You know your evening plans have suddenly changed when.....

your six year old, upon getting into the car, asks you why there is a nail in your tire.

"You must be mistaken, Allison", I said, almost in jest, not willing to believe what she was saying. Upon further examination, she was mistaken. It wasn't a nail. It was a big ol' screw sitting pretty between the treads of our almost new tires.

First thought, is it safe to drive. Checked the tire. Didn't seem soft. Ok. We can go home and get an appointment tomorrow to have the tire fixed.

Second, call Guy--It was 4:30. Still enough time to call someplace and get an appointment for tomorrow to get this fixed. He's not happy to get this call from me. We were thinking of calling the place we usually take the car to, but he called back and was concerned about us driving it home. We can really take it anywhere. As luck would have it, there was a tire shop across the parking lot from where we were. (How many times have I been shopping in these stores and never saw this place before today!)

Allison and I drive across the parking lot to the tire store. They are booked solid for the rest of the day, but if we want to leave it, he'd be happy to squeeze it in between jobs. I'm not fond of leaving it. I asked him if they could determine if the car was still safe to drive. He tells me to pull it around and he'd have a tech take a look.

Back out to the car. Tech looks. No problem. Yeah. Call Guy. He's not comfortable with waiting until morning. He is going to come up with the other car so we can leave this one.

Back in the store. We are going to leave it. Nice man at the desk reasons that perhaps we should see if this really even needs to be repaired. He's going to send a tech back out to pull this screw out of my tire. Ok. Tired of hauling Allison back and forth to the car. I had her sit in the waiting area with my iPad. She's happy.

Back to the car. Out comes the tech. He no more than wiggles the screw the tiniest bit to get his pliers around it when PSHHHHHHHHHH. Tech tells me there is a leak in the tire (now) and we aren't going anywhere until we get it fixed.

Back to the store to check in the car. He wants my car keys. Need to get Allison's seat out of the car.

Back to the car. Removed car seat. I hate moving car seats.

Back to the store. Sit with Allison and wait for Guy. Watch bad game shows on the tv. Guy arrives.

Back to the car. Help him install Allison's seat in his car. (Put my purse in the front seat of my car.) He says that since the repair shouldn't take too long, we should just go out to eat, then come back for the car.

Back to the store to retrieve Allison. Tell the man at the desk we are going out to eat and we'll be back. He asks for the keys again. I pull them off the ring and realize that my purse is still in the car.

Back to the car to retrieve purse. Back to the store to give him my keys. Leave store and realize that if we are eating out and not next to the phone, we aren't going to know when he calls. Back to the store to give him a cell phone number. Finally leave the store.

Now the big question--where to eat????

Has to be close by and it has to have food that Matthew will eat. This leaves us very few choices. Much to Guy's dismay, and Matthew's delight, we head to IHOP. Ever since our visit to IHOP many years ago on a Sunday afternoon when Guy ordered chicken Parmesan and they requested he change his order because they had not started cooking spaghetti yet, he was been disenchanted with IHOP. Matthew's favorite meal at home is waffles and turkey bacon, so he loves IHOP.

We have an enjoyable meal at IHOP. This is the first time we've all gone to a restaurant together and everybody has cleaned their plates. We decide that since the car isn't finished yet, one of us will wait for the car and the other will drive the kids home. Guy decides he wants to wait, so we drop him off at the store and head home.

The rest of this story is uneventful by comparison. We come home, stretch out legs, and get the wiggles out. Guy arrives home about 40 minutes after we do. The car is fixed. The remainder of the evening proceeds as usual.