The RING....

of fire? of death? of much beauty yet also much frustration?!?!? I don't know about you but I'm pretty attached to my engagement ring. It's a pretty special thing to me! A few weeks ago I bent a prong on it so it has been residing in it's box in my sock drawer for awhile. I didn't really know where to take it here in town so I decided I would take it to my grandmother's jeweler in Gadsden. She's had a lot more jewelry buying experience than I have and she really trusts this guy so I figured I would give him a try. She called ahead and told him I was coming to drop my ring off and he promised to be there when I arrived. He was. He took a quick look at my ring and told me it would be no big deal to fix and would cost between $45 and $75. Score! I told him to fix it and let me know when it was ready to resume it's rightful place on my left ring finger! On Monday morning I got a call from the jeweler. I'm thinking this has got to be good news-my ring is ready to come home!! :) Boy, was I WRONG!! He told me that I had cracked my diamond. Yep, that's right cracked my diamond. I didn't even think that was possible but apparantly it is. AND apparantly because my diamond is a princess cut and has more cuts than a traditional round diamond it has more opportunity to crack. BOO! He gave me some options-replacing it (for an exorbitant amount of money) or sending it to NYC to be recut (still an expensive option but MUCH more reasonable than replacing it). He couldn't even fix the prong for fear that it might further crack the diamond. YIKES!!!
This day was not off to a very good start AND it only went downhill from there!! When I got the call, I was in TJ MAXX returning something I had bought the day before. After finishing my phone call and my TJ business I started to gather my things and looked for my keys only to find that I didn't have them!! Oh yeah, you guessed it-they were locked in my car. AWESOME! But wait, it gets even better. Right about the time we got to the car and noticed that my keys were locked inside Emma T. threw up. Yep, threw up! YUCK!!!
By this point I am pretty much beside myself. I walked into Walmart to buy Emma some pedialyte and juice and to try to collect my thoughts. I called my mom, near tears by now, and she called Marianne to come and rescue the girls and me. Too bad my keys to Grandmother's house were also in my car with the carseats and the rest of the necessaties for traveling with children. Thankfully my dad remembered that I have AAA and called to remind me. Marianne and I took the girls to look at the animals in the pet store and then loaded up in her car to wait for the locksmith. While we were waiting we decided to drive (just across the parking lot) to Arby's to get the girls a milkshake. As we were leaving Arby's the locksmith called.
LS: Mrs. Thompson?
Me: Yes?
LS: I unlocked your car but the alarm is going off?
Me: What?
LS: Yeah. And I don't see any keys on the front seat.
Me: Then that's not my car!
How hilarious! He had unlocked the wrong car! By now Marianne and I were nearly in tears from laughing so hard. It could only have been better if the owner of the other car had come out screaming and yelling!
Finally, the locksmith got my car opened and the girls and I headed back to Grandmother's to rest! I think we ALL took a nap that afternoon! Thankfully Emma T. recovered pretty quickly since we had to come home on Tuesday. What a miserable trip that would have been to have one throwing up in the car for 3 1/2 hours! Not fun-I've done that too! Wow, the joys of being a parent! Good thing you don't know there will be days like this before they get here...you might be tempted to send them back! :)