Last Monday, we were pumped to kick off our 42 day eating challenge to change up our eating habits and begin the adjustment into a food-as-fuel mindset. It was a rough day, but not one that surprised me over all.
We had breakfast at 6:30am and headed to work. We were done with our first shift at work around nine. We called the doctor's office to make an appointment for an infection Dan had on his thumb. We got an appointment for 9:40 so we headed their straight from work. By the time we got home, we had already screwed up our "eat every three to four hours rule." We had thought that it was good to aim for four, but have since decided that we'll need to aim at eating every three hours and only go four if things go awry. So, we ate our healthy, low-carb lunch at eleven. We didn't do the gym that day because we planned on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning last week. We weren't hungry again when it was time to go back to work at two, so we planned on eating as soon as we got home from work.
Once we were off work, we picked up Livi from Boys and Girls Club and headed home. I cooked up hamburger to make hamburger helper for the kids when I realized we didn't have milk. Payton didn't want hamburger helper so I let him drive to the store so we could get milk and then he got Taco Bell for himself. When we were on the way home, the car crunched and jerked and ground to a halt. Payton handled it very well. Our tire was completely flat. I didn't know what had caused it to pop, but I was a little worried we had more going on than just a flat tire. We had a good tire in the trunk just no jack. I called the roadside assistance number and they sent a guy out. While we were waiting the 45 minutes for the guy to show up, I called and let Dan know what was up. Payton needed to use the restroom, so he headed home and Dan sent Livi to get the milk because we were less than two blocks from home. After Dan finished making the hamburger helper and feeding Livi, he came out to see me. The tire guy came out and couldn't get his jack under our car because it was too low to the ground. He had Dan help him try to lift the front end a little but he couldn't do enough to get the jack in right. The guy said to have roadside assistance send out a tow truck because they would have the dolly to get under the car and get it up enough to get the tire changed. I called the roadside assistance as the tire guy drove off into the cloudy, drizzly evening. Once I explained to the roadside assistance lady what the tire guy told us, she told me couldn't call a tow truck to change a tire. We could call for a tire change, or a tow truck, but not both. By now it was after seven thirty and I'd been in the drizzle and not eaten dinner. I had handled everything pretty well until this, but when she repeatedly told me she couldn't do what we needed I had all I could take. Once I start to cry, things are not going to get better so I just handed the phone to Dan. He finally got her to call a tow company and they said they would change a tire. So, after fifteen minutes on the phone, we finally had another 55 minutes to wait for the tow truck.
At this point, Dan and I gave up on low carb day and he sent me home to eat some of the hamburger helper and get Livi started getting reawdy for bed. Once the tow guy showed up, he let us know that the lower ball joint went out and something sliced the tire when it happened. He was very nice and had a nice lady with him and they were sympathetic to our cause. We had him tow the car to Slimmer's, our mechanic. Slimmer's had already given us an estimate for about eight hundred dollars worth of suspension work, so we had a clue of what we were in for. Dan and I walked home in the rain.
We got rides for the week to get to work but we had to get up half an hour earlier and stay at work all day, so we gave up on our carb depletion week. Tuesday, I called Slimmer's and he said he'd get us an estimate. He called back right before our second shift and said it could be done late Wednesday, but I had to check to figure out how we could pay for it so I told him I'd call him back. When I called him back five, he said it should be done for us on Thursday. As it happened, it's supposed to be done late Monday morning. This is taking the last of the money we had set aside for the car, the rest of our emergency fund, and a chunk of the money we have set aside for next month's budget. This does not bode well for our summer of five weeks of work.
Edye tells me if we knew how the money was coming in, it isn't faith. I said, if I have to count on God to bail us out, why am I trying so hard to budget and get ahead? Are planning and having faith incompatible??
It just seems like every time Dan and I try to do something to improve our circumstances, something else comes in to kick us in the teeth. Add to all this that school's out in two weeks and Payton is leaving and everything just kept building until I couldn't handle it anymore and I completely melted down on Saturday. I'm so blessed to have a husband who supports me as much as he can and friends who understand and offer sympathy and help.
Today was better. It's always hard to bounce back from a day like yesterday, especially when the circumstances involved haven't changed. But, I spent the day with three people who I love and who love me. Payton ordered chinese for lunch for Mother's day, Livi made me some rainbow loom jewelry and wrote me a song and Dan's momma bought Applebee's for supper since my birthday is tomorrow. I'm not doing so great at the whole one day at a time thing. Thinking that far ahead right now is too overwhelming. But today has some really nice moments.
For now, I'll try to focus on Matthew 6:3.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Amen.
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