It started out like any other weekend trip to Columbia, SC except this one had a purpose. We were going to come home with the sales reciept to a new crib for our little bundle of joy to arrive. Why so early you may ask? Well, Sharon has been dreaming that she will be put on bed rest any time (No worries, there haven't been any issues), but she wants this crib and wants it yesterday. So, back to the trip. We left home around 8:30 on the hottest day of the year heading to the hottest city in the South East. (If you have been there you know Columbia is at least 5 degrees warmer then the surrounding areas.) We had an uneventful trip down to the store and started looking around. Well I have never seen so many cribs and so many different types of cribs in my life. If we didn't know what we wanted from our research, we would have lost our heads. Looking around, we finally narrowed it down to 2 models, and both we quite nice and a were bit more then the typically Babies R Us models we had seen early. Being a cheap and indecisive guy, I wanted to recheck out the cheap models thinking that after seeing the higher end models, they would look better. So we pack up Sharon, Mrs. Hinson (who had joined us in the search at this point) and myself and headed over to the other store in lunch time traffic at a crazy busy mall.
Needless to say, it took a bit longer to get there then planned. After looking at the cribs and remembering why we didn't buy one from there, we decided to take a look at all the other fun stuff you can buy. Strollers, stroller frames, infant seats, pack and plays and the other options that didn't exist when I was growing up and now it seems like they are must haves. For the record the tick isn't baby toys related. I was just dropped repeatedly. :) By this time we got a call from the Hinson men saying they were on their way to Lunch. So we looked around for a couple more minutes and then headed over to lunch.
The trip to Lunch - Remember that crazy busy lunch traffic I mentioned,well it got busier while we were in the store. Instead of taking 10 minutes, it was more like 25. It is a "No, no" to keep the Orr men from eating, but that is easily match by the "No no" from keeping the Hinson men from Rush's. We need hamburgers and frys stat. We made it and got food in everyone and no one starved, but it was a nail biter. But during lunch, we made good progress, we picked out what we were going to buy, and since it was in stock, how we were going to transport it from the store. Now Sharon's happy meter was way up. I was the greatest husband of all time, not only were we going to have the sales reciept in hand, but we were going to have a crib in the back seat. So, after lunch we went to the Hinson house to put into action Operation BUY CRIB.
Operation BUY CRIB - Calls for 2 cars, 3 people and one credit card. I head over to the store early to buy the crib, while Sharon and her mom followed in the van talking about baby stuff, crib stuff, more baby stuff, other people's baby stuff and finally more baby stuff. I was very happy to have a car to myself. So, I get there and sales lady can see it in my eyes, she has got the sale. She rings me right up and I whip out my card and bam, I am the proud owner of a new crib and chest of drawers combo. Right about this time the women show up to celebrate victory, while I head out to the car to go move it to the loading dock.
I get to the car and hear ".......", no click, no radio, no nothing. The car is dead. Yes, it took us from Charlotte, to Columbia, baby store 1, to baby store 2, to lunch, home and back to the store and nothing. It wouldn't start and by this time Sharon sees I am not moving and wants to urge me on. Plus we were going to need both cars to get it all. Now, on the hottest day of the year, in the hottest city in the Southeast, we have just purchased out crib and I have a stressed out wife, worring mother in law and car that won't start. Well, Sharon calls AAA and her Daddy to get a jump and Janet backs the Van up so I can help load up the crib and chest of drawers. All of which fit with maybe 1/2inch to spare. Thank goodness.
At this point, everything is ok, AAA showed up and got us running and Sharon's Daddy showed up to follow me to the Autozone, and we where off to get a new battery. Sharon's Happy meter is up again and I am close to being the best husband in the world again. Life is good, we are back moving, all loaded up and headed home... Almost. it wouldn't be much of an Adventure without a few more bumps, or today dead cars. We get to Autozone, one limping car, one truck with F-I-L and one car happily talking baby. We just was we were about to pull up ... nothing ... no power steering, no power brakes and worst of all no a/c. Dead again, blocking half a dozen cars in the lot and an Autozone employee telling me to move my car. Explaining to him, I can't he tells me to put on the hazzard lights. Which by the way were on, but with no battery they aren't so bright.
Sharon Happy meter: Definiately better husbands in the world, but hey she had a crib so I was still a keeper.
At this point we have a set of jumper cables so we jump the car, can decide it is the alternator so we head over to the dealership which was closing in 45 minutes. We were only 15 minutes away, so no big deal. The women left the cars to the men and drove off to the baby stores in town. They had had enough of the car saga. It was an uneventful drive, no catastrophic failures, no crazy mid train track, with train coming jumps, just a nice slow drive over the the dealer. We got to the dealer, tested the car, and yes the alternator was bad. No big deal, extened warranty is on file, after all they purchased the car there... Nope. Ok, no big deal its in the car, with every single possible piece of paper ever printed after a service, inspection, oil change this car has seen in the 97919 miles since it rolled off the lot. Talk about a needle in a hay stack... So I called... And Sharon came...
Happy Meter: Not going up, what sort of husband can't find a piece of paper in something the size of the glove box?
Vindication at last, it wasn't there. Mom looked, Dad looked, Sharon looked. Husband isn't complete idiot after all. But we did find the name of the warranty company on a service contract. Finally saga over. New alternator, warranty over... Not so fast, no alternators in stock, and the warranty company is closed for the weekend.
Sharon Happy meter: Hot, hot and more hot. Husband is not complete idiot, but it is hot.
Well, it all ends well from here, we left the car for a Monday repair. We got back to the house, in the air conditioning had some father's day cake, and ice cream and mellowed out. It had been a day. In the end, we borrowed the Hinson's van, so we could get home to Jake and get the crib to Charlotte. With luck, we will trade cars Tuesday and we now have a fantastic tale to tell the future little Orr about the day we picked out her crib.
Sharon Happy Meter: Air Conditioned; Husband not soo bad.
PS on the way home we stopped and picked up the car seat with a coupon that was going to run out.
