And that's why we were late...

The HotY just called me a little bit ago and said the girls told him we were late for swimming lessons yesterday - which we were - but by the time we got home last night I had forgotten about it. Now it isn't unlike me to be late for some things but for appointments, lessons, etc, I'm usually on time. Not that I haven't been rushed to get there on time, cursing every 40 mph driver on the road when the speed limit is clearly posted at 55 mph, but that's another story. Anyway, I had allowed ample time to get to swimming lessons, I really had. I started getting things ready about 4:25 - that's 35 minutes to get to the pool on time BUT THEN the phone rang and it was a good friend who I haven't really chatted with in some time - so I finally had to say I had to go but I would call later. It's 4:35 - I still had to find leotards. I tore out of the house and jumped in the van to pick the girls up from daycare. They were ready - I wasn't - they told me I was not there on time (when did this sassy thing start and WHO taught them to tell time?) I was like all "oh we'll be just fine" until I looked at the gas gauge and noticed it said we have four miles to drive until EMPTY. Running out of gas may have been part of my past but with a van, busy city traffic and two five year olds in booster seats in the back - running out of gas is no longer an option! So I made a detour to a gas station - a gas station unfamiliar to me as I picked the closest location with easy exit options since we were heading into 5 p.m. traffic - it wasn't my usual gas place. But I got to the station, pulled up to the pump, swiped my card hoping it was going in the right direction since there wasn't a picture or even an arrow to tell me if I was doing it right, said no receipt and started pumping. I put my $10 in (hey we were behind schedule) and went to put the nozzle back and that gas flipper thing would not go down. I always just nudge it with the nozzle and presto - it flips down - but this flipper thing was having none of that. I gingerly nudged it with my fingers (I hate to touch those things - it gets gas on your hands - YUCK) still no go, I tried the nozzle nudge again - NOTHING. Grrrr. Finally I just pushed on the darn thing - HARD and it clicked down. I hung up the nozzle and darted back into the van. I drove out of the station wondering if soon a cop would be following me because maybe that gas flipper thing didn't want to go down because my card didn't work right and the gas hadn't really been paid for and I didn't have a receipt to verify I paid for it and now I might actually be doing a drive-off - from the gas station. I drove past the station slowly just in case someone was going to come running out and flag me down but nothing happened so I figured I was safe. Once I was back on the main road I did one more glance in my side mirror to make sure there weren't any cops hard on my tail - which there weren't BUT what did I see but my gas cover thing open and my gas cap hanging out and banging itself into the side of the van. DANG IT! I'm one of those people - one of those people you see driving down the highway oblivious to the fact that they forgot to close their gas cap. That was me - IDIOT! Soooo luckily the light for the highway exit turned red - I jumped out, screwed on the gas cap, closed the door thingie and jumped back in the van and then answered the 20 questions about why I got out of the van and how did I make the light turn red so I could get out and what's a gas cap and where is our usual gas station and what happens when we are late for swimming lessons. It was very enjoyable - HA! We FINALLY got to swimming lessons - 15 minutes late for a 30 minute class. Well at least they got to do the back float and get the dive sticks. Oh and just to make the day complete - from swimming lessons we were to head directly to gymnastics - which was good, I mean I had their leotards and everything but what I didn't have was a brush for the wet hair or panties for the wet bottoms. NICE. I made them put their leotards on anyway, finger combed their hair and begged them not to tell anyone they weren't wearing panties -- for once they kept quiet :-)

So there, that's why we were late for swimming lessons and I've pretty much stopped obsessing about the gas drive-off thing because if my card hadn't worked I'm sure I would have seen my friendly, local officer of the law by now - right?