Weekend Wrap up
(Warning: This is a long post mostly concerned with near-miss disasters. If you are looking for crafting content please check back later. This mom is lucky to be awake, and should not be touching anything sharp or pointy.)
This weekend was one of those where you can’t quite wait for Monday to get here.
It all started Friday afternoon…40 degrees, pouring rain…you get the idea. Big-sis tripped as we left my school and landed on her bottom in a puddle of water.
Actually, calling the moat that surrounds the back of the building a puddle is a bit of an understatement. She has more chance of leaping the River Nile.
So there she is, submerged up to her waist in 40 degree water…pants soaked, shoes filled with water. Total disaster.
Let this serve as a word to the wise: your car cannot be well enough stocked in time of emergency or disaster. I had always planned on keeping an extra set of clothes in the van…as of today they are firmly in place, but I digress.
I did have dry socks, and I managed to sop up some of the water in her pants with paper towels. I poured the water out of her shoes (yes, poured). Then I wrapped in in the spare blanket, and called the husband to let him know he needed to pick up Little-sis since I needed to hurry home to get big-sis dry.
At this point it is important to set the stage. I teach in a school isolated from the hustle and bustle of city life. Cows roam across the street. The picture of rustic simplicity.
This means the “highway” we use to drive there is narrow and has no real shoulder. Not entirely safe.
It winds over hills through gorgeous farm land. Gorgeous, unless your power steering goes out because of a puddle. A puddle that cannot be avoided because of an oncoming truck.
I did manage the next few miles to town without crashing and stopped at the local tea house and called the husband (my hero!) A mini van is not easy to steer even with the power steering, and at five foot one and a quarter inches I am quite proud of myself for being able to get to a place I could stop without needing to be towed out.
The folks at the tea shop were wonderful, and gave Big-sis an extra big hot chocolate with lots of extra whipped cream. They didn’t complain when I let her take her wet shoes off.
Never fear, the husband arrived about 30 minutes later with clean clothes and Little-sis. Everyone is dry and safe now, fully restored.
The rest of our weekend was eaten up with getting the van fixed…the serpentine belt fell off, if you ever heard of such a thing. Not broke, fell off.
Today the super-husband (he might need a cape) spent the day tiling my parents kitchen floor. They needed this done super fast since they are moving! They were down in Williamsburg, but will now be about 10 miles from our house, mere blocks away from big-sis’ school.
As Big-sis put it: “Once they move I won’t ever have to wait an hour for dry pants again!”
Amen, sister!
March 18th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
I’m glad everything ended up all right, let’s hear it for Super-Husband! (clap, clap, clap) =)
March 19th, 2007 at 8:13 am
Whew, what a weekend!
March 19th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
My cousin had LPG fitted in her car. About 6 months later, she started having trouble with it. She put it in for a service. Her clutch needed fixing, but the worst part was, there’s this valve that connects the LPG part of the enginge to the petrol part of the engine. It fell out. Fell. Her bonnet was filling with gas, and if there’s been a spark - no more cousin.
I’m convinced that part of the reason I still don’t drive (I’m 23) is that I’m traumatised by all the car-woes that our old cars gave us when I was growing up. I suppose I was a bit of an anxious child anyway, really, but I clearly remember lying in bed, staring at the cieling, listening to my parents talk about where the money was coming from to fix the latest disaster, and how we would get around in the meantime. The thought of it still makes my feel ill in my stomach.
On a more positive note, sounds like your dramas turned out moderately well. It would be nicer not to have them, of course, but at least it will give you something to talk about at dinner parties!