The Laugh's on You, Ma

Did you ever have one of those days ?

It really wasn't that bad, actually.

Despite catching Nolan reading a Charlie Brown book every time I turned around, I did get some school done with the boy. But he claimed his ears were feeling funny and since he'd been sniffing in church yesterday, (I made him go 'cause I figured he was faking) I decided to let him off the math.

Naturally, I arrived home from shopping to find he's made a complete recovery.

Speaking of shopping, I fired up the ol' Green Dragon Lady Lincoln. This car of 12-year-old renown has a few quirks: the clock doesn't work, the radio won't turn off, the right window does not function, and the heater never quits, in the the winter.

But other than that, it's a real nice car that hardly even lurches any more. Still, when I realized as I was about to exit the driveway and THE RADIO DIDN'T WORK, I looked more closely and saw a completely blank dash. The car was running...but no cool, digital lights. I could not tell my speed, how much gas was left in the tank, and most importantly, in what direction I was headed.

It was with heavy heart that I pulled back into the garage, informed el hubbo of the situation and then took the Zippy little red Toyota.

Now, this car is 18 years old but has the added attraction of a fun stick-shift. The other nice thing about these old cars is their archaic dash format, where you have printed numbers and words and little moving stick-like apparitions that go up and down, according to how fast you are speeding driving.

The drawbacks of the Zippy-Red-Car are as follows: 1) sometimes the trunk doesn't open, 2) sometimes the gas lid cover won't open, 3) the driver's side door handle doesn't always work very well, which you may discover if you make a left turn and notice the door flying open because, as I said, the door handle doesn't always work very well, 4) the seats are much less comfy, 5) any interaction with a semi would definitely not come out in my favor, whereas, with the Lincoln, I would at least have a sporting chance. (ok, probably not)

But at least there's not problem of overheating, since there are so many holes in car's body that one is always properly ventilated. (unless you roll down the window...then you'll be able to ingest fumes from the hole in the exhaust system)

ANYHOW, I proceeded on my way to Wal-Mart, where I discovered that the prices of Dove's Dark Chocolates and Hershey's Bliss had indeed been reversed, so I was forced to buy Dove's despite the fact that I now like Bliss, better.

It was a terrible blow, but we all know I'm not a whiner.

On to the grocery store, where I managed to bring the food total right in at $100.00. And that's not too awful these days, for a family of 8. (although it's somewhat shocking that it's not awful)

Out to the little-red-car-of-undependability, where OF COURSE, the trunk would not open. No matter. Sans childrenos, all of the groceries were squeezed into the back seat. (my Wal-Mart loot being on the floor and the passenger seat)

Got home. And as the kids came out to help unload, I noticed the trunk lid, slightly ajar. ("oh of COURSE you work, now")

Got inside, and Loren reported, "I started up the Lincoln and all the dash lights came on just fine."

Ha, ha, Ma. The joke's on you!

Particularly since I feel like I'm getting the kids' cold.
 

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