Riddle Me This

You have a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage that you need to transport across a river. The boat is tiny and can only hold one passenger. If you leave the wolf and the goat alone, the wolf will eat the goat. If you leave the goat and the cabbage alone, the goat will eat the cabbage. How do you get everything safely across the river?

Too easy? Try the Jones version. But first you need the back story...

You are waiting in the car line to pick up your oldest four kids from school. Because you are an awesome and totally put together mom, you have arrived early and are fourth in line. To pass the extra ten minutes with your youngest two children in the van, you recite nursery rhymes and sing songs together  turn a movie on for them while you piddle on facebook. 

Time passes peacefully and the car line starts moving. Your turn the key to start up the van...and the peaceful sound continues. No vroom of the engine. No click click click. Silence. You say aloud, "You've got to be kidding me," followed by "No way this is happening," and attempt to start the van 5 bajillion more times without success. 

Next step, you (obviously) call your amazing husband to come rescue you. You exit the van and trot on up to the school with your two kids in tow to gather the older four and complete your collection of six. As you are walking past all the other parents and children, you realize that you may have overestimated your put togetherness. Looking down you see today's fashion ensemble includes yoga pants with a handprint paint stain on the rear which you paired with a too tight tank top and your husband's size 13 flip flops. But at least you were wearing a bra. That was a close one. 

OK now this is where it gets tricky. At this point you are wrangling all 6 of your collectibles and awesome husband has come to jump the van with no success. You are now remembering your shrinking savings account, wondering how much a starter costs, and responsibly deciding that a new starter is more important than the hair appointment you were going to schedule. But now we've come to the real quandry. 

 Riddle me this:  There are 8 people who need to get to a house a mile away in a three seater truck. 

Still too easy? 

Let me clarify a few things. Even though it's only a mile, walking is not an option for a few reasons: The August heat is sweltering, you would have to play frogger across a major intersection with six kids, 1 of the six is not wearing shoes, 2 of the six had outpatient surgery (circumcisions) 24 hours prior, and finally another 1 has already peed his pants and is declaring that "another surprise" is in route. What do you do? 

I'll tell you what we did- we survived:) Between 4 round trip shuttles in the truck, a two year old strapped into a high chair at home, and our fail proof babysitting combo of older brothers plus cartoons we all made it home safely.

But now for the surprising twist summed up in the "moral of the story. " Always wait to hear from your mechanic before deciding to save some bucks and forgo a professional hair appointment for a home dye...particularly if you have decided to dye your hair red. Because sometimes your van only needs a new battery and not an expensive starter, but your hair will already be purple.