A Disappointment & Disaster Averted
Today was the day that Flynn was going to get his driver’s license, at long last. I know some of you are thinking it’s downright weird for an American boy to wait so long to get his license. But Flynn is no dummy. He didn’t see any reason why he should pay astronomical amounts of money for insurance when he lived within walking distance of school and work.
So anyway, he was ready to take the test, so I took Lina to work this morning so we could have Valvados (Flynn’s car) for the test. My mistake. (Flynn’s mistake was expecting me to have a functioning brain first thing in the morning.) We got to DPS and Flynn waited in line and did paperwork, and was told he would have to come back at 3:45 to take his driving test.
This was not happy news. It meant Flynn would have to leave in the middle of a class (after taking a quiz), and it meant that Lina might not get picked up from school on time. Only then did it occur to me that I should have just let Lina drive the van to school!
This afternoon at 3:15 I was waiting impatiently for Flynn to arrive when Lina called needing to be picked up, and I couldn’t leave her waiting because she had to go to work. So I rushed to get her and arrived back, jumped in the other car with Flynn (who had meanwhile arrived) and droved sedately off to the DPS. Not that I wanted to drive sedately, but it happened to be right when everyone in town was picking their kids up from school, and what with the traffic and the school zones it might have been quicker to walk, except that of course we needed the vehicle for the test! I fervently hoped that the trooper would be running behind and that it wouldn’t be a big deal that we were seven or eight minutes late.
So we finally got there and Flynn waited in line for a long time again, only to be told that he had missed his appointment and would have to come back Monday morning to make another appointment, because of course they don’t let you make appointments for another day, because that would actually make sense. So Monday we get to go do it all again.
Meanwhile, another minor crisis was averted with the arrival of a package today. Look what was inside:
When I made ricecakes for the Ferns’ visit, I was horrified to discover that there wasn’t actually enough Marmite to go with them. Fortunately, my Marmite suppliers are lifelong friends whom I have known for more than 40 years. So I ordered these jars, commenting that I had made ricecakes and run out of Marmite. Scott understood the seriousness of the situation and got these in the mail to me immediately! If you ever need Marmite or various other British imports, I highly recommend their company, The Marmite Pantry: http://www.marmitepantry.com/index.html
I also found time today to get out Swifty and wind some yarn. Here’s the lovely DK weight that Rebekah helped me dye:
And the beautiful alpaca/silk laceweight she gave me and helped me dye:
And the lovely superwash sock yarn I got that week too:
It’s “Happy Feet” by Plymouth Yarn Co. The big question is, do I love this yarn enough to actually make myself a pair of socks? I have yet to be bitten by the sock-knitting bug.
Then there were Mary’s dual crises. First, she had a book that she had to read and about which she must write a paper before Monday. Only, she hasn’t been able to find it since Tuesday. We looked all over the house, more than once. It appeared to have vanished into thin air. I offered a reward. Then Spencer came back from having supper with a friend, and it turned out Mary’s book had been stuck by some mysterious person into Spencer’s zippered binder. It hadn’t occurred to Spencer that maybe he ought to mention this. I’m just so glad the book was found!
Then there was the little matter of Mary’s money. When we went to set up Mary’s checking account the other day, she got a nasty surprise. She had a lot less money than she thought residing in the savings account that she had been sharing with her younger siblings. Since I am the one who does her banking, suspicion naturally fell on me. Not that anyone thought I stole it, but that I had screwed up royally and cost Mary a couple hundred dollars!
I couldn’t believe I could have blown it that badly. Mary couldn’t believe that after all her hard work she wouldn’t have enough money for school next semester. Coming in the same week as the driver’s license fail, I was feeling pretty low.
This evening I sat down to pay a bunch of bills and do some online banking, and I discovered a startling and thrilling fact. The money wasn’t lost, and it wasn’t my fault. The teller had on two different occasions deposited Mary’s money into the wrong account! It was still there—I just hadn’t looked for it in that account, since it wasn’t supposed to be there! Not that this makes me any less stupid, but at least this particular misstep was not my fault.
Parting Shot:
Our shrub roses are blooming again. This rose is about the size of a quarter.
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