keeping it together.

we had a not-so-fantastic weekend.  this post includes the 'events' that called for us to keep it together.

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first, we participated in the shortest camping trip ever on friday.  we arrived near our previous site, but kind of on the other side of the resevoir.  we headed down a gravely-dirt road - what i expect when camping, but quite different than our favorite spot the couple weeks before.  we arrived to an okay site.  we took a drive around, noticed a lot of drinking, but also good-ole-fun.  all in all though, the impression was that the people were a little different.  they were what i would previously call 'camping people'.  which isn't nice and not okay.  pete's totally changed my mind about camping, so i really go open-mindedly and really enjoy myself!  we set up {our entire} camp at 5:15 and pete went for a swim.  our neighbors across the street started yelling at each other - i got a tad nervous, but it ended quickly.  then the neighbors next to them started yelling.  they were screaming words 'we don't say in this family'.  pete returned, they got louder, and then they opened their large suvs, blasted some 50cent, and started drinking ALOT of beer.  it was 6:00.  pete and i looked at eachother, then took down camp and drove all the way home.  we camped for a whole, entire 45 mins.  

keeping it together:  not saying anything to the neighbors, keeping calm while discussing the incident with the camp overseers, trying to keep jack together as we left: he was really sad and cried for a while.  then he passed out after making us promise we'd do something fun.  poor little guy.

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when we returned home, we encountered issue two.  we had parked my car in front of the jet ski to prevent stealing and partially blocked our driveway.  at 10:45pm after all the craziness of the night, the car wouldn't start.  we weren't able to pull into the driveway to unload (not sure if we would've had the energy, but who really knows?).  we tried to jump-start it but we were unsuccessful.

keeping it together:  we just spend over a thousand dollars fixing the alternator and getting a new battery, had just let a friend borrow it right after (he didn't have a car and had just started a new job).  we just got the car back a few days before.  we also had just taken it to carmax for a quote (we actually sold our suv, but were holding onto this car for a hopefully better sale privately) - now we couldn't even drive it back there to get rid of it.  saturday morning we were quoted another thousand to replace the fuel pump.  now we're down to one car.

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on sunday, pete and i went to test-drive a few cars at the automall.  we found a fabulous car, with all he and i wanted, and we sat down for the deal making.  we were straightforward adn reasonable, and the salesman and finance manager agreed.  then they realized they were 'confused' - that the car wasn't $**,***, that they made a mistake and it was about $6,000 more.  they tried to convince us we just needed a little financing (we are paying cash, wtf, we obviously don't want ANY financing).  so, we walked.

keeping it together:  we've been so annoyed with all this car stuff.  it's never fun to have unexpected repairs, unexpected breakdowns, whatever.  and we didn't know what car we wanted so we were thrilled to find all the pros and no cons!  the salesmen jacked us - we're sure noone was 'confused' that they just want to be shady and jack people (maybe not the case, but sure seems that way).  again, we're back to one car.

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on friday, before the camping trip, my mom told me that my grandfather, pop pop, wasn't doing so well, that he was going to be taken home from the hospital.  he missed his dialysis and had an intense infection that even the most strong, experimental antibiotics used in obscene doses weren't helping.  my aunt and uncle had a talk with him on thursday letting him know that they understood if he wanted to go home or stop treatments, that they knew it would be hard for him to say 'i quit' to his children, but that they understood.  with his great sense of humor, he asked them if they were trying to knock him off or something (so funny and spirited!).  he wanted to do whatever was available.  on friday morning, the dr told him there wasn't anything left to try, that he was too weak for dialysis and that if he wanted to go home to pass, they would release him.  my aunt and uncle took him home on saturday, they and my cousins were able to spend a little time with him, and he passed this morning.

keeping it together:  obviously everything else means nothing compared to losing a member of your family, talking with your mom about her father's passing, seeing your siblings upset.  

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all in all - a crappy four days.