Just another manic Monday

The Bangles didn't mention this in their song.

I'm having one of those "had to disassemble and remove the lock on my front door so I could leave the house" kind of days.

Our admin said I was the first person to call out late for such a reason.

I almost didn’t encounter this problem at all. I was about to drop my son off with the people who watch him until the bus comes.

"Oh, no," he said with a somewhat panicked tone as he was getting out of the car.

Oh crap, I thought silently.

You see, a panicked tone from my son means there is not really a problem, he just thinks there is and is overreacting accordingly. It’s the somewhat panicked tones that tell me something is definitely amiss.

"I grabbed the wrong bookbag."

Yup. Problem.

He got back in the car and we rushed back home. I opened the door, got the right bag, tried to leave, and the key was stuck.

Nothing out of the ordinary, I thought. Humid day ... cheap-o apartment lock ... the Fates farting in my general direction because they find it amusing ...

This lock has done this before. Many times. I already have a key extraction routine down pat that requires just the right amount of wiggling, wriggling, twisting, swearing, and, of course, a mallet.

Note to readers: Never, ever, ever twist a key with too much force or hit the key handle from the side with blunt object. The key will snap in the lock, and you will be hosed.

By the time I repeated step 14 for the 23rd time, it occurred to me that this one was definitely out of the ordinary.

Out came the screwdriver, off came the lock. I had to twist the deadbolt mechanism so I could actually close the door. Fortunately, about the time my then-toddler son showed a propensity for walking out the front door, I installed a chain lock up near the top. I locked the chain, left the house, and then left a colorful message on the apartment complex's emergency maintenance line that I sure hope sounded amusing when they heard it.

I did take a moment to reflect on perhaps the only nice thing about apartment living ... someone else is paying to fix this.

I had some weekend-related posts ready to go, but they'll have to wait for tonight.