Mama said there'd be days like this...

I don't even know where to start really. It was one of those days where you have to just laugh at yourself. I'm getting pretty good at that. On our way home from VBS a storm blew through. Lightning, thunder, wind, trees down in the road, high water...you get the picture. As we got closer to home the power was out everywhere. No street lights, no electricity...anywhere.

No electricity means no garage door. Great. I get out with my keys to run through the house to open the door manually. No electricity also means no microwave. I had been looking forward to eating my new SmartOnes meatloaf that I bought this morning, so I'm basically sulking because I have to eat a sandwich with the kids.

I get Rose and Lucy down for a nap, the power comes back on(yea!), and go to put something in the outside fridge, when I saw it.


A flat tire.

I am woman, hear me roar. No, just kidding. I am Katie, hear me call USAA for roadside assistance.

USAA Spokeslady: Are you in a safe place?
Me:Yes. I'm in my garage.
USAA Spokeslady:Okay, good. Stay on the line while we get someone from roadside to schedule an appointment time. Do you have a spare?
Me:Well, I assume so.

So, they decide to send someone to help me. Poor little me...ha. An hour and a half later (thank goodness I was home, and not on the side of the road somewhere in the rain) my help arrives. I guess you could call him that. He got lost, even with his GPS. He called me 3 times. I decided to go out and wait for him to pull up. Here he comes, around the corner, in his...wrecker? big pick-up truck? No. His Saturn Ion. For reals? And it had a posterboard with his phone number taped to the inside window.

I was thinking this was a little dodgy, but he seemed nice enough. He had me pull my car halfway out of the garage, which I thought was strange since the tire that was flat was the front right tire. My kids were riding their scooters around in the drizzling rain, watching his every move. They are always so fascinated by people when they come to "fix" things.

Well, I'm watching and fascinated too. Fascinated that someone hired this doofus for this job. I don't know much about cars and tires, etc., but when he got the jack and started jacking up the back right tire, I got a little bit concerned. It was, after all, a perfectly good tire, not in the least bit flat.

Me:Um, sir. This is the tire that's flat. I think that one's fine.
Him:I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. (insert about 12 more)

Okay, so we get it straight which tire needs fixin. He puts the spare on, then calls me over. He shows me the lug (?) and says the stud (?) is missing. I think his exact quote was, "Someone must have lost it." Um, okay...I look down on the ground, RIGHT in front of him, and say, "Is that what you're talking about?" Yeah. He broke my stud. So the spare is on with one less stud than it should have.

Doofus leaves, and we head down the road to Discount Tire. Remember that storm that hours before had caused the traffic lights to go out? Well, they were still out. Mass chaos on the road. Took me 30 minutes to get to Discount Tire, normally would take 10.

I finally pull into the parking lot--oh so carefully on my spare tire w/ 4 lug nuts. I get out and start gathering all my children. It's getting close to 6:00, so I've got to hurry. A man pulls into the parking lot, whips around to the parking place next to me, and turns off his car. We make eye contact. Oh no you don't, buddy. I was here FIRST. "Hurry kids, out of your seats." I'm totally having a competition with this stranger in my head. Do you know what he did? Rushed out of his car and speed-walked to the lobby. Again, I say, "For reals?"

I have to say, I am enjoying watching people's reactions when I pull in to say, a Discount Tire waiting area, with all 4 children. Funny. A man asks if he can help me (of course, he asks me after he asks the jerk, who by now, is already watching his car get new tires.) I told him about the flat and the lug/stud situation. "We don't do that here ma'am. You'll need to go next door to the auto parts store and buy a stud. And I checked your tires, and they're all bald. You need 4 new tires. That will be $516 dollars."

No problemo.

We bought a stud, walked back to Discount Tire, and waited. And waited. No wonder people give me funny looks. While Lucy was spitting up ALL over my black t-shirt, Rose was drinking from some stranger's left-behind coke. And when Thomas and Anna tired of reading the book (singular) on the book rack, they were playing hide-n-seek in the display tires.

When it rains, it pours.