I'm staying in my box.

Have you ever wondered what happens to a person when they step out of their box?

Is this a good thing for them?

Does it help them to broaden their horizon's, making it easier for them to step out the next time; or does it cause them to burrow further down into their comfort zone, digging in their heals when the next time rolls around??


I'm a Virgo.

Better yet, I'm a typical Virgo.

I fit the definition to perfection - so much so, that if you were to look it up, you might just see my picture beside it.



I am a creature of habit.

I like my routine and it's not often that I step outside of my shell box.

Today, I was forced to step WAY out of my shell box. And I can honestly tell you, if every time turned out like today, I would run - not walk - back inside, slam and bolt the door, never to come back out into the light of day...

It all started out innocently enough.

I was going to register Sugar for her new school today. I was going to go in, fill out the necessary paper work and then I was going in to work.

Sounds easy, right? Yeah...Wrong!!!

First you must have two accepted items to prove your address. With us only being here a week, that proved to be a bit of a problem. We haven't been here long enough to receive a utility bill and our lease agreement, although an accepted form, does not have our address listed anywhere in the documents. (Can we say, Oops?!?! Slight oversight.)

Another thing they would accept is where we registered our tags; but there again, we've only been here a week and haven't gotten around to doing this yet.

Already, my list of things to do today has grown. They won't register her until I can prove our residence and have all the necessary records, which include the following:

Last years report card - check.
Shot record - no problem, I can call the doctor and have her fax a copy.
Birth Certificate - Got it right here....no wait, that's the 'mother's copy' and is not accepted.
Social Security card - Missing. I have looked and looked and can't seem to find it anywhere.

Okay, now it looks like I need an entire day off to get all of this done.

I call the boss and make arrangements, then I drop the girls off so I can begin getting things in order and here is where my day takes a turn for the worse...

I go back home and search through all of our papers to find the birth certificate and social security card. Still, I can't find them anywhere. I have a place where I file them, when they aren't in use, but I have to take them out frequently and apparently the last time they didn't get replaced.

HATE THAT!!!

I must have these things by tomorrow so that I can get her in school. So, off to the records offices I go...

The first address I was given didn't exist.

I payed $1.00 to park then walked down the block only to discover there was no such address and, given my love for driving to unfamiliar places, this seemed to set the tone for the remainder of my day.

I called the hubby - poor guy, he got an ear full today - and he helped me find the place I needed to go.

Scrounging up my last two quarters for the parking meter, I parked and went in to get a copy of her birth certificate.

Everything went smoothly up until it came time for me to pay and my card had my middle name on it - because that's what I go by - and the birth certificate is an official document so it has my first name listed.

Man oh man, that really confused her- I don't think they hire them for their intelligence - it took me several minutes to convince her that we were one and the same.

We finally got that worked out and then I was off, birth certificate in hand, to the next stop - the social security department.

Finding this place wasn't a problem. My girlfriend, Lola, took me right there and parking was good; they had a lot behind the building and I didn't have to pay.

Unfortunately, that was the only good experience that I had on this little adventure.

I walk in to stand in a mile long line. Then the stand up comedian security guard walks in an tells us to take a number at the kiosk and turn our cell phones off (If he said this once, he said it a hundred times - getting on my very last nerve.)

Now I ask you... if we have to take a number, can someone please explain why we had to STAND in line instead of sitting in all of the nice comfortable chairs while waiting to be called?

What is the purpose of a number if you are standing in a single file line??

I couldn't figure it out either.

So I STOOD in this line for an hour and a half.

I STOOD there and read every.single.sign. posted on the walls.

I STOOD there and listened to Mr. Comedian cracking jokes on a room full of people who somehow failed to see the humor.

And after I STOOD in this line - for an hour and a half - it was my turn to go to the window and the guy closes his window and walks off.

Then I get called by little Ms. 'I hate my job so I'm going to treat you like you're an idiot' only to be told that I need to have her immunization records in order to get a copy of her social security card.

The certified copy of her birth certificate will not work.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?

What in the hell does their shot record have to do with getting their social security card??

"Okay, so I don't have a copy of her shot record. What else can I do? I need this record so I can enroll her in school."

"Well I'm sorry Ma'am" which, if you've ever worked in retail, you know is really code for I don't give a $hit Bit@#, "but that's the law." She tells me in her snottiest tone.

And they wonder why people go in with guns and shoot their A$$'...

After standing in line for an hour and a half, with nothing posted anywhere to let you know what you need, while listening to the sad attempts at comic relief by the guard, only to be told, "I'm sorry Ma'am but that's the law." does not tend to go over well.

In fact, cases like this have been known to cause turrets in otherwise respectable individuals.

Don't believe me?? Just ask my hubby - poor guy.

I have to give him his kudos for today's performance, though; because he somehow managed not to say the wrong thing and get me riled up even more than I already was.

Good for you, Babe!! ;)

At this point, I'm ready to call it a day. But I still don't have what I need and I am NOT taking another day off to go through this nightmare again.

In fact, will someone please just wake me up so I can go to work??? UGH!!!

So, instead of giving into the temptation to quit and go home, I call the doctors office and ask for a copy of her shot record.

I head over to pick it up and she finds me another location - because I would rather chew off my arm than go back to the one I just came from.

It's now 2:30 and I have yet to eat lunch - and that can be a dangerous thing for all parties involved - so I stop by Chick-fil-a for a quick bite.

Then I head over to the other Social Security office only to learn that it is no longer there - and hasn't been for three years, according to the guard. He gives me a print out showing me other locations and I head back out for my THIRD attempt at getting this girls social security card.

But first, let me stop and get my shot - since I'm in the neighborhood - because who knows what tomorrow may bring...

Well, you know what they say....third time's a charm! AND they even knew how to work the number system. You walked in, pulled your number and sat down until they called you. Imagine that...what a concept.

It is now 4:00 and I have literally been spinning my wheels all day long - since 7:30 am - only to accomplish two things.

I go to pick up the girls and we head home. We eat our dinner and I sit down to chill out after my most stressful day. But first, I need to clean up these papers that I scattered everywhere earlier this morning.

I don't know what made me do it, but I walked over to a satchel full of papers I had set aside to be destroyed. I looked inside and right there, on the top, was the envelope with both of the girls social security cards inside and their birth certificates.

Of course.