Well a few days before Black Bag Ball, I may have gotten into a tiny little fender bender with a fence while trying to take Paul to work at Children's Hospital at 5AM.  The moral of that story is Paul was right and he drives a lot more now.  ANYWAY, we were carless and in a rush to buy a car because Paul needed to get to work.  I was able to rent one for a few days, but that was only temporary and the costs were going to add up quick.  

This is what pulled into our yard - but the bed of the truck was loaded with boxes from Menards.

What happens what you're not sure what to do? You call your parents of course.  So Paul and I were going back and forth with our parents to figure out what kind of car we should buy and perhaps we could borrow one for awhile until we found a car that was in our price range and still a quality vehicle (pretty difficult when you're as cheap as us...)!!  

At the same time, we had been planning all along to remodel our kitchen and turns out that the best deal for cabinets and all things remodeling was of course at our local Menards.  Home Depot and Lowe's couldn't compete with the local discounts - so we ordered them from back home and Curty was going to drive them out here some time.  Instead of just bringing the cabinets, this time he brought a trailer with a van, that was packed full of cabinets.  I guess the van helped to keep the wood away from the winter elements??  Probably didn't help the gas bill that much however.  

The boys dissembling some cabinets - don't mind the mess!

This plan seriously saved our necks.  We now at the good'ole Chrysler Town and Country to bomb around town in until our little car was fixed or we bought a new car. What a relief that we didn't have to buy a snap decision car from Craigslist.   My parents rolled in late Friday night with a hefty load on the back of the truck.  It was really pretty amazing. 

Saturday Paul and Dad took down a few of the cabinets we could do without in order to make the demolition more manageable.  Dad was also scoping out how he was going to go about the remodel - looking at the plumbing and all of the other quirks that we were going to have to fix.  That evening we had the opportunity to go to Meat and Potatoes to celebrate Joel's Birthday Dinner.  Joel's Birthday was two day's prior and it's a bit of a tradition to go to that restaurant downtown to get some fancy meat.  Mom unfortunately got the salad which was hilarious looking.  It was a clump of lettuce on a plate with a small cherry tomato... when we all saw it came out of the kitchen we muttered under our breath "well, feel sorry for whoever gets that appetizer" and turns out it was mom's entree - haha!

Celebrating Joel's Birthday at Meat and Potatoes!

We also had a few odd appetizers including chicken livers.  It was a fun night!  Sunday morning, Mom and Dad were on the road to try to beat the next big snowstorm that was coming down upon the midwest.  We loaded up the Hyundai onto the trailer and they were off!   It was a quick trip - but it sure saved our butts, and we appreciate you guys lending us the van - it's so spacious!!