Self-portrait Tuesday: Election Day Excitement

Today was exciting for the Madsens. And not because of the election.

Although that was pretty fun, too. I took the boys with me to vote. The line was short, I knew who I wanted to vote for in most of the contests, and the boys basically behaved themselves. As we were leaving the small church gymnasium, Spencer loudly asked me, "Mommy, who did you vote for?" In my peripheral vision I could several interested faces turn towards us. I calmly answered, "We'll discuss this in the car."

And we did. We also discussed how some things aren't really meant to be talked about in public, and what the world 'private' means. Spencer said he understood, but I suspect he would still tell you who I voted for if you asked him.

The excitement for the day didn't end there. The weather here has been wonderful, so we spent the afternoon at the park with our friends the Souths. There were lots of kids to run around with, lots of dirt and mud to play in, and even a huge mountain of bark to climb on.


Kid paradise.

Since Lance was working late I decided to take the kids to McDonald's. (Because what's the point in making a 'real' dinner if you're the only adult home? Does anyone else feel that way?) I scored some major "Best Mom in the World" points.

We ate our dinners, played with the Happy Meal Toys, and called it a day.

But wait, the excitement doesn't end there!

I strapped the kids in the car and... no dice. The car was dead. Dead. Wouldn't even turn over. So I called Lance, asked him to come give me a jump when he was done at work, and took the boys back inside for ice cream sundaes.

Because when your car dies in a McDonald's parking lot, you deserve an ice cream sundae. That's just common sense, people. Plus, I scored even more "Best Mom in the World" points, because we never get ice cream sundaes at McDonald's.

Why didn't I ask someone there to help me? I don't know. I just didn't feel comfortable doing that. Ordinarily I would have. But not tonight.

We waited. And waited. And waited some more. Forty-five minutes later Lance finally came. (In his defense, he was right in the middle of a project that he couldn't just leave when I called.)


We popped my hood. Hmmm... are batteries supposed to be that corroded? Oh well, I just wanted to get a jump, go home, and put the boys to bed. I figured I would look into replacing the battery tomorrow.

Instead, I had to look into replacing the battery two minutes later.

I pulled out of the McDonald's parking lot, drove onto 350 S, and then nervously realized that the car was dying. Again. In the middle of the road.

With Spencer in the back seat yelping, "What's happening?! What's wrong?! I'm scaaarredd!", which was a little annoying.

With Josh in the back seat singing "Ring Around the Rosies", which was a little creepy.

So my car died and I pulled into the first turn I could, which is VERY hard to do when you have power steering and no power. And what parking lot did I pull into? An AUTO ZONE. I kid you not. An Auto Zone that had opened only a month earlier. Huzzah!

Not only was it an Auto Zone, but it had no cars in the parking lot, which was good because I had no control over where I could park; I couldn't steer and I couldn't stop the car well. The car died smack-dab in the middle of the car-less lot.

I took this as a sign. A sign that: a) Heavenly Father watches over me (things could have been A LOT worse), b) He has a sense of humor, and c) it was time to get my battery replaced. Now.

So I scooped the boys out of the car, marched into the store, and bought a new battery. The manager took pity on me and even had one of his guys come out and replace the battery, free of charge. (They might always do that, I don't know. But I prefer to think of me having special treatment.)

Lance hung out with us while the battery was being replaced. (I had called him, just so he didn't worry.) Inbetween bites of his cheeseburger he said, "You must be doing something right."

I hope so.