It’s official, I’m not an adventurer.

Even if, in the grand scheme of things, they are small, boring adventures.

Yesterday, about 7:30, I took the dogs out for a walk.  I had been fighting a migraine all day, and was feeling just good enough to take the dogs out long enough to pee, with the plans of  coming right back inside and laying down again.  The dogs had other plans.  Okay, fine.  I’d rather spend an extra ten minutes traipsing around outside than spend an hour scrubbing  my carpet.

Well, while we were out, my roommate left, locking the door behind her.  And my keys, cell phone, and wallet were all inside.

Crap.   Max, Lulu and I were stuck outside.  For three and a half hours.

I considered borrowing a phone and calling Sis to come and rescue me, but I couldn’t remember her number.  Usually, I don’t have to–my phone has at least three ways of calling someone without typing in a number.  I thought about calling my parents at their house, I know THAT number, and having them call Sis to come and rescue me, but I didn’t want to involve the whole family in my drama.

I thought about going to a friend’s apartment, and waiting there–but I still had that stupid migraine, and really needed peace and quiet and darkness.  I didn’t feel like I could burst into someone else’s home, and demand that they wait on me hand and foot because I was stupid enough to leave my house without keys.  Plus, all of my friends in the complex are renters, where as I own my unit, and I wasn’t sure about bringing my dogs into their homes for an extended period of time, no matter how well-trained and recently emptied they are.

Fortunately, my car was open (my security system is driving a 1997 Geo.  It’s a good little car, but it’s not worth stealing, and if I could afford anything worth stealing to keep in my car, I wouldn’t be driving a 1997 Geo.) so I was able to retrieve a few things to make my wait a little more comfortable–like a dish I could use for water for the dogs (again, feeling super-lucky that there are outside spigots on every building in my complex) a toy for Max, and a bottle of water and a book for me.

Even with these little things, I was, understandably in my opinion, pretty upset.  To the point of not only tears, but full-on sobbing.  It wasn’t until I realized that a big part of my headache was because I was upset, that I worked on calming myself down.  And I have to say, the Roommate was extremely lucky she didn’t come home while I was so upset.

Amazingly, I was able to  get myself settled down, and stuck it out for the long haul.  The dogs were just as unhappy about the situation as I was (perhaps more, I stole the doormat to sit on, and made them sit on the hard concrete.)  Lulu kept looking at me, then looking at the door.  When we’d take the time to wander downstairs, rather than running off the way she normally does, she’d run back upstairs to wait by the door.

Just as I was about to give up and spend the night in my car, the Roommate came home.  I’ve never been so happy to see another human being in my life.  Max and Lulu agreed–they’re never slow about going inside after our walks, but last night broke a record, I’m sure.

This morning, I woke up to the power flickering on and off before completely going out.  Which, admittedly, is an odd thing to wake a person up–it was the change in the sound my air purifier makes that awakened me.   I took that opportunity to take the dogs for a long walk, (being very careful to grab my keys) and took that opportunity to make sure it wasn’t just because I was late paying my power bill.  It wasn’t– power outages are fairly common, but they usually only last a minute or two.

Having returned from my walk, and finding the lights, and more importantly, the air conditioner and fans, weren’t on, and being unable to fall back asleep, I called Sis because I was bored, and I needed to tell her about my adventure the night before.  She was on her way down for the funeral, but, a while later she called me back saying that between her late start and the traffic, she wasn’t going to make it on time.  So, by chance, would she like to meet me at the Harley store?

Okay, back up a bit–Sis and her family were planning to take a long vacation when the B-I-L got his masters, but somewhere along the way, they decided that the B-I-L needed a motorcycle instead.  And, as part of getting that motorcycle, he’s been taking classes at the Harley dealership that’s about ten miles away from my house.  He liked (his last class was today) getting to class a bit early so he could wander around the showroom and store, and thought Sis and the boys would like to see it too.  Sis, knowing her children, wanted me to come along to help keep an eye on them.  Mostly G.

The Harley store is a-mazing, and it was fun to see all of the beautiful bikes and cool riding gear they had.  It was less fun trying to convince G not to touch anything.  When the Brother-in-Law’s class was on a break, his instructor took us all down to the basement to see the bikes.  And the store mascot, a man dressed like a Sasquatch.  Dave the instructor really didn’t understand G’s intense fear of costumed characters.  Not at first, anyway.

Sis had called Mom and told her that she wasn’t going to make it down in time, and Mom suggested that she meet us up here for a picnic.   So after the store, Sis, G, E and I headed back to my house.

I forgot exactly how destructive a four-year-old can be, especially those whose names start with ‘G’, and how un-baby proof my house is, because my little ones aren’t interested in things like the glass jar on the coffee table that’s full of pens, or finding out how the night-light in the hallway is connected to the wall.

Sis wanted to get E down for a nap, so I was left to entertain G–a child who is not content to be entertained simply by turning on the TV.  At one point, he decided he wanted to take the dogs for a walk, and so off we went.  I had to explain several times that when we take the dogs for a walk, it’s so they can use the potty, and so we need to let them stop when they want to stop.  Still, Max did AWESOME.

Backing up again, both of my nephews are fascinated by Max.  E is, I think, because Max is black and white, and therefore, easier for him to see than Lulu.  For G, I think it’s because he plays when Lulu doesn’t.  It’s more than a little frustrating, because Lulu is so much better with kids than Max.  On our walk, G insisted on holding Max’s leash.

Upon returning from our walk, G rang the doorbell, waking up both E, and my roommate who has apparently developed a head cold.  So, when Mom showed up, we had a hyperactive four-year-old (par for the course, really) a cranky baby who didn’t get a long enough nap, and a house that had been destroyed by the two of them.

We headed off to Nielsen’s Grove,  a beautiful park not far from my house.  After chasing G around, and successfully preventing him fromgoing into the pond to meet the ducks personally, and less successfully preventing him from dumping ice all over his baby brother, Mom decided that she needed to go to Wal-Mart and pick a few things up before she headed home.

Now, I always hate Wal-Mart.  Wal-Mart on a Saturday?  Ten times worse.  Wal-Mart on the Saturday before school starts?  Yeah…

And what Grandma can resist buying toys for her grandsons when she’s at Wal-Mart?

So one soaking baby, one big tantrum, and lots of tears (not all from the children) later, we all got packed up into our respective cars, and headed our separate ways.  Mom commented that G alone is more of handful than Sis and I were, combined.

I seriously love that kid, but I’m glad he doesn’t come home to my house.

Hopefully, my adventuring is done, at least until school starts on Wednesday.  I don’t think I can handle many more days like yesterday and today.

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