Happy Birthday to Me: 30th Year Not Off to a Good Start, but We Have Holes in Our Ears!

Yesterday I turned the big 2-9. I was looking forward to this for quite some time. I shouldn't have.

I woke up to the realization that Conrad, who had gotten off work at 1 a.m. and had left for work again at 6:30 the same morning, had not left me the van. This was problematic because my niece had spent the night and I needed to get her back home (57 miles away) in time for her preschool that day. Well that wasn't happening, so I needed to wait for C to come get me during his lunch hour. In the meantime, I "gently encouraged" the girls to pick up the bedroom about 589,973,235,222,785,660 times while simultaneously cleaning up the rest of the place in order to be presentable for the babysitter that evening when we would be going out together (semi-alone-together, along with a nursing baby) for the first time in well over a year...maybe two.

My efforts were only about 86% successful, in both their cleaning and my own, but as Flylady says, "Housework, even when done imperfectly, still blesses." So, anyway. Then I ran around trying to get four kids and myself ready to go out and brave traveling in 30-below windchills, which is an adventure in itself. So we deposit the cousin in the proper facility, and Sara bought us lunch, which was very kind. And yummy. I ate too much, but it was my birthday, and little did I know, one of the only bright spots of that day.

On the way home, the van killed. Oh, about six times. I thought, "Gee, I should really get that checked out." But since it restarted each time, and I really wanted to get home, I just kept going. Then the seventh time--thank goodness we were back in town by then--it was done. We were on Highway 14 in a turning lane. Ugh. So I called a tow truck, and we got REALLY COLD waiting for it.

After waving cars behind me to go around for about 40 minutes, the tow came, but he did not have room for all of us in his truck. So we got to ride in the van while it was being towed. Emme thought we were flying. Fortunately (?) Conrad was off work shortly after, and he borrowed a coworker's car. At that point, our plan was still to go out. Somehow. First we had to buy a new battery for our Saturn, because it was dead as well. Battery bought, installed, and it was too late to go out :-( We had to cancel our babysitter, but I'm glad I cleaned anyway.

After a hectic day, much too stressful for a birthday, there was one thing I thought could salvage part of the damage, and that one thing is the thing that had kept me looking forward to my 29th birthday for years. I remember when my own mom turned 29 and we went to the mall and both got our ears pierced. My 29th birthday has been a milestone birthday to me for years for the simple fact that it's the first time I remember my mother having a birthday. So I made Conrad haul us to the mall and into Claire's. Hannah and I tested our ears and found that our old holes were still open, so we just bought new earrings, but Emme got hers pierced for the first time. She did excellent! She is now the proud owner of two ears adorned with her birthstone, sapphires.

Our van is still in the shop and will be until tomorrow, when a bunch of things will be fixed and we will be $2,000 poorer. This morning at 6:30, Conrad found that the BRAND NEW battery on the Saturn was dead; obviously there is something seriously wrong with that vehicle as well. He caught a ride to work, and I have no idea how he will get home, but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Happy Birthday to me.