ETD...

The estimated time of departure is seven pm and it is now five and I have literally spent the day on the road. Was up by 5:30 am with a cranky baby and at Walmart by 7:30 am. Was promised the van would be ready in an hour and at 1/4 to 10 they told me there was a problem... Cecilia's Doctors appointment was at 10:15. Called the girls and asked them to walk her over... As the boys (13 and 14) were then going to be in charge I spoke to the 14 yr old and begged told him to please make sure there were no fights between him and his brother while they were in charge. (Given their age and testosterone levels verbal disputes can rapidly become physical!)

Finally got off the phone with the kids and called Drs to tell them they were walking and did not know the neighborhood that well and might be a bit late... by then it was 10:20. Drs office said if they are one minute past 10:30 they would not be seen... so rescheduled for 2:15 and called girls back and told them to turn around and head back home.... This was answered by some rather heavy groans.

Meanwhile technician, cashier and manager were sorting out the problem with the tires. Seems the tire we bought for our van in December was not "legal" for a 15 passenger van and the technician who sold the tire to Hugo had fudged the paper work to get around it. Yet all he had to really do was report the tire as a 'walk in' - which is what it actually was! Hugo had walked it in as the van was sitting in our driveway sans the very, very flat tire he was rolling along beside him that day.

Solution: Replace the tire sold in December with an upgrade @ no charge, sell me three more tires of the same grade at the lower price. Over all: saved eighty dollars but lost three precious hours of my day!

Just barely got Cecilia into the office in time for new appointment, walked out with three prescriptions and headed over to school to pick up Hugo and go back to OUR doctor as we suspected he had a sinus infection. Left with three prescriptions for him and while we were in the parking lot of our pharmacy the car next to our van was robbed with the driver sitting there in the front seat.... The gentleman was rather ill and his wife was inside picking up his prescription. He was dozing and the culprit simply walked up to the car, opened the front passenger door, grabbed the wife's purse and ran!

Now I am about to head back to pharmacy to pick up the scripts and I am seriously doubting that E.T.D. will be met. If I have time I'll let you know just how off of it we are before we hit the road!

God Bless and feel free to heap the prayers on, eh?

BETH! Oh how I wish we could have made a little detour to visit... but hubby has to be back to work by Friday! Still hoping we can meet up in February though???