August 18, 2007 | It's not a regret, it's an "experience"
The good news: For my birthday, Otto’s brother Wild Thing drove their mom’s car down here all the way from Boston. The reason? She’s giving it to us. It is old and battered but runs fine and—most importantly—the air conditioning runs ice cold. I am thrilled to have a set of wheels again.
The bad news: Otto and Wild Thing headed out this morning and I waved them off, saying that the kids and I would swim a while and then go run errands. Because TWO WHOLE CARS THAT WORK—that means we can do different things at different times! Except that I just realized I don’t actually have the keys to the new car. Whoops.
Edited to add the following corrections: The car is not old, it is simply older than my previous car. It is not battered, it just has a couple of dents. I am very very very very very grateful to have it and it was incredibly generous of my mother-in-law to give it to us and equally generous of my brother-in-law to drive it down. The keys were here and I didn’t see them because I’m a moron, and in fact this entire post was written because I’m an asshole who doesn’t know how to just say “thank you” and shut up. In fact, all clarifications can more or less be summed up by pointing out that I’m an asshole. Which I am. I hope that clears up any confusion.
August 18th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Fab news about the car (and belated Happy Birthday)! Nuts about the keys.
August 18th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
What an awesome gift!! THAT is a cool MIL. THE single MOST IMPORTANT thing in a car in GA, after “running safely,” of course, is marvelously cold air conditioning. My first car didn’t have it, and I wonder how my brain got out of that experience without fry marks.
August 18th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Guess you’ll just have to lie by the pool and drink margaritas. Darn.
August 18th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
I vote for ice cold margaritas by the pool, the kids are old enough, right?? Just kidding:)
August 18th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
So I guess you should always look a gift car in the ignition, eh?
(Sorry, making bad puns on the internet is my coping mechanism today. Are you sure Chickadee wasn’t actually twins? And that the other one didn’t get misplaced up in Canada somewhere?)
August 18th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
The devil’s always in the details.
Happy B-day!
August 18th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Aw what an AWESOME present! No biggie about the keys, just spend your day by the pool and lounging at home. Enjoy your “birthday weekend”! :)
PS: Off topic but I’m just dying to see a pic of that metallic wall… seeing as you’ll be home today and all… maybe you could snap a pic for us, pretty one?
August 18th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
But but but . . . how was the CAKE?
August 18th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
DOH!
i did that recently - left my keys in hubby’s truck while i went on a trip. forgot said keys when i got home. he took off to work with them the next day. *sigh*
did they just go out & about, or back to boston?
August 18th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Gosh, air conditioning…sounds like a DREAM! :)
August 18th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
There’s always gotta be a kicker in there somewhere.
August 18th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Family — Gotta love ‘em. Thank goodness you had family that could help out!!
August 18th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Happy belated birthday!
The key thing? Something I would do… Now I don’t feel so alone.
August 18th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
LOL! Whoops. Congrats on the new car though — what an excellent birthday present! I hope your birthday was wonderful.
August 18th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!!!
August 18th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
See? Now you’re really embracing the Southern lifestyle. By my count, you now have three less-than-stellar cars on the property:
- One new-to-you but battered by your own admission
- The truck, which speaks for itself
- The orange snowmobile, smashed in
Now just make a planter out of an old 18-wheeler tire and you’re all set!
August 18th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
I’m sure if you ask around the neighborhood you should be able to find four, maybe five people that can hotwire the car for you.
Happy (belated) birthday!
August 18th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
keys.. yeah that is pretty important. Good for you one getting a ‘new’ car though :)
August 18th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
A Very Happy Birthday. And a very happy new car.
August 18th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Happy Birthday! Aren’t generous in-laws GREAT! Hope you find the keys soon!
August 19th, 2007 at 1:03 am
I know it’s rude but I’m sitting here quietly laughing. It’s late and I don’t want to wake anyone. You just can’t win lately. Keep your sense of humor!!
August 19th, 2007 at 7:23 am
Uhhh … the car isn’t really “old” as it’s a 2001 with fairly low mileage. “Battered” is a little strong - it has a few dents, but you know how my family treats cars. They are things to abuse, not possessions to treasure. (I know, I don’t know how I’m related to them …) But the dents are minimal and it needs a little cleaning, but I’ll take care of that.
As for the keys - THEY WERE ON THE KEY RACK TWO FEET FROM WHERE YOU SAT WHILE TYPING!!
Geez … as Nearly Nickless wrote, gift horse and all … B-)
-otto, ducking and running
August 19th, 2007 at 8:16 am
I do think we need to hear abou the cake! Please!!!
August 19th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
My parents gave us their 1983 Oldsmobile. My dad loved this car, and I was desparate in need of a vehicle I could rely upon. How Otto and his family are disinct opposits, so am I and my family. I believe if a car needs to be washed, it needs to belong to someone else. But my dad gave me his baby so I took care of it, bathed it, feed it oil every 3000 (I do that with all my vehicles). And then my boss backed into it. :)
Is there anymore of that cake left?
August 19th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
I’ll be sending you your Asshole Club pin and membership card in the mail. We meet on Tuesdays at 3pm. The chairs are full at the beginning but after awhile somebody gets mad and leaves, so you eventually get a seat.
Why yes, I am the Club President, why do you ask?
August 19th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Oh I don’t know. “Asshole” sounds so harsh. Unobservant maybe. Mild exaggerator, perhaps. But that’s hardly grounds for labeling yourself an asshole.
Who can keep track of things like car keys when you’re dealing with that kind of heat down there anyway?? :)
August 19th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Ha! Maybe you can borrow the graphic that Schmutzie has up on her latest post. You just had an acute case of foot-in-mouth with the new in-laws, but I am guessing you’ll hear about this for a while.
August 19th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
KEY RACK! Brilliant! Who woulda thunk it?! Makes for a WONDERFULLY funny story Otto will be teasing you with at social gatherings for years to come!
August 19th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Otto’s mom rocks! Also? Mmmmm…cold A/C.
Happy birthday, young’un! ;-)
August 20th, 2007 at 7:17 am
It seems like I’ve lost important items like that several times in the last few weeks, and they always turn out to be somewhere I’ve already looked multiple times. Some gremlin is laughing at me, I’m sure.
2001 is old? Gee, I thought our 2000 truck was our new, reliable vehicle!
August 20th, 2007 at 9:46 am
I love the edits! lol
August 20th, 2007 at 11:33 am
gosh, does no one understand sarcasm anymore? ;)
August 26th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
Having driven 14 total hours with Kimberly, I would have to say that Chickadee may, in fact, be her misplaced Canadian twin. :)
August 26th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
i said that backwards, and i haven’t even had any wine tonight. oy.