But I'll get to that in a second.
Last night a customer was gracious enough to inform me that I "need to get a new job." He didn't mean that in a you're far more amazing that people realize kind of way, but more in a you are absolutely useless kind of way. After a couple weeks where it was just one thing after another knocking me down, it wasn't exactly the warm fuzzies I needed.
As you know, the boys and I were in a car accident two weeks ago that totaled our van. Pretty much every spare moment I have had in the last two weeks has seen me glued to my computer searching the listings on Autotrader and CarGurus, on the phone asking about vehicles, and talking to insurance agents and claim adjusters. In fact, we were already in the process of an insurance claim for our roof so there has been that to wade through as well and Wells Fargo hasn't exactly been very helpful with that whole process. What was really fun was when the doorbell rang at 7:30 in the morning on Tuesday and we opened the door to find a roofing crew all set and ready to rip off our roof and slap on a new one. Of course, this was the very day we were minutes away from leaving for Illinois to go shop for a van, leaving a slew of babysitters behind to take care of our kids.
I left a Post-It on the counter that read, "Surprise! New roof getting put on today!" I also sent them all text messages to be cautious when entering the house and to keep the kids inside so they didn't get hit by debris or step on a nail.
Alas, I don't have any funny stories to tell about this round of Van Shopping, unlike last time when we encountered such characters as "Toothless Terry" who removed the teeth from his mouth and cleaned them while he tried to sell us a van. Evan and I did enjoy reminiscing about that little gem though.
We arrived home Tuesday night with the keys and registration to a new-to-us van, but we weren't able to drive the van home because there was a hinge in the front door that we wanted repaired first. So, we packed up all three boys Wednesday afternoon and drove an hour and a half back down to Illinois to pick it up. Really, the kids were as good as we could've expected on a long drive except for that brief moment when we had to pull over and help Micah fix his seat-belt because the little stinker was messing with it. They entertained themselves with a game of "Red Car, Blue Truck" that Evan and I ended up getting in on. We promptly started debating the point values that ought to be attributed to purple vehicles since they are technically a combination of red and blue and whether or not maroon counts as red or purple.
Eventually, we made it back down to Libertyville and picked up our van with newly repaired door hinge.
By the time we pulled into our driveway at bedtime that night, Micah had already ripped the sunshade off the back window and the motor was making a goofy "flappa flappa" sound that we hadn't heard on the lot or on the test drive. We found out the next morning that there is a leak in an exhaust pipe that needs to be replaced, so we will be getting that replaced soon in addition to repairing the scratches left behind on our other car by the Snowblower Incident. If you are ever in the market to buy a vehicle, do yourself a favor and do not let my husband or I be involved in the process in any way because apparently we are cursed.
After two weeks of taking my anxiety out on my diet and having cookies for breakfast and Gino's East pizza for dinner, I decided to get off on a better foot this morning and whip up a healthy berry smoothie for breakfast complete with power greens and protein powder. After a minute or two of blending, the motor started growling and I smelled burnt plastic and metal. Before the berries and kale had even been fully pulverized, my blender threw up the white flag.
So I had a cookie.
