You are never too old to mess up ...

Monday, August 6:  I was house-sitting for my friend, Gail, Sunday night--I was so happy to be invited to do this! I spent most of Sunday walking the pier, the beach, climbing dunes, taking nice pictures ... it was wonderful in every way.

When I finally settled in for the night, I picked up a novel off Gail's shelf upstairs and headed to bed. It was kind of a suspenseful story and at one point, I got up, went downstairs just to make sure all of the doors were locked. I found that they were NOT. So I carefully walked around the house, locking and double-locking all doors that had access to the outside. I even locked the door that led outside to their garage, just for safe measure! I set my alarm for 7:00 and slept soundly, only to awaken to the sound of a downpour!

One of my house assignments was to put out the trash Monday morning before I left to go back to Grand Rapids. I needed to return by 9:30 to pick up Aidan and Brendan--so I wasn't really planning for any beach time. I wasn't sad about the rain; in fact, it sounded SO lovely on the roof, and the smell was SO fresh. I didn't exactly want to put the trash out with it raining so hard, so I picked the novel back up and read for awhile.

By 7:40 or so, I resigned myself to taking the trash out in the rain. I put on my capris, went downstairs, stepped out into the garage, put the garage door up, and took out the trash. It was still raining very hard. I walked back into the garage and stood looking out, enjoying the smells and sounds and then walked over to the door to go back inside ...

But the door was ... LOCKED ... quite decidedly so! Afterall, I got up last night and LOCKED the stupid thing, didn't I? Yikes. I was in trouble! My car was locked up inside the garage. My purse, my phone, my keys, my EVERYTHING was inside the locked house! And it began to rain even harder!

 I took a long hard look at my circumstance. I couldn't even call Dylan and Kelly to tell them I wasn't coming! Even if I could knock on someone's door in the neighborhood and ask to make a call, I wouldn't know a number to dial! I have NO numbers memorized. Very stupid.

I breathed a prayer. I went outside in the pouring rain and walked around the entire house, checking each door, hoping against hope that I had misssed one the night before. No. I was very thorough with my security. I had very few options at this point. I took another walk around the house, looking for an open window. Aha! The kitched window was slightly open ... if I could just toggle that screen off, I could squeeze through that window!

I went back in the garage and found a very nice ladder. I braced it up against the house (it was still raining) and climbed up to the top. The screen was made a lot like the one here at my Beach House! Yes! I've broken in to my little place before by removing the screen--perhaps if I went back into the garage I could find a tool to help me.

I had no luck finding any tools. I climbed the ladder again and began to just GET THAT SCREEN to fall out. I managed to do it, but the screen did bend. I let it fall into the mud below. I opened the window as wide as I could ...

It took awhile to squeeze my body through that window because you see, I had to do it head first. I couldn't go feet first because I was standing on top of a ladder and had no one to hold it for me. I certainly didn't want to fall and break my neck .... or leg ... or arm ... or nose! So I went head first. It took awhile, believe me, and I have bruises to show for my efforts. I finally ... landed right in the kitchen sink. I'm not kidding. But at least I was IN. I was SO THANKFUL to be INside the house, and OUT of the rain! I immediately unlocked the garage door AND the front door. I flew upstairs, grabbed all my keys and attached them to my person! I went back outside to retrieve the bent screen. I took it into the garage to see if I could bend it back in shape. I improved it a little, but not enough. I will certainly replace it for Gail! I climbed the ladder once again, put the screen back in place, took the ladder back to the garage, went inside and cleaned up the mess I had made in the kitchen, took a quick shower, packed up my car, and made it to Dylan and Kelly's at 9:31! I was only ONE MINUTE late! I know. What a goof. 

Oh! And to add insult to injury ...

I spent the rest of the day with the little boys, met Dylan, Kelly and Shane for dinner and did not return home until after 8PM Monday night. I had taken some really nice pictures of the sunset the night before. I showed 212 pictures on my card. I loaded the card into my computer, got distracted by something (I can't remember what), THOUGHT I had uploaded those pictures to my computer, took the card out, put it back in my camera and ERASED it ... and then I went to edit them on my computer. THEY WEREN'T THERE! I never imported them. They were LOST forever. I felt super sick about it too because I had gone to Kruse Park for the sunset, and even though it was not a spectacular one, I felt I had framed some pretty nice pictures up in the dunes and I was excited to use them on some nice cards. 

I did take the card to Mark's Photo where they retrieved SOME pictures, but none could be restored of the sunset ... sigh. What a goofy day.

PS:  Guess what? After talking to Gail today and telling her this crazy story, she let me in on a fact ... there was a spare KEY to the house in plain sight (I won't say where because you never know who reads these odd-ball blogs) ... Sigh. All of that hastle and I could have simply used the spare KEY. Oh. my.