Oh, what a day! (It might take awhile)

After watching the funeral services for Pres. Hinckley this morning, Jeph and I set out to accomplish our list of Saturday errands for the day, we never expected what was to come. First on our list of errands was to have both of our cars registered, which consists of having the inspection and emissions testing done, since the registration supposedly expired January 31 and we wanted to be good law abiding citizens. Well we took it over to the friendly neighborhood Napa Auto Center just across the street where they do on-the-spot registration renewals. They were very kind and told us it would take about 45 minutes for each car so we decided we could just walk to K-Mart and then across the street to Walmart to look around while we were waiting. K-Mart was pretty uneventful and I hadn’t eaten all day because we didn’t have any milk for my cereal this morning so I was starving. We walked over to Arby’s and had a nice lunch and then went to Wally World. As we all know, it is very difficult to “just look” at Walmart, and the same was true for today. We gathered our found treasures (including milk and a filing box) and headed out the door. Jeph had a wonderful idea: instead of carrying all of our stuff back across the street to where our cars were, we could just walk to the back of the Walmart parking lot, where so conveniently located is our apartment, drop the stuff off, make some phone calls and then go back and get our cars. As we approached the stairwell of the apartment, it was only then that we remembered that both sets of keys were with our cars and our cars were not with us, therefore, we had no way of getting into our apartment. Luckily Jeph had the key to the storage unit outside out apartment, and not wanting to carry everything with us back to the car shop we decided to leave everything but the milk in there and just leave the milk out side since that would be cooler.

And since we could not go in we might as well go back to wait for our cars. On the way back, I saw three icicles hanging on the over hang of the carport right where I park my car and not wanting them to fall on me or my car later, I decided now would be the perfect time to jump up and hit them off. I did so and as I jumped up to hit the third icicle, a car came driving up and undoubtedly saw me jumping up to knock down the icicles. I felt silly and just started walking to where Jeph was waiting so we could continue our journey. The car drove by and the passengers waved and smiled as they passed. Luckily I did not recognize them! So we walk all the way down the street to the cross walk just to cross and walk all the way back to being just across the street from where we started. We got inside and talked to the lady at the desk to see how the cars were doing. Just then I stuck my hand in my pocket and my cell phone, which I had placed there earlier, was gone. Where did it go? I had no idea. I last checked it at Walmart and everything was fine. Did I walk past someone who stuck their hand in my pocket and stole it? Did it fall out? I don’t know!?! AAAHHHH!!! Where did it go? At the same moment, the service man was telling us that we would need 6 new tires in order to pass emissions. I didn’t care I was too busy retracing my steps from Walmart to the car shop in my mind. I tried to remember every face that I might have passed and if I had bumped into someone who could have easily reached into my pocket, then it sank in. I knew exactly where it was. Jumping, falling icicles, falling cell phone.

Yep! It was the only thing that made sense (not to mention this had happened before but luckily I was in my apartment when I realized my phone was gone and not across the street, temporarily carless). So I have a pretty good idea of where my phone is but the thought of walking all the way back to the cross walk and then all the way back to the apartment was not appealing at the time. Luckily the lady overheard the stressed tone in our voices and told us that one of the cars was in a position that could leave for a minute. I decided to stay to hear the quote for the services of the day while Jeph cruised over to the apartment in search of the cell phone. A few minutes later Jeph returned, Venita’s cell phone in hand; cold, wet, and working a little slower than usual, but I was grateful to have it despite the condition. Well, I was right, it was right where I left it, in a puddle of water, being dripped on by the newly forming icicle in the same place I had just knocked the others down from. So an hour later, now waiting for the new tires, Jeph starts playing on the floor with the foam building blocks, who could resist?

After a few minutes the guy comes out and says to Jeph, “Um… sir, do you want to come with me so I can show you this other problem …” Jeph reassured the man that he wasn’t too busy and he could come see what was going on. After the demonstration, we resumed position in the waiting room to endure what ever else may come. As we sat, Jeph pointed out that you could see the reflection of the cars driving behind us, on the vending machines in front of us. The funny thing about it was that one of the machines had a convex front and it made all of the cars look really short. Needless to say we laughed really hard, and had a good time watching the circus like cars drive by. So almost four hours, six tires, a cell phone scavenger hunt, and foam building blocks later, we finally made it out of the car center just to find out I need to take my car back on Monday to check the alignment and then to the DMV to get my new Utah plates and registration. At least we were able to laugh about it all and have a good time. We finished the day off attending a concert of the local Murray Concert Band (for Jeph's school) and then dinner at the local Chinese buffet place (greatest invention ever). What a day!!