Coping With My Homemade Disaster

I can officially say that I had one of the worst days of my entire life on Thursday. My morning blogging with my Chai tea and all that....yeah....that was the high light. It went downhill from there, way down hill.

After I chatted with you here, I got myself fixed up for a day of shopping, put the girls in their kennel, filled the bird bath, and went to the garage to start the Jeep to warm up. And that's where the whole day just went to you know where.

See those sleepers? They used to be up on blocks, elevated about a foot and a half off the ground, and you could walk between them. I've seen Malcolm start the Jeep and pickup before by pressing the clutch with his hand and turning the ignition. He does it so he doesn't have to get in, when he's working on them or warming them up, etc. So I thought, "Hey, why not?" because I was going back out to hang up a birdfeeder. (I bring them in at night to prevent being robbed by the deer.) That method of starting the vehicles works great. Just be sure if you should ever decide to try it....well you better make sure that the stupid thing is out of gear!

At this point, I'm able to look back and see the bright side, like I didn't get killed, the damage is minor (depending on whose perspective you take), it could have gone on through the tool box and then the wall, it could have been in reverse and gone into the 200 gallon fuel tanks....see, there are lots of worse possibilities. And also, I finally got to meet the neighbors, though not exactly how I had pictured it occuring. When it comes down to it, I was being plain lazy, and I payed the price. I think maybe the sleepers are ok. I was terrified that I had ruined Malcolm's project. The Jeep...well....the right headlight is pushed in about an inch, there is a 2 inch tear in the canvas top where the one sleeper was leaning on it, and I think its a little out of alignment now. Thats all I can tell for now until Malcolm gets home to inspect it.

I was frozen in horror when I first realized what was happening. Then I was able to jump on the Jeep and yank if out of gear, but not before the damage was done. I don't think I've shaken that badly in a long time. I was trembling for hours afterwards. The Jeep was stuck, because the one sleeper was using it for a support. I went next door, hoping Mr. Thomas was home. Malcolm's visited with him several times across the fence as they were working outside. He wasn't home, but his wife, bless her heart, was outside in the driveway when I walked up. She said, "You must be Sarah!" and I said, "yes" and broke down right then and there. She was comforting, concerned, and just what I needed. She walked back with me, checked it out, and though she couldn't help me, obviously, she did call the guy that lives behind us and left him a message asking him to come see if he could help me when he got off of work. Then she took me back to her house and we visited for a bit, talked gardening, birds, and Montana.

Needless to say....I did NOT go anywhere. Even if I could have I'd not have opted to do so. I was sick most of the day. Finally around 2:00 I could take it no more. I had to see if there was something I could do. So I went to the shop, and after a close inspection, figured I could jack up the one sleeper enough that I might could free the Jeep. It took some finagaling, but I did manage to get it jacked up and mostly stabalized so it wouldn't fall further. And I was able to free the Jeep. That evening Keith and his wife came down and he looked the Jeep over for me and gave his go ahead to drive it. They were super nice, sympathetic, and offered help anytime we needed it.

In short, it was an aweful aweful aweful day. But I discovered that I'm not completly helpless (I knew this anyway, but I was proud of my use of the jack, having never used it before. Watching your dad and husband work on things can come in handy as it turns out. I'd seen them do stuff with it, and was able to figure things out based on that.) And I also discovered that I have great neighbors, who probably think they have a complete idiot next door, but still...they're nice! At least it ended on a good note.

Friday I gave my errand running a second try. It went better. I actually got out of the garage that time. I hit the fabric store, the book store, and (as a last minute add on) the automotive store running an errand for Malcolm, who at this point still didn't know about my experience. I was waiting to tell him till he got home, since he was tired, stressed, and didn't need more on his mind. Besides, there wasn't anything he could do and it would just make him worry. I did not go to Kohls. I neglected to go there because I had planned on buying shoes, clothes, several things...but after my little demolition project, I was thinking maybe I better not spend money. I kind of blew my allowance on body work and a paint job for the Jeep. And by the time I finished at the fabric store, I just wanted to go home and start my projects anyway.

I was up till 1:00 last night because I just couldn't put my work down. Plus I'd had like 6 glasses of iced tea....bad idea for an evening drink. Apparently it has just enough caffeine to keep me going a long time. The girls finally gave up on me, after a couple hours of whining and standing under my feet trying to tell me it was bed time, and went to bed without me, Paris in the laundry basket downstairs, Carlie Jean upstairs in the library chair, and Ella in the doggy bed at my feet. It took a while, and two phone calls to Mom, but I got it done, all by myself (mostly). Take a look.

I spent my childhook watching Mom sew everything from dolls to our clothes to home decorating. She even had a sewing business for a while. I remember her customers coming over. I never took an interest, and now that I am interested, she's 2000 miles away. But again, I wasn't interested in sewing back then, but aparently all those years of watching her do it paid off, because I was able to figure things out, and found that memories of what I'd seen and heard helped a lot.

Today, I cleaned, ran more errands for Malcolm, did some baking, and another sewing project. I've been using this ironing board since before I met Malcolm, and its had the same cheapy cover on it for its entire life. The padding was shot, the cover was stained, and I was sick of it. I'd considered buying a new one, but they cost more than I thought they should and they wern't even pretty. Mind you, I'm not sure that "prettyness" is a requirment for ironing boards covers, but I figured maybe if it was pretty, I'd get it out more often and iron instead of letting Malcolm's shirts pile up on the counter. I hate ironing. Anyhow...so I made a new cover. There were some instructions in my farmgirl book, and I used them for the most part, winging some of it, and voila....my new ironing board cover.

So, despite my homemade destruction project, I ended my three days on a good note, and was fairly productive during them. I'm not sure that it will make up for what all I tore up, but I feel better anyway. I feel creative, capable, and connected with my Mom and Grandma because as it turns out, I can sew too.

I'm to pick up Laura at the airport here in a couple of hours. We're going to the ranch for the day tomorrow. Malcolm needed some things, and they wanted us to come over for a visit. It will be fun to see everyone, to see Malcolm, and to see the snow (apparently they got another 4 inches last night and its been snowing again today.)

As a side note....

I went ahead and told Malcolm about the "incident" this morning. Figured that since I was going over there, I'd tell him instead of shocking him in front of everyone. He was worried about the Jeep more than the sleepers which was not what I expected. He obviously was less than thrilled, but he took it very well, and it was a relief to get the telling of it done. With that done, now I can start to fully recover and clean up.

Hope you all have a great weekend, what's left of it, and I'll try not to kill Laura and I on the road tomorrow. I say that because in my errands today I drove the wrong way down a one way street, nearly ran someone off the road, and nearly had two other fender benders. Apparently I wasn't meant to be behind the wheel today. Its been a bad week for me and the Jeep. I think thats an understatment. At least tomorrow is the beginning of a new week, so maybe the curse will be lifted.

I just had to throw this one in too. Paris, my forever comforter. She was a great support Thursday. Today she decided that the cotton batting scraps from my ironing board project made an excellent blanket to lay on and enjoy her chewy.