It's Tuesday

Fair warning: My friends & family who voted for our new president-elect may not see some of the humor in this. Just sayin'. I'm saying it lightheartedly, and hope you take it that way!

In my little online group called the "Travelin' Dork Sisters" (we all like to make cards and/or scrapbook pages or other paper things with stamps; we also all happen to be dorky and proud of that! LOL!), we have found that Tuesday is, well, Tuesday. My dork sisters know what I mean. Tuesday is Murphy's law day. If anything can go wrong, it will. Take last Tuesday, Nov. 4th, 2008, for example. MY candidate lost the presidential election. Yep, it was a Tuesday.

This Tuesday had a series of unfortunate events leading up to today's events. Sort of. About 2 weeks ago we had to replace a tire on the van. Cha-ching (that's the sound of an old cash register ringing up our total bill). We had a tire on the Buick Regal (our 1995 Regal, which is less than regal these days---much like the prince & the pauper, it has now switched places with royalty to live amongst the commoners) that had been in need of replacement for some time. One of my friends saw me driving the car one day with the tire extremely low on air & told me I needed to get it fixed. When I still had not done so a couple of weeks later she said if I didn't take it she was going to take it in to get it done! That's a good friend! On Friday last week, Natalie & I experienced a lumpy bumpy ride like nothing we'd ever felt. She had a drink holder with several sodas in it and they were sloshing like we were on the high seas. I had to drive it once on Sunday. Yesterday we chugged our way to Wal-Mart to have it replaced. Cha-ching.

Today is Tuesday. That is our homeschool co-op day. You may remember that I was the nut mom for our Girl Scout troop. Today was "money due" day. That meant being sure to find the moms, get the money, count the money, add all the money, double check the money, etc. Thankfully the GS leader has done a LOT of work with this nut sale, and she willingly took care of the last few bits of money that needed to be turned in. Phew! I was also in charge of the GS lesson today----making cupcakes from scratch, trying new foods, and learning to set a table properly. I was adding checks & cash by hand (remember back in the old days before calculators?) WHILE doing these lessons. Well, not the cupcake making. We did THAT BEFORE class because there is one kitchen & there is a class in there the same time as GS, AND we found out another class needed the oven. OY! So, I was adding money, teaching a class, and getting cupcakes out of the oven at the same time. I also missed a class I needed to co-teach (thanks to the other teachers for going forth without me!). During that time, my friend, who had been concerned about my tire, was told that SHE had a flat tire. So, she had to take it in to have her tire fixed. Except, when they were fixing that one tire, they found that her front 2 tires were bald on the inside, so she had to get THOSE replaced. Cha-ching for her, or should I say for THEM.

After this we took the Girl Scouts to a nursing home for Veterans Day. The cadettes (the older girls) were doing the flag ceremony. It was such a beautiful event. The girls presented the flag, then we all said the pledge (I almost laughed when the girl said to stand for the pledge b/c so many can't stand; thankfully the lady there said "or sit if you can't stand"). There were some readings by one of the workers there (coordinator of some type) and the VFW president. Then our girls handed out cards & thanked the veterans for their service. We sang some patriotic songs. The piano player is 92 and legally blind. I talked to her after the service & it was so wonderful to hear her talk and hear her play. She played music from all the branches but Coast Guard (because they didn't know the CG song). People stood when their branch song was played, whether they were in that branch or the spouse/family of that branch. When they listed the vets, they told what they did, and it was so cool to see the women that had worked as WAC's during WW2! There were also women who'd been in the Red Cross & USO. The lady speaking said, "I know why you volunteered there. It's where you met all those young good looking servicemen." Even in their 80's & 90's this gave the ladies a giggle!

Near the end, the girls were asked to take some time to visit with the person to whom they'd given the card. Even the Juniors who had tagged along, and 2 boy scouts (their mom is the cadette leader) got to hand out cards and visit with someone. Bethany was reluctant to do ANYTHING, so one of the other girls who seems much older, but is really just 1 1/2 years older, took her under her wing. This girl's younger sister & Natalie are "BFF's" (best friends forever), so both my girls spend time at their house. It meant so much to me for her to do this for Bethany & not show any signs of "having to help her" at all. When she talked to the veteran, she pulled Bethany up there & told the man, "This is Bethany. She's a little shy." I had heard the man Natalie talked to speaking earlier & realized he was very clear headed (his mind), and saw her with him. She's been around "old people" (to her) in their 70's & probably 80's from being around her grandparents a lot, but usually they are well-bodied folks with clear minds. Natalie did a great job talking to the people. As we left one lady said to her, "You are a sweet little girl." We teased our Natalie on the way out about being called "sweet," but she can be VERY sweet and gentle.

During the event, at one point the VFW man got choked up, which made me get choked up. At least until someone who couldn't hear yelled out, "I can't hear a thing he's saying!" Then the coordinator lady got choked up reading something, and I got teary. But, what did me in is when I saw the girl who was with Bethany talking to this old man and hugging him, then she was crying & crying because it was so special. She's not a girl who cries a lot. In fact, I have NEVER seen her cry. I was already teary about her helping Bethany & when I saw her cry, I just couldn't help but cry. She said he started crying & told her he wasn't sad, just moved. He said, "You've made me smile from cheek to cheek," and he gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek. Later we learned that he almost died not long ago, which made this even more sweet. Then they passed out cookies to the residents and visited with more of them. I heard some of the girls say how much they enjoyed doing this. I think they saw how special it was to these people and they wanted to help. I was so proud of our girls.

Well, all the warm fuzzies came to an end and Tuesday reared its head again (the nerve!) when we got outside. My friend had new tires. I have a new tire. Surely we would just get in the car & go home. Nope. My car would not start. We found someone with jumper cables & tried charging it. Nope. Nothing. Nada. Nil. So, we loaded up the girls & me into her car and headed over here. Mind you, this didn't happen near our house, but a good 25 minute drive away. We left the car parked at the nursing home. OH! I forgot the best part. Have you ever looked at the engine in a 95 Buick Regal? The battery isn't on top. It is hidden beneath the washer fluid reservoir. It's dark out & 3 women could not find the battery. We've all jumped cars before & know what a battery looks like. I called Phil & found out that you don't attach it to the battery, but a separate little connector thingy (I'm NOT the mechanic in the family).

When we got home, my friend was telling Phil about it & we all agree the engine design stinks. Then she told him all that happened with her car & said, "What's up with all this happening?" I joked about it all happening since Obama was elected. She wryly replied, "It's an Obama Nation." You have to say that really fast to see the humor.

She took the girls to her house to spend the night. We thought I'd be getting up early to deal with the battery in the a.m., but he wants to wait til after work. So, she has the girls & I am here. It must mean Tuesday is almost over.

All joking aside, when we got in the car, she had K-LOVE on, which plays Christian music (nationwide & on the web). There was a song on called, "Blessed be the Name" and the words playing were:
Every blessing you pour out I'll turn back to praise.
When the darkness closes in Lord, still I'm gonna say
Blessed be the name of the Lord, Blessed be your name,
Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your glorious name.

Even on Tuesday, even when Murphy's law is in full swing, even when you just paid for a tire & now have to pay for a battery & you really were hoping to pay for some other things, even then we can say Blessed be the Name of the Lord. He's still on His throne. Now if He'll toss a little juice into my car, that would be icing on the cake!