Oh what a night!

Today at work a friend asked me what I would be up to this evening and I told them nothing....it was going to be a quiet night at home with the kids because Josh would be working late.

After picking up the kids and Mojo from their daycares, we headed home to have dinner. Dinner was going to be simple...macaroni and cheese for the kids....soup for me...and the usual course for Mojo.

We had a pretty bad snow and ice storm come through the last 2 days and had not been able to get to the mailbox. Since the snow was starting to melt and the mound from the snow plows was starting to shrink, I decided to pull the van up to the mailbox and get the mail. All was going fine until I tried to turn the wheel and make it up the driveway- all of a sudden I found myself stuck at the end of our 75 foot long snow ramp of a driveway. Oy- vey.

Because I'm two fingering this note on my cell phone- I'm going to give the short version.

Mojo, Caleb, Emilie and I plowed our way through the snow ramp of a driveway and in the house. Emilie and I got our snow gear on (Caleb wanted to play with legos in his room and the snow was so high only Mojo's head could peak out so those two stayed in). As we were heading out the door Emilie announced she "had to go potty real bad!" so off came the scarf, the gloves, the coat, the snow boots, the snow suit and the leggings. Oh yeah- the short version....

So we eventually got outside and started shoveling the van out with no success. By this time I had turned down 3 offers for assistance. But 1 of those good Samaritans came back on his 4 wheeler with snow plow attached & shovel hooked in front because he apparently wasn't convinced I could handle the situation on my own. I wish I was in a position to say he was wrong. My new guardian angel, Justin hooked a line to the back of the van from the 4 wheeler and asked me to put the van in reverse. I hopped in, turned the car on, put it in reverse and hopped back out to watch him work. He stared at me for a bit and said...."ummm- I need you to push the gas pedal"

Even with me at the wheel we couldn't get it out....even after shoveling all the snow out around the tires and car we couldn't get it out. We discovered the wheels were stuck on ice so Justin went home to get salt when he noticed the blank stare on my face after asking if I had any in the garage. As a side note- the blank stare was the same look he got when he told me he needed me to push the gas pedal.

Instead of salt, Justin returned with his Explorer and a tow line. I stayed in the car this time to work the gas pedal and we freed the van from its ice captives- hooray! Justin asked me to wait while he went back to his house to get his 4 wheeler...he wanted to plow the driveway so I wouldn't get stuck again. Now mind you I've never met this guy before....and we have a really long driveway....and we had gotten 6 inches of snow....but he was adamant so I waited. Once he cleared the drive I was given the ok to pull up as he rode away. I turned the key and nothing. I turned again and nothing but clicking. Oh yeah- I had left the service engine & lights on this entire time. The battery was dead. I tried to play it cool and prayed Justin wouldn't notice- but sure enough he was waiting at the end of the street to see if I made it into the garage safely. He came back around and ended up pushing my van off the middle of the street and onto the driveway. He offered to come back with jumper cables but I graciously declined...I had humiliated myself enough for one evening and this was what AAA was for.

I had only made it in the house and torn through my purse for my AAA card when the doorbell rang... Justin was at the front door...back with a car and jumper cables. He asked for my keys, jumped the battery and pulled my car into the garage. Such a sweetheart!

Oh- so this might be a good time to mention that when I was pulling up to the mailbox in the beginning of this adventure my gas light went on....I was below the E line. I have a mileage indicator on the dash and so I noticed when I looked in the car after Justin left I had 2 miles worth of fumes left in the gas tank. I started screaming like a crazy asian, rounded up the startled children and nervous Chihuahua, and tossed them all in the nearly dead van to head to the gas station. Fortunately we have a gas station less than .5 a mile from the house. I breathed a sigh of relief as I pulled up next to the pump and started searching for my wallet. Remember how I was tearing through my purse looking for my AAA card??? Well - when the doorbell rang I left that wallet on the kitchen counter. And in my crazy asian state I didn't think to grab it....just my empty purse. I raced back home...grabbed the wallet....and thankfully had enough fumes to coast my way next to the pump.

Oh what a night!