...Can't stop laughing

Ben and I had an experience this week that has inspired me to start a new series that will run on the blog from time to time. The series will be called "I'm an idiot". Now, I know I am a with-it person. I am smart, witty, intelligent... But sometimes I do things that make me say to myself, man, I am an idiot. This, the first in the series will be called:

"I'm an Idiot... or am I?"

Friday night Ben and I had gotten ourselves all pretty, we'd arranged for a sitter, and we were heading out {late} to meet up with friends for Thai food. Just as we got in the car and fired-up the ignition, we got a call from one in the group who was calling to tell us that some others in our party were stuck in traffic on the expressway, and could we meet up in an hour and 15 minutes instead of 15 minutes ago. We are casual people, and these kind of "set-backs" usually prove to work out even better for us than the original plan, so no problem.

Since this was now the case, I told Ben to turn around so I could get some things I'd forgotten to get in the rush to get out the door. We ended up turning up a cul-de-sac that connects to our street so that we could u-turn and go home. Once we got to the top, my eye caught sight of something I had been dreaming of getting for the kids since before they were even born, a swing set! It was nothing fancy, but I have come to the conclusion that a reasonably nice, used set would be perfect for our temporary situation anyway. It was beautiful, just sitting out on the grass bordering the curb, and it looked like it was just waiting for a nice family to take it home and love it. Was it for sale, or could we possibly be so lucky that they were just giving it away!?

Ben slammed on the breaks and I went tearing for the door to inquire. The lights in the house were all dim and I realized after knocking 10 times that they must be out. Dirty Darn. I ran back to the car and Ben and I started talking about just lifting it up and carting it down the street, since it was obvious they were getting rid of it -and we wanted dibs! We now had the time! But we thought better of it, maybe it had already been sold on Craigslist or something, and it was just sitting out here for them to come pick it up tonight or tomorrow.

I was giddy all night, thinking of the moment when we were finished with our evening with our friends so that we could go back to the house and see about this swing set. We left the restaurant at 10:30, which was late, but I figured it was the weekend and what was the harm in driving past to see if they were now home and still awake. I was nervous as we turned up the street, wondering if perhaps it had been picked up during the few hours we were out. But as we pulled up I sighed a sigh of relief as I found it was still there! What luck!

The owners were home, and they were in their front room watching TV. I decided it just couldn't wait until morning, it could be gone by then! I knocked on the door several times. No one was getting up from the movie. I decided I had probably already exceeded the number of appropriate knocks for this hour of the night, and started walking back toward the car. Just then, some one came walking up from the street. It was some one who lived there! Finally, time to talk details! Please bless it's not sold Please bless it's not sold Please bless it's not sold!

I said hello and small-talked for a minute, and then decided it was time to cut right to the chase. And these are the very words that escaped my mouth, "So... I see you've got that pretty little swing set just sitting there... I assume you are getting rid of it. Or do you just do your swinging in the front yard?!" Followed by a nice meaty laugh, like, how absurd right?!

She just stared at me. Finally, my laughter died down to awkwardness as she broke the news to me that, yes, they do do their swinging in the front yard. That is the place they found appropriate for their swing set. It was being given away, nor was it for sale. This multi-million dollar house has a $200 swing set in front of it, at the curb, because that is how they roll.

Just then the man of the house opened the door and the woman scurried in like an obedient animal and I was left saying my polite goodbye's to myself, praying that she didn't tell this brute why I was on their doorstep at 10:45 PM. I immediately regretted telling her who I was and where I lived {literally 30 seconds, by legs, away}. Man, I really, really need to perfect my fake Aussie accent so that I can be an Aussie anytime I want to completely humiliate myself.

I felt about this big at that moment. But it didn't last long. By the time I got the the car, and related the story, Ben and I could barely see straight we were laughing so hard. Tears were streaming down our faces. We replayed all of the events and conversations and plans to just take it over and over until we were just sick with fits of laughter. All in a days work I tell ya...

Here is a picture so you can be the judge on this one. The picture is terrible, mainly because I had already completely embarrassed myself once, going back, in broad daylight, to get a picture for the blog was too much. Though I still did it, and I was not as inconspicuous as I thought I should have been. I basically stood right there in the middle of the street, taking a picture of a stranger's house. Embarrasing enough even without the swing set debacle... In any case, you can't get a full feel of the dimensions of how close this was to the curb since the yard slopes down and makes the distance from the house to the set seem shorter. This also only captures 1/4 of this huge house. That ladder wasn't there when we came before. We need one of those too, that would have been a nice little bonus to go along with our new swing set.