Please Shoot Me Before It Gets Any Worse, Part 388

So, I finally get my van back from the shop. It's been in there for three weeks and $2400 getting a rebuilt engine put in it. We paid extra to have all the gaskets replaced with new.

I really haven't been shopping this whole time except to pick up a couple of essentials, because the only time I had a vehicle to do so was after FH came home from work, and FH worked late all last week. So I was really looking forward to driving into Salt Lake City to make a Sam's Club run and see if I could buy a gate to keep the babies from going up the stairs. Our local Wal-Mart sells only two kinds of gates, and neither is suitable for our combination of stairs and kids. I was also going to drop my sister's present off at her place, because we won't be seeing each other on Christmas due to scheduling problems.

I did a Click 'N' Pull order at the South Jordan Sam's Club because I figured I'd go pick up FH for lunch and take him down to get his allergy shot, which is near the South Jordan Sam's Club. Ordinarily I'd have picked a closer Sam's Club, but I figured I'd go get it while he waits the requisite 30 minutes after getting his shot (they're making him wait now, since he almost went into anaphylactic shock that one time). Because South Jordan is nowhere near my sister's place, I figured I'd go to her place first, then backtrack to FH's work and pick him up, run down to Jordan Landing and get the shot and the Click 'N' Pull, then bring FH back to work and be on my way. I had the hardest time even placing the order. I had lost my membership card in the store last time I went to Sam's Club and had to get a new membership card to check out, and so every time I logged on the Sam's Club website it was making me re-register with my new membership number. Also every time I added an item to my Click 'N' Pull list it made me log in again. But I figured it was worth it because every moment I spend in a large, echoey store with a melting-down special needs two year old is not what you might call a "quality moment".

So I get into town and call my sister, but she's not in, so I kinda tooled around downtown waiting for her to call and seeing if I could find a store that might have baby gates. When she didn't call, I couldn't find one, and I had only enough time left to run my other errands, I left to go do those. I called FH, but he had a meeting and couldn't go to lunch till after I had to leave SLC, so that was out. I went to Toys R Us on the way to Jordan Landing, to see if they had a gate, but they didn't have a gate of the right size and type.

So I went to Sam's Club, figuring I have just enough time now to go get my Click 'N' Pull order and get home in time to drive the carpool home from school. I get there and discover that not only do they not have my Click 'N' Pull, but the lady who can figure out why not is out to lunch and nobody else would help me. So I had to roll the cart through Sam's Club with Bagel clawing at my hands, which is precisely the reason why I wanted to do a Click 'N' Pull to begin with.

I'm on my way home from the Sam's Club ordeal, when my check engine light comes on.

I got home and called the shop where we just got through getting the new engine put in our van, and they want me to bring the van in tomorrow. That would be the "tomorrow" that is the Friday before Christmas and if they have to order in any parts or do any repairs, that would mean we won't be able to go up to Logan for Christmas, where I just discovered my grandfather (who hasn't bothered to see anyone in our family for years) has suddenly decided he will be for Christmas.

I'd better quit nursing the baby now to see what kind of metal implement it is that Bagel is using to hit the stove with.

Please shoot me before it gets any worse.