Want to know what's worse than the week of Halloween? The week AFTER Halloween! Yowza, those kiddos are WOUND. UP. from the excitement and the sugar! But what better way to start this week's Ten Things of Thankful than with the first one on my list:
I'm thankful all things Halloween are OVER, and we can move on to my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving!
We sort of skipped fall this week and went straight to winter for a few days, so once again, I am thankful for that electric mattress pad that I mention in my TToT oh, so frequently.
The unexpected chilly weather did allow me to wear my new nightgown. I found it at a really interesting little thrift store in the Waldo area of Kansas City last weekend for one whole dollar! It's satin on the outside and brushed flannel on the inside, so you stay warm but can easily turn over under the covers. It's a short gown, which means I don't get tangled up in it, and it's pink. Did I mention it was a dollar? It was a DOLLAR!
Yesterday, my husband and I spent the day visiting thrift stores and flea markets and antique malls (we live a pretty exciting life). As we were headed to our last planned destination, I asked my husband if we could stop by our house, so I could run inside and go to the bathroom. He stayed in the car as I headed to the front door, but just as I got to our front steps, I dropped the keys. Now, I drop the keys several times a week on the top step as I'm juggling the items in my arms and trying to unlock the front door, but THIS time, I dropped them on the first step, and they slid across the step AND DISAPPEARED UNDER THE CONCRETE SLAB PORCH.I immediately dropped to my knees and started crying. My husband, looking up and seeing me, thought I had fallen down and jumped out of the car.
(NOTE: The entire porch area and step leading up to it used to be covered with dark green outdoor carpeting. It tore about 10 years ago, and we pulled it up and left the concrete exposed. What I DIDN'T know was that the carpeting covered a gap that would ordinarily be an upright section of concrete, but who knows what they were thinking when the house was built nearly 100 years ago.)
I tried to reach through the gap and feel for the keys (wearing gloves, because God only knows what could be living under there), but I couldn't get my arm in further than just past my wrist. Using a flashlight, I could see dead leaves and very old wooden supports, but no keys. In a moment of lucidity, I used my Tile app to (hopefully) narrow down where they had dropped, and I could hear the Tile on them ringing, and it didn't SEEM to sound terribly far, so at least they didn't fall into some opening to a mine shaft or anything.
Here's the really fun part: we had no house key AND we had no car key; however, before we left town for my son's wedding back in April, I took a spare key to work and tacked it to a bulletin board in my observation room, as everyone in our family would be in OKC and I wanted to be sure someone could get in our house if need be. My husband was able to track down his dad, who came over and took us to my work, where I retrieved the key. Once home, my husband remembered that my brother had given us a kind of endoscope with a magnet and a light on it, and after it was charged and an app downloaded, he was able to use it to retrieve the keys! HUGE thankful to both my husband AND my brother. I'm not sure my brother could have anticipated his gift being used for fishing my keys out from under the house, but I'm pretty sure he won't be entirely surprised that the event happened in the first place.
Surely that covers at LEAST ten thankfuls.
Join the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop, this week or any week. We'll be here!
Oh, Dyanne, knowing how quickly one sometimes needs to rush in and use the bathroom, that sounds like a nightmare to drop your keys right then and there and have them to disappear out of sight and reach. I am glad you had another set of keys in the observation room and that your father in law was home and could come to your rescue. All is well that ends well, but what a journey. What a great tool to have on hand too.
ReplyDeleteIt was terrible timing to drop the keys at that moment! And I truly had no idea there wasn't concrete back under that step that you can't see without getting down and looking. Ha! At least it wasn't summer, because I feel as though that's a pretty nifty place for a snake or ten to hang out!
DeleteThat sounds like a list of at least ten to me! Wow, we've had some adventures and misadventures, but never quite like that.
ReplyDeleteMay i suggest you and your husband each have your own set of house/car keys (including each other's cars, if you have two), and a third set to hide outside of a neighbor's house. Let the neighbor hide his at your house. You know where your spare keys are, they aren't far, but it completely bamboozles any burglars who find them.
I don't know how these things happen to me, but then again, you have some pretty crazy things happen to you pretty often, too!
DeleteGreat idea about hiding the keys at a neighbor's house! We never really worry about locking ourselves out of our house, because you have to use the key to lock the front door from the outside, but we never expected the keys to sail under the steps, either, so you can never be too prepared!