accident #2

ok, so it's the second day of our second trip of the year.  last trip i accidently made the gas stove explode, and well, this time i had another little accident. this trip is quite a bit bigger than last time, about 175 people more. so instead of having one worksite, we have 7.  so i'm pretty much just running from worksite to worksite all day.  one of our worksites happens to be on the old dump.  so just picture unbelievable amounts of trash piled up and then covered with a thin layer of sand.  so i'm driving out to check on this group and as soon as i get there i find out they have no chicken wire.  ok, let me call dustin and i will be back asap with some chicken wire.  

it's important to know a couple things...  first, i am driving a very large, old, dually chevy truck.  it's great for loading materials in, but it is extremely heavy and does not have four-wheel drive. this can be a problem when driving in the sand (which is what the majority of the roads here are).  so i'm on the phone with dustin, and reversing.  seems ok, but i tend to do stupid things when i am trying to do too many things at once.  so i'm backing up through the sand and trash, and i happen to be a little to the right of the beaten path, but that's ok because i only have to back up about 20 more feet and i'll be on the road and can drive forward.  so i'm on the phone with dustin and he's telling me to go wherever for the chicken wire..."ok ok i'm on my way...waoh!  ooooh my gosh!"  i've fallen back, truck included, and now 

i'm stuck.  dustin says he'll be right there (assuming i just got the truck stuck in the sand again).  i, however, know exactly what happened.  i just backed this dually truckinto a hole.  a 4 foot deep, 4 foot wide, 8 foot long TRENCH!  are you kidding me?  did this seriously just happen? 

i get out and am in complete shock.  the mexican ladies come running, the kids following behind, and the entire crew that is waiting for chicken wire is staring in awe.  after lots of hugs, lots of laughing and maybe a few tears, dustin shows up.  "THIS is what you got stuck in?!"  now i don't know if he actually said that out loud, but i know that's what he was thinking.  he just laughs and avoids eye contact so i don't really start to cry.  so while he figures out what to do, 

i run with erin to find that chicken wire. i get back to the scene of the accident and just watch as dustin and three other guys decide how to get this truck out.  i think they actually enjoyed this part.  three tow straps, two heavy duty trucks, one suburban,  and a 15 foot chain and this beast of a truck is back to where it should be.                                                                     (pic of tow strap one breaking) 

the kids then made it their job to fill that hole with as much sand and trash as they possibly could, so that would never happen again.  so in the end, everything turned out

 ok.  the truck works fine (surprisingly), no one was hurt, there were some good laughs and the guys enjoyed putting the strength of their trucks to the test.  we made a memory, and now i have another story.  i love stories.  i just don't know how many more memories i want of me looking like some ditzy blonde american girl.

  

goodbye pretty purse

so my purse got stolen today…

ugh i still can’t believe it’s gone.  we were running errands in town and we were at our last stop.  we just had to run into the grocery store to grab one thing.  dustin always pays for things, so i just left my purse in the car.  we always lock our doors and it was the middle of the day on a busy street so no big deal.  so we get back to the car, unlock it and “my purse is gone!  someone stole my purse.”  i’m really good at freaking out, but i tried to stay calm.  was it here when we went into this store?  did i take it in with me and set it down?  i retraced our steps, but to no avail.  it was officially stolen.  creepy that someone slipped in our car, grabbed it and disappeared.  and that he/she so easily got away with it.  no one questioned, no one cared to stop him/her.  thankfully nothing besides my purse was taken.   unthankfully i had just put our camera in my purse.  well dustin’s camera, so that makes it even worse.  and, this isn’t quite on the same scale as the camera, but i’d been wanting a cute purse (you know, cute and casual, but can also look nice) forever, and i finally got one this christmas from my mom, and now it’s gone.  along with 2 cute change purses, my spanish/english dictionary which is replaceable but was a gift, so to me it had sentimental value.  and my bible that dustin had bought me years ago.  all replaceable things yes, but they were special to me.  not to mention my drivers license, debit/credit cards, mexican cell phone, etc.  so i lose all these things, have to waste my time reporting what’s been stolen, and for what, $10-$15.  lame. keep the $ and let me keep my things please.  we circled the area a few times, hoping that they realized there was only a little $, took that and then dropped the rest.  but that didn’t happen.  the thing that’s a little scary is that my keys were in my purse.  those keys include a key to our car and our house.  we’re hoping the thief isn’t smart enough to track our car down and take that, or worse track us down and find our house.  that’s probably very unlikely, but i happen to be very unlucky.  in the last year and a half or so, if you combine my spacyness and bad luck i’ve managed to lose 3 phones, 3 very cute change purses, 3 credit cards, 2 drivers licenses, countless gift cards, about $45, a set of keys, a camera and a wedding band.  my reaction is improving though.  less hysteria and less tears.  anyway, that’s my story for today.  “a little scary but surprisingly… upbeat”  (that will only make sense to those who’ve seen ‘how to lose a guy in 10 days’)  

my not so smart moment

so some times i do things that are not very smart. and then i think to myself…“what?!” and…“i can not believe i just did that.”  for example… today i am cooking dinner for a group that is here.  it’s only about 30 people and dinner is lasagna (frozen and thrown in the oven).  so it should be easy peasy.  the lasagna is in the convection oven, which i do not like because it never cooks things the way i think it should.  but, things are going great, i’m ahead of schedule (at least i think i am).  then i decide that i want to put the cookies (that i made from scratch!) in the oven so they are ready with dinner.  i can’t put them in the convection oven because they need a different temp, and i already have a hard enough time not burning things, so i don’t want to chance it with the higher temperature.  better to just put it in the gas oven, though i haven’t used this one yet because i thought it was broken.  i’ve used the gas stove in our casita many times though, so no big deal right.  this one i’m using today is a little bit nicer because it actually has temperature settings (in celcius).  so i set it to the desired temperature and then… oops i get distracted.  i just remembered the garlic bread.  i must put that in the oven.  so i do a few things and then i see my cookies sitting there on the counter, not in the oven.  oh ya, i need to put those in the oven.  oops, i forgot to light it, better do that.  with the lighter lit as i’m leaning down to light the stove, i for a split second think, “hmmm…how long have i had the gas on…”  but my thinking was terribly interrupted by a giant EXPLOSION!!!  i see my hand reach down to light it, the thought enters my mind, and then i see fire fill the stove, while at the same time a loud crash as the top burners and large pot of hot water go flying in to the air and then crashing down.  i scream, turn my face and jump within about a seconds time.  and then i realize what happened.  i almost blew up an entire room of people, including my self.  everybody (about 10 people) is starring at me.  the stove and side counter are now about 3 inches away from the wall.  black little things are floating through the air.  the room is smoky and smelling burnt.  i’m a little shaken up, everybody is asking if i’m ok.  thankfully no one else was near me, the boiling water somehow did not splash anywhere after being shot into the air, and me, i’m in the check everything else mode.  no one hurt, nothing broken, well except maybe the stove.  i thought it wasn’t working before, it’s definitely not working now.  and then, dustin is there.  it’s better for me not to talk, because the tears won’t stop once i start.  he’d already ran over to  make sure i wasn’t hurt, but now he was wanting me to stop running around and really answer the question “are you ok?”  i’m fine, thank goodness.  shaking, but fine.  and then i see my poor arm hairs, they’re gone!  and the tip of my pony tail, singed into burnt stinky little pieces.  i force the tears away because i don’t want to make more of a scene than i just did.  and really i’m ok, just trying not to think about what could have happened.  that was my little accident for the day.  hopefully tomorrow is less eventful.