Tonight was a night the kids won’t soon forget.  Remember what I said about balance last night?  Yeah, we’ve got that covered.  Late afternoon plans today led to a late unplanned dinner and a plea for cheese fries from Sonic.  We have now managed to cross Sonic off our Summer Bucket List … twice.  Once while down the shore a few weeks ago, and again tonight.

Usually we go through the drive-thru, but tonight the kids wanted to eat there.  We placed our order at the little kiosk thing and within minutes a roller-skating waitress popped up at our car window with our order.  The kids loved it.  And then, a few minutes later, another car hop came by offering condiments, napkins and such.  Excellent service.

About twenty minutes and many slushies later, we readied ourselves to leave.  I turned the key in the ignition.  Nothing.  Deader than dead.  Wonderful.  Or as my Facebook status said, “classic.”  A call to AAA got me in the service queue with a tow truck and jump promised within an hour.  Luckily the customer service agent heard the kids in the background and asked if I wanted her to rush the service as best she could.  Yes, please!

Fifteen minutes later, the tow truck arrived.  Or I should say, the first tow truck arrived.  He spent so much time trying to start my car, his truck ended up overheating and he now needed a tow.  I was seriously looking around for Allen Funk and his Candid Camera crew.  In the meantime, I got to see the pictures of the tow truck drivers’ teething daughter.  All was not lost.

To say we were creating a bit of a scene in Sonic’s parking lot would be an understatement.  A woman nearby complained about the tow trucks being in the way.  Seriously?  Because if there was another option, we wouldn’t have chosen it?  I chose very kid-friendly language and politely told her what I thought.

Two and a half hours later from when we first pulled into the lot, two trucks later, many slushies later, and two very hot, very tired and on their way to cranky kids later, they finally got my car started and I yelled many thank yous out the window as we made our way to drop it off at the mechanics for an early morning surprise for him.  There are certainly way worse places the battery of my car could have chosen to konk out, so we’re going to go with the “thankful for small favors” route.  That, and that there was an easily accessible and clean bathroom for my two-year-old.  We don’t need much.

Before I leave you for the weekend, just a quick programming note. You may have noticed a new little ad in the sidebar. I opened up an Etsy shop a few weeks ago and started stocking it with some of my photos. If you’ve seen a picture here on Sweetnicks that you would love to have for your very own, now you can. Just click on the picture below (or the ad in the sidebar at any time), and you can purchase a print. New photos added weekly.

Project 365
July 22, 2010, Photo #132

This is one of those line entry items you’ll see when I do the July Recipe Round-Up at the end of the month. It will say “Black Bean and Brown Rice Cakes. Not repeatable.” Easy enough to make, healthy ingredients, promise, but not good. Thick, pasty and a whole lot of nothing.