Matt & Sarah and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Thursday started out as any other day, with the special perk that I had a hair appointment at 5:30 PM. I only get my hair done once every 3 months or so because it's so ridiculously expensive, but I have found the hairdresser of my lifetime and she is worth it. Best hair cut I have ever had. And the color blend! She's miraculous. I also had arranged with someone from Craig's List to pick up an ipod shuffle between 4 and 6, so I had a small window to get from Verona to the west side of Madison and then back to the east side. As I was driving the truck starts making weird noises. It sounds like maybe I'm driving on a flat tire, but the truck isn't veering or anything. I pull into the left turn lane so I can stop at a gas station and take a look and as soon as I brake at the light...DEAD. It won't turn over at all. Frustrating, but OK, except I'm on a tight schedule. I call my hero and he comes to my rescue, trades me vehicles and I do make it to get the shuffle (which is so amazingly light. What did I ever do before?!!?) but had to cancel my hair. Still, not the end of world, but I haven't gotten the news yet. The verdict from Meineke is that the motor is done...minimum $2600 for a used motor from a junkyard. Now I'm crying, thinking how we'll never get out of debt, how are we going to manage on one car, going through scenarios: Maybe I can ride my bike to work. It's only 10 miles, but soon it will be so cold and then I'll probably get frostbite and all my fingers will fall off and I'll lose my job because I can no longer type or work on a computer. This can't be happening. I am going through my mind and listing all of our extra crap on craiglist. Anyone want to buy a treadmill?
And I'm emotionally drained about this half marathon on Saturday. I'm literally scared sick. If it were relatively flat, I know I could do it but reading about the "steep ascents" and treacherous steep declines...for 13 miles??? I'm just more embarrassed that it will be like 7 hours later and everyone is waiting for that one pale red-head to finish the race already. I even checked online to see if I could get my money back. Sadly, it is not refundable. And I've told everyone I'm doing it so I guess I have to follow through.
Oh yeah, and the cats are becoming bothersome. I love them, but Matt is allergic. And Lola eats plastic and then vomits on our new carpet and one of them (we have yet to catch the culprit) has decided he/she doesn't need to use the litter box on occasion. So the combination of all of these means we are getting rid of them. It gives me great sadness to think of them going to live somewhere else. They're our babies! It's really just been a rough couple of days.
Fortunately, Matt and I got to go out for dinner Friday night and we sang karaoke!! We were horrible and obviously not drunk enough (or at all) to even pretend like we did a good job, but it was fun to go out. And Matt was able to buy a motor from someone for $500 and someone from church is going to help him replace the motor AND they are loaning us their truck until then. I cried again...what a kind gesture! And I'm grateful that Matt is able to do these kind of things. Makes me want to listen to "Silver Lining" by Rilo Kiley.