spraying water. The windshield wipers are off. The van is off. No clue what is going on with that (and I still don't know).

MIL comes over and after a quick assessment of the situation, she talks to the garage sale hosts and asks to borrow jumper cables. We try to jump it. No luck. The van at this point won't even click now. Great! So, MIL gets on her cell and calls her repair shop and then Triple A to come tow it.

Hubby leaves and walks the kids home so that they can go down for naps (as we have now been out there for awhile and they are getting tired and cranky) MIL gets off the phone with Triple A and says that they said it could be anytime within the next hour. "Might as well browse a bit more," we decide.

We walk up the driveway, I look at two picture frames that match the style of frames we use in our house and decide to get them (75 cents apiece and one of them was still brand new!) and I pay for my frames, then we start to walk out of the garage to look some more and a flat bed semi from Triple A shows up. I point it out to MIL and she wasn't sure it was there for us, since that would have been too fast. But the semi doesn't move, just sits there, so she goes out to talk to the driver. I follow behind.

By the time I get down there, the van is running. The Triple A guy was able to jump it with some tool he has. He informs MIL of a service they have and I explain the parts of it that he isn't explaining well and the MIL is not catching on to. We decide to use the service (a battery truck will come out and check the battery, replace the battery if need be, and also check the other systems to insure that they aren't needlessly draining the battery) and agree to meet the guy at MIL's house. The van is running and we can get the items to her house and get them unloaded before the battery truck gets there. So, we call Hubby and let him know that we are going to swing back around and pick him and the kids up and head back out so we can complete our original plans for the day, albeit later than we expected.

We pick them up and head over to MIL's. We unload the items and get them set up in her house. She got some fabulous deals! And then we wait for the guy. He was supposed to be there in about half an hour. About forty-five minutes later, he gives MIL a call, letting her know that he's about half an hour away. So, we feed the kids lunch.

The battery guy gets there and starts his tests. It's taking forever so Hubby puts the kids down for a nap. Once he gets them calmed down and settled in, the guy is done so its time to get those poor Littles up again. Hubby heads home with them (because now it is close to the time that the Big boys will be walking home from school) to put them down for their naps there (as he had originally tried to do. MIL and I get in the van and head down to FIL's business.

We spend quite a while, walking around, looking in the offices and checking out different chairs, lots of pictures and various things. In the end, we got six wood and vinyl chairs for our kitchen table, one wood and fabric chair for our computer desk, and a whole slew of pictures. I got a picture that is in the style of "The Rainbow Fish", you know, the childrens' storybook? I also got two Winnie-the-Pooh theme pictures and a bright Zebra picture for our kids' playroom. Finally some artwork to hang up to make it fun and whimsical in there! Then I got a wooden picture with muted tones for our bedroom. Two pictures for the living room and one that matches the style of pictures in our family room, but our family room doesn't need any additional pictures, although I did come up with two different spots in here where it could be used.

So, in all, that part of the day went well. We got what we went to look for and MIL and I had a nice time together. Any time that MIL and I have a good day together is a good day. Just plain and simple.

So, we get home and we transfer the pictures that MIL got for her house over to her car and she heads out. We unload some of the stuff from the van and I take a nap. :)

While I'm napping, Hubby finishes unloading the van and gets everything inside and then puts our van seats back in and gets the kids ready for the school carnival tonight.

The school carnival. It was all right. Nothing great and fantastic, but the kids enjoyed themselves and the little prizes that they won and seeing their friends and their friends' families. Boy A said hi to a group of older girls (he is in 3rd grade, these girls were most definitely in middle school) and one of the girls turned around, saw him and said, "Oh hi, Boy A." Of course, she said his real name, not "Boy A" but you know... And I look at Hubby and then I look at Boy A and I'm trying to figure out how my little boy knows those girls and I can't figure it out. So I ask him. "Oh, that one there," he points to one of the girls, "she's Girl S's sister." Girl S is a neighbor (and well, I guess her sister is also, LOL!) but Girl S was in Boy A's class last year and they played together quite a bit last year. They didn't spend much time together over the summer or this year yet, but I wonder if its just a matter of differing schedules.

So anyhow, I found out how he knew them and my ruffled feathers laid back down nicely and I was able to enjoy the rest of the evening. Then we came home, fed the kids and put them to bed.

The carpets didn't get cleaned, the playroom is not in playroom order, and there are chairs and pictures in my family room that don't belong. But there's always tomorrow. Girl L doesn't get here until 3 pm and technically, it's not even here at our house, it will be at MIL's house to watch our college football team play.

Oh, and I was able to borrow the camera. I can't remember if I said that or not, but I'll upload some pictures in a bit too of the boys in a race car of some sort tonight at the carnival. And there will be pictures tomorrow! You can guarantee that!