Friday the thirteenth.

Let's just start with a sigh, and I better remind myself that there are still hours and hours of this day to go.

Signs of a bad Friday the 13th for me include all of the following. All of which actually happened.

* My car started sluggishly today and I immediately noticed all of my radio presets had gone away, so I knew there was a battery problem. I had a church activity to get to, however, and I just drove it and decided that if I had to walk home, it wouldn't be the end of the world. And it started again when it was time to go, not as easily as usual, but it got me home.

* I had to go to the grocery store. It's desperate when I run out of milk, and Albertson's had cereal on sale, so I went farther from home than normal to shop. Ryan advised me to drive his Land Cruiser instead of my car, and told me where I could find the spare key. He didn't want me to get stranded.

* I got stranded. When I got back in the car, with Sam and Taylor, a bag full of frozen things and two gallons of milk, plus a whole lot more, the key wouldn't go into the ignition all the way. I tried for fifteen minutes, over and over, and it wouldn't go in. Of course I called Ryan to find out if there was a trick and he said, "Try and turn the key over." Sheesh, like I hadn't already tried that. I called everyone I knew (that wouldn't be horribly inconvenienced) to see if someone could get me home. I would have walked, but it was two miles that would have felt like twelve with Sam, Taylor, two gallons of milk and the bag full of frozen items. Finally, Taylor said, "I see Lauren's mom! Ask her." Lauren's a girl who was in his class at school last year, and she lives in the same general vicinity, but I don't know Lauren's mom very well, so it was a little mortifying, but I asked. She wasn't headed home, but she said, "I hope someone would do the same for me if I was stuck." So we made it home.

* I opened the garage door to get my stuff in the freezer, and Taylor was walking through with one of the gallons of milk when he dropped it, the lid burst off and milk flew all over the garage. I immediately imagined the stench of rotting milk in the heat and got the hose and a mop. I decided I needed to capture a picture of the carnage in order to make myself smile instead of bursting into tears, so I ran in to grab the camera while Taylor was mopping. The camera was gone.

* Half an hour later I got Ryan on the phone after searching my house to find my camera for that long only to find out he had taken it with him to the hospital today. Relieved to say the least!

* I got back into my own slow-to-start car and went to Clay's class at the children's museum where they were showing what they'd learned this week in his "Let's get cellular" class. He tried to isolate DNA from my cheeks and show it to me, but it didn't work. I cursed him, too. While I was there, I realized that I'd forgotten to change my milk-splashed clothes before I ran out again, and the stench of rancidness was now stuck to me. Then Taylor, Sam and I headed out again to make sure Taylor got to piano lessons on time.

* We were stood up. No piano lessons today.

I am sorry there is no picture to accompany my whining. By the way, it was a bad hair day to boot. Hope yours has been better than mine!