The 10 1/2 hour orthodontist appointment

Yesterday was a big day. K. had an orthodontist appointment. So as to avoid driving three hours total for a half hour appointment, I thought it would be fun to take people into town and see some friends. And then things kind of spiraled out of control.

We left as scheduled at 9 am. The appointment was for 11:15, and I knew it would take a while with morning rush hour traffic. The traffic as as bad (possibly worse) as I had thought it would be, but we made it to the appointment in good time. We made it in such good time, that I though I would just make a run through the Habitat ReStore which is just around the corner. My newest thought was that our current range is so bad, that it would be worth it to find an inexpensive used range at somewhere like the ReStore, and replace it for the interim before we can do something about the kitchen. Well, I did find something. A Kenmore duel fuel range, with a fifth burner in the center. It is the same size as our other range, and looked in fairly good shape. Certainly a bit better than what we had. And even better, it was only $225. So I put it on hold and went on to the orthodontist appointment.

Now, you have to realize that I was travelling with 8 children. I took G., L., Y., R., H., K., P., and A. who had Olive in tow. These people were hanging outside with the puppy while I did the store run through. So, when I say we went on to the appointment, you have to visually add in 9 people and one puppy re-entering the van, and getting buckled.

The orthodontist was uneventful, if a little longer than I anticipated. A. and P. were outside with Olive, making numerous friends. (There is nothing like having an almost 8 week old puppy in tow to break the social ice.) I had the 5 other littles who waited in the waiting room with me. After getting the news that I now have to find a dentist to get a baby tooth in K.'s mouth removed, we were on our way again.

We drove back to the ReStore. I ran in, bought the stove, and pulled around so it could be loaded in the van. Doesn't everyone pick up a stove when they go to the orthodontist? It is still in the van now. It may be there until the weekend. It may make it a bit tricky to get the groceries home.

Anyway... now it was nearly 12. Because I am the fun mom, I had arranged for playdates with various children's friends. One group was getting dropped off for lunch and an extended playdate, and the other group was coming with me to a park where we were having a picnic and meeting other friends. All this meeting and playing was scheduled to happen about 12:30. That gave me a half an hour to go to our favorite cheap hamburger place, pick-up lunch for the picnickers, drop some children at one place, and take the other people another. Let's just say I didn't get it all done by 12:30. I was finally back at the park and able to eat my lunch about 1:15 or so. At least the picnic people had saved me some fries.

The next hour or so was spent catching up with good friends and relaxing a bit from our morning. It was nice, though if it had been about 10 degrees cooler it would have been even nicer. A. and P. and puppy even walked down to where B. was working so he could meet Olive.

As the afternoon wore on, though, I knew that in order to finish our list of things to do, we had to get going. Our next stop was church, though I'm not sure that counts, as we were right next door. I had some checks to drop off and a friend to briefly visit with. Plus, the part of the party with me enjoyed cooling off a bit. By now it was 3:30. I messaged the mom where G., L., and Y. were to see if they could stay a little longer, which they could, so we piled in the van for our next adventure... driving down into the city a bit to visit a good friend in a hospice care center. Most people chose to stay outside with A. and Olive, but sweet K. decided he wanted to come in and visit. It wasn't a very long visit, but was important.

Now, we could begin to gear up to go home. First step, though, was to get gas, because we were almost on empty. So we did that. Then we were finally able to collect the girls. Of course, that always involves gathering the girls, letting them say good-bye, chatting with the parent, etc. Olive was duly admired and we were off. For Slurpees. Have I mentioned that we still do not have air-conditioning in the van? Or that the blower is still not working so that not only do we not have cold air, we have no air blowing at all? And it was in the mid-80's here today with high humidity? It was really unpleasant inside the van, and we were looking at some miserable traffic heading home. So Slurpees it was, and it seemed to make the difference between between hot and miserable and constant whining, to hot and miserable and fairly contented.

We were finally on our way home. Sort of. We were driving right by the best homemade pita place in town on our way to the expressway, so I had to stop. I bought 6 dozen pitas to throw in my freezer. Do you think that will hold us for 8 weeks until we need to head into town again? I don't know, especially considering that some children were lobbying to break open the bag during the car ride.

So officially at 5 pm, we were finally heading out of town, hitting the road at the height of rush hour. The brake and I become very well acquianted, but we made it home in just 1 1/2 hours, which is not too bad, all things considering.

We had a lovely welcome home by TM and D., with dinner already on the table. I had put chalupa in the crock pot before we left, and TM organized the toppings and getting the table ready. It was lovely to not have to do a thing, but just sit down. It also meant that we could get some very tired children into bed at a decent time. If you haven't tried chalupa, click the link and do. It is a great recipe, if I do say so myself.

I'm afraid that any pictures of the garden are going to have to wait until tomorrow. I was too tired to even think about it when we got home. I'll also post a few more Olive pictures, because they have been requested. Did you know this little, tiny puppy is due to gain between 20-30 pounds in the next month? That seems crazy to me. I have to say, she was a darn good puppy for such a long day. She had no accidents in the car, and was good in the car. In fact, when we got home after our long drive, she hopped out and peed five different times right away. That says that little 8 week old puppy is really figuring out the whole where to pee-thing. A. is doing a great job with her.

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