Maya’s Bike

All of the beautiful leaves have fallen off of the trees in our front yard.  So it seemed to be a good time to clean the rain gutters.  We have been told that’s what you do in the fall.  We pulled out the little 8 ft. ladder, and up I went.  The front gutters didn’t have any leaves, just a little bit of the roofing grit.  We used the specially designed  $1.00 hose attachment that I scored at a yard sale, and basically just flushed them out.  Uneventful!

The true excitement of the day came when we moved to the gutters on the back of the house.  Andrew got out the not so little, 15ft. firman’s ladder and got it set-up at the back of the house (two-stories).  Up I went, much more slowly this time and with a bit of apprehension.  Andrew held the shaky ladder and provided encouraging words.  He is so sweet.  Once I was almost to the top, he decided that it was not going to be very safe for me to try and lean over and reach the gutters from the ladder. He suggested that I should come back down and hatch a better plan.  My brilliant new plan to reach the back gutters, was to climb up the ladder at the front of the house and climb up onto the roof.  From there, I would climb up over the peak and down the back side of the roof to the back gutters.  The roof of the house was a bit wet from night time rain, but not too bad.  When I got to the top of the roof, I decided that it was better if I went on my buns.  This was a good choice.  The only down side was the wet buns when I was done.  I had no idea how high I was.  When I looked down at the backyard, there were my beautiful kids looking up at me and my husband standing next to them.  My favorite little man in the entire world looked up at me with all of the concern in world and yelled, “Mommy, don’t fall on Maya’s bike!” Really, I am like a million  feet up on this roof and he was concerned about Maya’s bike?  Maya decided that it was a good idea to move the bike just in case.   I did not fall and we successfully cleaned all of the gutters.

The Secret Taco Bell Handshake

This is the story of the Midnight Taco Bell Run, only modified because we are now responsible adults with responsibilities. Yeah Right! Or, maybe we just get tired earlier because we are old now. 

8:00 – Friday night Andrew returned home late from a work related cocktail hour (8:00 – We are so old!) We got the kids and ourselves ready for bed. Nothing exciting.

9:30 – While we (Andrew & I) were sitting around in our pjs, I decided that I was starving and the only thing that would cure this hunger would be Taco Bell.  We debated the possible menu items and finally came to decisions about what we would eat.  We were totally committed at this point.

9:45 – I put on my slippers (still in my jammies) and headed out the door.  The nearest Taco Bell is in Chanhassen, about 15 min. from our house.  But when hunger calls . . .

10:00 – I entered the drive through with my list of items already to go, so as not to forget anything.  That age thing again. I was struck by sheer terror and panic when I looked at the menu, the Combination Burrito that I was supposed to order was nowhere to be seen.  I started to sweat and search for my phone lest I get the wrong thing.  When the voice came over the speaker all I could get out was, “Uhhhh, I am supposed to order a Combination Burrito, but. . .” The voice replied, “We have that, it’s just not on the menu.”  What, a secret menu? How could this be? That made me start to wonder.  I finished my order and pulled forward.  That’s when I met the Taco Bell Guru!  I joked about the secret menu and he informed me of the secret handshake.  If you ask for something that used to be on the menu, they can still make it as long as someone there knows what goes into it, and different states have different menu items. This guy has worked at Taco Bell for something like 11 years and knows everything.  Yet still working the window at 10:00 at night on a Friday. Huh! Anyways, at this point the only thing I can think of is the Chillito or Chili Cheese Burrito as it was later called.  I am pretty sure that this is the food that got me through high school.  Although my mom would say it was Runts Candy.  It was very sad when they stopped making the chili cheese burrito.  So I bravely asked if he could make them.  His answer of course, “YES.”  So I had to make and pay for a second order.  How embarrassing. When I returned home, I professed my love for the Taco Bell Guru and sat down to munch. 

No Bank of America in Minnesota

There are no Bank of America’s in Minnesota only about three ATM’s, and only one that takes deposits.  It is about 20 miles from our house.  Huh, that’s really the most important part of the story.  Not as interesting as I though it was going to be.  Oh, well.  hahahahaha