What A Weekend...

We had our weekend planned to the hilt. On Saturday we intended on visiting Aunt D down south (an hour and a half away). We haven't seen them in nearly 3 months and since we live so close that is just unacceptable. Then Sunday we planned on going to IKEA (Thanks K for showing me that store... We're in trouble now). I had found a day bed that is the perfect addition and meets each and every one of our current and future needs. Unfortunately, the weekend didn't quite go as planned:

Saturday we packed the kids into the van and were just pulling out of the driveway when Matt's SGM phone needing some assistance for another soldier, which happens to be a vital part of Matt's job. So we unpacked the kids and off Matt went to assist the soldier in his emergency. By the time Matt arrived home it was far too late to head down south, so we stayed home and took down the Halloween decorations (thanks so much Ma).

Sunday we reloaded up the kids and headed north to go to IKEA. We only needed that one item, but one must walk the entire store to get to the checkout (or even find what you are looking for). There really are no short-cuts, which is a great way to encourage people to buy more during those impulse but moments. Unfortunately, they were still out of the day bed that I want. This actually was a blessing in disguise because I can order it online and have it shipped directly to my parents house (that will be our couch and my bed while we're living there during Matt's deployment; then it will become C's bed and a guest bed since it can expand to a king-sized element).

Since we rushed through IKEA and were finished with it with ample time to have a decent visit with everyone at Aunt D's house we decided to take the long drive down. We made it about an hour from our house when the van started acting funny. It was kind of scary because neither Matt nor I knew what was what. Thankfully, we were just coming up on an exit, so we pulled off the road. Matt put the van in park and revved the engine a bit. The van sounded and felt perfectly normal. But, just in case, we decided to head home. Matt put the van into drive and began pulling out onto the road. Sadly, the van didn't want to cooperate... It refused to leave 1st gear. So, we puttered across the overpass to the 76 station and called our insurance company for help and called Aunt D to let her know what we were doing.

We waited about an hour for a tow truck and Aunt D pulled in just before he arrived to take us to the car rental place. The gentleman who owned the rental shop was an angel. His was the only rental agency in the entire area and he was closed on Sundays. But he answered his phone and agreed to help out a soldier in need... I cannoth thank him enough!!!

Our van was towed to the local Mazda dealership. The poor specialist worked on it all day and is completely stumped as to what is causing the problem (or even what the problem seems to be). Hopefully we'll find out more tomorrow.

We truly thought our weekend was bad, but our friend's weekend was even worse... He has experienced identity theft... It can happen to all of us, so be careful!!!