Adventures in the Land of Lincoln

Last Thursday night, we packed the James gang in the car and headed off to see Great Gmaw and Great Grandaddy. The trip there was suprisingly eventless. We didn't run into traffic or have any "accidents" in the car. Josiah fell asleep and pretty much stayed asleep all the way there. Taylor fell asleep around 9:00 and woke up about 10 minutes before we pulled into the driveway. He was a little disoriented when he woke up and was happy to see Gmaw and Grandad at 11:30 at night. He, of course, was quickly put into his jammies and headed off to bed. While he was asleep, Brad, Taylor and his Grandma stayed up until about 1:00 in the morning talking. The late night didn't stop Brad from getting up at 7:30 and going for a run. I do have to admit, he is sticking to his goal. So, Becki, you better watch out. Your brother is going to be on your heels in that half marathon in a few months.
That Friday night was where the excitement all started. Apparently, I may have possibly ran over the culver in Brad's grandparents driveway. Oops. I was not aware of this mishap until I was about 10 miles away from the house. You see, Brad's low tire pressure light is a bit of a wolf crier, so to speak. Sometimes, it comes on for no reason. I didn't think anything was wrong. Obviously, something was wrong, because Brad's grandma and I heard a pop. So, I pulled over and she peeked out her door. Guess what? flat tire. So, I head back to the trunk of the car and move things around to see if I can find the four way tool. No luck. I call Brad and he says he doesn't have it, but he and his grandad are on their way. When they get there, Brad pulls out the spare and this new fangled jack that doubles as a lugnut tool. If I would have known that thing was in the trunk, I would have changed the tire myself. Anyone who knows me knows I can't stand to let others do the work for me. I was a wee bit peterbed about this. Sheesh!
Of course, this was after the fact that Brad about had a coniption because his flashers were about out. Little known fact: Brad's car does not handle being on accessory for 20-30 minutes. The battery went dead. So, after a donut spare and a jump start, we all head back to the bonfire that Brad's grandparent's Sunday school class hosted.
So, there's two strikes against us. As we pass a weigh station, Brad tells me "There's the rest of the chilli." I looked at him puzzled and asked what he was talking about. Brad and his grandad had gone over to the bonfire early to help set up and take the chilli. Well, Grandad slowed down a bit too fast once and the chilli went flying all over the driver's side floor. So, half of the chilli was saved and the other half of the chilli was scraped off the floor and dumped out at the weigh station. I really hope some animal didn't lick it up. Especially if it didn't have any hot dogs to go with it.
Okay, so now you're thinking bad things come in threes, right? Not so. The next day Brad and I took the tire to that evil blue store that Mr. Walton owned. His employees inform us that at 8 o'clock, there will be a two hour wait to fix the tire. We didn't mind dropping it off, but it was the drop off that got to us. The lady came out to get the information and then she asks Brad to take the tire out himself and roll it into the garage. Um, hello!! Do you see something wrong with this picture? YOU, missy, are getting paid to do this job. How much do you plan on paying Brad to do your work?? Do your job! This led me to wonder if she would have asked me to take the tire out. Just wondering about a double standard, that's all.
We drop off the tire and go to Will's ballgame. I won't give you the details to that one, but I will tell you that one dad/uncle/male figure of one team member was hilarious. He was pretty much the one man cheer squad for the Little Tigers.
While at the ball game, Brad gets a call that the tire cannot be repaired. Something about a hole in the sidewall. Once again, sorry 'bout that. They say they have a new tire that they can mount. Brad said that would be fine. The game is about over, so Brad heads to Walmart so they can mount the tire. Apparently, those people that wear blue vests that have the lowest price always don't understand the concept that when a car returns to get a tire mounted it does not go back to the end of the line. They told Brad it would be another two hours to mount it on the car. So, being the ever so patient person that he is, Brad pays for the tire and mounts it himself. Once, the tire is on he notices that the center cap is missing. I go back in and inform the mechanic about this. He goes back to the garage and brings back the missing center cap. "Sometimes, I just forget to put those back on," he tells me. There is this thing called quality control, sir. You might want to look into that if you want any customers to come back, because I sure won't!
It's experiences like these that I appreciate the way my dad operates his business at home. There should be a Kenny's Auto and Tire Service in every place that I vacation. So, Dad, please do something about that. Expand, please. Life would be so much easier if I didn't have to enter the walls of a corporate money monger for an auto repair. :o)

The rest of the weekend went fine and I have the pictures to prove it.(Of course, Brad kept saying that I cost him 80 bucks. Hah! Eighty bucks is nothing compared to the 500 dollar engine because of "that clunking noise" or the brand new car because of a test drive in the rain.)

Hope you enjoyed my longest blog ever. Good night!

Guess who's walking!

Friday flop turned into a Saturday celebration. After a day of Gladfest, we came home and the boys took a bit of a nap. When Taylor got up, Brad took him to the store to get supplies for chocolate chip cookies. I stayed home.

I thought it would be a good time to see if I could get Josiah to take more than one step and fall down. I didn't expect much(but was hoping he would get moving). I held up his favorite toy, and lo and behold, he decided to walk!!! Yeah! He did a pretty good job. I called Brad on his cell phone and just said "Five steps." It took him a minute to figure out what I was talking about. When he got home, he got out our camera and did some video taping of the newest adventure of the littlest James gang member.



Here it is, our one step wonder no longer:

Watch out, here he comes!

Friday Flop

I'm usually a big fan of Fridays. The weekend is only eight hours away, I can wear jeans to work, it's a pretty casual day. I'm not a big fan of being pulled over because I failed to come to a complete stop.

*****Warning: This may cause conflict among my readers that are employed to protect and serve. For that I apologize, but you don't patrol the Kearney streets at 6 am so you are forgiven.****

Let me set the scene for you. It is 6 o'clock in the morning. The streets are bare. I'm driving the one block down my street before I come to a four way stop. Let me remind you that NO ONE is on the street. Not a car, not a pedestrian. Possibly, a tumbleweed. It was windy this morning, you know. I put my foot on the break,press down, look both ways, and proceed to turn left. Before I have a chance to go 500 feet, I see flashing lights in my rearview mirror. I'm thinking, oh, great, what now? My tags are up to date, there was no possibility I was speeding, because I stopped. What does he think I did?

So, a portly police officer comes up to my window and informs me that I failed to come to a COMPLETE stop. (So, the fact is I stopped, right. He said I just didn't make a complete stop.) Then, he asked my why I failed to make a complete stop.

(Okay, so if you know me, mornings and I don't get along well. In fact, I try to avoid talking to people before 10 am because I am quite frankly not the most chipper person to talk to in the morning. Especially, when the sun is not out, yet.) I hold back everything I can, and politely say, "I thought I did." He says, "Okay," in a sing song voice and asks for my license and registration. (On a side note, which I think is hilarious. His walkie comes on and he has to say the random numbers of whatever code it is. I am practically in the police station parking lot. Why couldn't he just go inside and tell them?)

So, I sit and wait as he goes back to his car and runs my information. This seems to take forever, so I clean out my glove box, rearrange my lunchbag, check my phone for messages, write a 3 page letter to a long lost friend. Kidding. I didn't have THAT much time. After an eternity, he comes back and spouts off his spiel on why I got the ticket, I have no other violations, and the whole thing is on video. I was not aware that the Kearney police department had enough money to install cameras in their cars. Of course, there aren't that many squad cars, anyway.

Here comes the best part: the officer asks me how old I am. Did you not just run my license? Did you not just write down my birthdate on the citation? Do you have a short term memory? AGGGH. Its six o'clock in the morning! Do you not know that I do not like to think and answer questions when the sun is not up and I have only been awake for 30 minutes???? Of course, I have to think about this for a second, because all of my questions I just wrote are running through my head. He then asks my to sign the ticket which I can't see because its dark. I have to ask him to hold his light up so I can see the X to sign. Then, he says his closing formalities and tells me to have a good day. Are you kidding me? You just stopped me and gave me a ticket because I failed to make a COMPLETE stop. I stopped! Do you want me to put flares out next time?? I don't even remember what I told him. Maybe, "you, too" or "okay." Once again, it was early!

So, I drive to work with no other complications except for when I get into the parking lot. I don't have an assigned space, but I like to park in the same place everyday. When I get in the parking lot, I see that one of my student's parents has decided to pull into "my" space and wait for my arrival so she can drop off her son. At this point, I'm mumbling not very nice things about that under my breath as I collect my things and go inside. Once inside, I get a call from one of the teachers who informs me he is taking the day off. So, there is two of us, 36 students, and 4 meetings with parents all jam packed into one day. Three thirty could not come any sooner!

Friday is looking a lot like Monday. Here's hoping yours was better!



**On a side note, I do appreciate my readers who are police officers or spouses of police officers. Your job is tough and I pray for your safety. Thanks for keeping the streets and my children safe!**