My latest drama

Zaven is away at Upward Bound for the summer, so my MIL very graciously offered to take the other three kids for a while to give me and Scott a break from them. I'm very much enjoying it! But yesterday Caly had an orthodontist appointment. My MIL was going to meet me half way to her house (1 hr, 15 min. away) but called to say that she'd hadn't slept well and only got a few hours of sleep. I didn't want to reschedule the appt since she was getting spacers. There needs to be a full week between getting the spacers and getting her braces put on, and if I rescheduled this appt, I'd have to reschedule the other one. So I said I'd just go get her. So I drove to MIL's, then to the appt, then home to let Caly get some ibuprophen, then back to MIL's. On the way there was a traffic jam on the interstate so it added about an hour to the trip. Then I drove home. On the way home I got pulled over. No, I wasn't speeding. But my tags were expired. I couldn't find the current year's proof of insurance when he asked for it either. I found last year's and the year before's... but not the current one. So I got a ticket for the expired tags and not having proof of insurance. I don't know how much it'll be. Some counties will let you bring in your paperwork to show that you're all current and they'll let the matter drop or you have to only pay a small fee for processing. Other places just use it as an opportunity to heap on the fines and make some money. Either way it's in a different county from where I live so I'll have to drive back there next week to deal with it.

Sooo...
My total time spent on getting Caly for her appt. and taking her back:
6 hrs, 37 min. in the car.

My total cost:
$37 in gas plus an unknown fine

Her total time in the appt, including the time she was in the waiting room:
12 minutes

So sorry Karen, that sounds like a mess.

I'm sorry Karen, that sucks. I hope they drop it with proof for you.

I got an $850 fine 10 years ago for driving without a license. I had no idea I had no license, I had pleaded guilty on a stupid ticket (something hanging on my mirror) through the mail. They suspended my license for not paying the $75 fine. I got the letter and the fine notice in the mail 3 weeks AFTER I was pulled over and told I had no license. They didn't care, I brought the letter that was post marked 1 month after the supposed suspension started (seems like they should tell you BEFORE it starts but hey...) and the judge said well, it's your business to know if you have a license. Apparently I should have woken up every morning and checked with the happy people at the DMV.

Tara, I had something similar happen once. They had suspended my liscense for failing to submit some documents after I'd been to traffic school. They'd mailed the documents I was supposed to fill out and return AND the notice that my liscense had been suspended to the right address, but wrong zip code. So I had no idea it was suspended. Fortunately the judge was nicer to me than to you and he dismissed it. I still had to do traffic school again because the reason I'd been pulled over was speeding. But no fines.

I've got my fingers crossed on this one. The police officer was really nice and did give me a number to call on Monday. So we'll see what happens then.

What a mess. Something so small ends up being such an ordeal! Life really knows how to mess with us some days.