It started with a bang...

Today defined busy for us, which would make perfect sense, it IS the busy season with Christmas approaching and all that jingling jazz. We departed in the wee hours of the morning with Daddy and once he arrived at his office, we hijacked his car and started our day of errands. We were on a mission: how many places can a mother and a redhead visit in one single day?

This isn't uncommon for us. We're all about packed days, except today it was absolutely vital we accomplished everything on our list and nothing less. So, it started as our blog title would suggest, with a bang. Rather, bangs. Bailey's eyes were in desperate need of visibility, and within seconds, our hair stylist found them and we were done without any blood being shed. We paid, and off to our next destination.

Among some of our destinations, we picked up a few things at Target. We searched the aisles at Border's desperately for a gift for Daddy (even though we weren't technically getting him anything for Christmas, but hey, 40% coupons mean you have to buy something!). Next on the list was Petsmart. We had to get presents for our two furry girls as well as Bailey's Godsiblings (Godparents' Mike and Julie's canine babies, Hannah and Henry). Then we made a quick run to Walmart for a gift bag and from there we headed to Oak Park Mall.

Now, today's weather forecast was a bit grim, with that snowy and rainy doom. During most of our errands, it was indeed raining. The roads were fine though the entire time, so when we arrived in the Oak Park Mall parking lot, we were a bit shocked by their icy conditions. The roads were absolutely fine, but Oak Park Mall knew nothing of ice melt, at least not in the places people walk. Bailey and I were sliding all over the place, but that didn't stop us from going to JCPenney's in search of a reason to spend our $10 coupon. If you know anything about our history, we've boycotted Oak Park Mall as often as we can, but their JCPenney's was unfortunately in a convenient location for us. It was also busier than we expected. Weren't people supposed to be working?

We slid our way to our car and headed to Honey Baked Ham to pick up one of the most pertinent items on our list for the day: a part of the lunch we were providing for Daddy's office. Little did I know that I was going to be standing in line for a soup kitchen. That's seriously how it felt. We fought for a parking spot and waited in line outside in the cold rain in an incredibly long line for a ham that wasn't even for Bailey and I. Luckily, the line moved faster than it seemed (it just kept growing behind us) and by the time we left, the line had doubled the size from when we had first gotten there.

After that, we definitely deserved our lunch and Bailey played in the play area at the Yellow M for a while to burn off the excessive energy she had acquired during our travels. I had just announced we were leaving and then suddenly she pushed a little boy rather hard. I intervened and marched her over to her shoes and asked her what had gotten in to her. She finally told me later, once we'd left that he had attacked her inside the tunnels and she was just getting even (well, that's my version, not hers). I wish I'd known that information before I'd made her give him such a tearful and public apology. I should have known he was hardly innocent, after all, he (nor his brother) seemed so shocked by the shove as the rest of us adults were.

We made it to Hen House for our Tippin's Pie (also for Daddy's office's Christmas lunch) and then since we had extra time, we decided before we went anywhere else, we'd run our gifts for Hannah and Henry to their front doorstep. It wasn't that close to where we were at, but the drive gave Bailey a chance to take a little nap because she'd seemed so exhausted and I was really hoping she'd sleep (she woke up really early) and as we turned on their street to their house, a car was blocking the road. The person in the car was talking to a local neighbor while he was shoveling his driveway. I found it odd to discover it was Julie herself, and I waved but she didn't see me as she headed the opposite direction from her house. This worked for our surprise (I still don't think they realized we dropped off their package last year, they thought it'd been delivered), and I got out of my car so I could hang the gift bag on their door knob and instantly fell flat on my backside. This would not be the only time. In fact, I fell A LOT. Their driveway had what seemed like an inch of ice and I had noticed when I pulled in their driveway, my brakes didn't like the surface. I hung the bag after several more falls and got back in my little car and went to pull out and well, I couldn't. I was stuck!

After a lot of ice capades in their driveway, rubber burning, falls on the ice and curse words while Bailey slept (because I'd never do it while she's awake EVER), I had to call for backup. Since I had Daddy's car, calling him wasn't going to do much good but I had to do it anyway. He asked a coworker to help rescue me and I waited. I kept trying though just like that little engine in the book, and just when I'd gain a foot I'd lose more. And sometimes, my car would turn sideways more than I wanted it to. If it wasn't for my love for them (or my brutal honesty on this blog, which would give me away), I probably would've driven through their grass over their new fruit trees (but not without removing the evidence of the gift bag first).

Daddy and Ray were about five minutes from their house with a bunch of ice melt when this nice guy showed up to my car window offering his assistance. I tried to turn him down, but he persisted and he too fell quite a bit as he did his best to save me from the cruel ice. His attempts finally worked and I barely escaped without hitting his car (which he told me would've been fine if I had), but we managed not to and I prayed that I left absolutely no trace of our tragic situation behind.

I'll tell you, it was absolutely humiliating. I was stuck in a driveway. How does that happen? And it's not the first time this year that Bailey and I've been stuck in someone's driveway after doing something nice and then being forced to summon Daddy to our rescue. Maybe Daddy is right: no good deed goes unpunished. It does make a great story though, which makes it all worth it. However, it did end our day of errands, because after that, I was ready to go home, just not without a mocha java chiller from Sonic first.