Annual Key fiasco

Yep, I said annual. Those regular readers of my blog and participators of this crazy experience that passes as my life just might recall how last year I lost my keys and after searching everywhere and missing my appointment to help out in WG's kindergarten class I finally discovered them in the truck. Some of you also might recall that after that horrific day Mithrandir somehow managed to take all the keys to work with him.

Well apparently we are making this a yearly party.

So yesterday I was out shopping. I was less than five minutes from the house. I was to be at the school to help in WG's first grade class by 2:15. At 2 o'clock I walked out to the truck with plenty of time to drive the three minutes to our friends, drop off Taz and Princess, and make it back to the school just three minutes away.

So yep I'm walking out to the truck . . . reaching in my pocket . . . and . . . no keys! What? Where could they be? Oh, there they are! Sitting right on the console where I can plainly see where I left them. How do I do these things you ask? Well, it's easy. It was the first day warm enough to be out in just a sweater. I couldn't get the keys in my pocket while sitting. I reached behind me to unbuckle Taz's stubborn buckle, had to put the keys down to get it, and left them sitting where I dropped them.

Luckily I knew my very dependable friend would be sitting at home just waiting for me to bring my kids by. So I called her, and she thankfully rescued us, taking my kids and dropping me off at the school. She then picked me, WG, and her son up at 3.
We headed back to my house to see if I perhaps had left a door unlocked.
NOPE!
But I have to explain exactly what it cost me to check all the doors, just so you have the full picture.

So here we are, the snow has started to melt, enough to make a VERY large lake in my back yard, but not enough to be able to open the front gate. So I trapes around the fence through my neighbors yard, in my ballerina styled leather wedges. With each step my barely covered feet sink deeper into gooshy sludge that is the only path between the fence and the large pile of snow yet to melt in my neighbors yard. I hold onto the top of the fence as I traverse the narrow path of muck toward the back of the yard. When I reached the back I no longer had to hold onto the fence to stop from falling into the snow, or squelch through the muck, but I did have to walk through ankle deep water and calf half high dead weeds. I pushed open the back gate (where I cut my finger on a jagged edge when the wind blew it back on my hand), and stepped onto a floating piece of ice in the very large lake that is my back yard. I walked across the thin ice peninsula to the sand box, then to the play ground, then tromped through the large pile of snow that is still feeding the lake in the yard. When I reached the back porch I tried not to step on the small pile of dead mice my diligent dog has been collecting for me on the top step. Thank you, Janie. No door, no window open. Still can't open the front gate. Back out the way I came. Moor mud, more muck, more water, more cold, more yuck.

My friend agreed to take my kids home with her. I ran next door for some help with break-in tips. Back through the muck, mud, water, ice, snow, and mice. No luck. Back and forth. Back again. I got the screen off the largest window, but still no luck. Back and forth and back. The wind kicked up, I was wet up to my knees, my feet were soggy like they'd been in sludge soaked socks for an hour. I returned all the tools to my neighbor's, warmed for a minute in her house, pulled off my muck covered socks, put my shoes back on, and ran as fast as I could in the freezing wind with wet pants in ballet wedges over a block to my friends house. We waited just over an hour for Mithrandir to come home from work. ( He rides in a car pool and didn't drive yesterday, unfortunately.)

I warmed up, the kids played, we had snacks, WG got his homework done. Thanks so much Heidi, for rescuing me when I really needed you.

Billy ordered pizza before he left work. He picked us up. We got the truck. Walked through the door about 6:10. I shoveled two pieces of pizza into my mouth, and left to teach my class at 6:30. Ugh! What a day.

At around 8 am this morning I got a phone call from my DH. "I have bad news. I have all the keys." Well at least I had already traded my week to drive the preschool carpool since Taz was sick Tuesday. Also I was too tired to get really upset. "Oh, while your too tired to get mad, I also broke the molding off the top of the bathroom cabinets." Excellent! Anything else you want to get off your chest while I'm too burned out to get mad? Love you anyway :).

So set your calendars. Next year we'll be doing it again.