Ikea, Marches & Surgery.

Hello all. It's blog time again! Let's start with last Tuesday, otherwise known as "My Ikea Adventure".

The day started out well enough. Dad's back surgery has been rescheduled for the following Tuesday. I had finished re-doing the big room and had moved everything in. Mom and I decided to make an Ikea run for some bookcases. I needed three, but there was no way we were going to fit them all into Mom's car. As it was, Mom didn't think we'd get two in there. Once we found our way there on Delaware Ave, we made our way to the second floor and found the bookcases I wanted just as we walked in. They were nice, tall, deep shelved and not too wide. Good stuff. Then we spent a half hour trying to find the other end of the floor to get the ones I wanted. Finally after much going round and round (which was starting to throw my head off), we made our way to the collection area. I had decided to get black since my options were limited (the card only had black, white and a blonde wood). As we found our cubbyhole, the black was out of stock. Argh! As we stood staring at the empty space, my Mom happened to look to the side and found the exact same model in a dark wood that almost exactly matches my furniture. Yipee! I would have picked this out right off, but the color wasn't on the card. So we grabbed a box and made our way to the door. Mom was still yet to be convinced that two boxes would fit, so she told me to buy one, then if we had the room I could slip in the exit door and buy another. That's what we wound up doing. After a nice lunch, we hit Delaware Ave. again, only this time quite literally. We made our way around a curve and hit a set of trolley tracks that led right into a pot hole. The effect went something like this, "bang BANG, pssssss, flop, flop, flop, tilt, flop, flop, are we making that noise, flop, flop, tilt, FUCK!" We pulled over across from the AMC Theater and stared at each other for a minute. Mom asked if I knew how to change a tire, I said yeah, then we realized that the spare, jack and wrench were underneath 170lbs. of bookcases. We popped the trunk and then a car pulled up and offered help. His name was Eli, a college kid. Very sweet. We pulled everything out and he grabbed the spare, which was flat. I jumped in his car (my Mom later told me she wrote down his license plate number incase I didn't come back) and off we went a half block away to the gas station. When we got back, Mom told us that three more people stopped to see if she needed help. And they say Philly people are mean. After about a half hour of fighting, Eli got the hub cap off. Then a cab driver pulled up with a better jack and offered to help. Then they realized that they couldn't get two of the nuts off. They waved the white flag and pointed us to Pep Boys. (Mom slipped Eli a twenty before he left; the cabbie drove away before we could even say thanks.) After a two hour wait, we were re-tired and back on the road. I got home just in time to pull the cases upstairs and go to CCD. So much drama for a couple of bookcases.

Onto Monday, the March For Life in Washington. Dree had decided to join me on the trek as she had never been before. We made a Wawa run for breakfast and a bagged lunch and headed for St. Anselm's. Dree then shared the present Erin got her from Italy, a 12 month calendar of priests and seminarians. We have decided the old adage needs to be revised: All the good ones are either married, gay or seminarians. It's not fair. And the cover man looked exactly like Ricky Martin. Could you imagine going to confession with him? "Bless me Father Ricky Martin, for I have sinned. I have lived La Vida Loca, I have shaken by bon bon and drank from the cup of life… ole, ole, ole." (This was added to all day.) We got on the bus and made ourselves comfy and I introduced Dree to Father David, who later came to be known as Father Loves & Fishes. There was more food than there needed to be. Everytime he opened an overhead compartment, more food just appeared. We then stopped at Our Lady of Calvary and picked up more people and Father Quan. For being such a somber occasion, we laughed like nuts. Between Father Ricky Martin, the stand-up comedy of Father's Quan and Loves & Fishes, Dree's creation of a cold feet song (please see my comments page for the lyrics), random Musical cues (Hey look, there's people from Iowa. "You've got to give Iowa a try!") and running into TON of good looking priests and seminarians (and one that looked exactly like Rowan Atkinson- Father Mr. Bean), we made our way along the march to Union Station. We had our Wawa lunch and then headed off to the bus. The stand-up picked up where it left off and we stopped for a rest in Delaware where we talked to Karen (Hi. We're in Delaware.) We had to get Cinnabon's, they were calling to us. (Bless me father, for I have Cinnabon-d.) And then we were home. A somber cause, but a good time.

And finally, an update on Dad. He went in for his back surgery yesterday morning around six. It took about two hours, which is what they estimated. The doctor found exactly what he expected to and everything went well. We saw him around four, looking sleepy, drugged and in a bit of pain. He's staying overnight and will be home later on today. He'll be out of work for a month, but he doesn't need to have any stitches removed. They're all internal. All he has on the outside is one big bandage covering some butterfly's which can be removed on Sunday. He has to get up and walk around every half hour, but he'll be much better off.

I've babbled long enough. Till later!