I was going to write this entry last night but at the time what I was going to write about had not been resolved. That was probably not the best reason not to write but I can think of a better one. Actually I can think of two better ones. I was tired and in a bad mood!!

The day started off okay. I slept off and on during the day. A usual occurance lately because I've been up most nights doing various things. I just woke up for about the 20th time yesterday and I was wearing just a long sleeved grey sweatshirt that would need to be washed and undergarments. I was getting on the computer and there was a knock at the door. Let me rephrase that. There was a BANGING at the door. I thought one of two things..someone was selling something or maybe the landlords came over for whatever reason.

I quickly put some grey sweat pants on, thinking I could just take them off after the person left. Dec21 went into the bedroom and got dressed as well. I looked outside before opening the door and saw my father standing there with some hat on that looked like a wide sock. Now my first thought at seeing him was "What the hell is he doing here??" If I had known at the time what he wanted..I would have made him think we weren't home and just not opened the door.

I open the door, hair a mess, clothes looking like I just fell into them by chance and the first words out of his mouth are "I got locked out of the house." At hearing this the word "Again??" popped into my head. My father has made losing keys an art form. Naturally he always seems to do this when my mother is at work. I had a feeling what was coming next. He had gotten a ride from a neighbor to our house and he wanted us to drive him home, unlock the door and let him get his keys. Well I was almost right.

My father was testy and rushing me to get all ready. Maybe it's just me but if your daughter and son in law is helping you when no one else can then you better do some serious ass kissing. Getting more ready basically just consisted of getting shoes on and grabbing a pack of cigarettes for Dec21 as he went outside to get the car started. I kept the sweatshirt and sweat pants on, figuring we'd be back in just a few minutes. Again..I was almost right.

My father and I walked to the car and I was nice and offered him the front seat. The back seat had some stuff back there and it would have been easier for me to fit back there than him. On the drive there, we were told that my father was more than locked out of the house. He was locked out of his car!! He said he moved one of the cars to give my mother more space to pull in when she came home, got out, went to get mail and then realized the keys were in the car. I tried to make a joke. I said "Well why don't you just knock out the window and get the keys??" Hey I thought it was funny and the tone I used was obviously a teasing one. My father's response was "Now what could would that do?? You need to use your brain and get some common sense." Ouch..thank you very much dear father. We're helping him out and I make a joke to try to cheer everyone up and he insults me.

We were soon told that my father needed more than a ride home and inside the house. He said that the keys to the cars were with the ones he lost. He had a ballgame to referee and needed our car to get to the ballgame. Shall we count up the number of favors he wanted so far??

We have two cars..however one needs a few things done to it and it needs a new battery since it's been so long since we drove it. The only fully working car we have is the one that we just got fixed. Now my father, who is apparently in desperate need for a car to borrow does not ask for the car. He just says he's taking it to go to the ballgame. No hint of an ask, no please..no nothing to hint that we had a say in our own damn car. He kept going on about it and saying we had no choice, that he would just drop us off at home or leave us at my parents' house. Either way we would be stranded somewhere. Now I know I probably should have insisted he at least ask to borrow the car but at this point I was in shock that he was going to just take the car, leave us stranded and not to mention he would have said "I shouldn't have to ask." That's his excuse for wanting us to do anything for him. He never asks, he just tells us to do it.

After we got to the house, we looked for the keys but no luck. He said that my mother couldn't get away for a few minutes to come home and help. The only keys he had were to the car my mother had. Now maybe my father thought this would make us feel better that he was TAKING the car but he said "I only have to drive it to (the name of a city about 20 minutes away) because I'm meeting someone there to go to the game with." Well gee why couldn't we just drive him there?? In fact I did ask that but he said "How would I get home??" I should have said "That's not our problem.", instead I said "Couldn't your friend just bring you home??" His response was no. Oh I'm sorry I forgot..you just use your daughter and son in law, your friends are put on pedistals that get their asses kissed. My mistake..sorry.

While he was outside, I went out there and decided to try my joke again. I figured since I had said before I was kidding that I could say it and definitely get away with it and he'd know I was kidding. I said "I'm telling you, you need to just knock the window out." His response?? "Now what good would that do me?? That's just stupid..windows cost money.." blah blah blah. *Sighs* Sometimes you just can't win even if you're handed a cheat sheet.

We gave him the keys and he left. He yelled out a "thank you" as he left. I didn't fully hear it but Dec21 did. That was the first hint that he appreciated what we were doing for him. He had been extremely testy since he came over to our house. Now I was hungry, I hadn't eaten all day, the clothes I had one was mismatched, my hair was a mess and we were stuck at my parents' house.

To make matters worse the phone kept ringing. My mother would call to apologize, say this and that. Something my father wasn't doing was apologizing for all this. Then she called to say a friend of hers was coming over to drop off a key she had to their new car and we could use that for the evening. Finally!! A parent that is actually thinking about us and all the shit we've had to go thru for my father today.

We got the key to the car, went home for a little while, got cigarettes for Dec21, got dinner and went back to my parents' house. My mother said not to drive the car too much. Well bummer I guess driving to Canada was out of the question.

Not long after we got back to my parents' house my mother came home. She said my father was being a pain to her and is always testy like he was to us when he's frustrated or can't find something. I still say that's no excuse. My father came back a few hours later, at almost 11pm. The keys still had not been found yet we looked just about everywhere. I told my father we didn't look in his underwear drawer and if they were there I'd seriously wonder about him. I later found out Dec21 DID look in my father's underwear drawer so now I should probably wonder about him. ;))

Dec21 and I came home and I went right to bed. My father called and Dec21 was online so my father left 2 messages on the voice mail. According to Dec21 my father said about a dozen times not to call back that night because my mother was asleep but he found the keys, he said he would tell where later, don't call back and that he would talk to us later and not to call back. I called him this morning and found out that he wasn't completely honest in what all he had done yesterday. Apparently he pulled some branches from the trees and his keys fell there. So the keys were basically there the whole time. Typical huh??

I pointed out to my father last night that we were now even since he helped us last week with the car from hell. He agreed. Who'd believe it?? He and I agreed on something yesterday. My father needs about a dozen sets of keys made. I'm getting sick of him doing this and it's happening more often.

I was so sick and tired of all this last night. I was about to pull the hair out of my head while tossing the telephone against the wall. My mother didn't fully help my mood. I tried to explain why my outfit looked like I just fell out of bed and asked her what she thought of how I looked. She said "Well I can't really tell..get it cleaned then I can tell you." Grrrrr..just jump right into the nightmarish evening of hell mom, the water is warm."

Now let's see some figures here:

Times my father said thank you: 1

Times my father apologized for causing all this: 0

Times my father didn't realize I was kidding about something: 2..it was the same joke.

Chance my father will lose his keys again: 99.9999999%

Chance we'll either be forced, not asked, required or guilt tripped into doing something for my father without much of a thank you or a hint of appreciation: 100%

When the above will happen: too soon for my liking.