At Least I Won't Starve

Today when it was time to go pick S. D. up from pre-school, I couldn't find my keys anywhere. After frantically searching the house, I remembered that G. had been using my keys when we drove to our friends' house for trick-or-treating with the kids, and that he'd used his keys on the way home. Much to my horror, I realized that either my keys were locked in the car or were left at our friends' home. I called G. to ask him if he knew where my keys were, on the off chance he'd set them down somewhere I hadn't thought to look. Of course, no luck there. We finally reached the conclusion that he'd have to come home and let me into the car to see if they were in there.

I called the school to let them know that I would be late and why. Thank goodness for after care! Then I set about looking for the keys and moving things around with one hand while toting the baby around with the other. Finally G. showed up and opened the car. No keys in the console, side of the door, glove compartment or on the floor of the front seat! G. gave me his set and off I went to the school to pick up S. D. while he headed back to work.

At the end of the school driveway, who should I see leaving the school, non other than the friend who probably had my keys sitting on her kitchen table/counter. I stopped, rolled my window down, and told her what was up. She told me that they hadn't seen them anywhere. These are very neat people; they don't live in Clutterland as we do, so I figured that if she didn't notice them, they must be somewhere in the car, I just needed to search again.

After getting S. D. I realized that there wasn't enough time for me to go home and get back in time to pick up S. F. so I drove around hoping and praying that Little G. would stay asleep until it was time to get his other big sister. Luckily, he did. Of course those little eyes popped open the instant she got into the car, but amazingly he stayed in a good mood until we got home.

As soon as it was possible to put him down after we got home, I went out to resume my search. I decided not to limit the search to just the front seat where the adults sit. I thought, "How long can it take? The car was thoroughly cleaned before we went on vacation in August. It shouldn't take long to search." HAH!

As I looked in the back of the car, I began to get thoroughly annoyed with my girls, especially with S. F. the twelve year old. I allow my kids to snack in the car. I believe it helps to expedite the homework process. If they eat their snack on the way home, then they can get straight to the homework once they get in the house. At least that's the theory, admittedly it doesn't always happen that way in practice.

I was under the impression that S. F. had been gathering up most of the trash and pitching it when we got home. I figured there woud be a couple of things under the seat, but I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was right before my annual vacation car cleanup. Apparently she's been storing most of the trash under the seat, even though each afternoon I see her taking trash to the trashcan in the driveway. (note to self - find out what exactly she is throwing away)

I did eventually find my keys on the third seat of the car. Apparently they had fallen out of G.'s pocket when he was getting the girls into the very back of the car.

After being really annoyed with the girls for a while about all the junk that they've shoved under the seats of my car, I decided to look on the bright side. I realized that between all of the half eaten Oreos, half drunk bottles of water, partial fruit roll-ups, and of course mold growing on some of these, I'll be well taken care of if I'm ever in a car accident where I'm trapped and they can't find me for a few days. I'll be able to eat, drink, and make my own antibiotics until help arrives. ;)