Balance sheet

I am certifiably the worst accountant in the world.  If there were trophies for such thing, I'd have a big shiny one.

I do know what a balance sheet is though and I was considering the balance sheet of yesterday last night when I felt like either curling into the fetal position or hitting my head against the wall or maybe both.

It was one of those days.

The day dawned with sunshine and promise.  I had a list of tasks in front of me but time to do them.  I was going to get a start on repainting my kitchen table and start on some online courses I'm taking to get relicensed to be a teacher.  I was going to do all the things.  Like a boss.

Then, after I was done volunteering and at Home Depot buying some paint supplies, Braeden called.  He and Emma were at the store and wondered if I wanted to get lunch.  (This is usually code for wondering if I want to buy them lunch.)  I said no thanks because I had a million things I wanted to do at home and also, we had food at home.

Braeden started doing what he does, expertly wearing me down.  He said he and Emma wanted to buy me lunch as an early mother's day gift.

I relented.

As I was driving toward the appointed restaurant, still feeling like I would rather just go home and get to work, I must have hit something while driving because I very suddenly had a very flat tire.

Braeden and Emma came to help me.  Both of them learned how to change a tire when they started driving but neither of them had ever had to change one before.  Also, I was in a light colored skirt so they did most of the work.

Also the skirt will probably never be the same.

As we were contemplating the jack, I considered whether or not we should just go check Mark out of school and have him do it.  He's the one that gets how to do stuff.

We figured it out though (with a FaceTime call to Adam to have him tell us which way the spare tire went on).  We aren't much.

I headed to Costco to get the flat repaired and the kids followed behind.  They said they'd still take me to lunch while the van was at Costco.  The line was huge just to get them to look at the tire though and moving at a snail's pace.  I sent them to lunch without me and asked them to pick up Mark from school and take him to Driver's Ed.  They worried about leaving me, sans lunch, but I assured them I was fine, I mostly really needed Mark transported where he needed to go.

I had a Costco hot dog for lunch and I don't even like those things.

I lamented via text that I didn't have a book to read and Braeden sent me this:

Lemony Snicket is not wrong on that one.

After about 1 1/2 hours, the friends at the tire center told me that my tire was beyond repair and they needed to order a new one.

I went home slowly with the mini spare tire and with my head hanging low, hours later than I wanted to be.

Mark texted to say where to pick him up after Driver's Ed.  Too late, I realized that didn't exactly mean he was ready to be picked up, he was just letting us know where.  Why would he do that?

So I drove home again.  And I started thinking about the balance sheet of the day.

On the minus side, it just didn't go like I planned at all.  I had STUFF TO DO.  Adam said the universe had other plans and I think the universe should just mind its own business and leave me alone.

On the plus side, I was back at volunteering and those kids delight me, always.  I was listening to a little girl read.  She said, "I really like these books.  I wonder where I could find some books like these."

"The library?" I suggested.

She got really excited and said, "Yes!  The library!"

Another plus is that I basically had a tire blow out on the freeway but was able to limp to safety and then I had my kids to help me change it.

More pluses?  Braeden and Mark carried the behemoth table to the garage before school.  I like strong sons.  Braeden and Emma did laundry and dishes and vacuumed for me because my day had been shot to pieces.  I like helpful kids.

Finally, when I asked Mark what he wanted to do (he and I were the only ones home last night), he said, "Introverts:  unite separately."

I gave him a grateful high five.

On the minus side he had homework from Driver's Ed that was for parents.

What kind of deal is this?!?

Somedays are just like that.