So the last week has probably been the worst PR days ever! This is a hard title to give to only 7 days. I mean I have had other groups of days that have sucked, like Centro Medico and the cancerous tumor week (twice), when the Moon's car got broken into when my parents were here, or the 6 other times our car has broken down. But the last 7 days have all been terrible and we have just had one thing after another fall on top of us and it is a new thing everyday! Let us begin with Thursday, or was it Friday...
I decided that the heat was really getting to me and was going to go pick up Ben from school right after I got Kalli. This was going to be about an hour early, but I figured we could all just sit in the lobby and wait for him and enjoy the a/c. So I grabbed Kalli and we went to pick Ben up. But while we are going there I could tell the car was acting up. Disappointment #1. (Let's remind you about our car...The passenger rear window is covered in packing tape because it is stuck down; the a/c doesn't work, unless blowing hot air counts; the steering wheel latch that makes it adjustable is broken so the wheel moves EVERY direction while you are driving; it has 4 bald tires with only 3 hubcaps and one hub is held on with zip ties, the engine sounds as if it is the creature from the black lagoon and “growls" in park; the dash board is cracked and missing a good chunck out of the center; and to make the experience complete the entire car still has lingering smells of the giraffe house. For a reminder why see picture below.) Anyway it just drove weird on the way to Ben's school. But I just shrugged it off and picked Ben up. He played hooky from his last hour of class and we decided that we would go to the mall and eat an early dinner and finally use Bronsen's b-day gift card at Cold Stone.
So on our way to the mall Ben also noticed the car being weird, but we were hungry. So Johnny Rockets was the dinner choice and they usually have 50's music, nickel jukebox and the servers dance and the kids love it. But when we get there, the music, dancing, and servers have been replaced with a giant flat screen TV and ESPN! And there is only one employee and about 5 tables. Disappointment #2. So eventually we get our food and eat it and the bill is not too expensive. We had the kids share and told them they could fill-up on ice cream at Cold Stone after.
So we walk across the mall to Cold Stone, see a picture of a Cold Stone gift card in the window and begin to order our ice cream. We all get what we wanted and Ben goes to pay and the worker tells him that they sell gift cards, they just don't redeem them! Disappointment #3. Now, we didn't fret too much because for most of the readers out there you know that this is VERY typical in PR. So we finish up eating and get the last of the a/c fix and load the kids in the car to go home.
At this point the car is still acting up and we are now stuck in traffic on one of the tiny back roads on the way home. The car suddenly stops moving. It is still running, but not moving. Disappointment #4. I get out and we push it into this church/school parking lot. Ben calls our land lady and asks if she could come and pick us up. The kids are totally fine with it all. They got out and played in the empty parking lot and we waited and tried not to grumble those special words too loudly. When our ride arrives we ask the church/school security guard if we can leave the car there until tomorrow when we can get one of our friends to tow it to the auto shop. We get home and go to bed hoping our day will be better tomorrow...
Tomorrow comes and our water pressure is kind of low. I don't think anything of it for the next couple of hours until, it is completely gone. Ben comes home from studying and asks the landlady what is up with the water. She then tells us the water will be out for two days! Disappointment #5 and #6 (it is worth 2).
Later Saturday night I get a phone call from the Stake Pres. and he asks me to speak in Stake Conference next week...in SPANISH! I don't speak Spanish, nor have I EVER had a class in Spanish or can I even help Kalli with her first grade Spanish homework. I know 10 words and I can't even pronounce those words correctly. So needless to say I wouldn't say it was a disappointment, but defiantly added stress to my weekend!
Sunday came and went without much drama, thank heavens.
Monday came and the water didn't. We were informed that we wouldn't have it until Tuesday night! Disappointment #8! We were pretty much out of water to flush with and I hadn't done the dishes since Friday! But then a blessing came. A friend found out we didn't have water and invited us to her house for the next two days to shower and wash clothes while she was out of town. It was so nice but a huge amount of stress since we were borrowing the Moon's car and I had to haul all of our clothes and bath stuff 40 minutes away, two days in a row! I don't know what we would have done with out her generosity. We decided to call our selves the Waterless Refugees. So after two days at our friends house we packed the kids in the car to head home. As we started off thought the neighborhood I noticed a weird sound from the front passenger tire. I got out and looked and the tire was worn through and a piece of the rubber was hanging off! Dissapoinment #9. It was 5 at night and I had a 40 minute drive back home and this was a car I was barrowing! I found one of the members in the bishopric at the neighborhood park and he helped me (okay, I just watched) put the spare tire on. The spare was pretty bald and I had to drove home about 25 miles an hour and then of course my cell phone died. Disappointment #10.
After Tuesday night came and went without water, we were told that we would have water on Thursday! Disappointment #11. The kids took to filling jugs of water from our landlady’s pool (see picture above). I felt like were Haitians. They were such troopers through the entire week, especially because Kalli didn't have school because they didn't have water either. On Tuesday we were told that the car repairs were going to be at least $850. Disappointment #12
To make a long water story shortish we were without water for 6 days! Our water was not back on until early Friday morning at like 12 am. Disappointment #13 and on Thurday we were told that the car was worse than we thought and it would really cost $1500, because it needs a whole new transmission! The car is only worth about $1500! Disappointment #14. We had not car and no water and no money!
This week has taught me that just when you think life hands you the worst, it can and usually does get worse... All we can do now is hope that next week will get better.:)
