Apparently J.C.'s leg was just the beginning in what is turning out to be a string of bad luck, or a hex. To the amateur Harry Potter out there practicing spells on my family, I'm asking kindly that you BACK OFF!
Yesterday afternoon, Nina was supposed to attend a birthday party at one of those bounce-till-you-get-kicked-in-the-head-and-have-a-concussion inflatable places. This particular one is open to the public during parties, so I took Elise and Addison with me to wear them out before bed. Actually, given that J.C.'s crutches render him utterly useless with the toddler, I didn't have much choice in the matter. I had to take the whole crew with me. Addie had delayed her afternoon nap by about 2 hours, so I had to wake a peacefully sleeping baby to go (it pains me to even type that). We were running our usual 10 minutes late, and when I arrived at the shopping center where said bounce house place is supposed to be, I couldn't find it. I had a coupon in my pocket to use for Elise and Addie's admissions, so I pulled out my trusty coupon and called the number. When the phone was answered, I couldn't hear what the woman said over the background noise of the kids bouncing, but I asked where they were located. Her answer was the name of a mall about five minutes down the road. That seemed like an odd location for an inflatable party place, but I asked where the best place to park was, and she said the food court. I never go to this particular mall. I can find Gymboree and P.F. Chang's, but that's about it. After getting stuck in traffic, then circling the parking lot several times looking for a spot, I finally parked near what I hoped was the food court. As luck (or the hex) would have it, we were at the opposite end of the mall. We checked the mall directory looking for the location of the inflatable place, but it wasn't listed. I thought perhaps it had just recently moved, so we hiked down to the other end of the mall near the food court in hopes of finding it. With no sign of it, I pulled out my trusty coupon, and once again called the number printed on the coupon. Over the roar of background noise, I again couldn't hear how she answered the phone, so I asked specifically if this was the number of the party place. She said, "This is T-Mobile at the mall."
Sigh.
What were the odds that of all the many inflatable party places we've been to, this party was at the one that I didn't know how to find? What were the odds that the one I don't know how to find has the WRONG phone number printed on their own coupons? What were the odds that the incorrect phone number belonged to an equally loud business establishment just down the road? Really? Am I on candid camera or something?
At this point, the party was half over. By the time we tracked all the way back through the mall to the car, got stuck in traffic again, and tried to find the inflatable place whose location was still unknown, we were likely to arrive just in time to say good-bye. I had to figure out a way to save face. I looked downstairs, saw Build-A-Bear, and asked Nina if she would be OK going to Build-A-Bear and just inviting the birthday party friend over for a playdate later in the week. She reluctantly agreed, so I was off the hook for finding the inflatable place but just put myself $50 in the hole for bears. It was worth the fifty bucks though not to continue on that hopeless crusade.
Upon leaving the mall, we were a van full of hungry people. Since we didn't have the bum-knee-no-Asian-food-eating family member with us, we decided to hit Pei Wei for dinner. We pulled up to find a line out the door. That would never do. Poor Addie was about to collapse from hunger, so last night got added to the growing list of fast food meals for the week. We pulled into Chick-Fil-A's drive-through, and I called J.C. to get his order. It included a milkshake, so I got a second for the girls to split. When we arrived home, I opened the car door, and the car interior light came on. That is when I discovered that an entire large oreo cookie milkshake had flipped out of the cupholder and spilled out all over the car. Nice.
Tonight, as I sat down to download some pictures from my camera to post on the blog, my camera is blinking "CF Err", and I'm unable to download any pictures using the card reader. That was like the cherry on top of that oreo milkshake rolling around on the floor of my car.
I'm serious about the hex thing. It has got to STOP.
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