Free weekends are a rare treasure to the parents of teens. Between sports

 events, school activities or that needed ride to meet up with friends

 little time is left for the poor and tired parent. This particular weekend

 started off with the "Drive One For Your School" event to help raise money

 for the DECA program. It would be over for us by 10 AM so the rest of the

 weekend would be all mine. Well the wife drove a few cars but she didn't

 see the car she wanted to drive last year but couldn't. It was a Ford

 Edge. She likes SUV's but wanted something a bit smaller without moving

 into a car. I said we could stop by the Ford dealer on the way home. How

 long could this take after all. She hates car shopping and doesn't really

 want to spend the money on another new car so we should be out by the time

 she sees the first sticker price. About 30 minutes later we were on our

 way and without the $28k used 2010 Ford Edge that they had on the lot. The

 rest of the weekend would be all mine............or so I thought.

 

 Seems a Ford dealer 2 hours and 1 state away had just the car she wanted so

 we set off on our little jaunt. We got home around 10pm with no new car

 but we were going back Monday after we talked to our bank about a loan on a

 Lincoln MKX. My weekend half gone and my money about to be spent I went to

 bed with the knowledge that Sunday would be all mine............or so I thought.

 

Sunday morning comes and I have fed the kids, took care of the cows and

 prepare to go to the city for a little guy stuff shopping. Then the phone

 rings. It is around 11 AM (yep, I slept in) and one of my tenants had their

 key stuck in the door. Off we go into town. What should be a 15 minute

 drive turns into a 25 minute wait fest as the road crews have shut down 5

 miles of road for resurfacing. We arrive to find the poor lady standing by

 her dangling keys with a look of apologetic sadness on her face. I got my

 pliers and walked up to the door. It was securely locked but the keys

 wouldn't budge. I turned them a half turn counter clockwise and they slid

 right out. She started to apologize and I told her not to worry about it.

 How could I get mad at her for her ignorance? She complains about nothing

 and pays her rent on time. I wish I had family that was so good to me.

 Since we were in town the wife decided she wanted to eat lunch so off we

 went to waste more money. By the time lunch, her coffee and a quick trip

 to the local bookstore was over it was 3pm. Now I finally had my chance to

 head to the city. I stop to get gas and as I got back into the truck the

 wife was getting off the phone with her mom. Seems Nana has to take her

 sons kids back to their mother and the meeting place is my house. I don't

 have a real big issue with the brother-in-laws ex-tramp as I don't really

 see here but her current hubby is a dead beat KC gangsta wannabe and he

 usually travels "wiff his ho". I have no way of contacting them to say

 stay away and the mother-in-law isn't about to call and tell them the drop

 off will be somewhere else so I had to cancel my trip to the city so I can

 meet with the Thug of the Year and we can have a chat about what I consider

 trespassing and my views on the use of deadly force.

 

It's 5:30 and no Ma-N-Law. Then the phone rings. "This should be good" I

 thought to myself. Seems the little Jeep Liberty that Nana drives threw the

 belt. She was stuck about 70 miles from our house. Since the wife knows

 nothing about cars she gave me the phone. I of course asked exactly what

 happened and she started her little story. Seems that her car was making a

 noise when she started it up and had her son look at it. He told her the

 fan belt was looking like it needed replaced but s he could make it to my

 house no problem. I stopped her right there and said "That was your first

 mistake, you listened to him". She ignored me and continued. She drove

 about 10 miles and it got worse so she calls knucklehead back and he

 assures her it would be better to keep going rather than come back. Another

 20 miles and the belt let go. Now she is on the off ramp of I-70 with

 several screaming brats and no one to help her. My in-laws are all very

 loud talkers and the wife has heard the entire conversation. She is

 freaking out and tries to call her sister to see if they can take the car

 trailer and get her back here. Of course no one answered and she looks at

 me and says "Why does she never answer the phone?" I said "Because she is

 smarter than you" then turned my attention back to Nana and her dilemma. I

 told her to hang tight and I will be there in about an hour and a half. Off

 I go to the parts store to buy a new belt then the wife and I are on our

 way to save the day. It is dark by the time we get there and I pull up

 behind her then get out and popped the hood. Sure enough the belt broke and

 it took out an A/C line. As I get my stuff together to start replacing it a

 set of headlights come up on us. It's the B-I-L in a Dodge Avenger (I

 really don't understand this families obsession with MoPars). I look at

 the wife and ask "So when did he get that little jewel?" The mother-in-law

 said "He did hit 2 week drill and used the money to buy it". I said "He

 should have paid me back a SMALL portion of what he owes me". She said

 "Well he needs a car for work." "Oh really?" "And what exactly does he do

 for a living now?" I asked. "Well he's still looking.............." I went back

 to work because I really had no interest in that conversation any more. The

 B-I-L came up and started to help. I of course decided to engage him in

 conversation but he wasn't in a talking mood. Not sure why because I

 thought I had some great topics like........

 Whose name is on this title?

 If you have a car why can't you take your kids back?

 You still owe me money.

 Hey, I hear they are looking for Christian missionaries to go to Iran. I'll

 pay for your flight. None of these seemed to perk his interest. Odd. Anyway, we got the Liberty

 up and running and Nana was off to meet the momma of some of the B-I-L's

 kids at a truck stop (probably the one he meet his current wife at) for the

 exchange. After all that I went through I told her it would not be at my

 house. The next day Nana asked how much I thought it would cost to get the

 A/C fixed. I said IDK but I'm now officially broke. "Ohhhhhhh I wouldn't

 ask you to pay for it" she said. Uhhhhhhhhh Yes you will.