A week from hell.. but with a nice surprise

If ever there was a week Murphy wanted to make me the butt end of his jokes, it was this week. I swear, if it could go wrong, it most assuredly did.

Monday started out ok, tho Rob was late getting to work. When he got home we had to go to the store to get him Khakis and a polo-type shirt cause he had to go to some conference/training downtown Tues. We get that picked up, eat some dinner at the NEX food court, get home and let X go outside to play... While wrestling with one of the neighbors his glasses get knocked off and lost. Rob and he spent a good 30-45 mins outside looking for them with flashlights and did not find them. Of course, its not as if our son could stop playing WHEN it happened to let us know they'd been knocked off to try to find them. I was not a happy camper. Especially since he has no backup pair of glasses because he lost a lens and they aren't under warranty any more. Not to mention they weren't the correct prescription anyhow.

Tuesday morning I get up and decide I'm gonna go out and look for the glasses really quickly to see if I can find them. I do on my second go round, somehow. Put them on him and send him to school. When he comes home, no glasses. WTF happened? He told me they fell off at recess and some other kid destroyed them. WTH didn't the teacher call me? We get inside, I open his backpack to a note telling me X was playing with them in class. He took them up to her a few mins later and showed her the lens had fallen out, which she said it looked like a screw had fallen out. Ok, did she bother to take them and put them in a safe place? No. Because the next part of the note tells me that he then proceeded to take his glasses and twist them all to hell and back. The frames looked like a fucking twizzler. Brand new, $250 fucking glasses. I'd have gone then to get them fixed but remember that conference/training Rob had to go for? Yea, he had the car. And he didn't get home til almost 1800. So the base optical shop was already closed. Luckily Wal-Mart vision center was open and we drove down there to order him a new pair with the new prescription. Of course, its going to be 7-10 days for them to come in... And $110 to buy the frame/lenses. X paid for them from his Savings account and got grounded to the house for the week.

Wednesday I drove Rob to work so I could have the car to go by and get X's glasses looked at on base, hoping they could work a miracle and maybe fix the frame. No luck. Not only that, but the lens that had fallen out? All scratched up and can't be reused. So had to pay half for the new frame and half the cost of the lens. The shop covered the other half. Another $60 or so from X's savings account gone. Oh, and a week to get those fixed as well. /sigh Oh, did I mention Rob also screwed up his already fubarred shoulder doing a PT test he really should have used the "I'm on recovery from my profile" card for? Yea, macho, stubborn ass.

Thursday I had my PodPerson checkup. Rob went in to sick call for his shoulder cause he couldn't even hold his coffee mug without wanting to scream in pain. Mess with the coffee and its time to go in. *rolls eyes* Yea, its either strained muscle or possibly cracked ribs. They did X-rays and gave him Motrin. Said they'd call if the x-rays showed anything. He gets home, I leave an hour BEFORE my appointment time to try to find parking for my appointment. Yea, parking at Tripler? It sucks @$$ majorly. Nothing in the main lot. Valet parking is full. Parking deck? Forget it. First tier of Tripler lodging parking? No dice. Parking lot across from the ER? Yea right. I ended up parking on the 2nd tier of Tripler Lodging parking. A good 1/4 to 1/2 a mile from the freaking hospital when you include the hills/stairs. (The stairs I swear are a good 4-5 story climb at least). I'm half way from parking to the hospital when I get a call that X is in the nurses office, he had a mishap at school while taking a test... Apparently while trying to erase a wrong answer on a test he managed to poke himself in the eye with the sharp end of his pencil... I call Rob hoping he can get him, but no dice. I have the car and our neighbor isn't home. It's 20, maybe 30 mins til my appt. and I have to almost literally RUN back to the car, drive like a mad woman to the school, get X, take him to the house, drop him off and go back to find parking. Valet? Still closed. Parking lots at the hospital, across from ER and 1st tier or Lodging? No dice. I end up parking in the exact same spot on the 2nd tier of Lodging I'd just been in, and RUN down the stairs, across the street, up the elevator to ADC and make it 10 mins after my appt time. I apologize and tell them the short version of why I'm late. The nurse who did my vitals said I should have cancelled my appt to take him in. I told her he was at home with Daddy and Daddy was getting him an appt. If no appt then I'd take him to the ER. The funny part of all that? Even after the mad dash from the car, being slightly winded and sweating, my BP was STILL only 100/51... I don't know whether to cheer or cry at that one.

See the doctor, go downstairs pick up my shot, go get that done, and find out X has an appt at 1310... Ok, np. But I have to take Rob to work first. He didn't get the whole day off, just time for my appt, then leave early to go to the dentist. /sigh Fine. Eat in the car while Rob drives us ALL to work so we can drop him off then BACK to Tripler. Luckily valet was open and parked the car for us no probs. Thank the gods, right? Well, we sat and wait forever for his appt. Finally at 30 mins past his appt time I went to see what was going on, just as the Dr. came out to call him back. He has a scratch across the iris and part of the colored lens. Oh yea, which eye you ask? The bad eye. /sigh She put in a consult for the Opthamologist there at Tripler. Oh, and a prescription for X. Yea, the pharmacy? It's a nightmare and we were running late to get Rob picked up for his Dentist appt. Had to stop and get gas on the way, the gas light came on. I thought Rob was going to drop the kids and I at home and go... Nope, back to Tripler yet again we all go. Drop Rob at Dental and the kids and I go back to the other side of the hospital for the pharmacy. Someone was pulling out of the main lot as I was nearing so I got semi-close parking. Get a number that's only 10 from the non-AD numbers, and numbers are going well... Then they decide dependents be damned, all 5 fucking windows are only going to call AD numbers... 30-45 mins for 10 numbers, with several spells of 1 window not helping anyone and long slews of AD (NOT in uniform btw) numbers called. Rob finished at Dental before we got X's prescription picked up. Got a call while waiting for the scrip from the Opthamologist, she can see him at 0830 Friday morning. NP. Can do. See ya then.

Friday we get up, and Rob decides last minute that I'll take X for his appt. /sigh Fine. Let me get my shower and dressed. Luckily, valet was open and they parked for me. :) I really LOVE the valet parking at the hospital. All the walking other wise just gets to be a bit much and winds me quickly. Get a little lost trying to find where we're going, but get help and get to the clinic only to find out the Dr. got called in early for an emergency surgery and they're not sure how long she'll be, would we please wait? Let's see.... Um... This is X's vision... In an already bad eye. DUH! Yea, we'll wait. For 2 hours. Only for the Dr. to decide she's going to do a full exam, not just check his scratch. Oh, and dilate both eyes. So we sit until after 11 in Opthamology to get different antibiotics for his eye and a note saying to keep him home Friday. He'd have gotten to school, no glasses, both eyes dilated, not allowed to wear sunglasses, for 2 hours of class... Yea, I'll keep him home and let him do stuff around the house/rest his eyes.

Had to go later Friday afternoon to pick up Si's pictures she'd had done a couple weeks ago. You know, the old timey sepia toned ones? Had them done for X when he was her age. They came out BEAUTIFULLY! I'll scan them and post them eventually. When I'm not so tired. :) We got them picked up, got a few groceries, came home and I started doing research on new cars. Since, like I commented on Mia's blog, my little Escape just was not going to support our growing clan. I went to ConsumerReports.com but they wanted me to pay. Screw that. So I found another Consumer reports site and started researching mid-sized SUV's. I liked the GMC Acadia and the Ford Flex. They were the closest to what we need for the price we could afford/what I was willing to pay. Showed Rob, he said ok. Print out directions and we'll go look at them tomorrow. I really liked the way the Acadia looked, not so much the Flex. Not a huge fan of the boxy looking cars. But I found the GMC and Ford dealers on island and had them ready to print yesterday when I got up.

Saturday Rob let me sleep in. Til almost 1000. WOOT! Guess I needed sleep. Of course, I woke up several times during the night, and off and on during the morning when the kids wanted to come in and talk or show me something, so it wasn't uninterrupted sleep. I'd even woken at one point in hysterical tears from a nightmare I'd had, only to realize that PodPerson was doing soft kicking/moving, as if he was trying to comfort me and tell me it was ok. After a slight chuckle I was able to fall back asleep with no problems. Until the next time I needed to roll over or a kid woke me. :) Got up, got my shower, had some breakfast and Rob cleaned out my Escape. We left to get some lunch, run thru the car wash then off to see the Acadia first, since it was the one I really liked, but we had a special offer letter from Ford. They didn't have many on the lot, they were more than what I'd specced them out to cost online, and they weren't really willing to negotiate price with us. They couldn't get payments below $800 a month... We canNOT afford that. So we said we'd see what we could get for financing with our bank and give them a call Monday. Off to Ford we went. It started sprinkling and X was eating a snack so Rob told me to stay there with the kids and he'd go get someone to find the Flex's and we could join him when we were done. He comes back as we are getting out and says the guy's going to bring down the one I'd seen online. He also looks at me as says "That car is so ugly its cute." But is it big enough to accommodate us/what we need? "Oh yea". Then I don't care what it looks like! The salesman gets it down to us after a few minutes (apparently it was boxed in well). It's really not all that ugly, tho even the salesman says its not the prettiest car in the world. hehe We all pile in to the car and take it out for a test drive. He pulls over before getting onto H-1 and lets me drive, since ultimately its going to be my car. (Yes, I drove the Acadia as well). Both cars drove nice, but the Flex handled a bit nicer, and breaking was awesome. Very smooth and gentle. Got to test it on the highway and in the city. Handled well all over, just a little bit bigger than what I'm used to. Both the Acadia and the Flex are automatic, though, and do NOT come with option of a standard. Much the pity. Get back to the lot and go to check out the other Flex's they have on the lot. The one we tested was really nice, lots of amenities and still reasonably priced. There was one other with the same amenities but in a burgundy color (the one we tested was blue. And both had white tops.) I liked the burgundy color more, but the interior was white leather, where we'd driven darker leather. Umm... Dark leather much easier to clean with kids! NO WHITE! :) So lets see what kind of offer you can give us for the Flex. They were willing to negotiate and work with us. A LOT! And I walked out late last night with a new Ford Flex. With rear/reverse sensors, leather interior, SYNC system, and all kinds of other fun features. Didn't get the DVD in the back like we'd have wanted, but the salesman pointed out ppl are breaking in to steal those since they aren't cheap. So, when we do get back to the mainland and start travelling we'll invest in a portable DVD system we can hang over the back of the headrests instead. Made sense when he pointed out the issue we hadn't really thought about. :) Rob drove home, and he said he really enjoyed driving it. That she drove really well, and he was able to sit back and relax. So YAY. I'll get pictures and post them later.

This morning when I took Simon out, a couple of neighbor boys asked if that was our new car. When I said yes, one of them was like "it's beautiful!" Gave me that happy glow all over again. Now for us to call our bank tomorrow and see if they can beat the financing the dealership was hoping to get, since our bank was closed but I *REALLY* wanted the one we brought home and didn't want to chance not getting her. And before you ask, yes I think she'll have a name. And despite the fact that she's Blue and White, not black, when I look at her "Morrigan" comes to mind. Why the Celtic Goddess of War? I have no clue. Just like I have no clue why the Escape wanted to be Cerridwen, the Celtic Goddess of the Underworld/Chalice or any other number of things depending on where you look/read.