If there was ever a day to just stay home, today would have been it!

Even though there were signs everywhere telling me to just skip going to the gym this morning and stay home, I didn't listen. Sign number 1, it snowed last night. Boise drivers (California transplants) freak out at the sight of the year's first snow fall and drive like two year olds. Do I dare go out on the roads this morning? Sign number two, the girls have nasty runny noses accompanied with a little cough. I know shouldn't take them to the play center this way but then I tell myself that they probably got sick from the gym in the first place since that is then only place they go. Besides, if I didn't take them every time they had a runny nose I would NEVER go. Plus I have missed going the past 6 days because of their cold and I couldn't take it any longer. I need to go. For my sanity, I need to go. So I decided that kids with colds and a litle snow on the ground wasn't keeping me home, I was going.

As time came close for me to leave, Alex still wasn't awake. Here I go again, going against my intuition and decide to wake up my sleeping child, who is sick, and take her into the snowy weather. It's all for my sanity, it's ok. Feeling guilty, I get Alex dressed, make her some toast for on the way, stopped her from brushing her teeth with toilet water and loaded the kids in the car. I was on my way.

I turn the ignition and whammo, sign number three presents itself in the form of a little gas light. Of course Brad drove last and who knows how long the light has been on. I call Brad and he tells me that it wasn't on long and that I should make it the 8 miles to the gym and then get to a gas station. So I accepted the risk and drove to the gym. As I pull up to the gym Alex sneezes the juiciest, yellowiest, nastiest stuff from her nose. Oh boy, they are going to chew me out for bringing her but I wasn't turning back. I leave my kids in the play center and go to my class, feeling guilty the whole time, fearing that when I picked them up I would get an ear-full. Because of this my workout wasn't the rejuvenating experience I was hoping for. After the class I pick them up expecting to see snot oozing down Alex's face but instead found two happy, healthy looking girls. Phew, I got one break this morning. As we are walking to the car and just when I am thinking "oh, that didn't go so bad" I see it, the flattest tire you have ever seen. The thought of me sitting in an icy puddle, putting a spare on, with two screaming kids went through my head. No, I was not going to do that, not today. After calling Brad and being reminded of our tire warranty I called Les Schwab. They told me to put the spare on and bring it in, but I had already decided that was not an option. After playing the damsel in distress, I got the guy to agree sending someone out to me and putting air in the tire so I could drive it to Les Schwab. Twenty minutes waiting in the car is better than 20 minutes sitting in a puddle with freezing fingers changing the tire myself, right? After 20 some minutes of screaming, fighting kids and a torn up coloring book Mr. Les Schwab finally shows up, but not for long. He forgot a part he needed to put air in the tire so he was off again. Oh, so close. Another 10 minutes goes by and Mr. Les Schwab tire shows back up. After filling my tire with air I drove to the tire center hoping all the way that I would not run out of gas and add another fiasco on top of the one I was already dealing with.

At the tire center, we were in a waiting room with about 8 other people, all of them kid-less. Therefore, we became their entertainment as they watched the girls fighting over the few toys in the room and of course I feel like I am being judged because of my can't control-the kids-skills I was exhibiting. Don’t you just love that felling? The girls started getting really restless just as I noticed the complimentary popcorn. Yes, something to keep them happy. I got them each a bag and sat back down. Not much time had gone by before Alex decided to spill her whole bag on the floor and as I was self-consciously bending down trying to clean up the spilled popcorn with all the onlookers staring right at me I smelled something. Oh no, what is that? I did a quick smell of Alex’s diaper that only a mom would do and sure enough my suspicions were confirmed. This was not good because I didn't have a diaper with me. I thought I had one that I had brought to the gym in the car. The same car that was up on a lift getting the tire fixed in the farthest possible bay from the waiting room. I decided to wait and just let it be but the smell got stronger and stronger until it was unbearable. I don’t know if it was just because I was worried about it or not but it seemed that everyone had disgusted looks on their faces while they were holding their breath and shifting in their seats trying to block the smell from entering their nostrils. So I decided to try and get the diaper from the car. I grabbed Alex and asked the guy at the desk if there was any way I could grab a diaper from my car. He said sure and began walking me to the garage. As he took off, I looked at Ayden and she was busy coloring so I figured she wouldn’t even notice I was gone. So decided it would be better to leave her and not have to deal with two girls in the garage full of dangerous tools and pits in the floor. I got to the car of course I found nothing. As I turn to walk back to the waiting room I see Ayden in one of the stranger's arms crying at the glass door. Shoot, what kind of a mom am I? Luckily the stranger was just trying to comfort her and show her where I was, but that could have been a bad situation. Once again, that motherly guilt sweeps through me. We sit back down, but ahh that is one SMELLY diaper. I loaded all our stuff in my arms and took the girls to the bathroom. Maybe it is just one of those poops you can just plop into the toilet and then put the same diaper back on. I opened the diaper and as my luck was going it was diarrhea (from all those dang grapes I fed her yesterday)! So I did what I had to do and I closed the diaper back up. Gross! Poor Alex. I walked back to the waiting room and only a minute goes by and my name is called, YES, we can get out of here. I loaded the girls up in the car and took off. I was so anxious to get home that I forgot about my empty gas tank. I was only a few miles from the house when… I run out of gas! Just kidding, but that would have made the story even better if I had.

I think I will just stay home the rest of the day. :)