A Cinderella Story

Hoooweee. Summer is definitely on a roll. Spent part of the weekend at the lake, playing, sunning, swimming, and, yes, TUBING!! Both the kids rode the tube behind the boat with Shawn, and they had a blast. Ryan immediately went into "faster" mode, triggering long-forgotten memories of my sisters and I screaming the same thing from our skis and tubes. I finally got over my blubber-like body issues (the large life jacket helps)and jumped on with Shawn, and didn't stop laughing the entire time.

We headed back yesterday, taking the Honda in for a tune-up (something about an exhaust leak which caused us to fail or inspection. oops)and whddya know? We need a new catalytic whatchamacallit! Even as he said those words, I could just see our savings deplete to zero, until he pointed out that ours was still under warranty and would be fixed for FREE!!! Holy shit -- am I living someone else's life? Have I magically switched places with Paris Hilton, enjoying her endless run of good luck while she takes some massive helpings of the shit I'm consistently dealt? Probably not, but who cares?? I scored something free!!

Meanwhile, they've lent me a sweet little Ford Fusion, which is surprisingly very cool. Leather seats, sunroof, wood paneling, cd player - I swear, I must have died and gone to middle-class heaven. It's only ours until this afternoon, but you can bet your sweet ass we've been taking full advantage. We broke it in on a journey to the grocery store yesterday, fidgeting with the gadgets, examining the extra-large trunk, sniffing the leather... And today we're taking it on a carpool test-drive, picking up Ry's friend to take them to acting camp (where we've been informed by Ryan that they are performing the Wizard of Oz, and she will be playing Ariel. I 'll confirm/deny this rumor on Friday.)

Anyway, rather than be bitter about the fact that we're over the moon about a middle-class car we can't afford, we've decided to just enjoy the taste of luxury while we have it, which will be until 2 pm today. Then the spell breaks, our chariot turns back into a pumpkin, ummm, Honda, and we got back to wearing rags and playing with mice. Or something.