A Series of Unfortunate Events

It's been one. A day for sure, a week maybe and probably even a month. What is going on? I'm sure I could say it started earlier, but I'm going to start with Marcos' birthday. I'm hoping this post ends up as one of those things I can look back at and laugh about because right now I am NOT laughing.

So Marcos' birthday was on a Saturday and while he was at his brother's house, I realized the water heater had rusted through. At first I thought the kids had turned on the heater, then I realized it was hot and muggy downstairs and quickly discovered the leaking water. Luckily I caught it relatively soon and the water heater has a drain so water wasn't everywhere. We were able to contain it for the most part. We got a new water heater and my brother-in-law came and helped us install it. That was a true blessing. The installation would've cost us another $200 at least and a water heater isn't something you can wait on for a long time. Okay, we can figure this out. Hmm...$600. Where am I going to find an extra $600?

Marcos and I both had to renew our driver licenses this month and went together on a Friday only to discover they only work M-Th now. Oh yeah, whoops. Then I went last week again and their system was down statewide. Are you kidding me? Grr...

I gave Marcos a tennis racket for father's day and his birthday and he usually gets money from my mom & step dad, my dad & step mom, my grandparents and my other grandma. Yep, my family spoils us for our birthdays. Well, he ended up buying a few more tennis items without thought of the budget so his birthday money was already spent before he received it. So when his stupid shoes got a hole in them, I wasn't about to feel sorry for the kid...until I did. So we bought new tennis shoes. Oh, and the sole fell off of his work shoes last month and we had to get new expensive work shoes. Do you see where I'm going with this?

One of the car's needs to be registered in August and the other one in September. Crap! There's another couple hundred bucks in August and another couple in September. Oh yeah, and Marcos' tires are completely bald and can't pass the safety inspection. Swipe. That's the sound of the credit card, which we usually use for convenience and pay off monthly, but I'm wondering if that's going to be the case this time around. Tires are expensive, by the way.

So today we had a YW bbq at my house. A back-to-school bbq. I kept it simple so I could just be in charge of it and not have to assign out a bunch of stuff. The other ladies have been so busy doing everything that I felt like it was my turn to stress a little. Marcos and I weeded the yard, straightened up the house and all that good stuff yesterday so today I could run to the store and then just worry about getting the food ready. We just did hamburgers, corn on the cob, watermelon, chips and salsa and then cookies and muffins for dessert. And that started my awesome day today. I ran to WalMart, which I hate. But I had to go to a bigger store for groceries because I also needed other items (like a paint brush so I could repaint the wall that Preston drew all over with pen yesterday. I discovered the magic eraser really doesn't take ball point pen off of walls). That kid! I think Preston was getting hungry (it was 11-ish) but he cried the entire trip through WalMart, which was not exactly short. Dylan was grumpy too and became increasingly grumpy as Preston hurt his ears with all his screaming. At one point, Dylan covered his ears and yelled, "I just can't take it any more!" My thoughts exactly kid. So I had two of the worst children ever in WalMart and was about to leave the cart with groceries and children there and just walk away. I was that close to a freaking breakdown in the store. And of course they didn't have any cilantro and their corn on the cob was .48 cents each. Um, no, I'm not paying that much for corn people. So I got in line and of course was behind the lady with millions of groceries and ads that she was price matching so we were there for quite some time. Got all that figured out and headed to Sam's Club to feed the children some pizza. More meltdowns from the children. I should've stopped while I was ahead, but no. I proceeded with the insanity. They didn't have cilantro either (I figured they wouldn't) so I went to Ream's since their produce tends to be pretty fresh and reasonably priced. Grabbed the food and headed out the door without much incident. Kids strapped in the car, look behind me, pull car out slowly. Crash! What the... "Mom we just crashed. That's our first crash ever, right mom? Should I call 9-1-1," says my helpful oldest child from the backseat. "No, Dylan, I need to go talk to the man first." Double crap! I pull forward a little bit and get out to talk to him. A man around 65 gets out, smiles, I apologize, he apologizes, we both notice (with great shock) that nothing except possibly a small scratch has been exchanged and he says, "I think we're okay here." "Okay, great. I'm so sorry." I get back in my car, start shaking profusely and try to drive away as my eyes well up with tears. I kid you not as I was pulling out of the parking lot, a lady zooms through the middle of the parking lot to get the front spot and almost takes out my front bumper. What is going on here? By the way, the "crash" was a totally weird thing to. We had both looked in our rearview mirrors, seen that no one was coming and backed out at exactly the same time going in opposite directions. It was completely bizaare, which is why we were both so shocked that we had just crashed. Crazy!

I got home (after stopping at my sister-in-law's and convincing her to help me make the salsa for the party- thanks Amy:)), put Preston down for a nap and went to work on the food. Oh, and I forgot the hamburgers I was going to borrow from Amy. Man! I had to pull out a different kind I had in the freezer at the last minute (thankfully I had them on hand). The food went well, but I was running behind and Marcos misunderstood and came home way later than I expected him. The bbq started at 6 and he was going to help cook, but didn't get here until about 5:30. I was a bit stressed, but got through it. Luckily my mom came to bring me some tables and chairs and stayed to help me get it all ready. Okay, all is well. We got the party started, sent the kids and Marcos to the park and 15 minutes later they come in the door. On the way to the park, the car stopped. Marcos started it again and drove some more, but it stopped a few blocks away and wouldn't start again. He had to have some guy help him push it all the way home. Our friend and neighbor came over to look at it (he's a mechanic) and said the engine was shot. We need a new engine in our car. Are you serious? I didn't even react at first and just figured we'd deal with it later. I left with the YW because we were taking pictures of the girls in this meadow for another activity we're doing. I sat down to wait for them and I just couldn't hold back the tears any more. How are we supposed to deal with that many mishaps in one month? Where do I come up with thousands more in one month in addition to our regular bills. I'm trying not to think too much about it and have faith, but we need a plan. Do we put more money into an old car? A whole new engine? Do we get a new one and add a payment every month that we really can't afford? How in the world do people pay for stuff? I seriously don't get it. Why does it always come down to my getting another job? It's so frustrating. I feel like we work really hard and we try to serve and help others and pay our tithing and live within our means and then stuff like this happens and it just gets to me. I don't even know what to say or think or feel. So that's where we're at right now. Somebody please send me some faith...I'm about to lose it here.