Just Strap it to the Roof!

The post about our Hooky Day reminded me about the funny trip to pickup the storm door. It was Sunday evening and we had just left our friends house after grilling out some steaks and visiting. So out of the clear blue sky I remember the sale on storm doors ended on Sunday. We rush down to the Menards where they have already taken down the "sale" signs... but, they are still honoring the sale. Phew!

We get through the checkout line and out to the car and realize what a moron I am. We are in our little acura and not the truck. Now how the heck am I going to get a 75 pound door that is 36 inches wide by seven or eight feet tall into this car. The back seats don't fold down, the truck is out of the question and even if I left both rear doors open I still could not stuff the door into that car!

It was getting dark so we had to move. Adri ran to get some twine from inside the store and we tried strapping it to the roof. We got it fairly secured and then it started to rain. Jeez oh Pete, what else could go wrong?

So here we are, driving down the road with one arm hanging out of my window to ensure the front of the door doesn't get caught in a draft, rip the twine and end up in the street. It's raining and gusting wind, the inside of the car is getting soaked and people are honking all around me for going 30mph! I pulled one of the ropes into the window and Adri was hanging on to it for dear life.

All in all, we got the door home and it did not blow off the roof. Although, hindsight being 20/20, after all the crap of putting it up, I kinda wish the dang thing had blown off and broke into a zillion pieces!

Hooky Day

Today began with the potential to be a fantastically wonderful day (mid 70's, bright sun shining, crisp breeze...you get the picture!). I started by trying to convince my fiance that she should call in sick so we could lounge around in the sun, read books, go for a bike ride and maybe start to tackle some of our spring projects since the next five weekends will be out of town or preoccupied. She was unmoved by my earlier persuasions but something struck a cord; half-way to work my fiance called her boss to let her know that she "had too much going on" and needed a personal day.

Why on earth she couldn't simply call in sick when we started this charade is beyond me. We spent 30 minutes cultivating an approach and/or an excuse to taking a hooky day and finally decides to play along after the day is already half over. Not to mention she has already showered, done her hair and makeup, changed twice and driven half-way to work!

Anyway, we got the oil changed on both of our vehicles, had a decent lunch and then split up. She went shopping (like, no duh!) and I went to the office to take care of some outstanding issues (real surprise there). I took off to get a jump start installing our new storm door from Menards.

This, my friends, turned out to be the hardest simple project I've ever tried to do. Nothing seemed to fit where it was supposed to, the door was freaking heavy and awkward and the directions seemed written for a different door. Nothing made any sense! Arrg!

What is your go-to excuse for taking a personal day?