The wheels on the van won't go

Today is Tuesday, yes? What a relief. Yesterday didn't go at all as I had planned. Another reason to chalk up Mondays as being those days you'd just assume skip over.

Okay, so I got the boys up and out the door in the morning. Routine is as routine goes. It was the usual tirade of reminding them to get dressed, eat, brush their teeth, stop teasing each other, stop whining, etc., etc. You know -- probably a lot like your morning routine getting the kids off to school.

Now Monday is the designated "Clean the house" day. Makes sense, since the house takes its usual wear and tear beating over the course of the week, but then really gets hit hard over the weekend when the kids are not in school. Did I get the house cleaned yesterday? No. (Remember I said the day didn't go as I had planned.)

I have been fervently trying to tie up the loose ends before handing over the Presidential baton to the new PTA President at Moose Hill School. Technically, I'm done, but I can't very well just leave her to sink or swim on her own. It's just not my style, and I wouldn't want somebody to do that to me and anyway, I'll be back there next year for the last time when Jeffrey attends kindergarten. In the meantime, I have been working on finalizing the newsletter for the elementary school my three older boys attend, as I have taken on the responsibility of editing it, which I really enjoy doing.

So, ball and chain and I spent better part of the morning at the computer, and the house cleaning would have to wait. Soon enough, it was time to get Jeffrey off to preschool. I planned to head over to Moose Hill afterwards to drop off the cash box and some other things from the Family Safety Day event that took place on Saturday. From there, I was going to get an hour's worth of work in at the church, if I was lucky, before having to pick up Jeffrey from preschool and head home and wait for the boys to arrive after school. Some of these things happened, but not like I planned them.

At Jeffrey's preschool, they have curbside drop-off/pick-up service. It is convenient, especially when you have a million and one things you have to do and those extra few minutes that you would otherwise take to park the car, walk your child into school, say good-bye, walk back out, etc., can get you a few minutes ahead of schedule. If you're lucky. And this system only works if the people who participate do it right.

Of course, not all the moms get this right. Or they are all SAHMs who have nothing better to do and have no other place they need to get to. It never seems to fail that every time I pull my van up and join the line of vehicles participating in the curbside drop-off or pick-up service, I get stuck. By that, I mean that the vehicle two vans in front of me has 3 doors open, including the hatchback. The driver is nowhere to be found. Or she's there, but she's chatting with somebody. Or she's taking more time than is necessary to strap her child into his seat. Holding up the line. By the time she gets back in herself, she forgot to tell her friend something, so she rolls down the window to get the last word in. And of course, she hasn't pressed that magic button that closes the passenger door, which takes a bit longer than those really old vehicles where (gasp!) you had to manually close the door, like the van I am still driving.

Finally, she slowly moves on and the line moves up and I'm almost there, but I could have been at Moose Hill by now and I'm close enough to the door, so I'm not going to wait for somebody to come and get Jeffrey. I park, get out, get Jeffrey out, and wish him a great day as he heads into school. I'm back in my van before the kid in the van in front of me is even out of his seat, and I can make a clean break from the queue if I back up a tiny bit and go around to the left, barely. She has her driver side door open, but I can still get by without having to drive over the sidewalk. I can't understand why people who know they are going to take forever to get their child out of the vehicle don't just park already and refrain from holding up the rest of us. Anyway, I go to Moose Hill, park, and it is just before 12:30 PM, when the afternoon session starts, and doesn't a woman who is driving her child park next to me a little too close? The passenger door to her modern van opens automatically, and of course, it's the one on my side. I have a box of baked goods, a huge binder, platters and trays that I need to get into the school. On the other side of me, it's tight because that person parked crooked.

So, not wanting to be rude, I politely waited until she came around to unbuckle the kid who could have gotten out on the other side, but apparently gets out on this side because maybe she welcomes the extra work of having to walk around the vehicle. When they are finally out of the way, I can open my door to get out, but can't get everything in one trip, so I will make two. And then I notice my driver side front tire, deflated. Ha! Exactly how I felt at that moment! I was on borrowed time and knew it, so I wasn't surprised to find the tire flat.

A few weeks ago, I had parked at the soccer fields and when we all got out of the van, a loud hissing sound could be heard. There was an obvious hole in the tire and I knew it was because the tire was so worn. It had barely passed its inspection back in March and I was told the tires would need to be replaced before next March. So I was waiting until the last possible second to do it, because who really enjoys spending money on auto repairs? Certainly not me.

So! Yay for AAA, which I utilized at the soccer fields because I couldn't figure out how to get the spare tire out from underneath the van and Mr. AAA had all the right equipment anyway and isn't that why I am a member of such a service? It turns out the tire didn't need to be changed, and Mr. AAA plugged the hole instead, telling me I should probably change the tire before winter. He apparently had his seasons mixed up because had he said before fall, I might have made it a priority on my list of 101 things to do.

Last Friday, I had purposely pulled into a gas station to put air in my tires because that one in particular was looking low and I was about to get on the highway and my borrowed time was keeping me from making that looming expense. Until now. I can get what I needed to get done at Moose Hill, but I wasn't going to get to the church. I utilize AAA yet again and this time, Mr. AAA can't find the source of the leak and guesses it is probably the tube. I also find out in the meantime, that the reason I couldn't get the spare tire when I tried a few weeks ago was not because I wasn't strong enough, but because the procedure was wrong. A quick check of the manual indicated the knob thingy I needed to turn that would lower the tire was accessible from the hatchback once it is opened. Right. the hatchback that has been inaccessible since last winter when the door latch gave away. No other feature to be able to open the hatch is available. Not even the key will open it. I just got used to it and the groceries went on the floor in the van and since it wasn't a priority, that too, was put off. The lock for the door was only about $75, but the mechanic didn't know how long it would take them to figure out how to open the door, either, which is where the unknown expense could be minimal or a lot. I could live without the use of the hatchback if I had to. Who knew the spare tire could only be released when it was open? Certainly not me!

But, no worries. The nice AAA man inflated the tire for me and assured me it would suffice for me to get to a tire shop and get it replaced. By now, it's about 1:45 PM and I had to pick up Jeffrey in an hour and I knew there was no way I'd make it. A friend of mine, who was the one who had given me the crash overview course of Changing A Flat 101, offered to pick Jeffrey up since he'd be back at Moose Hill to get his own son later and the two schools were on the same street.

Off I go to the tire shop, way over in Manchester. I get what I need and had already made arrangements for Jeffrey to be picked up and the van has two new front tires by the time Jeffrey is delivered to me by Adam's dad. It is 3 PM and I'm feeling good about being able to make it home before the boys even get off the bus. Until I'm told the tires have been changed, but the alignment still needed to be done. After waiting for fifteen minutes, I decide to forego the alignment until the next day and head home. The bus is just ahead as I pull into the driveway.

Now I have 1.5 hours to get ready to head back into Manchester again for the NH Partner's In Education Gold Circle Awards Ceremony, for which Moose Hill is receiving an award. I am supposed to meet Vinny there, the other recipient of this award for is involvement in Londonderry Family Safety Day. I get dinner going, get coverage for the boys from our next door neighbors until G gets home, and head out again. By the time I get to downtown Manchester, it's 5:45 PM. I park in the back of the hotel where the employees park, silently praying nobody will notice.

I only missed the beginning of the ceremony, including the complimentary wine and cheese, but was there for our recognition. I was going to leave after that, but the guest speaker was supposed to be good, so I decided to stay and am glad I did. He puts on a show, Mathemagics and I still can't get over how he can round 3 and 4 digit numbers in his head so fast, how you can give him any day, month, and year and he'll tell you what day of the week it was, and how he does his magic number box so fast. It was a very impressive show and he speaks around the country, so I encourage you to attend one of his shows if you ever get the chance.

Anyway, I got home at 7:30, enjoyed a bowl of Cheerios for dinner (I really did!), got the boys to bed, and found myself chained to the computer until 10 PM. It's now 11 AM Tuesday, and I have to drive back to the tire shop to get the van aligned, which I don't have time to do, but why get new tires if you aren't going to get them aligned? I still need to drop off the certificate to Moose Hill School, go to the bank, run some other errands. And I only have 4 hours to get it all done before the boys come home.

Thank goodness I have a vehicle or I'd be stranded!