Man Oh Man, do I have a story for you. I couldn't make this up if I wanted to.
So I left you with my excitement to rip up carpet yes? Let me tell you what the past 24 hours of my life have been like.
I was sitting on my bed, about to start packing up some boxes of stuff when my phone rang. It was a girlfriend of mine who had moved away about a year ago. We'll just call her Sue. From the moment she started speaking, I could tell Sue was on the verge of tears. She began to ramble, telling me all about the awful day she'd had. Sue was in town to help her uncle, who had just had hip surgery. Her troubles started when Sue went to help a friend look for her lost college class ring. Her friend was in such hysterics she was unable to function or drive. So Sue drove her friend home, hoping she had left the ring there. With no success, they were going to return to campus when Sue backed her friend's car into a pole attached to the carport. Sue's hysterical friend just burst into tears. Ultimately, Sue found her friend's wring in a huge trashcan full of pumpkin guts.
Feeling sad and depressed at having damaged her friend's car, Sue took herself to a local eatery. She was driving her uncle's truck. Having zero desire to be around other people she chose to eat in the truck alone. After she finished her meal, she turned the key in the ignition and it wouldn't start. She did everything she could think of as she became more and more panicked. Her uncle was at home in bed unable to help and her friend was already unavailable. So Sue called me to come give her a jump.
I had been on my way to run an errand but immediately changed my course to go help her out. I may my way through the parking lot to her. Her frustrations had intensified because she could not get the key out of the ignition and she was officially freaking out. I tried to turn the key. Nothing happened and the key was indeed stuck. So we get out the jumper cables and get everything hooked up. We wait a bit and let it run. When she tries to start the truck...no luck. She was about to cry. To her credit though, she chose to laugh.
I told her "Look, this is a well lit parking lot, your uncle has a spare set of keys. Just lock the truck and come run my errand with me. I'll take you home and we will deal with all of this in the morning when you're not stressed and have a clear head."
So she got the garage door opener to her uncles house (her only way in) and her purse, locked the door and off we went. We ran my quick errand and before I took her home I asked if there was anything else I could do for her. Did she want to get some hot chocolate, or maybe a beverage?
She immediately said, "I want a beverage!"
Hey I can't blame the girl. After a day like that, I'd want a beer as well.
There is a little low key bar not far from either of our houses. We decided to go there, have a beer and then start the day fresh in the morning. When we showed up, the place wasn't crowded. We parked, went inside and we both nursed a beer each over the next hour and a half. For the most part we people watched and laughed while my friend got hit on by a very intoxicated young man. Oh and we had some of the best cheese and bacon potato skins ever. At a little after midnight we close our tabs and head outside.
Only one problem.
MY CAR WAS GONE!!
That's right. My car was no longer in the parking lot. At all anywhere, much less where I left it parked. There was a small moment of complete confusion in my brain.
How could my car just disappear?
Did someone steal my car?
Why would someone steal my car, it's an old and unremarkable car?
Where would they go with it?
Should I call the cops?
Then I heard some guy loudly cursing someone on the phone about how the parking lot was not sufficiently marked and who the hell did they think they were?
Then it hit me. My car had been towed....
As it turns out, the business owner next door has a HUGE beef with the owner of the bar we went to and had set up a 24 hour tow service to monitor his half of the parking lot, which was, in my opinion not very well marked.
So this officially sucks and now Sue was down even more than when we showed up because she felt responsible. So I called the number on the sign at the other corner of the parking lot and sure enough they had my car. I asked what did I need to do to get it back and the woman very rudely said I would just have to call back at 8 am because they didn't release cars after midnight. It was 12:10. Ugh. So now we are stuck at a bar with no ride. I only lived a mile away and we thought about just running home. But it was wicked cold and it was Saturday night of Halloween weekend. We decided to just stay put and call for help. A friend of mine graciously came to our rescue and picked us up. Only problem, everything Sue needed to get back into her uncle's house was in my car. FAIL
So Sue spent the night at my house. Sue was again laughing because it was the only alternative to crying for her. Lucky for her I have critters and they are great therapy. She started loving on critters while I got her some shorts and a tshirt. It occurred to me that I should get the address for the towing company so I could be there first thing in the morning. I called them back and the woman responded, again in a very rude tone, "Oh we do NOT give out that information. You have to call back at 8 am. This is only an answering service." Geez these people must hate their lives. I was nothing but nice to this heifer.
Sue and I passed out and woke up bright and early this morning ready to tackle this issue. We called a cab and had it scheduled to come get us at 8:10am. At 8 I call the towing service again. A different, but equally rude sow answered the phone. She informed me that the towing fee is $293.30. Oh and I had better bring exact change because she does NOT make change oh and all the credit card machines are down so they only take cash. She was not willing to work with me, no checks. No nothing, oh and she wasn't going to be there for another 30 minutes anyways.
So now we had a bigger problem. Typically when I go to a bar, I don't take all of my stuff with me. That night I hadn't taken cash, I had just taken a debit card in that I new only had like $120 in the account and wouldn't allow for overdrafts. The theory being if it gets lost or stolen, someone's not going to wrack up a bunch of crap on my card and there's not much to be lost. Everything else was in my car. I keep a credit card at home just for emergencies. Either way I was screwed because "they don't take cards" and I only had access to $120 via atm. Sue came to my rescue and offers to help me bail my car out of car prison. The cab driver picked us up, took us to a gas station with an ATM and Sue and I pulled out the necessary cash. We also bought a couple drinks so we could make "perfect change" for this hagetha at the impound lot. (Whatever, maybe that's company policy but I was nothing but nice and upbeat and polite and she was rude as hell.)
Paperwork filled out, we got the car back and everything situated. Everyone regained access to money and keys and such. I took Sue home and met her grandma and uncle. After telling them of our epic saga, we return to the truck left in the parking lot with the dead battery. Sue got in the truck and realized the truck was still in drive. Not park. She pretty much slammed her head against the steering wheel and started laughing, again to avoid tears. The key instantly slid nicely out of the steering column. We attached the jumper cables again, this time with success. We drove around a bit to give the battery time to get some juice back in it and then we went to IHOP.
We decided that everything before IHOP was still apart of yesterday and IHOP forward is actually where today started.
After we ran a couple errands for her family we loaded up and headed out to rip up carpet. The original goal for the day.
Here is what the carpet looked like to begin with.
So I left you with my excitement to rip up carpet yes? Let me tell you what the past 24 hours of my life have been like.
I was sitting on my bed, about to start packing up some boxes of stuff when my phone rang. It was a girlfriend of mine who had moved away about a year ago. We'll just call her Sue. From the moment she started speaking, I could tell Sue was on the verge of tears. She began to ramble, telling me all about the awful day she'd had. Sue was in town to help her uncle, who had just had hip surgery. Her troubles started when Sue went to help a friend look for her lost college class ring. Her friend was in such hysterics she was unable to function or drive. So Sue drove her friend home, hoping she had left the ring there. With no success, they were going to return to campus when Sue backed her friend's car into a pole attached to the carport. Sue's hysterical friend just burst into tears. Ultimately, Sue found her friend's wring in a huge trashcan full of pumpkin guts.
Feeling sad and depressed at having damaged her friend's car, Sue took herself to a local eatery. She was driving her uncle's truck. Having zero desire to be around other people she chose to eat in the truck alone. After she finished her meal, she turned the key in the ignition and it wouldn't start. She did everything she could think of as she became more and more panicked. Her uncle was at home in bed unable to help and her friend was already unavailable. So Sue called me to come give her a jump.
I had been on my way to run an errand but immediately changed my course to go help her out. I may my way through the parking lot to her. Her frustrations had intensified because she could not get the key out of the ignition and she was officially freaking out. I tried to turn the key. Nothing happened and the key was indeed stuck. So we get out the jumper cables and get everything hooked up. We wait a bit and let it run. When she tries to start the truck...no luck. She was about to cry. To her credit though, she chose to laugh.
I told her "Look, this is a well lit parking lot, your uncle has a spare set of keys. Just lock the truck and come run my errand with me. I'll take you home and we will deal with all of this in the morning when you're not stressed and have a clear head."
So she got the garage door opener to her uncles house (her only way in) and her purse, locked the door and off we went. We ran my quick errand and before I took her home I asked if there was anything else I could do for her. Did she want to get some hot chocolate, or maybe a beverage?
She immediately said, "I want a beverage!"
Hey I can't blame the girl. After a day like that, I'd want a beer as well.
There is a little low key bar not far from either of our houses. We decided to go there, have a beer and then start the day fresh in the morning. When we showed up, the place wasn't crowded. We parked, went inside and we both nursed a beer each over the next hour and a half. For the most part we people watched and laughed while my friend got hit on by a very intoxicated young man. Oh and we had some of the best cheese and bacon potato skins ever. At a little after midnight we close our tabs and head outside.
Only one problem.
MY CAR WAS GONE!!
That's right. My car was no longer in the parking lot. At all anywhere, much less where I left it parked. There was a small moment of complete confusion in my brain.
How could my car just disappear?
Did someone steal my car?
Why would someone steal my car, it's an old and unremarkable car?
Where would they go with it?
Should I call the cops?
Then I heard some guy loudly cursing someone on the phone about how the parking lot was not sufficiently marked and who the hell did they think they were?
Then it hit me. My car had been towed....
As it turns out, the business owner next door has a HUGE beef with the owner of the bar we went to and had set up a 24 hour tow service to monitor his half of the parking lot, which was, in my opinion not very well marked.
So this officially sucks and now Sue was down even more than when we showed up because she felt responsible. So I called the number on the sign at the other corner of the parking lot and sure enough they had my car. I asked what did I need to do to get it back and the woman very rudely said I would just have to call back at 8 am because they didn't release cars after midnight. It was 12:10. Ugh. So now we are stuck at a bar with no ride. I only lived a mile away and we thought about just running home. But it was wicked cold and it was Saturday night of Halloween weekend. We decided to just stay put and call for help. A friend of mine graciously came to our rescue and picked us up. Only problem, everything Sue needed to get back into her uncle's house was in my car. FAIL
So Sue spent the night at my house. Sue was again laughing because it was the only alternative to crying for her. Lucky for her I have critters and they are great therapy. She started loving on critters while I got her some shorts and a tshirt. It occurred to me that I should get the address for the towing company so I could be there first thing in the morning. I called them back and the woman responded, again in a very rude tone, "Oh we do NOT give out that information. You have to call back at 8 am. This is only an answering service." Geez these people must hate their lives. I was nothing but nice to this heifer.
Sue and I passed out and woke up bright and early this morning ready to tackle this issue. We called a cab and had it scheduled to come get us at 8:10am. At 8 I call the towing service again. A different, but equally rude sow answered the phone. She informed me that the towing fee is $293.30. Oh and I had better bring exact change because she does NOT make change oh and all the credit card machines are down so they only take cash. She was not willing to work with me, no checks. No nothing, oh and she wasn't going to be there for another 30 minutes anyways.
So now we had a bigger problem. Typically when I go to a bar, I don't take all of my stuff with me. That night I hadn't taken cash, I had just taken a debit card in that I new only had like $120 in the account and wouldn't allow for overdrafts. The theory being if it gets lost or stolen, someone's not going to wrack up a bunch of crap on my card and there's not much to be lost. Everything else was in my car. I keep a credit card at home just for emergencies. Either way I was screwed because "they don't take cards" and I only had access to $120 via atm. Sue came to my rescue and offers to help me bail my car out of car prison. The cab driver picked us up, took us to a gas station with an ATM and Sue and I pulled out the necessary cash. We also bought a couple drinks so we could make "perfect change" for this hagetha at the impound lot. (Whatever, maybe that's company policy but I was nothing but nice and upbeat and polite and she was rude as hell.)
Paperwork filled out, we got the car back and everything situated. Everyone regained access to money and keys and such. I took Sue home and met her grandma and uncle. After telling them of our epic saga, we return to the truck left in the parking lot with the dead battery. Sue got in the truck and realized the truck was still in drive. Not park. She pretty much slammed her head against the steering wheel and started laughing, again to avoid tears. The key instantly slid nicely out of the steering column. We attached the jumper cables again, this time with success. We drove around a bit to give the battery time to get some juice back in it and then we went to IHOP.
We decided that everything before IHOP was still apart of yesterday and IHOP forward is actually where today started.
After we ran a couple errands for her family we loaded up and headed out to rip up carpet. The original goal for the day.
Here is what the carpet looked like to begin with.
This is the bedroom, but the carpet looks the same in the living room.
This is a picture of it as we were ripping it up and getting hit in the face by 40 year old dirt....
It was nasty.....SOOOOOO Nasty
And I only sustained one injury!!! ( I am my mother's daughter)
When it was all said and done the wood floors in the living room looked like this:
Still dirty and need some cleaning but actually quite nice!
Then I let my undiagnosed ADD get the better of me and my landlords and I went down a rabbit trail!
Look at the first picture above, with the green paneling. Want to know what's under it??
For the most part it's sheet rock that's already been painted. My landlord is going to get the rest of it prepped and ready and then retexture it. Next project is to get the carpet up in the bedroom. It has two layers of old linoleum under it. It's going to be a little tougher than the living room but I'm excited.
At the end of the day Sue and I were exhausted. We had worked out all of our frustration for the past 24 hours and we were ready to start the new week on a clean slate.
Hope your weekend was more relaxing than mine!!
Happy Monday tomorrow.
- Scarlett
LOL-Funny!! Loving this Nablopo-whatever…What a day you had.Oh Boy!
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