Ever have one of those? Yesterday was my turn. I was taking a day away from the lake and returning to the city for a few hours of work and errands, and I had everything planned down to the minute. Sure enough, that alarm clock went off at 4:15 AM on the nose.

Then I realized I had forgotten to shower the night before, so I raced into the shower. And Chelsea's litter box was unusually full, so I cleaned that out, too. I was on the road by 5:05 and then 10 minutes into the drive to the highway when an emergency light came on. Do YOU know what each of those symbols mean? I pulled over at the nearest gas station, took my manual from the glove box, discovered that the problem was tire pressure -- and this gas station had no air pump. I drove fearfully to the next and filled one very, very low tire, but only after I had shoved in extra quarters when the last of the requisite three jammed.

Hit the highway at 5:55. Dead standstill in traffic at 6:55. Another standstill at 7:35. Home at 8, 50 minutes late. Did my work, left in my husband's car for the hairdresser's, only to find my husband had only one quarter in his little change bin for a quarters only meter -- and that in the two weeks since I'd last parked in that lot, the meters had been changed to one quarter for 30 minutes, rather than one for an hour. Hairdresser ran late (I knitted), making me late for the manicurist, and I had to drive through downpours (and a few other traffic standstills) on the way home.

But hey, I got a good night sleep and today's another day. Granted, it's still raining, and the first time I wrote out this long blog it disappeared into cyberspace, nowhere to be found, when I clicked on "Add." But you got it this time, right? So things are looking up!