Chalk and Cheese Chronicles

Forget the Broken Tail Light, Cite Me for a Messy Wallet!

I got a fix-it ticket late tonight while driving up Page Mill Road. Apparently, I've been driving around with a burned out tail light.  I'll get it fixed but really, how was I to know the status of my car's tail light since there's no way I can be behind my car when I'm the one driving it?

Anyhow, that's beside the point. The lesson I took away from my little incident with the officer is that I have too much CRAP in my wallet and glove compartment.

Like most people, I keep my car insurance card and my vehicle registation card together in the glove compartment. But in the darkness and in the andrenaline feuld stress of the moment, I did not remember that my car has TWO glove compartments. I use one for maps and one for important documents. I searched in vain through the maps, perplexed that I could not produce the documents.

My car, you see, is neat as a pin. Well, almost.

My wallet and the glove compartment I'd designated for maps are complete mess.

After 15 minutes of searching around, I did discover a second copy of my car insurance in my wallet - whew.

But the vehicle registration and the first copy of the car insurance did not make their appearance until I pulled into my garage and noticed the second glove compartment.  Everything was there, organized and complete. If it had been daylight, I'm sure I would have seen it.

The officer cited me for a broken rear tail light and a missing vehicle registration. I need to fix the tail light and  produce the registration form in court, in order to have my citation dismissed. I'm not sure if I have to pay any fees.

See, I'm not into clutter. I hate it. I move things out of my house and I strive to keep everything tidy. I love to organize!

But my wallet, my so-roomy-that-I-forget-what's-in-it Hobo wallet - for shame.  And my map glove compartment contained not one but three Bed, Bath and Beyond coupons and as you all know, those stupid coupons are enormous and bulky. I could never close the glove compartment because those Bed, Bath coupons kept getting in the way.

So I tossed them all, along with:

    Store Loyalty Cards (Not sure how I amassed so many (10?), since I never use them)

    Coffee filter coupons (5 in all, which came with my coffee maker)

    Expired museum cards

    Cash receipts for incidentals

    Yoga studio brochure

    Crumpled band-aids

    Crumpled alcohol pads for first aid

    Blogger cards from bloggers who I already follow online

    Several coupons for free coffee at the Johnny Applesee Cafe in Fairyland

    And random other pieces of meaningless papers

On and on... it was such a mess that the officer decided to go back to his car and wait for me to sift through wallet until I found my registration.

So from this day forward I vow (again) that I will not carry any store loyalty cards in my wallet except my Bi-Rite card. That one stays.

 

This is an original post to Chalk and Cheese Chronicles. Akemi loves retailers who let her flash digital coupons on her phone and she loves when retailers can just look her up in a customer database.

 

 

Sorry, wrong house!

"Come with Mommy, boys, " I suggested cheerfully, "Let's go pick up some costumes!"

As soon as we rang the doorbell, we could hear barking. A man opened the door with a smile, beside him was a shaggy black dog. I looked at the man and thought, "Oooh - an older gentleman, and handsome, too!"

I hadn't ever met Elizabeth's husband. They have twin boys who are about a year older than my boys. She'd posted on my twins club's marketplace that she had a couple of (new in box) costumes to sell. We'd emailed back and forth and decided that I could swing by to pick up the costumes that afternoon.

She'd sent me directions, "Go around one curve to the left, then another curve to the right." The homes in her complex looked more or less alike, but I'd spotted the house number right away.

The friendly man and the friendly dog stepped aside, motioning us in. While we petted the dog, I made small talk asked the man if his children were still into dressing up. He shook his head and laughed. We introduced ourselves. "Is Elizabeth here?" I asked. "Oh, yes, here she comes, " he said, but when I turned to look at Elizabeth, I suddenly felt lost.

Had it been a different Elizabeth I'd been corresponding with? Had I answered the wrong marketplace ad? I was confused. She'd changed so much!

"Hi, I...um...are you the Elizabeth who is selling the costumes?" I asked, embarrassed.

"Uh, no..." she said, disappointed. She had a huge smile for the boys.

I explained to her why we were there.

"I think we're at the wrong house. Same house number, but different street. I'm terribly sorry!"

"Oh, well let me see if I can help you. There's a family who just moved in next door, maybe..." she offered. stepping outside with us.

"Kids are always stopping by to say hi, " she explained.

She was so nice. I like to think she'd have enjoyed it if we did come in. She'd have let my boys play with the dog while she offered me some tea. Perhaps she and her husband have grown children who are away at college.

I thanked her and apologized once more. My boys and I piled into the car, backtracked, and this time, followed all the right curves in the road and found the right Elizabeth, her twin boys behind her in the living room. She wasn't nearly as welcoming as her neighbors, but heck, we weren't necessarily there to make friends (though I'm usually up for it!).

My boys spent the remainder of the day putting on and taking off their new costumes. Once in a while, they'd stop and ask me, "Why did we go to the wrong house, Mommy?" "Because Mommy is still sleep deprived got lost, " I'd admit. And we'd all laugh.

Original Chalk and Cheese Chronicles blog post.