A Series of Unfortunate Decisions

Ever since we’ve been in our house we’ve had big dreams for our little backyard- a garden, citrus trees, grass, etc. Although most of those dreams haven’t quite yet come to fruition, we are gearing up for them. We bought some brick to do a raised garden, and James has been intently scouring for a great deal on pavers. We frequented home improvement stores as well as craigslist. We've done our homework and pavers are exceptionally pricey!

Last week James found a seemingly breath-taking deal on Craigslist, and bonus- the pavers would go great with the aforementioned brick. Now, I must clarify what constitutes a “great deal” on Craigslist. Price is not the only factor; one must also consider proximity, accessibility and ease of transaction. I was hesitant to go forward with the pavers; meanwhile James was spending an upwards of 4 hours designing and planning the layout of the pavers. To our modest garden he added an extended patio, a built-in fire place, and furnishings.

The only attractive feature of these pavers was their price. They were located in fountain hills (a good 45 minute drive away), they presumably weighed about 2 tons, we didn’t have a truck capable of such a load, and my pathetic excuse for biceps weren’t on our side either. Can you appreciate my apprehension?

Well, I certainly wouldn’t be blogging had we not gone forth with the pavers. In the meantime, we were able to come by a 1 ton flat bed truck, a mammoth trailer and 2 brothers and a great friend with willing hands to help. It was decided that Monday night after work we would head up there, load up, come back and unload- a great family home evening activity.

However, Monday was also Sofia’s birthday (see previous post for pictures of the most charming little 1 year old ever). They just wanted family over for presents, cake and ice-cream. I was so ecstatic about it, probably more so than Sofia. We were arranging to leave at 4:30pm, and be back at 8pm, seemingly ample time to get set pavers and get back. Here’s an annotated timeline of the evening’s undertakings:

4:30 pm: James, Caleb and Carly ready to go. Boys in truck, me following behind because the trailer didn’t have a license plate and only one working tail light. 2 brothers, not present.

4:45 pm: Headed over to pick up Ethan. Get there; gather gloves, tarps and rope. Gloves to preserve hands, tarps and rope to hopefully secure bricks to flat-bed truck (or try to secure them not knowing in advance the proper procedure to hauling pavers on such truck). Decide to wait for Joshua to get home.

5:00pm: Finally head out with Joshua. All along the way avoiding cops due to lack of tail light and license plate on trailer.

5:30pm: Reach fountain hills, but exhaust 30 more minutes trying to find the guys house.

6:00 pm: Find guys house, but must drive truck with trailer on bumpy, steep dirt road to get to pavers. Immanent fear of trailer unhitching and getting stuck in wash.

6:10pm: Reach pavers and start assembly line loading pavers, trying to distribute the weight over the axles. Pay guy in full for pavers.

7:00pm: Trailer has reached its maximum weight load, start loading more pavers on truck.

8:00pm: Sofia’s birthday party is supposed to start/ Still trying to load the last of the pavers. Decide to head out and realize someone (James) must make a second trip out here to get the rest of the load. Realize we have paid for all the pavers and are not taking all of them today. Scary-trust-issue with guy…

8:30pm: Can’t quite remember how to get out of winding neighborhood, but eventually make it to the highway. See sign that reads “mesa 14 miles” with an arrow pointing right, and “Payson” with an arrow pointing left. Thought to myself, 14 miles and we’re on the home stretch!

8:32pm: James turned left. This was the start of a series of unfortunate ideas and decisions brought on by my husband, whom I love dearly and will cherish all my life, but not at this moment, or for the rest of this night.

8:40pm: Headed towards Payson, James pulls off to the right thinking this is the turn-off for a short-cut home.

8:41pm: Gets back on road, wrong turn

8: 45pm: Repeats pulling off to the right again thinking this is the right turn off… wrong again.

8:47pm: Gets back on road, wrong turn again.

8:50pm: Realize from where we’re at now I won’t have enough gas to get back. Panic mode sets in.

8:55pm: Turn on brights and see tarp flapping in the wind, regret not bringing helmets to help deflect flying pavers whirling towards us. More panic!

9:00pm: Repeats pulling off to the right again thinking this is the right turn off… wrong again…

9:05pm: I decide to turn around, get gas and head back the RIGHT way. He relents, pulls over and tries to re-secure pavers with tarp and rope. I see sign that reads “fountain hill 16 miles”

9:20pm: Waiting for James at gas station, infuriated and disappointed. I’ve ruined Sofia’s birthday, they are trying to wait patiently for us to get there. Decided to open presents, but trying to hold off on cake and ice-cream.

9:30pm: Get a call from James telling my we’re going to leave the truck, trailer and pavers here and come back for them later. OMG! I tell him HE WILL come back for them later. Was about to head home and let him find his own way back, but realized Caleb was with him, and Caleb (nor his wife) deserves that kind of treatment. However, I felt, at this point, James did.

9:45pm: Finally meet back up with James and follow him to drop off point. We know some people who have a house in fountain hills. Air reeks of burning rubber because he is riding the breaks the whole way. Tarp is flapping once again. I told my brothers to lay low in case if airborne pavers.

10:15pm: Find the house, hate fountain hills, hate pavers. Slump in back seat, ride home in silence

10:30pm: Get a call from mom saying party is over. Very upset and decide to suspend James’ decision making privileges indefinitely.

11:00pm: Make is safely home. Realize guy still has some of our pavers and all of the money. We have no truck, no trailer, no pavers…

Four days later, it’s still not that amusing to me, but I’m over it enough to share it with you. I spent the next afternoon with Monica and Sofia and we pseudo reenacted the cake and ice-cream scene; still wasn’t the same. James eventually obtained all our pavers and they are now resting safe and sound on our patio. He is currently pursuing the appeal process and petitioning for his privileges to be restored.