A Christmas Eve for the books...

First of all....I can not believe it is already Christmas Eve! I mean, in an hour and a half it will be Christmas!

My Christmas Eve did not get off to a very good start though. Yesterday I got up around 8 with Grace and then Mom picked her up a little after 9 to head to Alma to see Granny and the Gerens. Right after they left the boys and I got ready and headed out to finish up my shopping. Colt and I had appointments at 10:30 to get a haircut (Colt) and eyebrows waxed (me) and then I had to go to Rogers and the mall and to Target. I also had a tire that was losing air so I had to get that fixed. I knew I wouldn't have time to get everything done and get the boys back home in time for me to go to work. Teresa let me use a few hours of comp time so I didn't have to go in until 5.

I got all my errands done and dropped the boys off just in time to get one present wrapped and then I headed in to work. It wasn't really that busy, but about an hour after I got there the midnight shift supervisor called to let us know that two people from her shift had called in and that someone was going to have to stay until 2 am to help cover it. Guess who was on call yesterday.......me!! Oh, I was so excited about it! Not!!! Actually, I needed the overtime and I was able to go in late so it wasn't that bad.

Anways, Tanner sent me a text just before midnight asking if I needed anything and I was kind of hungry so he brought me some McDonald's. He ended up staying up there till 2 with me hanging out. It picked up quite a bit and we actually had several calls which is surprising since it's winter. My relief from dayshift got there, and Tanner and I left.

Here's where it gets good! I was driving down Crossover in Fayetteville when my steering wheel got tight and then the battery light in my car came on. I was able to get off the road and into a driveway out of the way. Fabulous. I called Tanner and luckily he hadn't made it home yet so he drove over there to try and help me. We pop the hood and check things out. Let me just say right here that it was raining. Even better. Tanner tries to start it again and tells me the battery is dead. So.....luckily he had some tools in his truck and was able to get the battery out, after a fight with it! Let me also add that we didn't have a flashlight so we were using the light from Tanner's phone. Oh yeah, it gets better. So, after finally getting the battery out we head to Wal-Mart to replace it. We ended up running into the other K9 officer when we got there because he works midnight shift and was getting his last present. I thought he might be some help in confirming we had the right battery. Wrong. He didn't have a clue! Tanner felt pretty confident that we had the right one though, so after spending and unexpected $83 on a new battery and a FLASHLIGHT we headed back to the car.

By this time it's 3 am, and it's started raining harder. Yes! Tanner had an easier time getting it in than he did getting it out since we 1)had more light and 2) knew a little more about how to manuever it. However, the flashlight shed a "whole new light" on the situation, when we realized that the battery wasn't really the whole problem. The main problem was the rat's nest we found. Now, when I say rat's nest, I'm referring to the alternator belt that is COMPLETELY shredded and COMPLETELY off of where it's supposed to be. Yea, this was super news. I felt so bad for Tanner because he thought he was doing so great in helping me when we really hadn't fixed anything. He started beating himself up about not checking everything before we went straight to the battery. I'm not sure we would have realized it though because of the little light we had.

One bit of good news is that when we tried starting it after replacing the battery it started right up like a charm...which it had not done after it died on me. So, that tells me that my battery was due to be changed anyways because it was just shy of being 4 years old. Tanner was able to move my car a little more off the roadway and then he drove me home. It was now 3:45 and I was soaking wet. After I made it home a little after 4 I woke Gene up and told him what was going on because I knew he would be up in a little over an hour to get ready for work and would freak out when he saw my car wasn't there. He wasn't upset about my car, only that I didn't call him. I didn't call him, because he was sleeping and had to work today and Tanner was still out and I knew he could help me. So, I took a hot shower and laid down. I was so deliriously tired that I couldn't fall asleep until almost 5. I woke up as Gene was leaving around 6 with a bad coughing fit (I've also had a sore throat/cold this week). I dozed somewhat off and on until 8:30 when I heard Grace wake up. Corey went and got her for me, but then their mom came and picked them up so they took Grace next door to my in-laws so I could try to get some rest. I didn't really get any anyways. I finally got up around 11, and finished wrapping my presents before I got ready for work.

Gene bought a new belt and he and his dad went and fixed my car after he got off work today. It's running just fine now! Tonight wasn't too bad at work, and I got to leave about 30 minutes early. When I got home Gene had just put Grace to bed so I changed clothes. The only reason I'm still up is because I'm waiting on the washer to finish so I can switch out loads and get the laundry done before tomorrow. I plan to be asleep within the next 30 minutes!

My Christmas is certainly looking up, and I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!!!!!!